Bug#105451: installation impasse
Package: boot-floppies Version: stable, kernel 2.2.19pre17 flavor: compact architecture: i386 model: AMD 486 DX4-100 (clone) memory: 24MB scsi: none cd-rom: none network card: none pcmcia: none I'm trying to migrate from an old Slackware system with kernel version 1.2.9 to something stable and more modern, so I tried to install the current Debian release, using two empty 360-MB partitions on hda -- one for /, one for /usr. Making the root, boot, driver and 11 base-system floppies went smoothly. The install script was easy to follow, and I ended up with the new system on the two partitions without disturbing the old system. When I booted from the custom recovery floppy and tried to configure the system, I ran into a snag: I need to download the rest of the stuff over a PPP connection, but my modem is on cua14 on the old system, using port 0x2f0 and irq 2. (COM1 at 3f8, irq 4 is the mouse; COM2 at 2f8, irq 3 is a serial line my wife logs in on with an old glass tty.) Because of the need to set up ttyS14 for the modem by hand, I couldn't use the ppp setup script (and anyway the chat script I have to use is too complicated for the automatic installation script to configure). So this basically halted the installation at that point. I went to another virtual console and tried to set it up by hand. I figured mknod /dev/ttyS14 c 4 78 would create the special file, and it appeared to. I set the permissions and ownership to match the other COM ports (root:dialout 660) by hand, and tried to configure the port with setserial /dev/ttyS14 uart 16550A port 0x2f0 irq 2 which is the same as the line in rc.serial on the old system that sets this port, except for using ttyS14 instead of cua14. But I get No such device: /dev/ttyS14 back from setserial. After an extensive Google search for "Debian" and "ttyS14", which turned up lots of other people (most of them trying to install modems in laptops) with similar problems, but no solution, I figured that the problem might be a missing serial-port module: lsmod shows no modules at all, and there was an error message complaining that there was no driver for char-major-4, which is aliased to "serial" in modules.conf. The serial-port driver for kernel 2.2.19 seems to be generic_serial.o instead of the serial.o used in versions 2.2.18 and earlier. I grabbed a kernel package that had this in and tried inserting it into the kernel, which then complained that there was already a serial-port driver loaded. Either way, the symptoms remain unchanged. I tried configuring the port at boot time by uncommenting the line for it in serial.conf and filling in the proper values, but this only added the "No such device" complaint to the boot log. However, forcing the module to load at boot time by adding a line for it in modules.conf makes lsmod say that generic-serial is (unused) -- but maybe that's just because it was already compiled into the kernel, so the loaded copy is redundant. I also tried extracting a copy of serial.o from one of the 2.2.18 kernel packages, but that turns out to have a dozen or more undefined references and won't load; it is clearly incompatible with the 2.2.19 kernel. Has anyone actually verified that generic_serial can correctly set up ttyS14 in the 2.2.19 kernel? I am getting the impression that the generic_serial driver in 2.2.19 can't handle ttyS14. I have succeeded in making Lilo boot the new kernel from the hard disk so I don't have to wait for the incredibly slow floppy to boot; it seems to take 5 or 10 seconds per track to load. So the box is now dual-boot, with the old 1.2.9 Slackware kernel the default, and "debian" an additional choice. This should make the migration easier *IF* I can ever get the modem working under Debian, so I can finish building the new system. Then I should be able to just add the old /home filesystem to fstab, make the new kernel the default, and be in business. The modem is a no-name clonemaker's special; I can't even find the booklet that came with it that tells how to set the jumpers, so I'm stuck with the port and interrupt. The only other thing I can think of that might contribute to the problem is that the filesystems were built on the debian partitions by the old Slackware system; but presumably as they are regular ext2 filesystems that should not cause problems. If this interfered with device files, I shouldn't be able to read the hard-disk partitions from the new system. Any suggestions on how I can finish the debian installation on this box will be very welcome. -- Andy Young -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: installation impasse
On Sun, Jul 15, 2001 at 01:02:51PM -0700, Andrew Young wrote: > Thanks for responding. I'm providing some feedback below: > > > On Sat, Jul 14, 2001 at 04:24:46PM -0700, Andrew T. Young wrote: > >> I'm trying to migrate from a Slackware system with kernel version 1.2.9 to the > >> current Debian stable release. I downloaded the boot, root, and 11 base floppies > >> for the "compact" version, and all went OK until I got to the part (after > >> re-booting from the boot floppy) about installing and configuring the rest of the > >> system, which requires access to the Net. > >> > >> My connection is a PPP link, and it runs through a funny modem that uses port 2f0 > >> and IRQ 2. On the 1.2.9 system, this is simply configured by setserial in > >> rc.serial. But this does not work on the Debian system, which reports "No such > >> device" although I made the /dev/ttyS14 entry with mknod. > >> > >> It appears that the serial-port code now lives in a module; but where do I find > >> it? > > > > Most modules are available and installable during the boot-floppies > > installation process (it's an option in the main menu, look for it). > > > If you are talking about the "load the driver-1.bin diskette" stage, I > did that. If you are talking about the "configure the drivers" step > that comes up when re-booting from the boot floppy, I don't see any > serial driver offered in those menus (which I believe are presented by > /sbin/update-modules). I'm talking about the "Install Operating System Kernel and Modules" and "Configure Device Driver Modules" steps. > > >> > >> It also