Debian Installer 6.0 Reaches Beta

With the upcoming release of Debian Squeeze, the Debian Installer team has announced the first beta release of the Debian Installer 6.0. This version of the Debian Installer brings several fixes, package updates, and new features.

Among the new capabilities of the Debian Installer 6.0 Beta 1 include the auto-selection of the kernel for the Sony PlayStation 3, recovery partitions for Microsoft Windows are properly recognized, support for new platforms, support for isohybrid images when using cdrom-detect/try-usb, the installer now looks for Debian firmware packages within the firmware/ folder on the installation media for bundling hardware firmware, hardware-specific packages are now installed automatically, and there's improved localization.

The new platforms supported by this version of the Debian Installer for 6.0 Squeeze include the Marvell GuruPlug, Marvell OpenRD-Ultimate, and the HP t5325 Thin Client has partial support.

In terms of package updates, the Linux kernel is updated to the 2.6.32 release and GNU Parted is updated to version 2.2. This release also drops support for the ReiserFS file-system by default, but those interested in using ReiserFS can enable it by passing partman-reiserfs.

The Debian Installer 6.0 Beta 1 release announcement can be found at Debian.org. This installer release is dedicated to Frans Pop who had worked on the Debian Installer and other parts of this Linux distribution until passing away in August.