The Debian Installer team is pleased to announce the first beta
release of the installer for Debian 7.0 "Wheezy".


Improvements in this release of the installer
=============================================

* debian-installer: Switch the boot backgrounds to the Wheezy joy
theme.
* debian-installer: Adjust syslinux boot menu to not overlap with
Debian logo.
* debian-installer: Update to 3.2.0-3 linux ABI.
* apt: Fix crashes on s390x.
* apt: Improved behaviour with proxies (redirection handling improved,
and HTTP/1.1 pipelining disabled by default).
* brltty: Add new braille USB IDs to d-i udev rules.
* busybox: Enable ping applet for udeb build.
* debian-archive-keyring: Wheezy keys were added.
* fonts-lohit-telu: Fix some glyphs for Telugu language support.
* grub2: Prevent EFI systems from running out of memory due to large
disk cache.
* hw-detect: check-missing-firmware now supports looking into
xz-compressed udebs.
* linux kernel: Updated from 3.2.15 to 3.2.21 (many fixes).
- [sparc,sparc64] Build virtio-modules-udeb for use in qemu
(#673320).
- [ia64,powerpc] udeb: Add crc-itu-t to crc-modules; make
firewire-core-modules depend on it.
- udeb: Add missing dependencies for various modules (see #678587).
* lowmem: Improved low memory mode.
* mkvmlinuz: Compress initrd with xz to significantly reduce vmlinuz
size (#549681).
* netcfg: Fix for "Enter the passphrase for WPA PSK" missing a "go
back" button (#636211).
* netcfg: Make link detection timeout preseedable (#610752).
* netcfg: Fix link detection progress bar.
* network-console: Add support for public-key authentication (#592550).
* newt: Fix 'Escape' detection when 'No' is selected (#665784).
* pciutils: Update pci.ids to the 2012.06.25 version.
* rootskel-gtk: Use the Wheezy Joy theme for the installer.
* wpa: Fix authentication issues with WPA2 passwords.


Behavioral changes in this release
==================================

* Businesscard images are no longer provided. The netinst images can be
used instead.
* kfreebsd-*: When more than one kfreebsd version is available, make
kfreebsd-9 the default boot option.
* preseed: Point the keymap alias to keyboard-configuration/xkb-keymap
instead of the now-gone console-keymaps-at.
* rootskel-bootfloppy support has been removed (#653840).


Hardware support changes
========================

* libdebian-installer: Add support for LaCie Kirkwood NAS devices
(#670527).
* linux kernel: Updated from 3.2.15-1 to 3.2.21-3.
- rt2x00: Identify rt2800usb chipsets (#658067).
- [armhf] Add vexpress support (#670462). More work is required to
provide an installer though.
- [armel] Introduce a new udeb module for leds and use it on
kirkwoord kernel (#671200).
- rt2800usb: Add support for Ralink RT5392/RF5372 chipset (#673186).
- [sparc,sparc64] Build virtio-modules-udeb for use in qemu
(#673320).
- be2net: Add support for Skyhawk cards.
- [x86] udeb: Add hyperv-modules containing Hyper-V paravirtualised
drivers.
- [x86] ata_piix: defer disks to the Hyper-V drivers by default.
- DFSG: video: Remove nvidiafb and rivafb.
- input: Add Synaptics USB device driver (#678071).
- [armel/kirkwood] Add dreamplug and iconnect support (#675922).
* network-console: Set LED signal on LaCie Kirkwood NAS devices when
SSH is ready (#670941).


Localization changes
====================

* Welsh language enabled.
* Sinhala, Burmese, and Tibetan now really supported with the right
font for each.
* 73 languages are supported in this release. Full translation for 56
of them.


Known issues in this release
============================

* CD1 without a network mirror isn't sufficient to install a full
desktop environment.
* Software speech: fails to switch languages (#682313).
* Network issues when installing a desktop over a wireless connection
(#682608).
* kfreebsd: grub-install may fail to find a GRUB drive (#637684).

See the errata[2] for details and a full list of known issues.


Feedback for this release
=========================

We need your help to find bugs and further improve the installer,
so please try it. Installer CDs, other media and everything else
you will need are available at our web site.


Thanks
======

The Debian Installer team thanks everybody who has contributed to this
release.


1. http://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Team
2. http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/errata
3. http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer

--
Cyril Brulebois
on behalf of the Debian Installer Team