Re: Installing Debian on an old Asus EEE PC

[Eric S Fraga]

Dear all,

Apologies but work interfered before I could get back to the EEE PC.

Thank you all for the responses.  Very helpful.

On Friday,  5 Jan 2024 at 18:35, Hans wrote:
> Also, very nice, you can create a multiboot sd card, and stuck it into
> the netbook, so you can boot from it several usefull livesystems (I am
> using XBOOT for this, but it is also working with YUMI or some others.

On Friday,  5 Jan 2024 at 18:36, Hans wrote:
> Am Freitag, 5. Januar 2024, 17:48:39 CET schrieb Eric S Fraga:
> Me again:
>
> Second answer: You can easily install debian 32-bit from an USB-stick·
> it is working just any other computer.

This is great.  Definitely the routes (USB and/or SD) forward for me.
Thank you.  Mind you, the bios indicates only removable storage is
recognised at boot time so probably the SD card but I'll try USB as
well.

On Friday,  5 Jan 2024 at 17:36, Tom Furie wrote:
> I'm currently running bookworm on an Atom based EeeBook (x205ta), it
> has 2G RAM, and 30G storage. The only hurdle I've found is getting
> internal sound to work (chtrt5645), though HDMI output is fine, I'm
> sure I simply haven't found the right combination of switches to
> flip. Having said that, I'm no expert on Linux audio.

This is much more powerful than my EEE PC, both in memory and disk (see
below).  By almost an order of magnitude probably!

On Friday,  5 Jan 2024 at 16:13, Charles Curley wrote:
>
> It might help if you gave us a bit more information.

Indeed.  Sorry.  The model is the original EEE PC, the 2G Surf.
ASUSTeK 700.
0.5 GB memory, 2 GB disk.

Anyway, I will try one of the very small Linux distributions.  My
eventual aim is to install a recent version of Emacs that might be able
to run in 512 MB (but probably not) as I want a portable orgmode system.

Thank you all again,
eric

-- 
Eric S Fraga via gnus (Emacs 30.0.50 2023-09-14) on Debian 12.2

Re: Installing Debian on an old Asus EEE PC

[Eric S Fraga]

On Friday,  5 Jan 2024 at 19:42, Hans wrote:
> All are running 1,666 GHz (except the very ealy ones, EEEPC 901, which is 
> running 1GHz.

Mine is one of the early ones, in fact probably the first version
released.

Thank you for your other longer post: very helpful.  I will find a
suitable SD card in the mess that is my office and will try live booting
different versions.

I am not bothered about DE -- simple WM will do.  I just want to run
Emacs with org mode as a portable writing and agenda system.

Thanks again,
eric

-- 
Eric S Fraga via gnus (Emacs 30.0.50 2023-06-19) on Debian 12.0

Re: Debian on Asus X205TA [Was: Re: Installing Debian on an old Asus EEE PC]

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Mon, Jan 08, 2024 at 08:21:00AM +0100, Marco Moock wrote:
> Am 06.01.2024 um 17:44:41 Uhr schrieb Steve McIntyre:
> 
> > The amd64 installation media now includes the bits needed to start the
> > installer on mixed-mode UEFI systems like the Bay Trail platform in
> > the X205TA.
> 
> Is that documented anywhere?
> I haven't found any information on this.
> 
> The wiki only mentions multi-arch images.
> https://wiki.debian.org/UEFI#A32-bit_x86_PC_.28i386.29_support_for_UEFI
> 

This was in the release notes for Debian 12 at some point. I have fixed
the wiki, noting that as at 2023 there are almost no 32 bit machines
that boot UEFI and that the AMD64 media contains the appropriate software
for both 32 bit and 64 bit UEFI implementations.

All the best, as ever,

Andy
(amaca...@debian.org)

Re: Debian on Asus X205TA [Was: Re: Installing Debian on an old Asus EEE PC]

[Marco Moock]

Am 06.01.2024 um 17:44:41 Uhr schrieb Steve McIntyre:

> The amd64 installation media now includes the bits needed to start the
> installer on mixed-mode UEFI systems like the Bay Trail platform in
> the X205TA.

Is that documented anywhere?
I haven't found any information on this.

The wiki only mentions multi-arch images.
https://wiki.debian.org/UEFI#A32-bit_x86_PC_.28i386.29_support_for_UEFI

Re: Debian on Asus X205TA [Was: Re: Installing Debian on an old Asus EEE PC]

[Steve McIntyre]

m...@dorfdsl.de wrote:
>Am 06.01.2024 um 10:46:56 Uhr schrieb Leandro Noferini:
>
>> In my Asus EEEPC (X205TA) the bios/uefi is 32 bit but the processor is
>> 64 so you need only the grub 32 bit but the remaining of the operative
>> system, including kernel, is 64 bit.
>
>There was another thread (maybe on debian-users-german?) discussing
>that and Debian 12 doesn't ship multiarch installers, so it will be a
>bit harder to make it work with 32 bit UEFI.

The amd64 installation media now includes the bits needed to start the
installer on mixed-mode UEFI systems like the Bay Trail platform in
the X205TA. I still have an old mixed-moded Apple Imac that works that
way as a test machine.

-- 
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK.st...@einval.com
Can't keep my eyes from the circling sky,
Tongue-tied & twisted, Just an earth-bound misfit, I...

Re: Debian on Asus X205TA [Was: Re: Installing Debian on an old Asus EEE PC]

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Jan 06, 2024 at 10:46:56AM +0100, Leandro Noferini wrote:
> Hans  writes:
> 
> [...]
> 
> > Most important: It can run all debian things (and more), but note, the
> > EEEPC is 32-bit, so you need the 32-bit version of debian.
> 
> In my Asus EEEPC (X205TA) the bios/uefi is 32 bit but the processor is
> 64 so you need only the grub 32 bit but the remaining of the operative
> system, including kernel, is 64 bit.
> 
> An example of guide: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/ASUS_x205ta
> 
> --
> Ciao
> leandro
>

Debian's amd64 install media should deal with this properly now.

The appropriate files are there to do this - whereas once upon a time
it would have been multi-arch.

Fixed by Steve McIntyre a while ago.

Andy 

Re: Debian on Asus X205TA [Was: Re: Installing Debian on an old Asus EEE PC]

[Marco Moock]

Am 06.01.2024 um 10:46:56 Uhr schrieb Leandro Noferini:

> In my Asus EEEPC (X205TA) the bios/uefi is 32 bit but the processor is
> 64 so you need only the grub 32 bit but the remaining of the operative
> system, including kernel, is 64 bit.

There was another thread (maybe on debian-users-german?) discussing
that and Debian 12 doesn't ship multiarch installers, so it will be a
bit harder to make it work with 32 bit UEFI.

Debian on Asus X205TA [Was: Re: Installing Debian on an old Asus EEE PC]

[Leandro Noferini]

Hans  writes:

[...]

> Most important: It can run all debian things (and more), but note, the
> EEEPC is 32-bit, so you need the 32-bit version of debian.

In my Asus EEEPC (X205TA) the bios/uefi is 32 bit but the processor is
64 so you need only the grub 32 bit but the remaining of the operative
system, including kernel, is 64 bit.

An example of guide: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/ASUS_x205ta

--
Ciao
leandro

Re: Installing Debian on an old Asus EEE PC

[Charles Curley]

On Fri, 05 Jan 2024 16:48:39 +
Eric S Fraga  wrote:

> anybody here have any experience installing a recent(-ish) version of
> Debian on an Asus EEE PC?  This is a small notebook sized laptop with
> Celeron cpu and little space & memory.  I've just found one in one of
> my boxes and thought I'd see if I can make use of it.  It's currently
> running with a 2.x kernel!

It might help if you gave us a bit more information.

Exact make and model number? You should be able to find that on a label
somewhere or with dmidecode.

How much memory? free -h should tell us that.

How large a local hard drive do you have?

I suspect you need a minimum of 1 GiB of RAM to run Bookworm, but the
more the merrier. How much hard drive you need depends on what you want
to put on it.

If you have another machine with more hard drive space, an NFS server
might extend your usable space on the EEE PC.

-- 
Does anybody read signatures any more?

https://charlescurley.com
https://charlescurley.com/blog/

Re: Installing Debian on an old Asus EEE PC

[Andy Smith]

Hello,

On Fri, Jan 05, 2024 at 06:35:26PM +0100, Hans wrote:
> Most important: It can run all debian things (and more), but note, the EEEPC 
> is 32-bit, so you need the 32-bit version of debian.

Which there won't be after the next release, or maybe for the next
release. This is not something to spend time on.

(I, too, had an EEE PC.)

Thanks,
Andy

-- 
https://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting

Re: Installing Debian on an old Asus EEE PC

[Hans]

There are different cpu's according to the release date.

Mostls it is ATOM CPU N-450, but others use N-230 as well.

All are running 1,666 GHz (except the very ealy ones, EEEPC 901, which is 
running 1GHz.

Best

Hans
> 
> Which CPU does it have?

Re: Installing Debian on an old Asus EEE PC

[Marco Moock]

Am 05.01.2024 um 16:48:39 Uhr schrieb Eric S Fraga:

> anybody here have any experience installing a recent(-ish) version of
> Debian on an Asus EEE PC?

Which CPU does it have?

Re: Installing Debian on an old Asus EEE PC

[Hans]

Am Freitag, 5. Januar 2024, 17:48:39 CET schrieb Eric S Fraga:
Me again:

Second answer: You can easily install debian 32-bit from an USB-stick· it is 
working just any other computer.

Best

Hans

> Hello,
> 
> anybody here have any experience installing a recent(-ish) version of
> Debian on an Asus EEE PC?  This is a small notebook sized laptop with
> Celeron cpu and little space & memory.  I've just found one in one of my
> boxes and thought I'd see if I can make use of it.  It's currently
> running with a 2.x kernel!
> 
> I have found some bits and bobs on the Interweb but I thought I'd ask
> here in case somebody in this group/list has direct experience.
> 
> Thank you,
> eric

Re: Installing Debian on an old Asus EEE PC

[Tom Furie]

Eric S Fraga  writes:

> anybody here have any experience installing a recent(-ish) version of
> Debian on an Asus EEE PC?  This is a small notebook sized laptop with
> Celeron cpu and little space & memory.  I've just found one in one of
> my boxes and thought I'd see if I can make use of it.  It's currently
> running with a 2.x kernel!

I'm currently running bookworm on an Atom based EeeBook (x205ta), it has
2G RAM, and 30G storage. The only hurdle I've found is getting internal
sound to work (chtrt5645), though HDMI output is fine, I'm sure I simply
haven't found the right combination of switches to flip. Having said
that, I'm no expert on Linux audio.

I wouldn't attempt to run a modern DE on this system, but it seems happy
with OpenBox. Even Firefox, Chromium, LibreOffice, etc. are usable - if
not perhaps the smoothest experience.

Cheers,
Tom

Re: Installing Debian on an old Asus EEE PC

[Hans]

Am Freitag, 5. Januar 2024, 17:48:39 CET schrieb Eric S Fraga:
Hi Eric,

the EEEPC was my best friend for many years, although it is rather slow at 
boot. 


However, once it is booted up, work can be done well. Mostly I used it for 
network analysis at my customers and of course office applications.

Speed is not much important for these things, it is not much annoying, if 
libreoffice is starting in 30 seconds or 1 and a half minutes.

Most important: It can run all debian things (and more), but note, the EEEPC 
is 32-bit, so you need the 32-bit version of debian.

Also, very nice, you can create a multiboot sd card, and stuck it into the 
netbook, so you can boot from it several usefull livesystems (I am using XBOOT 
for this, but it is also working with YUMI or some others.

For speeding up I used an old SSD drive with Windows_7 on it and Debian on the 
second partition. For this, first I cloned Windows 7 to the new harddrive using 
clonezilla, then used gparted to get free space on the new SSD, and on this I 
installed Debian/stable 32-bit.

Everything is working like a charme, and the wireless card is Atheros· so you 
can easily get the wifi card into monitor mode, if required.

Some EEPC got a modem for GSM onboard, mine got one. It is a little 
problematic, to get into GSM-internet, there are not many easy dialer apps for 
it. Feel free, to ask me for the actual one, I forgot, as my actual EEEPC got 
none (so I am using a GSM-Router for this).

Oh, yes, I strongly recommend to increase RAM, 1GB is a little bit few, so I 
put a 2GB RAM into it. It is DDR2, and I do not know of any single-4GB-bank 
available which is 4GB. Debian (better say: the kernel) can use more than 3GB 
of RAM with pae-extension.

What I like most of the EEPC: It is small, can run long time and got all the 
nifty tools and apps I need for daily work. Negative thing is only, that it is 
rather slow. 

But: If you do not need all modern kernels and tools, you can try some fast
small linux version, especially made for very old devices, for example 
damnsmalllinux or similar. I never tried many, but I got damnsmallinux running 
on a 486er notebook with 1GHz CPU and 48MB RAM running as fast as Windows XP 
on a 2GHz CPU with 2GB RAM. I admit, this was a long time ago, but you can 
see, linux is often much much faster than Windows, not to say, always.

Something more? Fell free to ask.

Best regards

Hans  
> Hello,
> 
> anybody here have any experience installing a recent(-ish) version of
> Debian on an Asus EEE PC?  This is a small notebook sized laptop with
> Celeron cpu and little space & memory.  I've just found one in one of my
> boxes and thought I'd see if I can make use of it.  It's currently
> running with a 2.x kernel!
> 
> I have found some bits and bobs on the Interweb but I thought I'd ask
> here in case somebody in this group/list has direct experience.
> 
> Thank you,
> eric

RE: installing debian on hpe dl360 gen 10 with p408i-a and 331T

[Udi Moshe]

Hi dsr,
Thanks for the reply. This is troubling information for me.

-Original Message-
From: Dan Ritter 
Sent: Thursday, November 25, 2021 12:04 AM
To: Udi Moshe 
Cc: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject: Re: installing debian on hpe dl360 gen 10 with p408i-a and 331T

Udi Moshe wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I need to know if the hardware is supported with Debian 9.X, raid volume will 
> be discovered and the network controller will be working.

