Apologies if I put the carriage before the horse here.
I'm not happy with any answers I've found in Ubuntu land
and knowing Debian is at its core and my problem related to
that function I came to Debian.

I have several concerns I think might be answered by obvious core
function.

Doing a netboot install of the ubuntu flavors noted the kernels and
ramdisks on the isos are the same so differentiation must be package
selection within the seeds?
My basic pxe function works fine and if I invalidate the seed path the
install stops telling me can't find the seed file.
However when the path is good it installs ubuntu instead of the kubuntu
selection within the seed. I expect the seed file is failing somehow and
being ignored entirely but it is difficult to prove. The seed file is the one
that comes with the iso's for kubuntu.

<seed file>
# Install the Kubuntu usplash image.
d-i base-installer/kernel/linux/extra-packages-2.6 string usplash
kubuntu-artwork-usplash
# Adjust task names for Kubuntu.
d-i archive-copier/desktop-task string
kubuntu-standard|kubuntu-desktop
d-i archive-copier/ship-task string kubuntu-ship
# Install the Kubuntu desktop.
d-i pkgsel/install-pattern string
~t^kubuntu-standard$|~t^kubuntu-desktop$
# Install KDE translation packages.
d-i pkgsel/language-pack-patterns string language-pack-kde-$LL
kde-i18n-$LL

<excerpt of PXE cfg>
LABEL Kubuntu
kernel ubuntu-installer/i386/linux
APPEND vga=normal preseed/file=seeds/kubuntu.seed persistent
debian/priority=critical initrd=ubuntu-installer/i386/initrd.gz
root=/dev/rd/0 rw --

Also if you use a standard ks file I can't explain that it goes to the
mirrors for the install rather than my image. Using the same ks file
with say Fedora it goes to my server for the install.

<extra line when using ks in cfg>
ks=nfs:192.168.0.3:/home/wshek/pub/iso/FC5/anaconda-ks.cfg

<k>ubuntu appear to ignore my server and go direct to the mirror however
respect all other answers in the ks file.

Thanks for any direction or ideas on either issue.
-Walt

root <root@zoomzoom.doink.org> wrote:
> Apologies if I put the carriage before the horse here.
> I'm not happy with any answers I've found in Ubuntu land
> and knowing Debian is at its core and my problem related to
> that function I came to Debian.
>
> I have several concerns I think might be answered by obvious core
> function.
>
> Doing a netboot install of the ubuntu flavors noted the kernels and
> ramdisks on the isos are the same so differentiation must be package
> selection within the seeds?
> My basic pxe function works fine and if I invalidate the seed path the
> install stops telling me can't find the seed file.
> However when the path is good it installs ubuntu instead of the kubuntu
> selection within the seed. I expect the seed file is failing somehow and
> being ignored entirely but it is difficult to prove. The seed file is the
> that comes with the iso's for kubuntu.
>
> <seed file>
> # Install the Kubuntu usplash image.
> d-i base-installer/kernel/linux/extra-packages-2.6 string usplash
> kubuntu-artwork-usplash
> # Adjust task names for Kubuntu.
> d-i archive-copier/desktop-task string
> kubuntu-standard|kubuntu-desktop
> d-i archive-copier/ship-task string kubuntu-ship
> # Install the Kubuntu desktop.
> d-i pkgsel/install-pattern string
> ~t^kubuntu-standard$|~t^kubuntu-desktop$
> # Install KDE translation packages.
> d-i pkgsel/language-pack-patterns string language-pack-kde-$LL
> kde-i18n-$LL
>
> <excerpt of PXE cfg>
> LABEL Kubuntu
> kernel ubuntu-installer/i386/linux
> APPEND vga=normal preseed/file=seeds/kubuntu.seed persistent
> debian/priority=critical initrd=ubuntu-installer/i386/initrd.gz
> root=/dev/rd/0 rw --
>
> Also if you use a standard ks file I can't explain that it goes to the
> mirrors for the install rather than my image. Using the same ks file
> with say Fedora it goes to my server for the install.
>
> <extra line when using ks in cfg>
> ks=nfs:192.168.0.3:/home/wshek/pub/iso/FC5/anaconda-ks.cfg
>
> <k>ubuntu appear to ignore my server and go direct to the mirror however
> respect all other answers in the ks file.
>
> Thanks for any direction or ideas on either issue.
> -Walt

Here I go posting a partial solution again to my own question
it is suggested subtly in the kubuntu doc that one might encounter
problems using seeds I assume embedding the predeed/file= ....
so they claim putting package selection directly can avoid
bad stuff .... I can take a hint!
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/Netboot
<except I reference>
just add
base-config/package-selection=~t^ubuntu-standard$|~t^ubuntu-desktop$
text to the append line, as shown above. Adding a category, as I did,
is less invasive, it won't break extra things). Now the install should
proceed just like a regular installation.
<end excerpt>

So I did this instead and my net installs work fine now. You might just
be missing a few icons and menu definitions the seed file would have
created. It is doing the base desktop apparently. All of KDE is there
though from what I could see.. ex. no kmail icon but kmail runs.
Sorry to put this in debian but perhaps someone can still point out the
reason things can break easy as suggested with the seed reference?

Thanks.
-Walt