More positive results 8-)
[...]
Regarding the desktop issue, if I can't get it installed
using regular preseed, I have the following two approaches
that should work:
0. Use the d-i preseed/late_command, perhaps writing a new snippet
1. Replace the /etc/apt/sources.list with a copy that
consists of the regular Ubuntu repos, and then combine with
a firstboot script to get the UI installed.
1. worked flawlessly ;-) cobbler's built-in configuration management
capability is quite handy in this regard.
Still, lacking a common meta package name such as
ubuntu-desktop makes even both the above a small challenge.
Actually, the meta package ubuntu-desktop is there. I must correct
myself in this case.
The focus of my recent testing has been on cobbler 2.4.0 (from
epel-testing) CD/DVD import support for the latest x86_64 Fedora,
RHEL, and Ubuntu. This is the main reason why I have been trying
to accomplish everything with what's available directly from an
employed ISO file.
It seems that as long as a correct ISO image is selected, cobbler
2.4.0 from epel-testing is already doing a better-than-beta job.
Regards,
--Zack