I have done this with Buster and Bullseye.

Save yourself lots of trouble: get the drives configured as individual disks 
and have mdadm or ZFS manage them. hpacucli is terrible to work with and 
relatives of that controller are one of the two RAID families I've worked with 
that had long-term data corruption problems.

Save yourself more trouble: install Bullseye.

-dsr-

The information contained in this communication (including its attachments) is 
for the intended recipient only.
It may contain confidential, proprietary or otherwise protected information.
If you received this communication in error, please: (a) note that any use, 
disclosure, copying, distribution hereof, and/or taking any action in reliance 
on its contents, is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful, and (b) notify us 
immediately, by replying to the message, and then delete it from your system.

Re: installing debian on hpe dl360 gen 10 with p408i-a and 331T

[Dan Ritter]

Udi Moshe wrote: 
> Hi all,
> 
> I need to know if the hardware is supported with Debian 9.X, raid volume will 
> be discovered and the network controller will be working.

I have done this with Buster and Bullseye.

Save yourself lots of trouble: get the drives configured as
individual disks and have mdadm or ZFS manage them. hpacucli is
terrible to work with and relatives of that controller are one
of the two RAID families I've worked with that had long-term
data corruption problems.

Save yourself more trouble: install Bullseye.

-dsr-

Re: installing debian 11.0

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Sep 18, 2021 at 03:40:18PM +0700, Ngọc Dũng Tạ wrote:
> When installing debian 11.0, it asks to scan the additional media "debian
> gnu/linux 11.0 _ bullseye _ - official amd64 dvd binary-1", so where can I
> get it?
> Thanks.
> -- 

Hi,

How are you installing Debian 11?

What file are you using to install from?

if the install has completeed: can you show us the /etc/apt/sources.list file
please.

Sometimes, if you use just a CD / DVD image to install Debian, and do
not use the network, the only entry refers to the CD or DVD.

Any extra information you can give may be helpful.

With every good wish

Andy Cater

> -
> *TA NGOC DUNG (Mr)*
> *Job:* Marketing Online
> *Mobile:* 0962 597 563

Re: Installing Debian 10.9 Buster on iMac G5 (powerpc)

[didier gaumet]

Hello,

Your graphic card can probably be managed by:
- Nvidia closed-source driver (including firmware):
https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers
- Nouveau open-source driver (automatically loaded by default for your 
hardware) with a firmware you have to install (probably the 
firmware-misc-nonfree package from the non-free repository)


(you can check for potential other missing firmwares for your hardware 
by typing grep -i firmware /var/log/messages in a terminal/console as root)

Re: Installing Debian 10.9 Buster on iMac G5 (powerpc)

[Thomas Schmitt]

Hi,

(there is at least one answer which was not Cc'ed to you as follow-up under
  https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2021/05/msg00358.html
)

Pat Pathmanathan wrote:
> I finally managed to install the following image on my iMac G5 :
> [...] debian-10.0.0-ppc64-NETINST-1.iso [...]
> 'Starting Gnome manager'
> (or something to that effect). It then hangs with a black screen and a small
> blinking cursor on the top left corner.
> [...] Any suggestions?

Did you already try the "powerpc" architecture as alternative to "ppc64" ?
  
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/10.0/powerpc/iso-cd/debian-10.0-powerpc-NETINST-1.iso

If this doesn't work either, then i propose again to ask at
  debian-powe...@lists.debian.org
Subscribe at
  https://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/


Have a nice day :)

Thomas

Re: Installing Debian 10.9 Buster on iMac G5 (powerpc)

[Nicholas Geovanis]

On Sun, May 9, 2021, 1:18 PM Pat Pathmanathan 
wrote:

> I finally managed to install the following image on my iMac G5 :
> https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/current/
>
> https://saimei.ftp.acc.umu.se/cdimage/ports/current/debian-10.0.0-ppc64-NETINST-1.iso
>
> The installation went fine. When I start the system, the grub menu loads
> allowing me to select Debian Linux to boot. On selecting the option it goes
> through the startup process and the last thing was 'Starting Gnome manager'
> (or something to that effect). It then hangs with a black screen and a
> small blinking cursor on the top left corner.
>
> It took many attempts to get here. Still no luck. Any suggestions?
>

Based on similar symptoms on Intel platforms, check brightness and contrast
on your monitor. It may simply be too low to see. Or as already suggested,
try other available sessions.

Pat
>
>
>

Re: Installing Debian 10.9 Buster on iMac G5 (powerpc)

[Felix Miata]

Pat Pathmanathan composed on 2021-05-09 19:02 (UTC+0100):

> I finally managed to install the following image on my iMac G5 :
> https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/current/
> https://saimei.ftp.acc.umu.se/cdimage/ports/current/debian-10.0.0-ppc64-NETINST-1.iso

> The installation went fine. When I start the system, the grub menu loads
> allowing me to select Debian Linux to boot. On selecting the option it goes
> through the startup process and the last thing was 'Starting Gnome manager'
> (or something to that effect). It then hangs with a black screen and a
> small blinking cursor on the top left corner.
> 
> It took many attempts to get here. Still no luck. Any suggestions?

Is it truly hung, or can you reach a login prompt via Ctrl-Alt-F3 or remote?

Did you select autologin at installation time?
-- 
Evolution as taught in public schools is, like religion,
based on faith, not based on science.

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/

Re: Installing Debian from a hard disk with Windows to a USB stick

[Andrei POPESCU]

On Lu, 05 apr 21, 17:03:46, Andrei POPESCU wrote:
> 
> Hint: the mini.iso does support installing to the same storage device 
> used to start the installer. It also needs internet access for basically 
> everything, so you might need a way to pass firmware to the installer in 
> case the firmware can't be on the same device.

To follow-up on this, the mini.iso also creates a partition labeled 
"Firmware" on the device. As one might guess, it can be used to store 
firmware to be used by the installer.

In case the GPT partition table created by the mini.iso is kept[1] it 
will have a funny ISO signature that fdisk will offer to delete (at 
least in bullseye).

[1] It didn't occur to me at first that I can delete the entire 
partition table if I select the device at the installer's manual 
partitioning stage. It's faster than deleting partitions one by one ;)

Kind regards,
Andrei
-- 
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser


signature.asc
Description: PGP signature

Re: Installing Debian 10.9 Buster on iMac G5 (powerpc)

[Eike Lantzsch ZP6CGE]

On Sonntag, 2. Mai 2021 13:29:47 -04 didier gaumet wrote:
> Le 02/05/2021 à 16:43, Greg Wooledge a écrit :
> > On Sun, May 02, 2021 at 04:38:21PM +0200, didier gaumet wrote:
> >>  From what I understand (If I understand correctly), your processor
> >>  is a>> 
> >> powerpc64 Big Indian, not a powerpc64 Little Indian [...]
> > 
> > That's "Endian", not "Indian".
> > 
> > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endianness
> 
> Thank you Greg, but I promise you, Your Honor, I'm not guilty, for the
> life of me ;-)
> 
> In this case, I did know the concept and its correct spelling but:
> - being absent-minded by nature
> - thinking in english (I have  almost wrote "inglish")
> - but unconsciously verifying spelling in french (my native language)
> while writing
> - and being guilty of not re-reading myself before posting
> 
> You have there a perfect recipe for a disaster ;-)

That is cute and it reminds me of Peter Sellers in "The Party"
... talking of little Indians and disasters ...

Re: Installing Debian 10.9 Buster on iMac G5 (powerpc)

[didier gaumet]

Le 02/05/2021 à 19:29, didier gaumet a écrit :


(I have  almost wrote "inglish")


sorry : "written"

There: absent-minded ;-)

Re: Installing Debian 10.9 Buster on iMac G5 (powerpc)

[didier gaumet]

Le 02/05/2021 à 16:43, Greg Wooledge a écrit :

On Sun, May 02, 2021 at 04:38:21PM +0200, didier gaumet wrote:

 From what I understand (If I understand correctly), your processor is a
powerpc64 Big Indian, not a powerpc64 Little Indian [...]


That's "Endian", not "Indian".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endianness


Thank you Greg, but I promise you, Your Honor, I'm not guilty, for the 
life of me ;-)


In this case, I did know the concept and its correct spelling but:
- being absent-minded by nature
- thinking in english (I have  almost wrote "inglish")
- but unconsciously verifying spelling in french (my native language) 
while writing

- and being guilty of not re-reading myself before posting

You have there a perfect recipe for a disaster ;-)

Re: Installing Debian 10.9 Buster on iMac G5 (powerpc)

[Kenneth Parker]

On Sun, May 2, 2021, 11:51 AM Charlie Gibbs  wrote:

> On Sun May  2 08:17:13 2021 Greg Wooledge  wrote:
>
>  > On Sun, May 02, 2021 at 04:38:21PM +0200, didier gaumet wrote:
>  >
>  >> From what I understand (If I understand correctly), your processor
>  >> is a powerpc64 Big Indian, not a powerpc64 Little Indian [...]
>  >
>  > That's "Endian", not "Indian".
>
> 8080 One little,
> 8085 Two little,
> 8086 Three little-endians
> 8088 Four little,
> 80186Five little,
> 80286Six little-endians
> 80386Seven little,
> 80386SX  Eight little,
> 80486Nine little-endians
> Pentium  DIVIDE ERROR
>

+1

Kenneth Parker

>

Re: Installing Debian 10.9 Buster on iMac G5 (powerpc)

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Sun May  2 08:17:13 2021 Greg Wooledge  wrote:

> On Sun, May 02, 2021 at 04:38:21PM +0200, didier gaumet wrote:
>
>> From what I understand (If I understand correctly), your processor
>> is a powerpc64 Big Indian, not a powerpc64 Little Indian [...]
>
> That's "Endian", not "Indian".

8080 One little,
8085 Two little,
8086 Three little-endians
8088 Four little,
80186Five little,
80286Six little-endians
80386Seven little,
80386SX  Eight little,
80486Nine little-endians
Pentium  DIVIDE ERROR

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  They don't understand Microsoft
\ /|  has stolen their car and parked
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  a taxi in their driveway.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Mayayana

Re: Installing Debian 10.9 Buster on iMac G5 (powerpc)

[Thomas Schmitt]

Hi,

Pat Pathmanathan wrote:
> I am trying to install Debian 10.9 on the old iMac G5. I burned the
> 'debian-10.9.0-ppc64el-netinst.iso’ [..]
>  I was
> able to install Ubuntu Mate 16.04 for powerpc without any problem.

Possibly you want Debian for "ppc64" or "powerpc".
At least the boot equipment of debian-10.0-ppc64-NETINST-1.iso and
debian-10.0-powerpc-NETINST-1.iso looks like the one of
ubuntu-mate-16.04-desktop-powerpc.iso.
(I.e. CHRP MBR partition and Apple Partition Map announcing a HFS
filesystem. Made by genisoimage. The Debian ppc64el ISO has only CHRP
and was made by xorriso.)

See
  https://wiki.debian.org/PPC64
  https://wiki.debian.org/PowerPC

The latter mentions "G5 Power Macs".

There is a mailing list
  https://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/
where searching for "G5" yields lots of hits
  
https://lists.debian.org/cgi-bin/search?P=G5=or=Gdebian-powerpc==10

So i guess your goal is on topic there.


Have a nice day :)

Thomas

Re: Installing Debian 10.9 Buster on iMac G5 (powerpc)

[Greg Wooledge]

On Sun, May 02, 2021 at 04:38:21PM +0200, didier gaumet wrote:
> From what I understand (If I understand correctly), your processor is a
> powerpc64 Big Indian, not a powerpc64 Little Indian [...]

That's "Endian", not "Indian".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endianness

Re: Installing Debian 10.9 Buster on iMac G5 (powerpc)

[didier gaumet]

Hello,

From what I understand (If I understand correctly), your processor is a 
powerpc64 Big Indian, not a powerpc64 Little Indian and nowadays the 
rare Linux ditros that still propose a powerpc64 portage do it for Litte 
Indian (ppc64el) as Debian do. So Debian is not compatible with your 
hardware.


The only distros I have found that seem to support your hardware are Gentoo
https://www.gentoo.org/downloads/ (download the PPC64 stage3 image, not 
the ppc or ppc64le ones)
and Adelie (the distro is in RC (release candidate) stage but ther are 
even live images)

https://www.adelielinux.org/download/

Even the *BSD seem to lack support for the Imac G5

Re: Installing Debian 10.9 Buster on iMac G5 (powerpc)

[Georgi Naplatanov]

On 5/2/21 3:21 PM, Pat Pathmanathan wrote:
> I am trying to install Debian 10.9 on the old iMac G5. I burned the
> 'debian-10.9.0-ppc64el-netinst.iso’ image to CD on a newer iMac (2017).
> When I boot the iMac G5 holding the ‘Option’ key down with the CD
> inserted, the G5 doesn’t recognise the CD as a bootable CD. I then did
> the same with the 'debian-bullseye-DI-rc1-ppc64el-DVD-1.iso’. Till the
> same problem. I was able to install Ubuntu Mate 16.04 for powerpc
> without any problem. 
> 
> Can you please help me to solve this problem?
> 

Hi Pat,

Debian has 3 architecture for powerpc :
 - ppc64el (official)
 - powerpc (unofficial)
 - ppc64 (unofficial)

Only official architectures have testing and stable branches. Unofficial
architectures have unstable/sid branch only.

I'm not sure what computer architecture your old mac belongs to so try
to use the same architecture you have used with Ubuntu.

Kind regards
Georgi

Re: Installing Debian from a hard disk with Windows to a USB stick

[Cmdte Alpha Tigre Z]

El mar, 27 abr 2021 a las 15:11, Brian () escribió:
>
> "Umm, well" is hardly an adequate reponse to Andrei POPESCU's
> suggestion. If you are waiting for someone like me to step up,
> you will be waiting a long time.
>
> Users employ the wiki to write what they feel comfortable about,
> not to act as a proxy for someone else's thoughts and writing.

