Installation 1.3 failed, returned to 1.1 and upgraded

[JIM_BURT_at_nass-fx@nass.usda.gov]

     I pulled all the tricks I could, trying to install Debian 1.3 as on 
     ftp.debian.org with bo/disks-i386/current/* dated June 4.
     I created 7 install diskettes both at work and at home, but both sets 
     produced the same problem on my home computer (which has run Debian 
     1.1  since November, 1996).  Three problems arose:
     
     1. The Debian install would not recognize "Linux swap" space I had 
     used since November, 1996.  This swap space resided on a primary scsi 
     partition as /dev/sda1.  I suggest that the install diskettes correct 
     this problem.  When I created another swap partition at /dev/sda5, the 
     install diskettes recognized and used this swap space.  Additionally, 
     when I returned to Debian 1.1 install diskettes, that install 
     recognized /dev/sda1 as swap space.
     
     2. Using only diskettes, the install script produced a floppy diskette 
     which booted by hanging while uncompressing /vmlinuz.  After five full 
     tries at install with new disks two times, I sought other approaches.
     My other approaches; including using "yard" diskettes to alter the 
     Debian 1.3 installed files on hard disk; "chroot" with the rescue disk 
     and the probably good Debian 1.3 install on hard disk; and "dpkg 
     --root=/target -i ./vim_4.6-1.deb" failed for understandable reasons 
     like unavailable or incompatable libraries (eg, "can't resolve symbol 
     'sysinfo'").
     
     3. Starting install from scratch, I used a single rescue diskette and 
     ***my mirror of Debian 1.3*** on a second scsi hard disk.  This 
     approach worked swiftly, thanks to the Debian community.  However, 
     while /vmlinuz uncompressed well from the floppy, each attempted 
     install hung after the same point,
        VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.
     Looking at /etc/fstab with the dandy resue diskette, I gather the next 
     comments should have been
        mounting /proc
     
     
     When I returned to my Debian 1.1 install diskettes from November, 
     1996, with Kernel 2.0.6, my install went perfectly.  FOLLOWING the 
     Debian 1.3 upgrade notes, my upgrade from the 1.1 minimal install went 
     perfectly.  Still, I would hope to one day use the current Debian 1.3 
     install procedure when installing Debian on a blank partition.
     
     Perhaps the new installation doesn't yet accomodate scsi correctly.
     I use an Adaptec 2940UW adapter and two  2GB Seagate SCSI drives (a 
     Hawk and a Barracuda).  I also have 64 MB memory on a Pentium Pro 200 
     MHz computer, which probably is irrelevant to my problems.  I'll put a 
     lot of effort getting Debian on my computer because I believe both the 
     structure and the results of Debian are top notch, but it needs that 
     top notch repaired.
     
     Jim Burt,  jburt@nass.usda.gov


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