Package: debian-installer
Severity: Important
I've been trying to test install the "etch" daily netinst CD on an
oldworld Mac (beige G3) and I can't get off first base because I
can't
get the video to co-operate.
I'm using the BootX bootloader under MacOS-9.2.2
Before I begin describing my problems, let me state that I was
able to
install "sarge" using just about any of the available combinations of
video setting in BootX ("Force video settings" checkbox on or off,
"No
video driver" checkbox on or off, and any one of three settings
for "More
kernel arguments:" -- "video=ofonly", "", and
"video=atyfb:vmode:17,cmode:8") (Does anybody know what the two video
checkboxes translate into in terms of kernel arguments???)
The problem is that, no matter what I set for video options in BootX,
using the "debian-testing-powerpc-netinst.iso" CD image from
http://cdimage.debian.org/daily-builds/arch-latest/powerpc/iso_cd/
I get unreadable stuff on the screen during the part that should be
kernel messages and evenutally it hangs. I never get to the language
chooser screen at all.
In some cases I get tiny unreadable green text which is duplicated
between the left and right halves of the screen, followed by readable
characters in white saying:
Preparing boot params...
Preparing BAT...
pmac_init(): exit
id mach(): done
MMU: enter
MMU: hw init
hash: enter
hash: find piece
hash: done
MMU: mapin
MMU: setio
MMU: exit
then it hangs.
In other cases (in particular with none of the BootX video checkboxes
set and with kernel args set to "video=ofonly") I get a seemingly
random
collection of white dots on a black screen (nothing recognizable as
potential kernel messages) and it hangs.
Is the ATI video driver compiled into the kernel on this CD?