Yes sir, you're right.  I'm sorry, I was not clear when I wrote
my message.  I do plan to repost it by myself at the wiki,
but it won't be in the near future.  I just wanted to see if someone
else could get it there sooner than me, so I would benefit more
people right now.

I won't be waiting for someone else, it is just that I can't do it
for now.  But thanks for your advice.

Have a nice day everyone.

PS: I forgot to send this message to the list.
-- 
Time zone: GMT-4

Re: Installing Debian from a hard disk with Windows to a USB stick

[Brian]

On Tue 27 Apr 2021 at 11:55:52 -0400, Cmdte Alpha Tigre Z wrote:

> El mar, 27 abr 2021 a las 2:43, Andrei POPESCU
> () escribió:
> > On Lu, 26 apr 21, 20:34:58, Cmdte Alpha Tigre Z wrote:
> > > It would be great if someone could repost this tutorial at the Debian
> > > Wiki.
> >
> > Feel free to do so yourself.
> 
> Umm, well.  That will have to wait.

"Umm, well" is hardly an adequate reponse to Andrei POPESCU's
suggestion. If you are waiting for someone like me to step up,
you will be waiting a long time.

Users employ the wiki to write what they feel comfortable about,
not to act as a proxy for someone else's thoughts and writing.

> If someone else can repost it under some of the installation
> sections of the Wiki, I could give any necessary additional license
> to complete the repost after knowing, of course, which license does
> that need.  If done, please include a little reference to the tutorial
> at https://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Loader , if you can,
> of course.

Your effort. Your creative activity. Your wiki. Your decision.

-- 
Brian.

Re: Installing Debian from a hard disk with Windows to a USB stick

[Cmdte Alpha Tigre Z]

El mar, 27 abr 2021 a las 2:43, Andrei POPESCU
() escribió:
> On Lu, 26 apr 21, 20:34:58, Cmdte Alpha Tigre Z wrote:
> > It would be great if someone could repost this tutorial at the Debian
> > Wiki.
>
> Feel free to do so yourself.

Umm, well.  That will have to wait.
If someone else can repost it under some of the installation
sections of the Wiki, I could give any necessary additional license
to complete the repost after knowing, of course, which license does
that need.  If done, please include a little reference to the tutorial
at https://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Loader , if you can,
of course.

Thanks.

-- 
Time zone: GMT-4

Re: Installing Debian from a hard disk with Windows to a USB stick

[Andrei POPESCU]

On Lu, 26 apr 21, 20:34:58, Cmdte Alpha Tigre Z wrote:
> 
> It would be great if someone could repost this tutorial at the Debian 
> Wiki.

Feel free to do so yourself.

Kind regards,
Andrei
-- 
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser


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Re: Installing Debian from a hard disk with Windows to a USB stick

[Cmdte Alpha Tigre Z]

El jue, 25 mar 2021 a las 21:11, Cmdte Alpha Tigre Z
() escribió:
> (...lots of things...)

Hi.

I'm going to post a tutorial to do what I did to achieve the
installation of Debian
in the USB stick from Windows' NTFS-formatted partition.

Please, review it and give your opinions/suggestions/fixes.
It would be great if someone could repost this tutorial at the Debian Wiki.

-- 
Time zone: GMT-4

Re: Installing Debian from a hard disk with Windows to a USB stick

[Cmdte Alpha Tigre Z]

El vie, 9 abr 2021 a las 17:43, Cmdte Alpha Tigre Z
() escribió:
>
> El lun, 5 abr 2021 a las 10:04, Andrei POPESCU
> () escribió:
> > Hint: the mini.iso does support installing to the same storage device
> > used to start the installer. It also needs internet access for basically
> > everything, so you might need a way to pass firmware to the installer in
> > case the firmware can't be on the same device.
>
> Hi.
>
> I'm sorry Mr. Popescu, I didn't read this mailing list for days.
> Thanks for your help, I have found how to do this and I'll be
> posting here my findings.  Perhaps someone else can pass
> that post to the Wiki, I don't know how to use that.
>
> --
> Time zone: GMT-4

I forgot to send this message to this list.  Sorry.

Re: Installing Debian from a hard disk with Windows to a USB stick

[Andrei POPESCU]

On Jo, 25 mar 21, 21:11:33, Cmdte Alpha Tigre Z wrote:
> 
> I'm trying to install Debian 10.8 on a USB stick, and it is not Debian Live,
> from a hard disk that has Windows 7 installed.  Since I don't have
> any CD or DVD, and I need the USB stick to install Debian on it,
> I can't use the USB stick to put the ISO image on it.

Why not?

Hint: the mini.iso does support installing to the same storage device 
used to start the installer. It also needs internet access for basically 
everything, so you might need a way to pass firmware to the installer in 
case the firmware can't be on the same device.

Hope this helps,
Andrei
-- 
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser


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Re: Installing Debian from a hard disk with Windows to a USB stick

[Cmdte Alpha Tigre Z]

El jue, 25 mar 2021 a las 21:11, Cmdte Alpha Tigre Z
() escribió:

> I'm trying to install Debian 10.8 on a USB stick, and it is not Debian Live,
> from a hard disk that has Windows 7 installed.  Since I don't have
> any CD or DVD, and I need the USB stick to install Debian on it,
> I can't use the USB stick to put the ISO image on it.
>
> I have downloaded the first ISO DVD image, hd-media/vmlinuz and
> hd-media/initrd.gz.  As I understand, the standalone win32-loader
> downloads its own Debian image, so I supposed I needed the setup.exe
> from the ISO image.  I put debian-10.8.0-i386-DVD-1.iso, g2ldr, g2ldr.mbr
> (these two from the ISO), initrd.gz, setup.exe, vmlinuz and win32-loader.ini
> on the root of C:
> (...)

Hi.

I tried to run setup.exe and it stored all the files necessary for booting
inside a directory at C:
Apparently, it does that for any files you use with it.  The only files it puts
on the root are g2ldr and g2ldr.mbr.  The files were almost successfully copied.

I suppose that win32-loader does its job for any files you give it.
The only problems are these two:

setup.exe could not copy g2ldr and g2ldr.mbr to C: because they
already were in C:
so it "failed".  I will try to put the files on another folder to see
if setup.exe does
the same as before but without failing.

The other problem is, even that grub2 should load and then load linux and the
ram disk and everything should go fine from there, I don't know
if the debian-installer from hd-media searches the ISO at the root directory
or at the same directory where linux and the ram disk are located.

The documentation says to put linux, the ram disk and the ISO at the root,
but since setup.exe puts the first two in some directory and
configures everything
to run from there, I don't know if I should leave the ISO at the root or instead
move it to where linux and the ram disk are.

Any help?

Thanks in advance.

-- 
Time zone: GMT-4

Re: Installing Debian Bullseye on Cubox-i4 with eSATA drive... No ethernet detected

[Vagrant Cascadian]

On 2021-02-06, Rick Thomas wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 29, 2021, at 7:18 PM, Rick Thomas wrote:
>> Hi!
>> 
>> On Fri, Jan 29, 2021, at 1:03 AM, Holger Wansing wrote:
>> > On https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
>> > you should look under the daily snapshots.
>> > For armhf that would be
>> > https://d-i.debian.org/daily-images/armhf/daily/netboot/SD-card-images/
>> 
>> I downloaded the two-part image from [1] dated 2021-01-30 and tried to 
>> install it on my Cubox-i4.
>> 
>> It booted fine but when it got to the "Detect network hardware" phase, 
>> it failed and said:
>> 
>> No Ethernet card was detected. If you know the name of the driver 
>> needed by your Ethernet card, you can select it from the list. 
>> Driver needed by your Ethernet card:  
>> and gave a long list of available ethernet drivers.
>> 
>> I couldn't find anything that looked like an Atheros 8035 driver, which 
>> seems to be the one in use when I boot with a working system.
>> 
>> Any suggestions?
>> Thanks!
>> Rick
>> 
>> [1] https://d-i.debian.org/daily-images/armhf/daily/netboot/SD-card-images/
>>  dated 2021-01-30
>
> I tried it again, this time with the components dated 2021-02-06 (today).
> I was hoping that the problem was transient and might have been fixed in the 
> intervening week, but I still got the same result: "No Ethernet card was 
> detected."
>
> Do I need to file a bug report?  If so, to which package?  If I do, is there 
> any chance it will be fixed before Bullseye is released into the wild?
> Is there a known workaround that I can apply?

Pretty sure it is a kernel bug, since I can make it go away on a similar
system by downgrading to linux 5.9.x. Please CC me on the report and
I'll try to contribute what I can!


live well,
  vagrant


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Re: Installing Debian Bullseye on Cubox-i4 with eSATA drive... No ethernet detected

[Rick Thomas]

On Fri, Jan 29, 2021, at 7:18 PM, Rick Thomas wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> On Fri, Jan 29, 2021, at 1:03 AM, Holger Wansing wrote:
> > On https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
> > you should look under the daily snapshots.
> > For armhf that would be
> > https://d-i.debian.org/daily-images/armhf/daily/netboot/SD-card-images/
> 
> I downloaded the two-part image from [1] dated 2021-01-30 and tried to 
> install it on my Cubox-i4.
> 
> It booted fine but when it got to the "Detect network hardware" phase, 
> it failed and said:
> 
> No Ethernet card was detected. If you know the name of the driver 
> needed by your Ethernet card, you can select it from the list. 
> Driver needed by your Ethernet card:  
> and gave a long list of available ethernet drivers.
> 
> I couldn't find anything that looked like an Atheros 8035 driver, which 
> seems to be the one in use when I boot with a working system.
> 
> Any suggestions?
> Thanks!
> Rick
> 
> [1] https://d-i.debian.org/daily-images/armhf/daily/netboot/SD-card-images/
>  dated 2021-01-30

I tried it again, this time with the components dated 2021-02-06 (today).
I was hoping that the problem was transient and might have been fixed in the 
intervening week, but I still got the same result: "No Ethernet card was 
detected."

Do I need to file a bug report?  If so, to which package?  If I do, is there 
any chance it will be fixed before Bullseye is released into the wild?
Is there a known workaround that I can apply?

Thanks for any help!
Rick

Re: Installing Debian Bullseye on Cubox-i4 with eSATA drive... No ethernet detected

[Vagrant Cascadian]

On 2021-01-29, Rick Thomas wrote:
> Hi!
>
> On Fri, Jan 29, 2021, at 1:03 AM, Holger Wansing wrote:
>> On https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
>> you should look under the daily snapshots.
>> For armhf that would be
>> https://d-i.debian.org/daily-images/armhf/daily/netboot/SD-card-images/
>
> I downloaded the two-part image from [1] dated 2021-01-30 and tried to 
> install it on my Cubox-i4.
>
> It booted fine but when it got to the "Detect network hardware" phase, it 
> failed and said:
>
> No Ethernet card was detected. If you know the name of the driver 
> needed by your Ethernet card, you can select it from the list. 
> Driver needed by your Ethernet card:  
> and gave a long list of available ethernet drivers.

I'm having a similar issue on a hummingboard-i2ex (which is kind of like
a single-board-computer variant of the Cubox-i) on an already installed
system running linux 5.10.x, while 5.9.x works fine on that system, so
seems to be a regression in the kernel.


> I couldn't find anything that looked like an Atheros 8035 driver, which seems 
> to be the one in use when I boot with a working system.

Pretty sure it is not atheros, but handled by:

  drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/fec_main.c

Not sure what exact module or built-in that ends up in.


live well,
  vagrant


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Re: Installing Debian Bullseye on Cubox-i4 with eSATA drive... No ethernet detected

[Rick Thomas]

Hi!

On Fri, Jan 29, 2021, at 1:03 AM, Holger Wansing wrote:
> On https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
> you should look under the daily snapshots.
> For armhf that would be
> https://d-i.debian.org/daily-images/armhf/daily/netboot/SD-card-images/

I downloaded the two-part image from [1] dated 2021-01-30 and tried to install 
it on my Cubox-i4.

It booted fine but when it got to the "Detect network hardware" phase, it 
failed and said:

No Ethernet card was detected. If you know the name of the driver 
needed by your Ethernet card, you can select it from the list. 
Driver needed by your Ethernet card:  
and gave a long list of available ethernet drivers.

I couldn't find anything that looked like an Atheros 8035 driver, which seems 
to be the one in use when I boot with a working system.

Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Rick

[1] https://d-i.debian.org/daily-images/armhf/daily/netboot/SD-card-images/
 dated 2021-01-30

Re: Installing Debian Bullseye on Cubox-i4 with eSATA drive... "No kernel modules found"

[Holger Wansing]

Hi,

"Rick Thomas"  wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 28, 2021, at 6:21 PM, Rick Thomas wrote:
> 
> > Next thing to test -- can I install bullseye the same way?
> 
> So I tried installing bullseye from [1] which, incidentally is dated Dec 2, 
> 2020.  Isn't this kinda old for a "current" Bullseye?

That's from the latest alpha release.

> It booted and the installer started, but when it got to "Download installer 
> components" I got a red error screen.  I've attached a screenshot.
> 
> I'm guessing that "kinda old" is the problem.  The kernel on [1] is out of 
> date with respect to the kernel(s) available on deb.debian.org ?
> 
> Where should I look for one that's more up-to-date?

On https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
you should look under the daily snapshots.
For armhf that would be
https://d-i.debian.org/daily-images/armhf/daily/netboot/SD-card-images/


Holger

-- 
Holger Wansing 
PGP-Fingerprint: 496A C6E8 1442 4B34 8508  3529 59F1 87CA 156E B076

Re: Installing Debian Buster on Cubox-i4 with eSATA drive.

