On Saturday 03 January 2009 23:05:01 Andrew M.A. Cater wrote: > On Sat, Jan 03, 2009 at 04:11:35PM -0600, lee wrote: > > On Fri, Jan 02, 2009 at 10:51:56PM +0000, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote: > > > On Fri, Jan 02, 2009 at 03:00:41PM -0600, lee wrote: > > > > On Thu, Jan 01, 2009 at 05:56:25PM -0200, Eduardo M KALINOWSKI wrote: > > > > > lee wrote: > > > > > > Well, how do you install on SATA disks when the installer can't > > > > > > access them? It still has the option to load more modules from a > > > > > > floppy disk, but I haven't had a floppy disk drive for years ... > > > > > > With no system installed, you couldn't create those disks anyway. > > Specifics please: Machine name / model number / motherboard if > homebuilt? > > Any output from dmesg (if it gets that far) likewise > > Output from lspci > > Output from lsmod > > Which installer are you using - Etch a.k.a Debian 4.0 or Lenny (upcoming > Debian 5.0) ? > > Which kernel version appears to boot - 2.6.18 / 2.6.24 / 2.6.26? > > > > Go to the non-free archive for Debian packages. Look for > > > firmware-non-free packages. I've recently had to use the bnx2 > > > drivers for Broadcom ethernet cards. > > > > The modules I need to access the disks come with standard and Debian > > kernels. They are not non-free. > > If you know that they come with Debian's standard kernels and > that they're there, is there any obvious reason why they're not > included? > > > And then, when you look at http://www.debian.org/distrib/netinst, it > > doesn't tell you that the installer is missing crucial modules to > > access SATA disks (which are the default nowadays), or where to get > > missing modules. There are also no floppy disk images of the installer > > for download (like there used to be), which would allow you do > > download another disk image containing more modules. Still the > > installer keeps prompting for a floppy disk and tells you to insert > > the disk, just to find out that there is no floppy disk drive > > installed. > > Have you _seen_ how big kernels are lately? : floppies (even if you can > find working floppy disks) ceased to be viable about the time Linux > went to kernel version 2.6. > > > Why doesn't the page tell you, like it did when floppy images were > > available, that you might need more modules and offers you to download > > another CD image? Why aren't those modules just on the installer CD? > > I think the release notes mention things like this: the modules > probably are on an installer CD: do you know which modules they > might be? > > > It's not that the CD image would get too big to fit on a CD or to > > download --- and if it was, there could always be the minimal > > installer image for computers older than 4 or 5 years and another one > > with all that's missing on the minimal image. > > > > The installer could also give you instructions about how to get more > > modules or just download the missing modules automatically during the > > installation, just like it does with other things. > > The instructions below are for those things that are explicitly > non-free. It's also based on the Lenny installer (which does tell you > if non-free firmware is required). > > > > Download the .deb on another machine. [Assuming you're using Linux > > > here]. > > > > What do you do when you don't have one? Buy a windoze CD and another > > hard disk, install windoze on that disk, get the needed files, install > > Debian, sell the windoze CD and disk? > > If you don't have another machine: borrow a friend who has a USB stick / > SD card and access to a Linux machine. Your email address suggests that > you may be in .de - which has towns with Linux user groups / internet > cafe's. > > > And before you can do that, how do you know where to get the missing > > kernel modules for the installer, and how do you know which ones are > > missing? I'd like to know that for the next time I'll try to install. > > Boot with a live CD? > > > > Carry the USB stick across to the machine you need it on. Boot the > > > Lenny installer - at some point the dialog will tell you that you need > > > non-free modules and will ask you for a floppy/USB stick to load the > > > modules from. > > > > No, it didn't tell me that it needs modules. It only told me that no > > disks had been detected. If I hadn't known that a module is missing > > and that it does work once the right module is available, I could have > > concluded that Linux is just too old to run on even "old" (like two or > > three years) hardware ... > > Kernel version you are trying to install? > > > > Insert the stick when prompted. > > > > The installer offers to read modules from a floppy disk, not from an > > USB device. > > > > > > These modules need to be available to the installer out of the > > > > box. It's not like I'd be using some unusual hardware ... > > > > > > What is not unusual to you is unusual to other people :) > > > > What is unusual about SATA disks and controllers? > > > > Go to your favourite computer store --- now or a year (or even longer) > > ago --- and try to buy a computer or a mainboard that doesn't have > > SATA disks or an SATA controller. You'd have a very hard time to find > > one. > > I can probably find _at least_ one. > > > Also keep in mind that this was the amd64 installer. Which system that > > can run 64bit software doesn't have an SATA controller? > > Two out of the three of the AMD64 systems under my desks here (all using > old motherboards :) ). > > > > The reason that the modules are in non-free is precisely because > > > they have licence conditions or similar which prevent us putting > > > them in the Debian archive proper. > > > > The "AHCI SATA support" in the standard and Debian kernels creates > > something that is non-free? > > Check BIOS settings carefully: if the BIOS will allow you, try setting > the Legacy compatible options if available - the drives may then appear to > be PATA.
I am slightly puzzled by this. I installed Etch as a dual boot on a Sata drive on a m/c with an AMD64 processor some while ago without any problems or issues at all. That m/c has no IDE HDDs. Only IDE optical drives. I have since dist-upgraded to Lenny. I have not installed Lenny on that particular m/c from the installer, but I would not expect to have problems as I did not with Etch. ?? Lisi -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org