Installer crash - Non UTF characters in SSD Name

[rattyp]

Hi Team,
When attempting  to install LL 6.x or 5.8  from desktop installer, I get a known installer crash installing on an old low spec Dell Wyse 3040. Ubiquity crashes because it finds a non-UTF character in the SSD model name (MMC H8G4a\x92).  Unfortunately this appears to be common on all Ubuntu flavours that use ubiquity installer with this particular device. Note that LL 6.0 happens to work fine from live usb (albeit a little slow).
As the SSD is soldered/non replaceable, this  becomes a barrier for any try at permanent installing of any Ubuntu-based distro that uses a ubiquity install process.

Details of the ubiquity error here -
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1405081/...-wyse-3040
https://github.com/dcantrell/pyparted/issues/76

I have tried all the work arounds but ubiquity references the SSD model name throughout the install and I don't have the knowledge about ubiquity to fix it.

The good news is that using the new Flutter/sububiquity installer when trying Ubuntu 23.04 Lunar Lobster beta works perfectly without crashing.  Info on the new installer here :-
https://9to5linux.com/first-look-at-ubun...in-flutter

My problem is that I need a minimal distro XFCE rather than GNOME interface on this low spec device and Linux Lite is my goto choice as it is simply the best!

My questions are:-
(1) Has anyone found a workaround to this specific problem for Linux Lite (ubiquit) install on a Dell Wyse 3040?
(2) Will LL (7?) be using the flutter/sububiquity installer in future releases that are based on Ubuntu 23?

[Valtam]

With the live dvd/usb once you boot to the desktop and BEFORE you attempt an install, edit (as Administrator):

Code:

/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/parted/device.py

and change:

Code:

    @property
    def model(self):
        """Model name and vendor of this device."""
        return self.__device.model

to:

Code:

    @property
    def model(self):
        """Model name and vendor of this device."""
        try:
            return self.__device.model
        except UnicodeDecodeError:
            return "MMC H8G4a"

Don't change the indentation, spacing or format of py files, or this won't work. Good luck.

Save and close.


Now try the installer.

[rattyp]

Hi Jerry
Thanks for responding.  Sadly have already been down this route and got the same result as described in the 2nd link of my original post. https://github.com/dcantrell/pyparted/issues/76

Notwitstanding, I tried this fix again with LL6.4 live usb, and as expected, the installer crashes a bit further on (after wifi prompt) with:-

Code:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/frontend/gtk_ui.py", line 897, in
<lambda>: self.dbfilter.start(auto_process=True))
File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/filteredcommand.py", line 101, in start
prep = self.prepare()
File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/plugins/ubi-prepare.py", line 520, in prepare
self.setup_sufficient_space()
File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/plugins/ubi-prepare.py", line 545, in setup_sufficient_space
free = self.free_space()
File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/plugins/ubi-prepare.py", line 559, in free_space
devices = proc.communicate()[0].rstrip('\n').split('\n')
File "/usr/lib/python3.10/subprocess.py", line 1039, in communicate
stdout = self.stdout.read()
File "/usr/lib/python3.10/codecs.py", line 322, in decode
(result, consumed) = self._buffer_decode(data, self.errors, final)
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0x92 in position 72: invalid start byte

In previous attempts, i followed the further workarounds in https://github.com/dcantrell/pyparted/issues/76 but get to a stage where I don't know how to workaround the subsequent partman errors that arise.

Hence my original question as to whether you might be considering use of the new Ubuntu 23.04 subiquity/flutter installer for future releases of LL which I know works witout any problems.

[Valtam]

Hence my original question as to whether you might be considering use of the new Ubuntu 23.04 subiquity/flutter installer for future releases of LL which I know works witout any problems.

TBD.