[Rick Thomas]

On Thu, Jan 28, 2021, at 12:08 AM, Rick Thomas wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 27, 2021, at 11:15 PM, Vagrant Cascadian wrote:
> > On 2021-01-27, Rick Thomas wrote:
> > > I'm trying to install Debian Buster [1] on my Cubox-i4P with an eSATA
> > > drive. Everything seems to be fine, but when it comes time to reboot,
> > > it boots into the installer again, rather than the installed system.
> > >
> > > Here's what I did, and what I observed:
> > >
> > > *) I downloaded the two parts of the SDcard install image from [1] and 
> > > followed the instructions in the README to create a 4GB (I didn't have 
> > > anything smaller) SDcard installer.
> > > *) I connected the eSATA disk and plugged the SDcard into the Cubox and 
> > > powered it up.
> > > *) It booted off the SD-card into the installer as expected.
> > ...
> > > *) But when the reboot happened, I found myself back in the installer.
> > > *) I tried removing the SDcard and rebooting, but it failed to boot -- 
> > > after power-on nothing happened.
> > 
> > > What I hoped would happen with the eSATA drive was that the installer
> > > would write the boot firmware (u-boot, etc) to the SDcard, and
> > > configure it to get /boot, root, /home, swap off the eSATA.
> > 
> > U-boot can only be loaded from microSD on that platform, as far as I'm
> > aware.
> > 
> > You can use the bootloader from the installer image, just delete the
> > boot.scr and/or extlinux.conf from the partition on the installer image,
> > or make another partition on the microSD card, and mark it bootable, but
> > don't put anything on it. Then u-boot should fall back to loading the
> > kernel+initrd+device-tree off of the eSATA.
> > 
> > If you interrupt the boot process and get to a u-boot prompt, you should
> > be able to see the order of devices u-boot tries to boot from with:
> > 
> >   printenv boot_targets
> > 
> > 
> > Now that bullseye is in the early phases of freeze, please consider
> > testing bullseye, too, if you can! :)
> 
> Thanks!  This sounds like it ought to work.  I'll give it a try.
> 
> For bullseye, where should I download the latest installer image from?  
> I'd love to give it a try as well!
> Rick

That worked!

Specifically, what I did was:
*) on a different machine, I mounted the installer SDcard first partition
*) renamed boot.scr to oboot.scr
*) sync and umount the SDcard.
*) inserted it in the Cubox
*) powered up and watched it boot from the eSATA disk.

Whoopie!

Observations:
*) => printenv boot_targets
   boot_targets=mmc0 sata0 usb0 pxe dhcp

*) It located the /boot partition on the eSATA drive without any help from me.  
I assume that means it goes down the list of boot_targets one by one looking 
for an active bootable partition containing a file called "boot.scr" which it 
then executes to perform the remainder of the boot process (mostly to load the 
kernel and initrd , then pass control to them).

*) I wonder if it would be possible to change the "boot_targets" environment 
variable to put "sata0" first?  Would that work, if it could be done?  If that 
were done, would it mess up booting from the SDcard when there was no eSATA 
drive?

So now, the next question is: how do we convince the debian installer to 
recognize that it's installing to the eSATA drive and either set "boot_targets" 
appropriately, or mark the boot partition on the SDcard as not bootable.

I've added "debian-boot" to the CC list of this email.  Should I file a bug 
report?  If so, what package should I file it against?

Next thing to test -- can I install bullseye the same way?

Thanks very much to everyone for all your help!
Rick

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[David Wright]

On Wed 20 Jan 2021 at 20:31:53 (-0800), Dan Hitt wrote:
> […]
> The second question is whether there's a way, from grub (grub2, actually),
> of dropping down to the bios.  I imagine this is quite impossible, but if
> i'm wrong, please let me know.  The reason i would like to do this is that
> it is very hard for me to interrupt the boot process fast enough to get to
> the bios, and i've only managed to do it once or twice after many tries.
> If i were in the bios, i might be able to figure out if it could boot from
> usb, and i could set the boot order to do this, and make a bootable usb
> version of netinst (perhaps).

I think this question got overlooked earlier.

If by "bios" you mean BIOS/CMOS/UEFI, then there might be. I have
noticed that my AiO Dell has the following paragraph inserted
into grub.cfg:

  ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###
  menuentry 'System setup' $menuentry_id_option 'uefi-firmware' {
  fwsetup
  }
  ### END /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###

This is all new to me as the Dell is my first PC that I boot through
EFI. (My other EFI-capable PC still boots linux via BIOS because
Windows was pre-installed with EFI.)

The effect of selecting this grub entry is exactly the same as
pressing F2 durimg POST and before the grub menu pops up.
I suppose the mechanism might be contained in the grub module:

root root 2216 Jul 30 18:18 /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/efifwsetup.mod

Cheers,
David.

Re: Installing Debian Buster on Cubox-i4 with eSATA drive.

[Rick Thomas]

On Wed, Jan 27, 2021, at 11:15 PM, Vagrant Cascadian wrote:
> On 2021-01-27, Rick Thomas wrote:
> > I'm trying to install Debian Buster [1] on my Cubox-i4P with an eSATA
> > drive. Everything seems to be fine, but when it comes time to reboot,
> > it boots into the installer again, rather than the installed system.
> >
> > Here's what I did, and what I observed:
> >
> > *) I downloaded the two parts of the SDcard install image from [1] and 
> > followed the instructions in the README to create a 4GB (I didn't have 
> > anything smaller) SDcard installer.
> > *) I connected the eSATA disk and plugged the SDcard into the Cubox and 
> > powered it up.
> > *) It booted off the SD-card into the installer as expected.
> ...
> > *) But when the reboot happened, I found myself back in the installer.
> > *) I tried removing the SDcard and rebooting, but it failed to boot -- 
> > after power-on nothing happened.
> 
> > What I hoped would happen with the eSATA drive was that the installer
> > would write the boot firmware (u-boot, etc) to the SDcard, and
> > configure it to get /boot, root, /home, swap off the eSATA.
> 
> U-boot can only be loaded from microSD on that platform, as far as I'm
> aware.
> 
> You can use the bootloader from the installer image, just delete the
> boot.scr and/or extlinux.conf from the partition on the installer image,
> or make another partition on the microSD card, and mark it bootable, but
> don't put anything on it. Then u-boot should fall back to loading the
> kernel+initrd+device-tree off of the eSATA.
> 
> If you interrupt the boot process and get to a u-boot prompt, you should
> be able to see the order of devices u-boot tries to boot from with:
> 
>   printenv boot_targets
> 
> 
> Now that bullseye is in the early phases of freeze, please consider
> testing bullseye, too, if you can! :)

Thanks!  This sounds like it ought to work.  I'll give it a try.

For bullseye, where should I download the latest installer image from?  I'd 
love to give it a try as well!
Rick

Re: Installing Debian Buster on Cubox-i4 with eSATA drive.

[Vagrant Cascadian]

On 2021-01-27, Rick Thomas wrote:
> I'm trying to install Debian Buster [1] on my Cubox-i4P with an eSATA
> drive. Everything seems to be fine, but when it comes time to reboot,
> it boots into the installer again, rather than the installed system.
>
> Here's what I did, and what I observed:
>
> *) I downloaded the two parts of the SDcard install image from [1] and 
> followed the instructions in the README to create a 4GB (I didn't have 
> anything smaller) SDcard installer.
> *) I connected the eSATA disk and plugged the SDcard into the Cubox and 
> powered it up.
> *) It booted off the SD-card into the installer as expected.
...
> *) But when the reboot happened, I found myself back in the installer.
> *) I tried removing the SDcard and rebooting, but it failed to boot -- after 
> power-on nothing happened.

> What I hoped would happen with the eSATA drive was that the installer
> would write the boot firmware (u-boot, etc) to the SDcard, and
> configure it to get /boot, root, /home, swap off the eSATA.

U-boot can only be loaded from microSD on that platform, as far as I'm
aware.

You can use the bootloader from the installer image, just delete the
boot.scr and/or extlinux.conf from the partition on the installer image,
or make another partition on the microSD card, and mark it bootable, but
don't put anything on it. Then u-boot should fall back to loading the
kernel+initrd+device-tree off of the eSATA.

If you interrupt the boot process and get to a u-boot prompt, you should
be able to see the order of devices u-boot tries to boot from with:

  printenv boot_targets


Now that bullseye is in the early phases of freeze, please consider
testing bullseye, too, if you can! :)


live well,
  vagrant


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Re: Installing Debian Buster on Cubox-i4 with eSATA drive.

[Andrei POPESCU]

On Mi, 27 ian 21, 20:03:22, Rick Thomas wrote:
> I'm trying to install Debian Buster [1] on my Cubox-i4P with an eSATA 
> drive. Everything seems to be fine, but when it comes time to reboot, 
> it boots into the installer again, rather than the installed system.
> 
> Here's what I did, and what I observed:

[...]
 
> What I hoped would happen with the eSATA drive was that the installer 
> would write the boot firmware (u-boot, etc) to the SDcard, and 
> configure it to get /boot, root, /home, swap off the eSATA.
> 
> What I suspect has happened is that the boot firmware (u-boot, etc) 
> was written to the eSATA drive and so it can't be found by the 
> power-up routine without some reconfiguration to tell it to look at 
> the eSATA, but that isn't happening.
> 
> Anybody know what I can do to either:
> 1) Tell the power-up routines to look at the eSATA?
>or

If at all possible this is highly device specific, so you should check 
the support channels (forums, etc.) for Cubox-i4P.

> 2) Write the boot firmware to the SD card and configure it to get the 
> rest of the system from the eSATA?

[...]

> PS:   In a previous attempt, I used a 64GB SDcard without the eSATA 
> disk -- putting everything onto the SDcard.  That worked fine (It put 
> the boot stuff on the SDcard) but it's horribly slow due to the very 
> low speed of data transfer to and from the SDcard.

Something like this could work:

1. Install Debian to an SD-card (maybe a minimal install if the card is 
small), make sure to have a separate /boot.

2. Partition your eSATA drive as you see fit and copy the contents of 
the / partition (and others if any) to the drive.

This is best done on another computer.

3. Find where/how the root= parameter is passed to the kernel and adjust 
it to point to the / partition on the eSATA drive instead.

4. Adjust /etc/fstab on the eSATA drive to have the /boot partition 
mounted to /boot. This is necessary to make kernel updates work.

If possible configure flash-kernel to keep your boot= parameter, 
otherwise you'll have to do that manually at each kernel upgrade.

If the boot process is simple enough it might be possible to switch to 
u-boot-menu instead of flash-kernel. It's much simpler and easier to 
configure, and also provides a text boot menu.


Hope this helps,
Andrei
-- 
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser


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Re: Installing Debian Buster on Cubox-i4 with eSATA drive.

[Jeremy Ardley]

On 28/1/21 12:03 pm, Rick Thomas wrote:

I'm trying to install Debian Buster [1] on my Cubox-i4P with an eSATA drive. 
Everything seems to be fine, but when it comes time to reboot, it boots into 
the installer again, rather than the installed system.

Here's what I did, and what I observed:

*) I downloaded the two parts of the SDcard install image from [1] and followed 
the instructions in the README to create a 4GB (I didn't have anything smaller) 
SDcard installer.
*) I connected the eSATA disk and plugged the SDcard into the Cubox and powered 
it up.
*) It booted off the SD-card into the installer as expected.
*) Everything went as expected, until it got to the partition-disks phase.
*) I chose to use the eSATA disk as the installation target.  I told it to use 
the whole disk and use the LVM method of partitioning.
*) It created the /boot ext2 partition in /dev/sda1 and put root, /home and 
swap in the LVM on /dev/sda5.  This is (I think) exactly what I wanted.
*) There was no mention of the SDcard /dev/mmcblk1 (except when initially 
choosing the target disk -- I did explicitly NOT choose it at this time)
*) I allowed it to wipe and re-partition the eSATA disk, which it did without 
incident.
*) Everything proceeded as expected.  I chose a minimal (ssh and base packages) 
in tasksel.
*) When it came to "make it bootable" I said go ahead.  There was no mention of 
/dev/mmcblk1 at this stage.
*) It proceeded from there without any apparent errors.
*) When it came time to reboot, I said go ahead.
*) But when the reboot happened, I found myself back in the installer.
*) I tried removing the SDcard and rebooting, but it failed to boot -- after 
power-on nothing happened.

What I hoped would happen with the eSATA drive was that the installer would 
write the boot firmware (u-boot, etc) to the SDcard, and configure it to get 
/boot, root, /home, swap off the eSATA.

What I suspect has happened is that the boot firmware (u-boot, etc) was written 
to the eSATA drive and so it can't be found by the power-up routine without 
some reconfiguration to tell it to look at the eSATA, but that isn't happening.

Anybody know what I can do to either:
1) Tell the power-up routines to look at the eSATA?
or
2) Write the boot firmware to the SD card and configure it to get the rest of 
the system from the eSATA?

Debug logs were saved, and can be provided upon request.

Thanks in advance for any help!
Rick

PS:   In a previous attempt, I used a 64GB SDcard without the eSATA disk -- 
putting everything onto the SDcard.  That worked fine (It put the boot stuff on 
the SDcard) but it's horribly slow due to the very low speed of data transfer 
to and from the SDcard.

[1] 
http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/bullseye/main/installer-armhf/current/images/netboot/SD-card-images/



I think you'll find the device can't boot off e-SATA. The normal 
work-around is to have an initial SD or USB device with /boot only that 
does the first stage of the boot and then uses the eSATA file system for 
the subsequent stages.


This process is automated in some distros such as Armbian. I have used 
this process with the FriendlyElec NanoPi M4V2 which has an M.2 PCIE drive


--
Jeremy




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Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[David Wright]

On Thu 21 Jan 2021 at 11:08:56 (-0800), Dan Hitt wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 10:02 AM Dan Ritter wrote:
> > Dan Hitt wrote:
> > > On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 3:33 AM Brian wrote:
> > > >
> > > >menuentry 'Debian 10' {
> > > >linux /boot/vmlinuz
> > > >initrd /boot/initrd.gz
> > > >}
> > >
> > > And that is: how can grub2 or any other software know what partition
> > > '/boot' refers to?
> > >
> > > So i presume that in this very very short stanza you provide, there will
> > > also have to be a search line like David has (search --no-floppy ..)
> > > to identify just where '/boot' is (???).

Yes, my PCs all have two root filesystems (normally stable and
oldstable), hence the search line. And with a BIOS Boot partition and
an EFI one too, neither of the roots is going to be as early as the
first partition.

The stanza is embedded into grub.cfg at 40_custom, so there are loads
of modules already set up.

> > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_GRUB#Startup_on_systems_using_BIOS_firmware
> >
> > stage 2: core.img loads /boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod from the
> > partition configured by grub-install. If the partition index has

> > changed, GRUB will be unable to find the normal.mod, and
> > presents the user with the GRUB Rescue prompt.
> >
> > So the answer to your question is, it's been configured at
> > install time, not discovered at runtime.
> 
> Thanks Dan for your mail, and for the reference to the wikipedia article.
> 
> When you say 'configured at install time', does that refer to the time at
> which i run 'sudo update-grub' (on my mint host)?
> 
> (I presume that it is impossible that this refers to the time when grub
> itself was last installed on the box, several years ago.)

As dsr wrote, it's when grub-install is run that you decide where most
of the Grub stuff is loaded from, including the grub.cfg file. So this
could indeed be years ago if grub itself hasn't needed upgrading.
Commands like update-grub (and grub-mkconfig) merely play around with
the /boot/grub/grub.cfg that belongs to the system you're running.

So, for example, I boot using the (newest) Grub on buster. When I
(occasionally) upgrade stretch on that PC, I update-grub so that the
stretch grub.cfg information is correct, but I don't grub-install
on stretch (ie I don't touch the MBR or UEFI).
Then I boot buster and run its update-grub so that the new information
in stretch's "BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux" section gets incorporated
into buster's "BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober" section. (That's the
only way in which stretch's grub.cfg is ever used.)

> Anyhow, i added an entry to /etc/grub.d just to see what would happen if i
> took the simple menu entry quite literally:
> menuentry "simple-test" {
> linux /boot/vmlinuz
> initrd /boot/initrd.gz
> }
> 
> I ran 'sudo update-grub', and the entry was copied into /boot/grub/grub.cfg
> without modification.  And then i tried booting into it, just to see what
> grub would do.  And, it did what i think was the only thing it possibly
> could: it reported:
> error: file `/boot/vmlinuz' not found.
> error: you need to load the kernel first.
> 
> Press any key to continue...
> 
> Now, Brian said that "the installer's initrd does not contain a loop
> module", so that would indicate that if i want to use
> debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso, i'll need to get it on the disk
> (presumably by just unpacking it somewhere --- prior to booting, i can loop
> mount it and copy it to a 'real' directory), and then modifying
> /boot/vmlinuz and /boot/initrd.gz to be paths that grub understands.  Or,
> maybe the debootstrap method Bastien suggests would be good.

My own priority is just to circumvent the BIOS limitation of my oldest
PC, but otherwise get the most similar installation to my usual
net-install. Because of that PC's architecture, bullseye may well turn
out to be its final installation after 20 years.

Cheers,
David.

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Brian]

On Thu 21 Jan 2021 at 23:22:32 +, Brian wrote:

> menuentry 'Debian 10' {
> linux (hdX,msdosY)/boot/vmlinuz
> initrd (hdX,msdosY)/boot/initrd.gz
> }
>
> or use a "search" line.

The latter might br easiest for you.

Put linux, initrd.gz and the ISO file in /boot on the Linux Mint
partition. Get the UUID of this partition (YOUR_UUID) from

  lsblk -o +UUID

Then

 search --no-floppy --UUID --set=root YOUR_UUID
 menuentry 'Debian 10' {
 linux /boot/vmlinuz
 initrd /boot/initrd.gz
 }

-- 
Brian.

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[David Christensen]

On 2021-01-20 20:31, Dan Hitt wrote:

I have a machine that currently has linux mint 16.04 on it.

I would like to install debian 10 on it, but the installer really 
wants access to a cd drive, and one just isn't available.


However, the linux mint 16.04 system does have grub2 on it.

So it is possible for me to boot from an iso image stored in the 
filesystem just like a regular file.  It's just a matter of writing

a menu entry in /etc/grub/40_custom.

I know this works because i've booted into a live cd image of linux 
mint 20.1 (using the filesystem, not a cdrom), and started an 
installation process.  I backed out of it, because i would like to 
install debian 10, not just a later version of mint.


When i do the same thing with debian, it starts off ok, doing some 
simple things like setting the language and the keyboard layout, but 
then it complains that it cannot find a cd rom.  This is true with 
both the netinst image, as well as with a jigdo xfce image which i 
think should have everything necessary and not need a cd rom.  For 
reference, my debian menu entry is


menuentry "debian-10-iso" { set 
isofile="/USER/iso/debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso" loopback loop 
(hd0,gptNN)$isofile linux (loop)/install.amd/vmlinuz boot=install.amd
iso-scan/filename=$isofile noprompt noeject initrd 
(loop)/install.amd/initrd.gz }


Here, USER is the user name in whose account the iso image is, and 
gptNN stands for the particular partition where home is mounted for 
the user USER.


So my first question is whether there's a better iso image i can
use, or if i can fix this up by giving more arguments to the linux 
invocation line or something else in the menu entry.


The second question is whether there's a way, from grub (grub2, 
actually), of dropping down to the bios.  I imagine this is quite 
impossible, but if i'm wrong, please let me know.  The reason i

would like to do this is that it is very hard for me to interrupt the
boot process fast enough to get to the bios, and i've only managed to
do it once or twice after many tries. If i were in the bios, i might
be able to figure out if it could boot from usb, and i could set the 
boot order to do this, and make a bootable usb version of netinst 
(perhaps).


Or perhaps there's some other way to approach the problem?  For 
example, i've already created a partition to hold the debian system

i want to put on the machine.  Is there some way of hand-populating
it? I do have a running debian 10 system on another machine, and i 
suppose i could tar it up and unpack it into the new partition on
the mint machine.  But i'm not sure if there's something outside the 
filesystem but inside the partition which is necessary for it to be 
bootable.


Thanks in advance for any advice!



On 2021-01-21 13:06, Dan Hitt wrote:
I didn't mean to imply that linux mint 16.04 was the only OS on the 
machine, or that there was only one partition.


There are 30 partitions, although not all of them have an OS on
them; i have a partition for users so that when i update the box with
a new OS, i can have access to all the previous user accounts.
That's what i> intend to do this time as well.

I haven't put a new OS on the box in the last 5 years, but i would 
like to update it to debian 10 now; my general procedure in such 
cases is to add a new partition for the OS, but not discard what i 
have already installed. The only disadvantage to this is that 
operations that scan the entire disk looking for OSes take longer.


The challenges i face this time are that the CD is not available, so 
that everything has to be done through the hd.  Further, i only have 
access to the bios with great difficulty.   If i could get into the 
bios, i could change the boot order, and possibly boot from usb. 
However, it is very difficult to interrupt the boot process 
successfully (by pressing F2), because it is so fast.  (I could 
conceivably even get a usb


But the hd is big, and i can make more partitions as needed and 
populate them as desired.



On 2021-01-21 13:20, Dan Hitt wrote:

he problem with pxeboot, is that i would have to get into the bios to
change the boot order.  The bios does have an option for pxe boot, 
but i cannot reliably get into the bios: after many tries i was only 
able to get into it a couple of times.


So if i had a way to reliably force my way into the bios, it would
be very valuable, whether for pxe boot or just anything else.



Providing more information will allow readers to provide better answers:

- The make and model of the computer.  If homebrew, the make and model 
of the chassis and motherboard.  Please provide URL's.


- How many drive bays the chassis has.

- Makes and models of drives in the computer, and which bay each is in. 
 Please provide URL's.


- How many and type of drive interfaces on the motherboard and/or 
HBA(s), and which drive is connected to which interface.


- The purpose of each drive, what it contains (e.g. partitioning scheme, 

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Brian]

On Thu 21 Jan 2021 at 13:06:25 -0800, Dan Hitt wrote:

> On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 12:29 PM Brian  wrote:
>
> > On Thu 21 Jan 2021 at 09:34:56 -0800, Dan Hitt wrote:
> >
> > > On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 3:33 AM Brian  wrote:
> > >
> > > > On Wed 20 Jan 2021 at 20:31:53 -0800, Dan Hitt wrote:
> > > >
> > > > [...]
> > > >
> > > > > menuentry "debian-10-iso" {
> > > > > set isofile="/USER/iso/debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso"
> > > > > loopback loop (hd0,gptNN)$isofile
> > > > > linux (loop)/install.amd/vmlinuz boot=install.amd
> > > > > iso-scan/filename=$isofile noprompt noeject
> > > > > initrd (loop)/install.amd/initrd.gz
> > > > > }
> > > >
> > > > This technique is doomed to failure. debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso
> > > > needs to be mounted when it is found. However, the installer's initrd
> > > > does not contain a loop module, so this is not possible.
> > > >
> > > > David Wright's advice to use the hd-media kernel and initrd is your way
> > > > forward. The simplest GRUB stanza possible is
> > > >
> > > >menuentry 'Debian 10' {
> > > >linux /boot/vmlinuz
> > > >initrd /boot/initrd.gz
> > > >}
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Brian.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > Brian, thanks so much for your advice.  Thank you also Felix, David, and
> > > Bastien --- i need to study what you have all written.
> > >
> > > However, Brian's final stanza is so simple that i can ask a question
> > about
> > > it immediately.
> > >
> > > And that is: how can grub2 or any other software know what partition
> > > '/boot' refers to?
> >
> > You said originally:
> >
> >   > I have a machine that currently has linux mint 16.04 on it
> >
> > I assummed that that this was the only partition and that vmlinuz and
> > initrd.gz would go in /boot. How many partitions do you have?
> >
>
> Thanks Brian for your mail.
>
> I didn't mean to imply that linux mint 16.04 was the only OS on the
> machine, or that there was only one partition.

But you did say

  > I have a machine that currently has linux mint 16.04 on it.

That installation will be on (hdX,msdosY). So

menuentry 'Debian 10' {
linux (hdX,msdosY)/boot/vmlinuz
initrd (hdX,msdosY)/boot/initrd.gz
}

or use a "search" line.

-- 
Brian.

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Brian]

On Thu 21 Jan 2021 at 16:20:10 -0500, Felix Miata wrote:

> Brian composed on 2021-01-21 11:33 (UTC):
> 
> > David Wright's advice to use the hd-media kernel and initrd is your way
> > forward. The simplest GRUB stanza possible is
> 
> >menuentry 'Debian 10' {
> >linux /boot/vmlinuz
> >initrd /boot/initrd.gz
> >}
> 
> I'm having trouble thinking of how this could work. Grub needs a way to know 
> where
> to find the correct partition/filesystem. My 2021-01-21 00:06 (UTC-0500) 
> response
> included one example:
> 
>   search --no-floppy --label --set=root p03res
> 
> It remains for the reader to determine the simplest possible example.
> https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub/grub.html

In the absence of being told the disk and partition, GRUB will use
(hd0,msdos1). The OP did not specify more than one disk and partition.

-- 
Brian.

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Felix Miata]

Dan Hitt composed on 2021-01-21 13:06 (UTC-0800):

> ...i only have access to
> the bios with great difficulty.   If i could get into the bios, i could
> change the boot order, and possibly boot from usb.  However, it is very
> difficult to interrupt the boot process successfully (by pressing F2),
> because it is so fast
I cannot recall having been in a BIOS where there was not a fast boot option
enabled by default. To set yours off, boot with no bootable devices available 
and
you should get a chance to get into the BIOS if it doesn't automatically 
present.
If that doesn't work either, do a mechanical BIOS reset. All BIOS I've 
encountered
will present an opportunity to enter when the clock is not set.
-- 
Evolution as taught in public schools, like religion,
is based on faith, not on science.

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Dan Hitt]

On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 12:58 PM Erwan David  wrote:

> Le 21/01/2021 à 21:52, Erwan David a écrit :
> > Le 21/01/2021 à 21:46, Brian a écrit :
> >> On Thu 21 Jan 2021 at 11:08:56 -0800, Dan Hitt wrote:
> >>
> >> [...]
> >>
> >>> Now, Brian said that "the installer's initrd does not contain a loop
> >>> module", so that would indicate that if i want to use
> >>> debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso, i'll need to get it on the disk
> >>> (presumably by just unpacking it somewhere --- prior to booting, i can
> loop
> >>> mount it and copy it to a 'real' directory), and then modifying
> >>> /boot/vmlinuz and /boot/initrd.gz to be paths that grub understands.
> Or,
> >>> maybe the debootstrap method Bastien suggests would be good.
> >> You can manipulate debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso in whatever way
> >> you want. It will still not be loop mounted by hd-media.
> >>
> >> You are heading off into the wild, blue yonder.
> >>
> > A possibility would be to set up a PXE server, tehre are ways to do a
> > netinstall with a PXE boot (boot on the network).
> >
> > There surely are tutorials on the net for this.
> >
> >
> Most obvious : https://wiki.debian.org/PXEBootInstall


Thanks Erwin for your message and the link.

The problem with pxeboot, is that i would have to get into the bios to
change the boot order.  The bios does have an option for pxe boot, but i
cannot reliably get into the bios: after many tries i was only able to get
into it a couple of times.

So if i had a way to reliably force my way into the bios, it would be very
valuable, whether for pxe boot or just anything else.

Thanks again everybody for your help.

dan

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Felix Miata]

Brian composed on 2021-01-21 11:33 (UTC):

> David Wright's advice to use the hd-media kernel and initrd is your way
> forward. The simplest GRUB stanza possible is

>menuentry 'Debian 10' {
>linux /boot/vmlinuz
>initrd /boot/initrd.gz
>}

I'm having trouble thinking of how this could work. Grub needs a way to know 
where
to find the correct partition/filesystem. My 2021-01-21 00:06 (UTC-0500) 
response
included one example:

search --no-floppy --label --set=root p03res

It remains for the reader to determine the simplest possible example.
https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub/grub.html
-- 
Evolution as taught in public schools, like religion,
is based on faith, not on science.

