Bug#220966: Inspiron 8500: b44, iwconfig,
Package: installation-reports
Version: Debian-Installer beta 1
Severity: wishlist
Debian-installer-version:
Debian GNU/Linux testing "Sarge" - Official BusinessCard Snapshot
i386 Binary-1 CD
wget http://gluck.debian.org/cdimage/testing/netinst/i386/beta-1/sarge-i386-netinst.iso
Nov 10 18:00 sarge-i386-businesscard.iso
uname -a: Linux makapuu 2.4.22-xfs #1 Thu Nov 13 13:50:55 EST 2003 i686 unknown
Date: 11 November, around 20:00 UTC
Method: Laptop has CD/DVD drive it can boot from, local lan, DSL internet link.
hdc: _NEC DVD+RW ND-5100A, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
hdc: attached ide-scsi driver.
scsi0 : SCSI host adapter emulation for IDE ATAPI devices
Vendor: _NEC Model: DVD+RW ND-5100A Rev: 10AC
Type: CD-ROM ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0 at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 24x/24x writer cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
Machine: Dell Inspiron 8500
Processor: Mobile Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 - M CPU 2.60GHz
Memory: 512 MB
Root Device: IDE (/dev/hdc)
Root Size/partition table:
makapuu:~# df -T
Filesystem Type 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda5 ext2 984152 339504 594656 37% /
/dev/hda1 ext2 483886 9275 449615 3% /boot
/dev/hda9 xfs 25565104 13416856 12148248 53% /home
/dev/hda7 ext2 1968368 20 1868356 1% /opt
/dev/hda6 ext2 3937284 1547740 2189536 42% /usr
/dev/hda8 xfs 3995416 111840 3883576 3% /var
/dev/sr0 iso9660 53056 53056 0 100% /cdrom
Output of lspci:
makapuu:~# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82845 845 (Brookdale) Chipset Host Bridge (rev 04)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82845 845 (Brookdale) Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 04)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24c2 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24c4 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24c7 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24cd (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82820 820 (Camino 2) Chipset PCI (-M) (rev 83)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24cc (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24ca (rev 03)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24c5 (rev 03)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24c6 (rev 03)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 0286 (rev a1)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: BROADCOM Corporation: Unknown device 4401 (rev 01)
02:01.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments: Unknown device ac44 (rev 02)
02:01.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments: Unknown device 8029
02:03.0 Network controller: BROADCOM Corporation: Unknown device 4324 (rev 02)
Base System Installation Checklist:
Initial boot worked: [O]
Configure network HW: [E]
Config network: [E]
Detect CD: [O]
Load installer modules: [O]
Detect hard drives: [O]
Partition hard drives: [O]
Create file systems: [W]
Mount partitions: [O]
Install base system: [O]
Install boot loader: [O]
Reboot: [E]
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it
[W] = Wish I had more options...
Comments/Problems:
Had a chance to set up a new Dell Inspiron 8500 laptop just after
hearing the news about the debian-installer beta 1 release. I downloaded
the .iso and burned a 3" mini CDRW disk with it.
The d-i was the first thing this laptop booted out of the box. I was
pleased to see that Woody was an option, and in admiration of those
involved with Debian security, I selected it.
It seemed that the
2.4.22-1-386 (herbert@gondolin) #9 Sat Oct 4 14:30:39 EST 2003
kernel did not have a b44 module for the network - or at least it
was not automatically detected, and I didn't know anything about
the laptop's network hardware or the existence of the b44 driver
until after I had the system running for a while.
So plan B was to stick my cheap Belkin 802.11b card in the PCMCIA
slot, and was amazed that the d-i got it going. Very nice.
Alas, d-i does not seem to have iwconfig around, so I was unable
set the WEP key for my local access point. So I temporarily
configured my access point not to use WEP, and did the remainder
of the install via 802.11b.
If the 802.11 option failed, I was tempted to use PLIP, since
the laptop has a 25-pin parallel port, and I have a cable and
a '486 on my LAN which would allow PLIP networking. Dunno if PLIP
is supported by the d-i kernel, though. (Also, the laptop has
an IRDA port, maybe that could be an install networking option?)
One drawback of selecting a stable distribution install is that
the newer packaged kernels aren't there. Somehow I installed
kernel-image-2.4.18-k7, which was very bad when it came time to
reboot. So I booted from the .iso again, and did a chroot to get
kernel-image-2.4.18-686 onto the hard disk, and then it would
boot OK again. I wish it were easy to select the d-i kernel for
installation to the hard drive, even in the Woody install case.
So I built my own kernel, which I like to do anyways, and did it
with XFS filesystem support. It would be really nice for d-i to
provide XFS from the start.
Another drawback of picking Woody it that I do not know how
new xserver-xfree86 versions will handle the nVidia 1920x1200
pixel LCD display.
And, alas through no fault of d-i, the laptop's built-in
Broadcom 802.11g device is under the heading
"5.1 Not supported (the hall of shame)"
in Jean Tourrilhes' Linux Wireless LAN Howto. :(
Other system info:
(II) NVIDIA(0): NVIDIA GPU detected as: GeForce4 4200 Go
(--) NVIDIA(0): Detected TV Encoder: Chrontel 7009
(**) NVIDIA(0): Mode "1920x1200": 282.7 MHz, 107.1 kHz, 85.0 Hz
(--) NVIDIA(0): DPI set to (147, 145)
ttyS15 at 0xb400 (irq = 11) is a PCTel
Summary of wishlist items for the debian-installer:
* Allow setting of WEP key for wireless installs
* Provide for XFS filesystem
* b44 ethernet driver support
* make it easy to install d-i's kernel even when
the distribution selected does not include it.
-Maitland
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