Sun Blade 100 installation

["J. David Blackstone" <jdavidb@goreadthebible.com>]

  I've got a Sun Blade 100 that I would like to install Debian on in any way possible.  I presume that installing an older version would work as I can simply use apt to upgrade.

  I've successfully installed Debian before on i386 and PPC using boot CDs, network installs, floppies, and even once directly running debootstrap to transform an existing system running another distro into a Debian system.  I still probably don't have a lot of experience that I would need to debug and try alternatives when it comes to the Sparc installation CD's.

  It sounds like TFTP netbooting is the easiest and most common option for Sparc installs, but this machine is not in an environment where I have enough control to do that.  And since the Blade 100 will not boot from floppies, I believe my only option is to use a boot CD to boot the system in preparation for a network install.

  I have tried three boot CD images, but each has problems:

* The sarge RC2 businesscard-sized installer: http://cdimage.debian.org/pub/cdimage-testing/sarge_d-i/sparc/rc2/sarge-sparc-businesscard.iso: this boots but cannot mount the root filesystem.  The last thing I see is a message that says "cramfs: wrong magic" followed by a kernel panic with the stated cause being that the root FS cannot be mounted.  However, this does not seem unexpected, given that the installer ports status page (at http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/ports-status) states that this build is broken due to "missing isofs module on CD."
* The sarge current build of the businesscard-sized installer: http://cdimage.debian.org/pub/cdimage-testing/daily/sparc/current/sarge-sparc-businesscard.iso: Despite the fact that the installer ports status page states that the current builds are working, I get the exact same error with this image as I do with the other.
(Note: I would try the netinst CD image, but I have found this same problem mentioned in two messages in the list archives, indicating that the same problem also exists in that image.  The two messages are http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2005/02/msg00249.html and http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2005/02/msg00580.html)
* The sarge current build mini.iso at http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/sarge/main/installer-sparc/current/images/mini.iso: this is dated far earlier than the other images, but it does successfully boot!  However, installation freezes at the first option screen (select language).  The behavior makes it look like the keyboard is simply not working, although there is some corruption in the text-based dialog box on the screen (border on the right screwed up) indicating there might be more to it than that.

  I've mentioned this on debian-boot, but I thought I might get more help here.

  What can I do to connive an installation of Debian onto this machine?

Thanks,
J. David