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Dan Ritter]

Dan Hitt wrote: 
> On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 12:29 PM Brian  wrote:
> >   > I have a machine that currently has linux mint 16.04 on it
> >
> > I assummed that that this was the only partition and that vmlinuz and
> > initrd.gz would go in /boot. How many partitions do you have?
> >
> 
> Thanks Brian for your mail.
> 
> I didn't mean to imply that linux mint 16.04 was the only OS on the
> machine, or that there was only one partition.
> 
> There are 30 partitions, although not all of them have an OS on them; i
> have a partition for users so that when i update the box with a new OS, i
> can have access to all the previous user accounts.  That's what i intend to
> do this time as well.

Oh, debootstrap is definitely the way to go, then.

Pick your partition, mkfs.ext4 a filesystem, mount it, and:

debootstrap stable /PATH/TO/MOUNTPOINT http://deb.debian.org/debian/

then you can arrange booting via your existing grub menu or
whatever.

-dsr-

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Dan Hitt]

On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 12:29 PM Brian  wrote:

> On Thu 21 Jan 2021 at 09:34:56 -0800, Dan Hitt wrote:
>
> > On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 3:33 AM Brian  wrote:
> >
> > > On Wed 20 Jan 2021 at 20:31:53 -0800, Dan Hitt wrote:
> > >
> > > [...]
> > >
> > > > menuentry "debian-10-iso" {
> > > > set isofile="/USER/iso/debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso"
> > > > loopback loop (hd0,gptNN)$isofile
> > > > linux (loop)/install.amd/vmlinuz boot=install.amd
> > > > iso-scan/filename=$isofile noprompt noeject
> > > > initrd (loop)/install.amd/initrd.gz
> > > > }
> > >
> > > This technique is doomed to failure. debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso
> > > needs to be mounted when it is found. However, the installer's initrd
> > > does not contain a loop module, so this is not possible.
> > >
> > > David Wright's advice to use the hd-media kernel and initrd is your way
> > > forward. The simplest GRUB stanza possible is
> > >
> > >menuentry 'Debian 10' {
> > >linux /boot/vmlinuz
> > >initrd /boot/initrd.gz
> > >}
> > >
> > > --
> > > Brian.
> > >
> > >
> > Brian, thanks so much for your advice.  Thank you also Felix, David, and
> > Bastien --- i need to study what you have all written.
> >
> > However, Brian's final stanza is so simple that i can ask a question
> about
> > it immediately.
> >
> > And that is: how can grub2 or any other software know what partition
> > '/boot' refers to?
>
> You said originally:
>
>   > I have a machine that currently has linux mint 16.04 on it
>
> I assummed that that this was the only partition and that vmlinuz and
> initrd.gz would go in /boot. How many partitions do you have?
>

Thanks Brian for your mail.

I didn't mean to imply that linux mint 16.04 was the only OS on the
machine, or that there was only one partition.

There are 30 partitions, although not all of them have an OS on them; i
have a partition for users so that when i update the box with a new OS, i
can have access to all the previous user accounts.  That's what i intend to
do this time as well.

I haven't put a new OS on the box in the last 5 years, but i would like to
update it to debian 10 now; my general procedure in such cases is to add a
new partition for the OS, but not discard what i have already installed.
The only disadvantage to this is that operations that scan the entire disk
looking for OSes take longer.

The challenges i face this time are that the CD is not available, so that
everything has to be done through the hd.  Further, i only have access to
the bios with great difficulty.   If i could get into the bios, i could
change the boot order, and possibly boot from usb.  However, it is very
difficult to interrupt the boot process successfully (by pressing F2),
because it is so fast.  (I could conceivably even get a usb

But the hd is big, and i can make more partitions as needed and populate
them as desired.

Thanks again everybody for your help!

dan




>
> > So i presume that in this very very short stanza you provide, there will
> > also have to be a search line like David has (search --no-floppy ..)
> to
> > identify just where '/boot' is (???).
>
> With more than one partition: David's suggestion is more or less
> obligatory.
>
> --
> Brian.
>
>

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Erwan David]

Le 21/01/2021 à 21:52, Erwan David a écrit :
> Le 21/01/2021 à 21:46, Brian a écrit :
>> On Thu 21 Jan 2021 at 11:08:56 -0800, Dan Hitt wrote:
>>
>> [...]
>>
>>> Now, Brian said that "the installer's initrd does not contain a loop
>>> module", so that would indicate that if i want to use
>>> debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso, i'll need to get it on the disk
>>> (presumably by just unpacking it somewhere --- prior to booting, i can loop
>>> mount it and copy it to a 'real' directory), and then modifying
>>> /boot/vmlinuz and /boot/initrd.gz to be paths that grub understands.  Or,
>>> maybe the debootstrap method Bastien suggests would be good.
>> You can manipulate debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso in whatever way
>> you want. It will still not be loop mounted by hd-media.
>>
>> You are heading off into the wild, blue yonder.
>>
> A possibility would be to set up a PXE server, tehre are ways to do a
> netinstall with a PXE boot (boot on the network).
>
> There surely are tutorials on the net for this.
>
>
Most obvious : https://wiki.debian.org/PXEBootInstall

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Erwan David]

Le 21/01/2021 à 21:46, Brian a écrit :
> On Thu 21 Jan 2021 at 11:08:56 -0800, Dan Hitt wrote:
>
> [...]
>
>> Now, Brian said that "the installer's initrd does not contain a loop
>> module", so that would indicate that if i want to use
>> debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso, i'll need to get it on the disk
>> (presumably by just unpacking it somewhere --- prior to booting, i can loop
>> mount it and copy it to a 'real' directory), and then modifying
>> /boot/vmlinuz and /boot/initrd.gz to be paths that grub understands.  Or,
>> maybe the debootstrap method Bastien suggests would be good.
> You can manipulate debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso in whatever way
> you want. It will still not be loop mounted by hd-media.
>
> You are heading off into the wild, blue yonder.
>
A possibility would be to set up a PXE server, tehre are ways to do a
netinstall with a PXE boot (boot on the network).

There surely are tutorials on the net for this.

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Brian]

On Thu 21 Jan 2021 at 11:08:56 -0800, Dan Hitt wrote:

[...]

> Now, Brian said that "the installer's initrd does not contain a loop
> module", so that would indicate that if i want to use
> debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso, i'll need to get it on the disk
> (presumably by just unpacking it somewhere --- prior to booting, i can loop
> mount it and copy it to a 'real' directory), and then modifying
> /boot/vmlinuz and /boot/initrd.gz to be paths that grub understands.  Or,
> maybe the debootstrap method Bastien suggests would be good.

You can manipulate debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso in whatever way
you want. It will still not be loop mounted by hd-media.

You are heading off into the wild, blue yonder.

-- 
Brian.

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Brian]

On Thu 21 Jan 2021 at 09:34:56 -0800, Dan Hitt wrote:

> On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 3:33 AM Brian  wrote:
> 
> > On Wed 20 Jan 2021 at 20:31:53 -0800, Dan Hitt wrote:
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > > menuentry "debian-10-iso" {
> > > set isofile="/USER/iso/debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso"
> > > loopback loop (hd0,gptNN)$isofile
> > > linux (loop)/install.amd/vmlinuz boot=install.amd
> > > iso-scan/filename=$isofile noprompt noeject
> > > initrd (loop)/install.amd/initrd.gz
> > > }
> >
> > This technique is doomed to failure. debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso
> > needs to be mounted when it is found. However, the installer's initrd
> > does not contain a loop module, so this is not possible.
> >
> > David Wright's advice to use the hd-media kernel and initrd is your way
> > forward. The simplest GRUB stanza possible is
> >
> >menuentry 'Debian 10' {
> >linux /boot/vmlinuz
> >initrd /boot/initrd.gz
> >}
> >
> > --
> > Brian.
> >
> >
> Brian, thanks so much for your advice.  Thank you also Felix, David, and
> Bastien --- i need to study what you have all written.
> 
> However, Brian's final stanza is so simple that i can ask a question about
> it immediately.
> 
> And that is: how can grub2 or any other software know what partition
> '/boot' refers to?

You said originally:

  > I have a machine that currently has linux mint 16.04 on it

I assummed that that this was the only partition and that vmlinuz and
initrd.gz would go in /boot. How many partitions do you have?

> So i presume that in this very very short stanza you provide, there will
> also have to be a search line like David has (search --no-floppy ..) to
> identify just where '/boot' is (???).

With more than one partition: David's suggestion is more or less
obligatory.

-- 
Brian.

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Andrei POPESCU]

On Mi, 20 ian 21, 20:31:53, Dan Hitt wrote:
> I have a machine that currently has linux mint 16.04 on it.
> 
> I would like to install debian 10 on it, but the installer really wants
> access to a cd drive, and one just isn't available.

Any kind of medium that can be used by your motherboard to boot should 
work (e.g. a spare SATA drive), same as you would be using a USB stick 
(including loosing all data when copying the .iso to it).

If using the 'mini.iso' in the 'netboot' category you can even install 
to the same drive (the other images don't allow repartitioning of the 
drive (partition?) they are on).

Kind regards,
Andrei
-- 
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser


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Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Dan Ritter]

Dan Hitt wrote: 
> On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 10:02 AM Dan Ritter  wrote:
> > > also have to be a search line like David has (search --no-floppy ..)
> > to
> > > identify just where '/boot' is (???).
> >
> >
> > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_GRUB#Startup_on_systems_using_BIOS_firmware
> >
> > stage 2: core.img loads /boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod from the
> > partition configured by grub-install. If the partition index has
> > changed, GRUB will be unable to find the normal.mod, and
> > presents the user with the GRUB Rescue prompt.
> >
> > So the answer to your question is, it's been configured at
> > install time, not discovered at runtime.
> >
> > -dsr-
> >
> 
> Thanks Dan for your mail, and for the reference to the wikipedia article.
> 
> When you say 'configured at install time', does that refer to the time at
> which i run 'sudo update-grub' (on my mint host)?

That's a possible install time. Another possible install time is
when the creator of an ISO image - say, the netinst.iso - runs
update-grub on the bootloader for that image. (Somebody with
more expertise in CD booting might be able to say more.)

Consider that your computer decides which disk to read the boot
sector from, and after that it's all up to what that boot sector
does.

> (I presume that it is impossible that this refers to the time when grub
> itself was last installed on the box, several years ago.)
> 
> Anyhow, i added an entry to /etc/grub.d just to see what would happen if i
> took the simple menu entry quite literally:
> menuentry "simple-test" {
> linux /boot/vmlinuz
> initrd /boot/initrd.gz
> }
> 
> I ran 'sudo update-grub', and the entry was copied into /boot/grub/grub.cfg
> without modification.  And then i tried booting into it, just to see what
> grub would do.  And, it did what i think was the only thing it possibly
> could: it reported:
> error: file `/boot/vmlinuz' not found.
> error: you need to load the kernel first.
> 
> Press any key to continue...
> 
> Now, Brian said that "the installer's initrd does not contain a loop
> module", so that would indicate that if i want to use
> debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso, i'll need to get it on the disk
> (presumably by just unpacking it somewhere --- prior to booting, i can loop
> mount it and copy it to a 'real' directory), and then modifying
> /boot/vmlinuz and /boot/initrd.gz to be paths that grub understands.  Or,
> maybe the debootstrap method Bastien suggests would be good.

Both should be workable. 

-dsr-

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Dan Hitt]

On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 10:02 AM Dan Ritter  wrote:

> Dan Hitt wrote:
> > On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 3:33 AM Brian  wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >menuentry 'Debian 10' {
> > >linux /boot/vmlinuz
> > >initrd /boot/initrd.gz
> > >}
> > >
> > > --
> > > Brian.
> > >
> > >
> > Brian, thanks so much for your advice.  Thank you also Felix, David, and
> > Bastien --- i need to study what you have all written.
> >
> > However, Brian's final stanza is so simple that i can ask a question
> about
> > it immediately.
> >
> > And that is: how can grub2 or any other software know what partition
> > '/boot' refers to?
> >
> > So i presume that in this very very short stanza you provide, there will
> > also have to be a search line like David has (search --no-floppy ..)
> to
> > identify just where '/boot' is (???).
>
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_GRUB#Startup_on_systems_using_BIOS_firmware
>
> stage 2: core.img loads /boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod from the
> partition configured by grub-install. If the partition index has
> changed, GRUB will be unable to find the normal.mod, and
> presents the user with the GRUB Rescue prompt.
>
> So the answer to your question is, it's been configured at
> install time, not discovered at runtime.
>
> -dsr-
>

Thanks Dan for your mail, and for the reference to the wikipedia article.

When you say 'configured at install time', does that refer to the time at
which i run 'sudo update-grub' (on my mint host)?

(I presume that it is impossible that this refers to the time when grub
itself was last installed on the box, several years ago.)

Anyhow, i added an entry to /etc/grub.d just to see what would happen if i
took the simple menu entry quite literally:
menuentry "simple-test" {
linux /boot/vmlinuz
initrd /boot/initrd.gz
}

I ran 'sudo update-grub', and the entry was copied into /boot/grub/grub.cfg
without modification.  And then i tried booting into it, just to see what
grub would do.  And, it did what i think was the only thing it possibly
could: it reported:
error: file `/boot/vmlinuz' not found.
error: you need to load the kernel first.

Press any key to continue...

Now, Brian said that "the installer's initrd does not contain a loop
module", so that would indicate that if i want to use
debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso, i'll need to get it on the disk
(presumably by just unpacking it somewhere --- prior to booting, i can loop
mount it and copy it to a 'real' directory), and then modifying
/boot/vmlinuz and /boot/initrd.gz to be paths that grub understands.  Or,
maybe the debootstrap method Bastien suggests would be good.

Anyhow, thanks for your message, and thanks everybody else for these
important pieces of knowledge that i need to learn.

dan

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Andrei POPESCU]

On Mi, 20 ian 21, 20:31:53, Dan Hitt wrote:
> 
> Or perhaps there's some other way to approach the problem?  For example,
> i've already created a partition to hold the debian system i want to put on
> the machine.  Is there some way of hand-populating it?

Yes, either debootstrap (used also by the Debian Installer) or 
mmdebstrap can create a "blank" Debian installation.

Please mind that it will need additional configuration in order to make 
it work, including but not limited to creating users, setting up your 
fstab (in case you more partitions), etc. that are normally done by the
installer.

