On 12/12/16, Diego Roversi <[email protected]> wrote: > On Mon, 12 Dec 2016 05:35:01 +0000 > Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton <[email protected]> wrote: > >> add console=ttyS2 to the kernel parameters, also earlyprintk is really >> helpful (but you have to have the right options compiled in the kernel >> to use it). >> > > Ok, I retried with this, and now the serial console works (thanks):
great! ok so now you have a feedback loop to monitor issues until success. > Except the ethernet doesn't works. There are errors in dmesg: ok. right. so the next questions are: how flexible are you prepared to be to get this working, and do you *absolutely* need to use debian-installer to get this up-and-running? i,e, do you have some hard requirement that *forces* you to use debian-installer or did you choose it because you'd heard it was the "normal" way to install debian? the reason i ask is because the last time i actually used debian-installer on arm hardware was way back in 2010, when frans pop very kindly built a custom (armel) d-i for the gpl-violating CT-PC89e which had an S3C6410. i loved the fact that it could be loaded into memory such that you could install whatever you wanted on whatever hardware was available, and loved the minimalism... *but*... it's so complex to set up that i've never been able to successfully build one for any of the hardware i've been working with. instead, i've resorted - reluctantly - to using either debootstrap or qemu-arm to carry out the root filesystem preparation... then copied that over. in doing so, i've *always* dealt exclusively with initrd-less *custom* kernels, dedicated specifically for the target hardware (including modules which again are copied over manually). what i'm hoping to do in the future now that the rk3288 is actually a decent system is try native compiles, so there stands a chance of actually compiling up debian-installer native... but that's a looong way off for me, yet. anyway, so we have two possible hints above of paths that you could choose, here (a third being to download some random rootfs off the internet that someone else has arbitrarily made decisions on, during the install.. which is why i really really prefer debian-installer....) ... OR .... you could look for a debian-testing "weekly build" version of debian-installer (which should have a more recent kernel) ... OR.... you could try unpacking the debian-installer initrd, compiling your own kernel, putting in the replacement modules by hand and repacking it, but FOR GOD's SAKE watch out for the fact that when using cpio you ABSOLUTELY MUST specify the target directory properly. cpio by default will unpack with ABSOLUTE paths.... and that means that you will end up fucking your x86 root filesystem by overwriting critical system files with the contents of the initrd. done it once... won't do it again, ever... managed to recover it but it was a bit hair-raising... ... OR.... you could ask around to see if someone else has a working (older or newer) debian-installer from debian/testing or sid that is known to work and they can provide a copy online for you. lots of options, if you're prepared to be flexible. l.