appears that many other people have had similar problems (mostly while > >> trying to install Winmodems) -- a search for "debian" and "ttyS14" turns up > >> hundreds of pages of similar complaints, but no solution. This is not explained > >> in either the Serial-HOWTO or the Modem-HOWTO. > > > > What modem are you using ? is it a Lucent or similar ? If you had it running > > with Slackware/1.2.9 there's no reason it shouldn't work with Debian/2.2.19+ > > > The modem is a no-name thing that came with my clone -- I can't even find > a manual for it. But it has worked OK for about 5 years with the 1.2.9 > kernel. This is a 486 system, so it is a real hardware modem, not one of > those imitation things for Windows. > > >> It would be helpful if the installation program provided the means of setting up > >> this special port for those of us who need it. > >> > >> It would also be helpful if the instructions on how to do this were included in > >> one of the HOWTO documents. > >> > >> Furthermore, it would be nice if the necessary module (which I suspect is > >> "generic_serial.o") were readily available from the Debian ftp site. Apparently > > > > serial.o > > OK -- I'll check on that. Thanks for the pointer. I tried extracting > a copy of "generic_serial.o" from one of the 2.2.19 kernel packages and > inserting it, but got a message saying there was already a serial > driver in the kernel -- although lsmod shows nothing -- so I suppose it > is compiled in. I tried to create /dev/ttyS14 again with the > generic_serial module inserted, and got the same "No such device" > messages as before. > > Nevertheless, I'll try getting a copy of serial.o (which is not listed in > the menu provided by "update-modules" so far as I can see) and see if that > works any better. > > Do you know for a fact that /dev/ttyS14 works with the current kernel? I have used /dev/ttyS14 with my built-in modem succesfully for the last months. I don't use Debian official kernel package though. > Has anybody actually checked that this special *configurable* device > really functions in the current release? I am beginning to suspect there > is some incompatibility between setserial or mknod and the current kernel > for this device which has to be configured entirely after the fact. Please keep Cc'ing to debian-boot since other people might help you and/or be interested in your problem. There are people who know better than I too. -- Eric VAN BUGGENHAUT [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: installation impasse
On Sat, Jul 14, 2001 at 04:24:46PM -0700, Andrew T. Young wrote: > I'm trying to migrate from a Slackware system with kernel version 1.2.9 to the > current Debian stable release. I downloaded the boot, root, and 11 base floppies > for the "compact" version, and all went OK until I got to the part (after > re-booting from the boot floppy) about installing and configuring the rest of the > system, which requires access to the Net. > > My connection is a PPP link, and it runs through a funny modem that uses port 2f0 > and IRQ 2. On the 1.2.9 system, this is simply configured by setserial in > rc.serial. But this does not work on the Debian system, which reports "No such > device" although I made the /dev/ttyS14 entry with mknod. > > It appears that the serial-port code now lives in a module; but where do I find > it? Most modules are available and installable during the boot-floppies installation process (it's an option in the main menu, look for it). > > It also appears that many other people have had similar problems (mostly while > trying to install Winmodems) -- a search for "debian" and "ttyS14" turns up > hundreds of pages of similar complaints, but no solution. This is not explained > in either the Serial-HOWTO or the Modem-HOWTO. What modem are you using ? is it a Lucent or similar ? If you had it running with Slackware/1.2.9 there's no reason it shouldn't work with Debian/2.2.19+ > > It would be helpful if the installation program provided the means of setting up > this special port for those of us who need it. > > It would also be helpful if the instructions on how to do this were included in > one of the HOWTO documents. > > Furthermore, it would be nice if the necessary module (which I suspect is > "generic_serial.o") were readily available from the Debian ftp site. Apparently serial.o -- Eric VAN BUGGENHAUT [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
installation impasse
I'm trying to migrate from a Slackware system with kernel version 1.2.9 to the current Debian stable release. I downloaded the boot, root, and 11 base floppies for the "compact" version, and all went OK until I got to the part (after re-booting from the boot floppy) about installing and configuring the rest of the system, which requires access to the Net. My connection is a PPP link, and it runs through a funny modem that uses port 2f0 and IRQ 2. On the 1.2.9 system, this is simply configured by setserial in rc.serial. But this does not work on the Debian system, which reports "No such device" although I made the /dev/ttyS14 entry with mknod. It appears that the serial-port code now lives in a module; but where do I find it? It also appears that many other people have had similar problems (mostly while trying to install Winmodems) -- a search for "debian" and "ttyS14" turns up hundreds of pages of similar complaints, but no solution. This is not explained in either the Serial-HOWTO or the Modem-HOWTO. It would be helpful if the installation program provided the means of setting up this special port for those of us who need it. It would also be helpful if the instructions on how to do this were included in one of the HOWTO documents. Furthermore, it would be nice if the necessary module (which I suspect is "generic_serial.o") were readily available from the Debian ftp site. Apparently it is buried inside a few multi-megabyte kernel packages, but not otherwise available. And, without having the installation finished, I'm not sure I could extract the module from a *.deb package anyway. Without getting the modem running, I can't proceed with the installation. Any suggestions? -- Andrew T. Young [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