> I do have a running
> debian 10 system on another machine, and i suppose i could tar it up and
> unpack it into the new partition on the mint machine.

Cloning another installation presents its own challenges, as you might 
end with stuff duplicated that should be unique for each system (unless 
you really know what you are doing).

It's probably easier to just let debootstrap/mmdebstrap take care of the 
bulk installation and use the other Debian installation only as a source 
of configuration files.

> But i'm not sure if
> there's something outside the filesystem but inside the partition which is
> necessary for it to be bootable.

It depends.

With GRUB on traditional BIOS (non-UEFI) systems there are several 
approaches possible, depending on which (if any) is your "primary" 
system (i.e. the one that provides/controls the boot loader).

More details are needed here to provide useful recommendations.

Kind regards,
Andrei
-- 
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser


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Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Dan Ritter]

Dan Hitt wrote: 
> On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 3:33 AM Brian  wrote:
> 
> >
> >menuentry 'Debian 10' {
> >linux /boot/vmlinuz
> >initrd /boot/initrd.gz
> >}
> >
> > --
> > Brian.
> >
> >
> Brian, thanks so much for your advice.  Thank you also Felix, David, and
> Bastien --- i need to study what you have all written.
> 
> However, Brian's final stanza is so simple that i can ask a question about
> it immediately.
> 
> And that is: how can grub2 or any other software know what partition
> '/boot' refers to?
> 
> So i presume that in this very very short stanza you provide, there will
> also have to be a search line like David has (search --no-floppy ..) to
> identify just where '/boot' is (???).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_GRUB#Startup_on_systems_using_BIOS_firmware

stage 2: core.img loads /boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod from the
partition configured by grub-install. If the partition index has
changed, GRUB will be unable to find the normal.mod, and
presents the user with the GRUB Rescue prompt.

So the answer to your question is, it's been configured at
install time, not discovered at runtime.

-dsr-

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Dan Hitt]

On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 3:33 AM Brian  wrote:

> On Wed 20 Jan 2021 at 20:31:53 -0800, Dan Hitt wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> > menuentry "debian-10-iso" {
> > set isofile="/USER/iso/debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso"
> > loopback loop (hd0,gptNN)$isofile
> > linux (loop)/install.amd/vmlinuz boot=install.amd
> > iso-scan/filename=$isofile noprompt noeject
> > initrd (loop)/install.amd/initrd.gz
> > }
>
> This technique is doomed to failure. debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso
> needs to be mounted when it is found. However, the installer's initrd
> does not contain a loop module, so this is not possible.
>
> David Wright's advice to use the hd-media kernel and initrd is your way
> forward. The simplest GRUB stanza possible is
>
>menuentry 'Debian 10' {
>linux /boot/vmlinuz
>initrd /boot/initrd.gz
>}
>
> --
> Brian.
>
>
Brian, thanks so much for your advice.  Thank you also Felix, David, and
Bastien --- i need to study what you have all written.

However, Brian's final stanza is so simple that i can ask a question about
it immediately.

And that is: how can grub2 or any other software know what partition
'/boot' refers to?

So i presume that in this very very short stanza you provide, there will
also have to be a search line like David has (search --no-floppy ..) to
identify just where '/boot' is (???).

Thanks everybody for your help!!!

dan

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Brian]

On Wed 20 Jan 2021 at 20:31:53 -0800, Dan Hitt wrote:

[...]

> menuentry "debian-10-iso" {
> set isofile="/USER/iso/debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso"
> loopback loop (hd0,gptNN)$isofile
> linux (loop)/install.amd/vmlinuz boot=install.amd
> iso-scan/filename=$isofile noprompt noeject
> initrd (loop)/install.amd/initrd.gz
> }

This technique is doomed to failure. debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso
needs to be mounted when it is found. However, the installer's initrd
does not contain a loop module, so this is not possible.

David Wright's advice to use the hd-media kernel and initrd is your way
forward. The simplest GRUB stanza possible is

   menuentry 'Debian 10' {
   linux /boot/vmlinuz
   initrd /boot/initrd.gz
   }

-- 
Brian.

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[David Wright]

On Wed 20 Jan 2021 at 20:31:53 (-0800), Dan Hitt wrote:
> I have a machine that currently has linux mint 16.04 on it.
> 
> I would like to install debian 10 on it, but the installer really wants
> access to a cd drive, and one just isn't available.
> 
> However, the linux mint 16.04 system does have grub2 on it.
> 
> So it is possible for me to boot from an iso image stored in the filesystem
> just like a regular file.  It's just a matter of writing a menu entry in
> /etc/grub/40_custom.
> 
> I know this works because i've booted into a live cd image of linux mint
> 20.1 (using the filesystem, not a cdrom), and started an installation
> process.  I backed out of it, because i would like to install debian 10,
> not just a later version of mint.
> 
> When i do the same thing with debian, it starts off ok, doing some simple
> things like setting the language and the keyboard layout, but then it
> complains that it cannot find a cd rom.  This is true with both the netinst
> image, as well as with a jigdo xfce image which i think should have
> everything necessary and not need a cd rom.  For reference, my debian menu
> entry is
> 
> menuentry "debian-10-iso" {
> set isofile="/USER/iso/debian-10.7.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso"
> loopback loop (hd0,gptNN)$isofile
> linux (loop)/install.amd/vmlinuz boot=install.amd
> iso-scan/filename=$isofile noprompt noeject
> initrd (loop)/install.amd/initrd.gz
> }
> 
> Here, USER is the user name in whose account the iso image is, and gptNN
> stands for the particular partition where home is mounted for the user USER.
> 
> So my first question is whether there's a better iso image i can use, or if
> i can fix this up by giving more arguments to the linux invocation line or
> something else in the menu entry.

I think what you're trying to do is §5.1.5 from
https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch05s01.en.html#boot-initrd
using the hd-media. IIRC when I did this I used just
http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/buster/main/installer-i386/current/images/hd-media/
initrd.gz and vmlinuz, which gives you effectively a net install
(so you need connectivity).

My grub entry was (I use LABELs on my partitions):

menuentry "Install Debian via HTTP" {
search --no-floppy --label --set=root noah02
linux   /boot/linux priority=low
initrd  /boot/initrd.gz
}

as I downloaded the files into /boot (where everything else is versioned).
Low is like expert install, IIRC, asking all the questions.

I guess amd64 is the same, but only one i386 of mine can't boot from a stick.

> The second question is whether there's a way, from grub (grub2, actually),
> of dropping down to the bios.  I imagine this is quite impossible, but if
> i'm wrong, please let me know.  The reason i would like to do this is that
> it is very hard for me to interrupt the boot process fast enough to get to
> the bios, and i've only managed to do it once or twice after many tries.
> If i were in the bios, i might be able to figure out if it could boot from
> usb, and i could set the boot order to do this, and make a bootable usb
> version of netinst (perhaps).
> 
> Or perhaps there's some other way to approach the problem?  For example,
> i've already created a partition to hold the debian system i want to put on
> the machine.  Is there some way of hand-populating it?  I do have a running
> debian 10 system on another machine, and i suppose i could tar it up and
> unpack it into the new partition on the mint machine.  But i'm not sure if
> there's something outside the filesystem but inside the partition which is
> necessary for it to be bootable.

I've certainly cloned systems in the past, using cpio as it happens.
But it was a long time ago, when eg /dev was a real directory with
real device files. I've even found the notes I used, but bear in mind
these were probably written in about 1998, and look rather quaint now,
so follow their intent rather than their method.

  Copying (cloning) a partition or tree of files to another device:
  (including when it's the live sysytem)
 mount /dev/new-device-partition /mnt
 cd old-directory-root
 ls -lR > somewhere-on-a-stick (certainly not on /)
  if we're in /, this listing needs pruning later as it will contain files on
  other filesystems than -xdev is going to exclude. Note that switches
  -ABQ might also be useful.

 find -xdev -path './lost+found' -prune -o -print \
   | cpio -vdamp /mnt
   ^ v is not essential

  If this is on a different machine:

 find -xdev -path './lost+found' -prune -o -print0 \
   | cpio -ova0 | ssh user@host /mnt/placer.sh

  where placer.sh contains:
 cd $(dirname $0) ; cpio -dim --no-absolute-filenames
  BUT BEWARE of changes in ownership.

 cd /mnt/old-directory-root-name
 ls -lR > somewhere-again (again, +- -ABQ switches)

  then edit /etc/fstab and /mnt/etc/fstab
  and /boot/grub/grub.cfg and /mnt/boot/grub/grub.cfg

  ls-l-dedate the 

Re: installing debian 10 without a cd and without usb but could use ethernet

[Felix Miata]

Dan Hitt composed on 2021-01-20 20:31 (UTC-0800):
 
> Or perhaps there's some other way to approach the problem?

I can't recall ever installation of any Debian except by the NET method. The 
only
things I download prior to beginning installation on a system with a working 
Grub
is the NET installation kernel and initrd. My most recent ones had approximately
this stanza in custom.cfg:

menuentry "Install Debian via HTTP" {
search --no-floppy --label --set=root p03res
linuxefi/deb10/linux showopts vga=791 --- 
netcfg/get_hostname=myhost netcfg/get_domain=mydomain.net 
netcfg/disable_autoconfig=true netcfg/get_ipaddress=192.168.yada/24 
netcfg/get_gateway=192.168.yada netcfg/get_nameservers=1.1.1.1 
netcfg/confirm_static=true tasks=standard 
base-installer/install-recommends=false 
initrdefi   /deb10/initrd.gz
}

There may be more options there than actually needed. They're much easier to 
delete
at boot than to remember to add any possibly needed. Likewise I don't remember 
which
were actually used except the basics. I use only CAT6 ethernet except for Roku,
FireTV Stick and the like.
-- 
Evolution as taught in public schools, like religion,
is based on faith, not on science.

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/

Re: Installing Debian 10 from flash drive [NO network]

[Marko Randjelovic]

On Sat, 21 Nov 2020 09:11:18 -0600
Richard Owlett  wrote:

> On 11/20/2020 10:56 AM, Marko Randjelovic wrote:
> > On Fri, 20 Nov 2020 09:35:04 -0600
> > Richard Owlett  wrote:
> >   
> >>
> >> I attempted to install gparted using Synaptic.
> >> The message received was:
> >>
> >> "Please insert the disk labeled:
> >> Debian GNU/Linux10.0.0_Buster_-Official amd64 DVD
> >> Binary-120190706-10:24
> >> in drive /media/cdrom/"
> >>
> >> What is the solution?  
> > 
> > As of my experience, th only solution is this:
> > 
> > Insert the flash.
> > # mkdir /media/usb0
> > # mount /dev/sdb /media/usb0 # (replace sdb with device node of your
> > flash)
> > # rm /media/cdrom
> > # ln -s usb0 /media/cdrom
> > # apt-get update
> > # apt-get install gparted  
> 
> That appears to be a more rigorously correct rendition of what I 
> partially recalled. I remembered only the "mount" command was part of it.

The essential fact is that APT always looks any disk in /media/cdrom.
If you want to add another disk, it's possible, but first you have to
mount it somewhere and make /media/cdrom point to that dir. The same
trick you use when you are asked to insert another disk during
install/upgrade packages.

Re: Installing Debian 10 from flash drive [NO network]

[Richard Owlett]

On 11/20/2020 10:56 AM, Marko Randjelovic wrote:

On Fri, 20 Nov 2020 09:35:04 -0600
Richard Owlett  wrote:



I attempted to install gparted using Synaptic.
The message received was:

"Please insert the disk labeled:
Debian GNU/Linux10.0.0_Buster_-Official amd64 DVD
Binary-120190706-10:24
in drive /media/cdrom/"

What is the solution?


As of my experience, th only solution is this:

Insert the flash.
# mkdir /media/usb0
# mount /dev/sdb /media/usb0 # (replace sdb with device node of your
flash)
# rm /media/cdrom
# ln -s usb0 /media/cdrom
# apt-get update
# apt-get install gparted


That appears to be a more rigorously correct rendition of what I 
partially recalled. I remembered only the "mount" command was part of it.

Re: Installing Debian 10 from flash drive [NO network]

[Brian]

On Fri 20 Nov 2020 at 17:22:33 +, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:

> On Fri, Nov 20, 2020 at 07:43:02AM -0600, Richard Owlett wrote:
> > I've copied (using dd) the .iso of Debian 10's DVD1 to a USB flash drive.
> > 
> > I have no problem doing a normal install.
> > The problem occurs when attempting to install additional packages.
> > 
> > I receive a message to insert the appropriate DVD.
> > There is *NO* DVD drive.
> > 
> > I've see instructions for appropriately mounting the flash drive.
> > They are now lost due to a disk crash.
> > How is it done?
> > TIA
> > 
> > 
> This has the potential to come up again and again :)

[...]

As in

  https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2019/05/msg01463.html

The thread (containing a solution) continues into June 2019.

-- 

Re: Installing Debian 10 from flash drive [NO network]

[Brian]

On Fri 20 Nov 2020 at 17:59:38 +0100, Thomas Schmitt wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Richard Owlett wrote:
> > > I've copied (using dd) the .iso of Debian 10's DVD1 to a USB flash drive.
> 
> > I attempted to install gparted using Synaptic.
> > The message received was:
> > "Please insert the disk labeled:
> >  Debian GNU/Linux10.0.0_Buster_-Official amd64 DVD
> 
> If i search "gparted" by
>   https://cdimage-search.debian.org/
> it says
> 
>   ...
>   3. gparted_0.32.0-2_amd64.deb appears in:
> ...
> debian-10.6.0-amd64-DVD-1 (list.gz | jigdo | iso)
> 
> So it is supposed to be on the USB flash drive.

gparted is "supposed to be on DVD-1"? It is actually and truly on DVD-1.
I know it is on DVD-1: you know it is on DVD-1; everyone knows it is on
DVD-1; the experienced OP can check it is on DVD-1.

What's the problem? sources.list? Maybe. Whatever it is, he has been on
this jag for long enough to sort it out.

-- 
Brian.

