Re: d-i on Firefly-rk3288
On 12/12/16, Diego Roversi <diegor@tiscali.it> wrote:
> On Mon, 12 Dec 2016 05:35:01 +0000
> Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton <lkcl@lkcl.net> wrote:
>
>> add console=ttyS2 to the kernel parameters, also earlyprintk is really
>> helpful (but you have to have the right options compiled in the kernel
>> to use it).
>>
>
> Ok, I retried with this, and now the serial console works (thanks):
great! ok so now you have a feedback loop to monitor issues until success.
> Except the ethernet doesn't works. There are errors in dmesg:
ok. right. so the next questions are: how flexible are you prepared
to be to get this working, and do you *absolutely* need to use
debian-installer to get this up-and-running? i,e, do you have some
hard requirement that *forces* you to use debian-installer or did you
choose it because you'd heard it was the "normal" way to install
debian?
the reason i ask is because the last time i actually used
debian-installer on arm hardware was way back in 2010, when frans pop
very kindly built a custom (armel) d-i for the gpl-violating CT-PC89e
which had an S3C6410. i loved the fact that it could be loaded into
memory such that you could install whatever you wanted on whatever
hardware was available, and loved the minimalism... *but*... it's so
complex to set up that i've never been able to successfully build one
for any of the hardware i've been working with.
instead, i've resorted - reluctantly - to using either debootstrap or
qemu-arm to carry out the root filesystem preparation... then copied
that over.
in doing so, i've *always* dealt exclusively with initrd-less
*custom* kernels, dedicated specifically for the target hardware
(including modules which again are copied over manually).
what i'm hoping to do in the future now that the rk3288 is actually a
decent system is try native compiles, so there stands a chance of
actually compiling up debian-installer native... but that's a looong
way off for me, yet.
anyway, so we have two possible hints above of paths that you could
choose, here (a third being to download some random rootfs off the
internet that someone else has arbitrarily made decisions on, during
the install.. which is why i really really prefer
debian-installer....)
... OR ....
you could look for a debian-testing "weekly build" version of
debian-installer (which should have a more recent kernel)
... OR....
you could try unpacking the debian-installer initrd, compiling your
own kernel, putting in the replacement modules by hand and repacking
it, but FOR GOD's SAKE watch out for the fact that when using cpio you
ABSOLUTELY MUST specify the target directory properly. cpio by
default will unpack with ABSOLUTE paths.... and that means that you
will end up fucking your x86 root filesystem by overwriting critical
system files with the contents of the initrd. done it once... won't
do it again, ever... managed to recover it but it was a bit
hair-raising...
... OR....
you could ask around to see if someone else has a working (older or
newer) debian-installer from debian/testing or sid that is known to
work and they can provide a copy online for you.
lots of options, if you're prepared to be flexible.
l.
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