Bug#422307: Sparc installation problem.
Hey,
I wanted to resurrect my old SPARC to use as a web proxy/ dan's guardian
server for my daughter and Debian supports my old box.
I tried etch sparc installer on the debian site but I am assuming that
the known problem with the esp driver on the cd install is what almost
made me quit and throw the old sparc into the trash bin. see here for info:
http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/errata -> section "sparc:
CD installs for sparc32 may fail"
I have however managed to get the machine installed from a Sarge CD and
upgraded to Etch:
First)
I had to figure out the hard way, that to get to the shells during
install you have to set debconf priority to low AND BOOT_DEBUG=3....any
other combination failed for me. I repeatedly tried BOOT_DEBUG=3 and
never saw a menu where I could get to a shell until I used the low priority.
Second)
I had to find the dd trick to get the disk label back to a usable state.
Otherwise my 2GB harddrives appeared to be 200MB drives.
Third)
What are the command line partitioning tools ?? :-) I know now, but to
someone with no experience this would be daunting, if not unapproachable.
I am going to propose the following changes:
Could someone please upgrade the documentation to reflect the fact that
on SPARC you have to use the correct combination of flags to get to the
menu with the shells during install e.g.
boot: linux debconf/prioity=low BOOT_DEBUG=3
AND
put the trick with dd onto the partitioning page and
which tools to load and WHEN so that you can get to them
which partitioning tools to use from the command line AND in what
order, to discover and partition your disks.
Last, and this is the most important:
I was quite disappointed with the initial interaction with the installer.
Non of the documentation spells anything out if you happen to need to
use the most bare bones nothing is working install.
I would think(yah! I know) that the serial interface would be the
primary installation mechanism on anything other than a PC(i386 or
x86_64) and the fact that it would just stop working with no
notification or messages is quite scary.
Menu, Menu, Menu, lack of any response and no error or status messages
should be avoided.
Before you wonder if I have a clue - I am a linux certified technical
professional(and I code/hack for fun) that has been deploying linux for
years but this is my first experience with anything debian based - if my
clients don't use it I haven't had to learn it so no debian until now.
I'll be putting etch on a PC to give it a fair try since the sparc is a
little older and more limited hardware.
Now if I can just find a couple if ethernet interfaces for the old sparc
20 so that I can setup the firewall/proxy/dan's guardian.
Anthony
P.S. Buona Fortuna! Ema.
Emanuele Rocca wrote:
Hello Anthony,
* Anthony Smith <anthony.smith@sbcglobal.net>, [2007-05-04 15:36 -0600]:
Image version: Sarge
Can you try a recent version of the installer?
http://www.debian.org/releases/etch/debian-installer/
Thanks.
ciao,
ema
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