Package: installation-reports

Boot method: CD
Image version: Etch Beta 1 11.11.05
Date: 25.11.05, 1800 hours.

Machine: Custom-Built Desktop
Processor:Athlon XP 2800 2.1GHz
Memory:768MB PC2700
Partitions: 
Dateisystem   Typ    1K-Blöcke   Benutzt Verfügbar Ben% Eingehängt auf
/dev/hda1 reiserfs     4016064    656632   3359432  17% /
tmpfs        tmpfs      388260         0    388260   0% /dev/shm

# This trashy old Seagate drive I use for experimenting on. As this is the 
first time I've used the Etch installer I thought I'd do a trial run before 
installing again on my main hard drive, which is a WD 80GB 7200 rpm/8MB 
cache/ATA133 with Win XP installed on hda1 & 2.

Output of lspci and lspci -n:
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8366/A/7 [Apollo KT266/A/333]
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8366/A/7 [Apollo KT266/A/333 
AGP]
0000:00:05.0 Multimedia audio controller: C-Media Electronics Inc CM8738 (rev 
10)
0000:00:09.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 
Controller (rev 50)
0000:00:09.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 
Controller (rev 50)
0000:00:09.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 51)
0000:00:0d.0 Ethernet controller: Linksys NC100 Network Everywhere Fast 
Ethernet 10/100 (rev 11)
0000:00:0e.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. 
RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
0000:00:10.0 Multimedia video controller: Conexant CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and 
Audio Decoder (rev 05)
0000:00:10.2 Multimedia controller: Conexant CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio 
Decoder [MPEG Port] (rev 05)
0000:00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233A ISA Bridge
0000:00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. 
VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
0000:00:11.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 
Controller (rev 23)
0000:00:11.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 
Controller (rev 23)
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV25 [GeForce4 Ti 
4400] (rev a2)

0000:00:00.0 0600: 1106:3099
0000:00:01.0 0604: 1106:b099
0000:00:05.0 0401: 13f6:0111 (rev 10)
0000:00:09.0 0c03: 1106:3038 (rev 50)
0000:00:09.1 0c03: 1106:3038 (rev 50)
0000:00:09.2 0c03: 1106:3104 (rev 51)
0000:00:0d.0 0200: 1317:0985 (rev 11)
0000:00:0e.0 0200: 10ec:8139 (rev 10)
0000:00:10.0 0400: 14f1:8800 (rev 05)
0000:00:10.2 0480: 14f1:8802 (rev 05)
0000:00:11.0 0601: 1106:3147
0000:00:11.1 0101: 1106:0571 (rev 06)
0000:00:11.2 0c03: 1106:3038 (rev 23)
0000:00:11.3 0c03: 1106:3038 (rev 23)
0000:01:00.0 0300: 10de:0251 (rev a2)

# pci-utils was not installed by default. Is this normal?

Base System Installation Checklist:
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it

Initial boot worked:    [O]
Configure network HW:   [E]
Config network:         [E]
Detect CD:              [O]
Load installer modules: [O]
Detect hard drives:     [O]
Partition hard drives:  [O]
Create file systems:    [O]
Mount partitions:       [O]
Install base system:    [O]
Install boot loader:    [O]
Reboot:                 [O]

Comments/Problems:

I chose 'expert' at the boot prompt and installed the 2.6.12-386 kernel. 
Everything went smoothly except for the following -

#Network - My home network is 2 PCs - the main one a gateway connected to the 
internet via a cable modem (dhcp); the secondary one a client connected to the 
gateway via ethernet (static ip). For this install I temporarily reversed the 
roles of these machines, so that I could do it from behind a firewall (Sarge is 
installed on the secondary machine). I left all the network cards alone (see 
lspci output above) and chose manual network configuration.
The problem I had was with the loading of the nic modules at runtime. The 
installer detected both network cards correctly, but because I only needed one 
interface I deselected the Linksys (tulip) card (normally eth0). But when the 
system booted for the first time no nic or ip modules were loaded. There was 
also no odd messages in /var/log/syslog to indicate any network setup problems.
I didn't really know how to troubleshoot this so I just wiped and re-installed, 
this time keeping both modules that the installer offers (tulip and 8139too). 
The network is now being set up but there is a third driver being loaded - 
8139cp. This shouldn't be there because it is not the right module for the 
chipset on the Realtek card I have. I have a feeling that this mismatched 
module is the one being used, because the network performance is below what it 
usually is.
Again, there are no messages in syslog, other than the notifications of modules 
being loaded. Could it be that the installer has a problem with networking if 
you don't set up an eth0 interface and just have eth1? I have a feeling then 
that the installer can have trouble setting up the network correctly on 
machines with multiple interfaces. To avoid this I think I will temporarily 
remove one of the nics when I do the main install.

#Locales - This has been a problem with every Linux install I've done. I live 
in Australia but speak German as a second language, and like to set up my PCs 
in this language as far as is possible. But the Debian installer doesn't seem 
to like it. When the locale config program is run I select all instances of 
'de_DE' and 'en_US', and choose de_DE.UTF-8 as the default. I always find, 
though, that something weird gets put in /etc/environment, against what I 
thought I'd chosen - 

LANGUAGE="de_AU:de:en_GB:en"

LANG=de_DE.UTF-8

This first part seems to be a 'de_Australia' locale, and 'en_GB' is not the 
version of English I selected. Leaving it like this can cause some programs to 
not be configured correctly when installed (messages about 'locale de_AU does 
not exist') so to fix it I change the line to -

LANGUAGE="de_DE:de:en_US:en"

which causes those messages to disappear.

The other locale problem seems to be with UTF-8 . I usually find I have to use 
an older de_DE locale as the default because some programs won't display text 
correctly eg. gksu . Although I don't know whether you would officially class 
this as a bug.

Neither of these things are showstoppers but they are unnecessary 
inconveniences just the same. Anyhow I look forward to the upgrade to testing 
and will send another installation report when it's done.

Thanks,

Les Gray
Sydney, Australia


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