Bug#510271: installation-report: Lenny on a Slug - eventual success after a few tries and some fixups
* Rick Thomas <rbthomas55@pobox.com> [2009-01-12 19:46]:
> 1) What part of the current d-i documentation or d-i software needs to be
> modified so that normal folks don't make the same mistake I did.
I'm open to improving the docs, but so far I'm not sure there's
anything wrong with then...
> 2) Assume a user has a slug they've been using with the Linksys
> software for a while and wants to switch to Debian: What should
> they do to make sure d-i gets their network configuration right
> without having to resort to the fixups you describe below?
... the docs clearly say that a) the network configuration has to be
complete when you use a static IP address and b) if you configure the
Linksys firmware to use DHCP that will be used.
So to make sure d-i gets it right you either have to:
a) put in all values in the Linksys firmware
or
b) tell the Linksys firmware to use DHCP and configure your DHCP
server properly.
I think both are pretty clear. Maybe I should explicitly mention
"hostname" and "domain" somewhere, though...
> 3) Is there any way to have d-i offer slug users the same kind of
> network configuration options as are considered normal for users of
> other systems? For example, it appears that there is room for some
> user-definable data at the end of the flash image (see the
> "--payload" option in the upslug2 man page). Can that be used to
> preseed some d-i parameters, such as networking configuration?
Good question; I don't know. Maybe you can investigate. But this
would require users to regenerate the image... I cannot possibly see
how this would be easier compared to simply filling in the domain name
with the Linksys firmware (or fixing it after the installation).
> 4) And specific to my own case: Do I have to re-flash with the
> Linksys software to repair the network configuration for the next
> time I want to do a test install? Or is there a simpler way that
> can be done from the existing Debian setup?
The device configuration is stored in /dev/mtdblock1. The Linksys
firmware will modifiy these values when you change the configuration
with the web interface. I believe some of the alternative NSLU2
firmware images have a tool to modify that area... maybe that could be
ported to Debian and put in the nslu2-utils package.
But right now you have to flash the Linksys firmware again.
--
Martin Michlmayr
http://www.cyrius.com/
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