website: pages: Get GNU Boot: Add warnings to keep non-working images.

We ship images for computers like the Gigabyte D945GCLF2D which are
not working. All the SeaBIOS images are also not working in the GNU
Boot 0.1 RC4. And many of the images were never tested.

In the 0.1 RC4 the images were removed from the FTP as keeping them
would increase too much the risk of users breaking their computer.

However to make the removal of images really work, the people
responsible for the release would then need to test all the images
themselves to be really sure that things are working, or to somehow
build a procedure where some users privately get the images before the
release.

This doesn't work because it would put too much burden on the actual
maintainers: it would require too much time for testing all the images
and this is not automated. In additions the current maintainers don't
even have all the supported computers and the GNU Boot project relies
on all users that can test to test the images.

In addition, releasing the images as part of the release procedure is
easier for everybody: the testers can also get the full source code
easily, they don't need to use custom images, anyone can test, etc.

Because of that it was decided that it was better to teach users to
minimize the risk themselves by looking at the status before upgrading
GNU Boot.

Signed-off-by: Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli <GNUtoo@cyberdimension.org>
Acked-by: Adrien 'neox' Bourmault <neox@gnu.org>
This commit is contained in:
Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli 2024-12-10 15:39:44 +01:00 committed by Adrien 'neox' Bourmault
parent 540bcca0fb
commit 972e93d80f
Signed by: neox
GPG Key ID: 57BC26A3687116F6
1 changed files with 45 additions and 3 deletions

View File

@ -55,20 +55,62 @@ Known install parties:
conference. Since this conference happens every year, you might want
to check next year(s) if there is a GNU Boot install party there.
Installation instructions
=========================
There are various instructions to install GNU Boot yourself or to help
each other to do it together (this could be easier and faster).
When reading or following such instructions it's important to keep in
mind that:
* You always need to look at the [status page](status.md) to find out
if the image you are about to install is known to work.
If the image is not known to work, it could prevent your computer
from booting. To fix that you will most likely need to disassemble
your computer and use another computer and a flash programmer to
recover it. This is exactly how people who test untested images do
when things go wrong.
There are also instructions to recover from non-booting computers on
the GNU Boot website. Make sure to consult them first if you want to
help the GNU Boot project to test images and that you are not
familiar yet with how to recover a specific computers (the
difficulty can vary a lot depending on the computer and your
existing skills).
* You also need to make sure to use the right image for the computer.
An image for the T400 will probably not work on the X301, and there
is also the risk of breaking the computer for good if you use the
wrong image because in some cases the code in the images is also
responsible for setting the right voltage. It's also a important to
know the version of GNU Boot you are installing because you need
that to check the status page.
* Before installing or upgrading (to) GNU Boot, it is important to do
a backup of what is in the flash chip you are about to
override. This way if things are worse in the new image, you can
still revert to the previous image.
If you are testing images that were not tested before, it is also a
good idea to put the backup somewhere that you can easily access if
the computer doesn't boot anymore.
Upgrade yourself from an existing installation
==============================================
----------------------------------------------
There is [general purpose documentation](install.md) for technical
users that can help you upgrade to a newer GNU Boot version.
Installation
============
------------
There is [general purpose documentation](install.md) for technical
users that can help you install GNU Boot.
Downloads
=========
---------
The [Downloads](../../download.md) page has documentation on how to
download GNU Boot in various ways.