Package: installation-reports Version: 20040801, release candidate 1 INSTALL REPORT
Debian-installer-version: rc1, 2004-08-01, http://http.us.debian.org/ uname -a: Linux pc-aaens 2.6.7-1-386 #1 Thu Jul 8 05:08:04 EDT 2004 i686 GNU/Linux Date: 2004-08-26, 15:00 GMT Method: Installation of "testing" (sarge) from the network (http://debian.ens-cachan.fr then ftp://ftp.lip6.fr), not proxied ; boot from floppy disks (I had to try 3 different boot floppies and 2 different root floppies before it worked : floppy disks are indeed unreliable) Machine: PC from a French assemblor (MEDASYS) Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz Memory: 256 MB Root Device: IDE /dev/dha Root Size/partition table: Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/hda1 * 1 10 80293+ 83 Linux /boot /dev/hda2 11 793 6289447+ 83 Linux unused /dev/hda3 794 1054 2096482+ e W95 FAT16 (LBA) unused /dev/hda4 1055 4865 30611857+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA) /dev/hda5 1055 1576 4192933+ 83 Linux /usr /dev/hda6 1577 1837 2096451 83 Linux /opt/archicub /dev/hda7 1838 1968 1052226 83 Linux /home /dev/hda8 1969 2099 1052226 83 Linux /tmp /dev/hda9 2100 2164 522081 83 Linux /opt/webmaster /dev/hda10 2165 2229 522081 82 Linux swap /dev/hda11 2230 2262 265041 83 Linux /var /dev/hda12 2263 2328 530113+ 83 Linux / /dev/hda13 2329 3361 8297541 83 Linux /backup /dev/hda14 3362 4865 12080848+ 83 Linux /data Output of lspci and lspci -n: [lspci] 0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82845 845 (Brookdale) Chipset Host Bridge (rev 11) 0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82845 845 (Brookdale) Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 11) 0000:00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01) 0000:00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01) 0000:00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01) 0000:00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB 2.0 EHCI Controller (rev 01) 0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801 PCI Bridge (rev 81) 0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL (ICH4/ICH4-L) LPC Bridge (rev 01) 0000:00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL (ICH4/ICH4-L) UltraATA-100 IDE Controller (rev 01) 0000:00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) SMBus Controller (rev 01) 0000:00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 01) 0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV100 QY [Radeon 7000/VE] 0000:03:03.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) [lspci -n] 0000:00:00.0 0600: 8086:1a30 (rev 11) 0000:00:01.0 0604: 8086:1a31 (rev 11) 0000:00:1d.0 0c03: 8086:24c2 (rev 01) 0000:00:1d.1 0c03: 8086:24c4 (rev 01) 0000:00:1d.2 0c03: 8086:24c7 (rev 01) 0000:00:1d.7 0c03: 8086:24cd (rev 01) 0000:00:1e.0 0604: 8086:244e (rev 81) 0000:00:1f.0 0601: 8086:24c0 (rev 01) 0000:00:1f.1 0101: 8086:24cb (rev 01) 0000:00:1f.3 0c05: 8086:24c3 (rev 01) 0000:00:1f.5 0401: 8086:24c5 (rev 01) 0000:01:00.0 0300: 1002:5159 0000:03:03.0 0200: 10ec:8139 (rev 10) Base System Installation Checklist: [O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it Initial boot worked: [O] Configure network HW: [O] Config network: [O] Detect CD: [ ] Load installer modules: [O] Detect hard drives: [O] Partition hard drives: [O] Create file systems: [O] Mount partitions: [O] Install base system: [O] Install boot loader: [O] Reboot: [O] Comments/Problems: - This was my first Debian installation but I have installed, in the past (on different machines), Slackware, RedHat and FreeBSD. - As said before, I had to try 3 boot floppies and 2 root floppies but the installation instructions (section 5.3.1) warned. - The first install worked fine until the first reboot, but after it, when I selected packages and launched their installation, /var was filled up (it is only 256 MB because it is backuped on tapes every night and I want to minimze tape usage since it is provided gracefully by the sysadmin of the main site), the installation stopped and I was unable to restart it since the package database was messed up. I didn't try the methods of recovering /var given in the FAQ because I discovered them afterwards. Moreover, this is not a clean way of proceeding. Also, in the first install DHCP was used without asking permission. - Second install : done in expert mode, restarting from scratch (erasing /, /usr and /var). There, I was able to deselect DHCP use and give my static IP address. This time, after the first reboot, I completed the installation process without adding any package, I moved pieces of /var that semt to be used by the packaging system into /usr (adding symlinks), and I started "base-config" again. I selected packages and installed it ; it worked fine since /var was no more filled. - Conclusive remarks : I liked expert mode a lot because, when something fails, you come back to the main menu and you can redo anything. This was not the case with RedHat 8, for instance. The installation process with the Debian-installer, although not attractive-looking like RedHat-anaconda-..., is a lot more user friendly than FreeBSD 4.2 installer (I did not try FreeBSD since then). aptitude seems to be great. I had a bad experience with FreeBSD : during the first few weeks, there was a system like aptitude/base-config (that you can call back even when the install was finished, and that allows you to choose packages and to install/erase them). But, from week to week, it worked less and less (because the FreeBSD release was no more supported, since 2 new releases had appeared), and finally after 6 months it did not work at all : I was obliged to use the FreeBSD ports system. Which is probably nice for a full-time sysadmin with 100 machines to administrate, but not for the free-time administration of 1 machine (which is my case). So I hope to be able to update my installation as easily as I installed it (with aptitude) for at least 2 years ! -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
