Quoting Ian White (chance@opportunist.co.uk):
> I was hoping to upgrade my old Sarge to a Dell
> Pentium 4 Dimension E520 series but neither the old CDs nor any kind of download
> interacts with keyboard response to install. I tried the AMD-64 binary CD. I think
the problem
> is that installation does not recognised USB keyboard. Is there a way round
> this? If there is a way, which binary CD should I be using for this hardware?
You should give more details about the image you use (exact URL you
downloaded it from) and the exact moment where your keyboard is not
recognized.
Does it work at the boot prompt?
Does it work at the language selection screen?
.../...
Numerous people have completed installs with USB keyboards so
I actually fail to believe that the problem is strictly inherent to
USB keyboards...
--
There is no response from the first interaction - language choice isn't it? I assumed the problem was keyboard since I last tried the (unofficial) AMD download given that this appears to not be i586/i386 (though that should run). The fact that the CD starts up at all and displays suggests to me that CPU isn't the problem. I'd hoped to find a way to do from a running system rather than net installation CD or floppies but can't find one. The other stuff I have came free with PC World so of course isn't all it could be. Mandriva is probably the best of the bunch but I realise (like the old lover) that while I at first thought Debian was absolute crap after RH, what with the complications of Aptitude, it has a lot going for it that the others don't. I'd just got used to RH. I may revert to Kubuntu until there's an official AMD release. It might be that this particular one was built with old keyboard connections. I am not certain but it probably came from one of the Irish sites since that's where I am. On the other hand, I can't say for certain since I often had trouble accessing them and looked further afield. It might be a good idea to wait until there is a certified AMD release, which is not likely to be long. One other thing I find very strange is that while my last computer would only use the right-facing speaker (and not at all in Debian - another Dell with a soundcard known for Li*x problems, this one only uses the facing-left in Winthing or Li*x. Whatever the problem is, it lies in the installation software, not with Debian itself. If I could install from Windows (or even over-writing Mandriva) without having to do it from boot, I would and I'm pretty certain it would work.