On 6/10/19 9:32 PM, userm57@yahoo.com wrote:
> On 6/10/19 7:20 PM, Finn Thain wrote:
>>
>> Why not use the serial console?
>>
I was able to install a text-only installation on the Centris 650 using
the serial console ("console=ttyS0,9600n8"). It's not necessary to hit
"1"; the installation screen eventually comes up.
Here are a few observations and comments:
1) Approximate times were as follows:
a) 30 min - from initial setup to prompting of a Debian mirror.
b) 4 hrs - from start of scan of Debian mirror to "popcon" prompt.
c) 5 hrs - from "popcon" prompt to completion of loading packages.
d) 3 hrs - from selection of "openssh server" and "system utilities"
to completion of installation.
2) After installation, the system was rebooted after a prompt. A
question mark appeared on the main screen. Booting from an external
disk, Mac OS volumes could be mounted manually using "Disk Utility", but
they were still not seen after a reboot. The problem was fixed by
running "Apple HD SC Setup 7.3.5p" and updating the Apple driver on the
affected disk. So it seems likely that something in the installation
corrupted the Apple driver.
3) Booting into the new Linux installation using a 5.x kernel, the
kernel crashed after not finding a valid init. As it turns out, if a
separate /usr is specified during the installation, then the system
won't boot, because /usr won't be mounted yet and the following
directories are symbolic links:
/bin -> usr/bin
/lib -> usr/lib
/sbin -> usr/sbin
I realize that most users will probably just use a single filesystem for
everything, but there have always been compelling reasons to use
separate root and usr partitions. At any rate, if it doesn't work to
specify separate partitions, then the installer should warn about that
(or maybe have a "Root & Usr" partition option like NetBSD does and then
not allow specification of a separate /usr partition).
4) After booting into a backup partition (Debian 3.1) and backing up "/"
and "/usr" from the new installation, and then restoring everything to a
single "/" filesystem, the new system booted using the kernel (and
initrd) that were created during the installation.
5) The system never reached multiuser mode; the startup sequence looped
on "Starting Network Time Synchronization" (see attached console log
"Centris_650-Debian_10.txt"). The systemd timeout for this task was 1
min 30 sec, but it never succeeded within that limit (I let it try 10
times before forcing a reboot). I'll try other things, including single
user mode and checking whether I can increase the limit somehow, or
possibly disable network time synchronization temporarily.
Thanks to all who are working so hard to keep it possible to install a
modern GNU/Linux system on 30-year-old hardware!
-Stan
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