Bug#235540: Debian-installer
Package: installation-reports
Debian-installer-version: 2/28/2004 ftp.debian.org
uname -a: N/A, couldn't get that far
Date: 2/28/2004 1600 EST
Method: Booted from floppies, and loaded installer kernel modules from
floppies. Intended to download system, didn't get that far.
Machine: Frankenstein, assembled from used parts. In service since 1996.
Processor: 486
Memory: 48 MB
Root Device: SCSI Name of device: /dev/sdb
Root Size/partition table: Pre-existing. 50 MB /boot on /dev/sdb1, 256 MB
swap, remainder of 2.1 GB disk /
Output of lspci:
Base System Installation Checklist:
Initial boot worked: [O]
Configure network HW: [O]
Config network: [O]
Detect CD: [ ]
Load installer modules: [E]
Detect hard drives: [O]
Partition hard drives: [E]
Create file systems: [E]
Mount partitions: [E]
Install base system: [ ]
Install boot loader: [ ]
Reboot: [ ]
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it
Comments/Problems:
1. The fatal error occurred at the "Configure and mount" screen. Only the
partitions on /dev/sda were displayed and offered for assignment of mount
points. I was trying to install on /dev/sdb. No further progress was
possible.
The previous screen, "Partition", correctly showed all the partitions on
all the SCSI hard disks connected at the time. cfdisk also showed all
partitions on all disks.
This implies that the bug is local to the configure routine, and not
anything fundamental.
For comparision, the Debian 3.0 boot floppy set was able to install
successfully on /dev/sdb.
2. There were difficulties in loading the correct kernel module for the
AHA1542 SCSI host adapter. None of the screens offering modules to be
loaded ever mentioned specific SCSI board drivers at all. (Mostly, they
went on at length about IDE modules -- my system has no IDE devices and no
IDE interfaces.) I managed it by reading through all of the driver disks.
The board was never detected, so I had to load aha1542 by hand with a
modprobe command from virtual terminal 2. This would have stopped a newbie
cold.
I've noticed that recent installers for other distributions also no
longer work properly with older hardware, particularly SCSI boards and
genuine, Novell brand NE-2000 Ethernet boards. Considering that one of
Linux's claims to fame is that it installs on practically anything, this is
a fairly serious deficiency. I recommend going back to the practice of
listing _all_ available modules for manual selection, regardless of whether
the program thinks they're needed. Also, the first driver floppy should
install a complete list of modules and what they're for, and which disk each
one is on. It is also necessary to offer the possibility of setting IRQs,
base addresses, etc. manually, since not all hardware supports doing it
automatically. It worked great back in 1996. The sysadmin often knows
best.
3. The filenames of the driver floppy images weren't particularly
informative. I really couldn't tell which one had the SCSI drivers on it,
so I ran through them all.
4. The Install HOWTO doesn't specify the exact syntax for the dd command to
write the boot, root, and driver floppies. I guessed, based on the old
install manual. I seem to have gotten away with it. But it would be better
to explain what block size and count to use, whether to use the conv=sync
parameter, and _why_.
5. The HOWTO talks a lot about the unreliability of floppies. That has
never been my experience. I buy good brands, though. Imation rates theirs
for 25 years data storage longevity. Verbatim also has a good reputation.
6. The "Configure and lay out" screen only offered to create ext2 file
systems, not ext3 or Reiser. Supposedly this was fixed, but I didn't see
that.
7. In my opinion, attempting to partition and lay out target drives before
establishing access to the installation media (CDs, Debian mirror, or local
hard disk, etc.) isn't the ideal sequence of steps. I realize it's late in
the project to bring this up, but I think some problems could be avoided by
re-examining the order things are done in.
Since a lot of the recent difficulty seems to come from limited space for
the ever-growing installation kernel on the floppies, which forces a lot of
modules off onto driver floppies, a better approach would be to have the
boot/root floppy set concentrate on just opening a path to the main
installation media. Once the first-stage installer can read or download
files, it could load an installer kernel of unlimited size, with drivers for
everything in the world compiled in, and hand off control to it.
At that point it would be a lot easier to partition and lay out the
drives.
Another benefit of that approach would be simpler boot floppies, and
maybe the possibility of more descriptive naming:
IDE install media boot floppy
SCSI install media boot floppy
Network install media boot floppy
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