Re: Proposal to document sparc installation issues

[stappers@stappers.nl (Geert Stappers)]

On Tue, Mar 29, 2005 at 09:19:33PM +0200, Frans Pop wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> There are two known problems in Debian Installer that are unlikely to be
> solved before the release of Sarge. I therefore propose to include the
> following text in the Release Notes for Sparc.
> 
> The text in the Installation Guide that is referred to, can be found at [1].
> 
> Comments on the idea and both the text below and the note in the manual
> are welcome.
> 
> (I will also add a note about the framebuffer issue in the manual, but that
>  has not yet been written.)
> 
> Cheers,
> FJP
> 
> [1] http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/en.sparc/ch06s03.html#kbd-chooser
> 
> <![ %sparc [ 
>       <sect id="sparc_kbd"><heading>Issues with keyboards on &arch-title;</heading>
> 
>         <p>There are several issues with keyboard selection during installation.</p>
> 
>         <p>The first issue is with USB keyboards by Sun as used on for example
>         SunBlade systems. These are incorrectly "recognized" by the installer
>         as regular Sun keyboards. A workaround is documented in the Installation
>         Guide (see link above, chapter "Using the Debian Installer").</p>
> 
>         <p>The second issue is kernel related. Kernels in the 2.6 series use
>         a different input layer that makes all keyboards look like "normal"
>         PC keyboards. This means that if you boot the installer with a 2.4
>         kernel and configure it for a Sun or USB keyboard and later (in expert
>         mode) select a 2.6 kernel for the new system, you will very likely end
>         up with a non-working keyboard after reboot.</p>

       <p>Login by ssh or serial line to cover keyboard.</p>

    Probaly more informative.

> 
>       </sect>
> 
>       <sect id="sparc_fb"><heading>Issues with framebuffer on &arch-title;</heading>
> 
>         <p>Because of display problems on some systems, framebuffer support is
>         disabled by default for &arch-title;. This can result in ugly display on
>         systems that do properly support the framebuffer, like those with ATI
>         graphical cards. If you see display problems in the installer, you can try
>         booting with parameter "debian-installer/framebuffer=true".</p>
> 
>       </sect>
> ]]>


Cheers
Geert Stappers