Package: installation-reports
Debian-installer-version: Beta-4 20040528 floppy images
uname -a: Linux (none) 2.4.26-1-386 #2 Sat May 1 16:31:24 EST 2004 i586
unknown
Date: 5/30/2004, 5/31/2004
Method: Network
What did you boot off? Floppies
If network install, from where?
ftp.debian.org
ftp.us.debian.org
lyre.mit.edu
debian.rutgers.edu
ftp-linux.cc.gatech.edu
debian.lcs.mit.edu
debian.uchicago.edu
Proxied? No
Machine:
Machine #1, Compaq Deskpro
Machine #2, Rackmount server, Tyan S2469 motherboard
Processor:
Machine #1, Pentium 133
Machine #2, single Athlon MP
Memory:
Machine #1, 32 MB
Machine #2, 512 MB
Root Device:
Machine #1, SCSI, AHA-1542 ISA non-PNP. Installed successfully on
/dev/sda, couldn't install using partitions on both /dev/sda and
/dev/sdb. IDE drive /dev/hda present, but not touched.
Machine #2, SCSI, AIC-7902 PCI. Installed on /dev/sda. No other
hard drives present.
Root Size/partition table:
Machine #1, / 1.6 GB, /boot 50 MB
Machine #2, / 8.4 GB, /boot 100 MB, /var 2.1 GB, /home 14.2 GB
Output of lspci:
Machine #1, no drives connected to PCI devices.
Base System Installation Checklist:
Initial boot worked: [O]
Configure network HW: [O]
Config network: [O/E]
Detect CD: [ ]
Load installer modules: [O/E]
Detect hard drives: [O/E]
Partition hard drives: [O/E]
Create file systems: [O/E]
Mount partitions: [O/E]
Install base system: [O/E]
Install boot loader: [O]
Reboot: [O]
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it
Comments/Problems:
Made several test runs on each machine.
1. Partman is the weakest link. It has multiple severe problems dealing
with SCSI drives and host adapters.
Neither ISA nor PCI SCSI host adapters are detected automatically. At
the screen where a long list of kernel modules is offered for manual
selection, no SCSI modules are listed. Supposedly this was corrected, but
it has not been at this time. Neither help screens nor the installer manual
lists the kernel modules available for loading by hand; I simply had to know
the names of the modules to load from the command line; otherwise I would
have been stopped dead. This was the worst problem I encountered.
Once I loaded the proper module from the command line and then called
"Detect hardware" and then the partitioner from the menu, all drives and
existing partitions were listed.
The partitioner didn't recognize any pre-existing Linux file systems
created by previous Debian distros (Libranet 2.7, 2.8.1). It only
recognized filesystems it had created itself, including filesystems it
created on previous runs.
On machine #1, attempting to partition /dev/sdb, create filesystems, and
assign mountpoints caused the partitioner to hang during its attempt to
mount /dev/sdb2. Attempting to restart it from the menu caused it to abort
repeatedly. Rebooting into LN 2.7 showed good partitions and filesystems,
and during the next run with debian-installer, fdisk showed good partitions,
and it was possible to mount them by hand. Continued the install using only
/dev/sda.
2. DHCP was erratic. Sometimes it would get an IP address from the DHCP
server, sometimes manual configuration with a fixed address was necessary.
This has not been observed with installed kernels.
3. "Loading Components of Debian Installer" always hung without an error
message and then timed out after about 5 minutes, at anywhere between 40%
and 90%, never on the same package twice. Retry always ran to completion.
Changing mirrors, protocols, or target machines had no effect. Since nobody
else seems to have reported this, it might be something in the installer
interacting with the behavior of the ISP, router, or cable modem. I'm on
Comcast, in Nashua, N.H., connecting through a Siemens 2614 masquerading
router with internal DHCP server and DNS proxy. Machine #1 connects directly
to the router, Machine #2 was tested both directly and through Machine #1
operating as a masquerading firewall under Libranet 2.7. No differences
seen in behavior, and download rates are about the same, randomly varying
from about 80 to 400 KB/S. uchicago and MIT FTP servers seem to be fastest.
4. Can't create a custom boot floppy. GRUB could install to /dev/sda OK
on either machine, but trying either (fd0) or /dev/fd0 as a target failed
with a message about it not being a hard disk. Of course it's not a hard
disk, but GRUB is supposed to be installable on a floppy. Didn't try
running the grub command directly from the command line.
Installer doesn't offer to create a conventional kernel-and-initrd boot
disk, either. This option is necessary, because some systems can't be
booted from GRUB. Generally, only the first two drives can be booted from
GRUB; /dev/sdc and higher are generally not accessible until a Linux kernel
is running.
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