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. HTH, AndyC > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org