Re: Installing Debian 10 from flash drive [NO network]

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Fri, Nov 20, 2020 at 07:43:02AM -0600, Richard Owlett wrote:
> I've copied (using dd) the .iso of Debian 10's DVD1 to a USB flash drive.
> 
> I have no problem doing a normal install.
> The problem occurs when attempting to install additional packages.
> 
> I receive a message to insert the appropriate DVD.
> There is *NO* DVD drive.
> 
> I've see instructions for appropriately mounting the flash drive.
> They are now lost due to a disk crash.
> How is it done?
> TIA
> 
> 
This has the potential to come up again and again :) If you _only_ install 
from a DVD and have no network, then the medium is left as the only source in 
/etc/apt/sources.list - the first cdrom line is still there because you have
nothing else.

[I only discovered this doing the last run of CD testing when Steve M. 
happened to tell me why :) ]

You could:

Put the DVD .iso file on disk, loopback mount it and use apt-cdrom

You could download subsequent DVDs and do the same.

Or you can mount the DVD as someone else has suggested and do it that way.
Given no network on the final machine, I'd be most tempted to use a nearby 
mirror and jigdo to make the 16G Jigdo image, dd that onto a stick and
use that.

All the very best, as ever,

Andy C.

Re: Installing Debian 10 from flash drive [NO network]

[Marko Randjelovic]

On Fri, 20 Nov 2020 09:35:04 -0600
Richard Owlett  wrote:

> 
> I attempted to install gparted using Synaptic.
> The message received was:
> 
> "Please insert the disk labeled:
> Debian GNU/Linux10.0.0_Buster_-Official amd64 DVD
> Binary-120190706-10:24
> in drive /media/cdrom/"
> 
> What is the solution?

As of my experience, th only solution is this:

Insert the flash.
# mkdir /media/usb0
# mount /dev/sdb /media/usb0 # (replace sdb with device node of your
flash)
# rm /media/cdrom
# ln -s usb0 /media/cdrom
# apt-get update
# apt-get install gparted

Re: Installing Debian 10 from flash drive [NO network]

[Thomas Schmitt]

Hi,

Richard Owlett wrote:
> > I've copied (using dd) the .iso of Debian 10's DVD1 to a USB flash drive.

> I attempted to install gparted using Synaptic.
> The message received was:
> "Please insert the disk labeled:
>  Debian GNU/Linux10.0.0_Buster_-Official amd64 DVD

If i search "gparted" by
  https://cdimage-search.debian.org/
it says

  ...
  3. gparted_0.32.0-2_amd64.deb appears in:
...
debian-10.6.0-amd64-DVD-1 (list.gz | jigdo | iso)

So it is supposed to be on the USB flash drive.
How about writing an entry in
  /etc/apt/sources.list
for the mount point of your USB drive ?

  deb file:...path... buster main

I understand that the path after "file:" should point to the directory with
subdirectories ./dist and ./pool . That would be the root directory of
the mounted ISO on the stick.
Assumed that the USB drive is mounted at /mnt/iso i'd try:

  deb file:/mnt/iso buster main

If all works well, the request for DVD-1 should not appear any more.
A package from a DVD with higher number will pose the problem again.
In this case i would advise one of the ISOs "STICK16GB-1", "BD-1",
"DLBD-1" depending on how much the USB drive can take.


Have a nice day :)

Thomas

Re: Installing Debian 10 from flash drive [NO network]

[Peter Ehlert]

On 11/20/20 7:35 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:

On 11/20/2020 07:52 AM, Peter Ehlert wrote:

I believe the "request" for a DVD is outdated.
Try inserting your USB device and proceed as normal


I did a completely fresh install to the test machine - including a 
full install of the MATE desktop.


I attempted to install gparted using Synaptic.
The message received was:

"Please insert the disk labeled:
Debian GNU/Linux10.0.0_Buster_-Official amd64 DVD
Binary-120190706-10:24
in drive /media/cdrom/"

What is the solution?

I also use Mate, but usually do net-installs.
I don't have a system installed with the DVD1 ISO handy.
Normally the final steps of the installer deactivates the install media 
in the /etc/apt/sources.list file.

Have a look there... or copy the contents here for review.





*perhaps it should say "insert the install media" or something similar

On 11/20/20 5:43 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
I've copied (using dd) the .iso of Debian 10's DVD1 to a USB flash 
drive.


I have no problem doing a normal install.
The problem occurs when attempting to install additional packages.

I receive a message to insert the appropriate DVD.
There is *NO* DVD drive.

I've see instructions for appropriately mounting the flash drive.
They are now lost due to a disk crash.
How is it done?
TIA

Re: Installing Debian 10 from flash drive [NO network]

[Richard Owlett]

On 11/20/2020 07:52 AM, Peter Ehlert wrote:

I believe the "request" for a DVD is outdated.
Try inserting your USB device and proceed as normal


I did a completely fresh install to the test machine - including a full 
install of the MATE desktop.


I attempted to install gparted using Synaptic.
The message received was:

"Please insert the disk labeled:
Debian GNU/Linux10.0.0_Buster_-Official amd64 DVD
Binary-120190706-10:24
in drive /media/cdrom/"

What is the solution?




*perhaps it should say "insert the install media" or something similar

On 11/20/20 5:43 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:

I've copied (using dd) the .iso of Debian 10's DVD1 to a USB flash drive.

I have no problem doing a normal install.
The problem occurs when attempting to install additional packages.

I receive a message to insert the appropriate DVD.
There is *NO* DVD drive.

I've see instructions for appropriately mounting the flash drive.
They are now lost due to a disk crash.
How is it done?
TIA

Re: Installing Debian 10 from flash drive [NO network]

[Peter Ehlert]

I believe the "request" for a DVD is outdated.
Try inserting your USB device and proceed as normal

*perhaps it should say "insert the install media" or something similar

On 11/20/20 5:43 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:

I've copied (using dd) the .iso of Debian 10's DVD1 to a USB flash drive.

I have no problem doing a normal install.
The problem occurs when attempting to install additional packages.

I receive a message to insert the appropriate DVD.
There is *NO* DVD drive.

I've see instructions for appropriately mounting the flash drive.
They are now lost due to a disk crash.
How is it done?
TIA

Re: Installing Debian In Intel Optane System

[didier . gaumet]

Hello,

disclaimer: I do not have Optane hardware, all the following is supposition 

you will probably be interested in reading some of the links mentioned here:
 https://nvdimm.wiki.kernel.org/start

I would imagine that you could use the pmem memmap kernel parameter to launch 
the Debian installer:
 
https://nvdimm.wiki.kernel.org/how_to_choose_the_correct_memmap_kernel_parameter_for_pmem_on_your_system

I would read (I did not do it) this blog to have a global idea:
 
https://www.suse.com/communities/blog/nvdimm-enabling-suse-linux-enterprise-12-service-pack-2/
 https://www.suse.com/communities/blog/nvdimm-enabling-part-2-intel/

Re: Installing Debian In Intel Optane System

[David Christensen]

On 2020-06-14 23:00, Athul Neelamparambil wrote:

Hi ,
I use an Acer Aspire 3 laptop with preinstalled Windows. I tried to
install Debian in it but the HDD was not detected and when I looked it up,
I found out that my SATA was set to "Optane Without RAID" and to install
Debian, I have to set it to AHCI. When I did so, and tried to dual boot,
Windows won't boot without the SATA being set to Optane. I also found that
I could configure Windows to AHCI but then the performance of the laptop
decreases significantly (I use Debian for engineering purposes and normal
activity because it's the best, and Windows just to use some video editing
software).

Is there any update on Debian which is present or which would come, so
that we could dual boot Debian in the Optane Without RAID SATA mode instead
of AHCI, so that the performance won't be affected? Now I run Debian on
VMBox, but one who loves Debian very much would never prefer it being
virtualized right. I really feel that this tech should be developed too
because Intel Optane is becoming popular too.
Hoping for a reply and let's build a great open source world together!


What is the make, model, and size of your HDD?

What is the model and size of your Optane device?

Which Debian installation ISO did you use?

Onto which device did you install Debian?

David

Re: Installing Debian on an HP Pavilion p2-1140 64bit computer

[Felix Miata]

David Anthony composed on 2020-02-17 13:39 (UTC-0500):

> I have installed Debian on my laptop (lenovo 120S) without any problem.  I
> am trying to install it on my desktop, a HP Paavilion p2-1140 64bit.
> Everything goes very well until it starts to install "Grub."  At that
> point, the machine locks up and I have to reboot.  I have tried multiple
> times to install with the same results.  I also tried to install Mint with
> the same results.  Has anyone else had the problem and is there a way
> around it?

Not had problem. Way around probably exists. Please try to boot live media and 
run
the script available here:
https://github.com/arvidjaar/bootinfoscript
This should show what resulted from your last attempt, and may point to a 
solution.

What condition was the disk in when you started trying? Was Windows still on it?
Is Windows still on it? Is the original 750GB disk still the only disk in it? 
What
has been your install method, DVD, CD, or USB? Is CSM enabled in the BIOS? Have
you only allowed the installer to determine the partitioning, or have you 
provided
any direction through the partitioning steps, or partitioned in advance, and if
the latter, to what extent?

During installation, you can find messages by switching among the vttys using
Ctrl-Alt-Fn. On at least one of them (F2?), you can run a number of shell
commands, e.g. fdisk -l, df, free, mount, and more.
-- 
Evolution as taught in public schools is religion, not science.

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/

Re: Installing Debian 10 Buster With Custom LUKS Options

[encrypt10n]

Hi,

Thank you for this kind message. I will read again.


Jonas Smedegaard:
> Quoting encrypt...@riseup.net (2019-10-30 16:09:00)
>> Thank you for your reply. I found many articles about using FDE with 
>> detached header but all of them are saying "disable secure boot 
>> first". Then i did some research on the internet and found this video 
>> (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-pvLMHtRSA). This guy is explaining 
>> Debian 10 Buster supports Secure Boot. I have some questions about 
>> this. Can i use detached header key in UEFI systems with Debian 10? 
>> And when i enabled advanced options can i see the Serpent and other 
>> options on LUKS step?
>>
>> P.S: I have no UEFI computer yet and for this reason i have to ask 
>> these, sorry.
> 
> Secure Boot is independent from disk encryption.
> 
> Disable Secure Boot when boot routines do not support it, or disable it 
> always if you don't care about the features that mechanism offers.
> 
> I alreaddy pointed you to the documentation that documents(!) what you 
> _should_ be able to see. I cannot tell what you _can_ see (that depends 
> e.g. on how sleepy you are, which way your head is turning relative to 
> your screen, whether or not your screen is turned on, etc.).
> 
> Good luck!
> 
>  - Jonas
> 

Re: Installing Debian 10 Buster With Custom LUKS Options

[Jonas Smedegaard]

Quoting encrypt...@riseup.net (2019-10-30 16:09:00)
> Thank you for your reply. I found many articles about using FDE with 
> detached header but all of them are saying "disable secure boot 
> first". Then i did some research on the internet and found this video 
> (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-pvLMHtRSA). This guy is explaining 
> Debian 10 Buster supports Secure Boot. I have some questions about 
> this. Can i use detached header key in UEFI systems with Debian 10? 
> And when i enabled advanced options can i see the Serpent and other 
> options on LUKS step?
> 
> P.S: I have no UEFI computer yet and for this reason i have to ask 
> these, sorry.

Secure Boot is independent from disk encryption.

Disable Secure Boot when boot routines do not support it, or disable it 
always if you don't care about the features that mechanism offers.

I alreaddy pointed you to the documentation that documents(!) what you 
_should_ be able to see. I cannot tell what you _can_ see (that depends 
e.g. on how sleepy you are, which way your head is turning relative to 
your screen, whether or not your screen is turned on, etc.).

Good luck!

 - Jonas

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

 [x] quote me freely  [ ] ask before reusing  [ ] keep private


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Re: Installing Debian 10 Buster With Custom LUKS Options

[TPB]

Hi Jonas,

Thank you for your reply. I found many articles about using FDE with
detached header but all of them are saying "disable secure boot first".
Then i did some research on the internet and found this video
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-pvLMHtRSA). This guy is explaining
Debian 10 Buster supports Secure Boot. I have some questions about this.
Can i use detached header key in UEFI systems with Debian 10? And when i
enabled advanced options can i see the Serpent and other options on LUKS
step?

P.S: I have no UEFI computer yet and for this reason i have to ask
these, sorry.

Thanks in advance.

Jonas Smedegaard:
> [re-posting to list]
> 
> Quoting encrypt...@riseup.net (2019-10-30 00:51:00)
>> Dear Debian Family,
>>
>> Hope you are good. I have a LUKS project on Debian but i don't know 
>> exactly how can i do this. Let me explain the details.
>>
>> I watched a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cchdw75WKXQ) and he 
>> was explaining how to install Kubuntu with custom LUKS options with 
>> detached header in a USB thumb drive and i liked that project and i 
>> wanted to do this on Debian 10 but i don't have enough knowledge about 
>> that. My questions:
>>
>> 1) How can i use detached header on UEFI computer?
>> 2) How can i use Serpent instead of AES on Debian?
>>
>> The most important question (in short) how can i adapt this project to 
>> Debian 10 Buster?
>>
>> My goal is installing Debian 10 Buster like this project.
> 
> Enable "Expert" mode in "Advanced options" initially in debian-installer 
> - then you should have all options available to you at disk formatting 
> time: 
> https://www.debian.org/releases/buster/amd64/ch06s03.da.html#di-partition
> 
> 
>  - Jonas
> 

Re: Installing Debian 10 Buster With Custom LUKS Options

[encrypt10n]

Hi Jonas,

Thank you for your reply. I found many articles about using FDE with
detached header but all of them are saying "disable secure boot first".
Then i did some research on the internet and found this video
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-pvLMHtRSA). This guy is explaining
Debian 10 Buster supports Secure Boot. I have some questions about this.
Can i use detached header key in UEFI systems with Debian 10? And when i
enabled advanced options can i see the Serpent and other options on LUKS
step?

P.S: I have no UEFI computer yet and for this reason i have to ask
these, sorry.

Thanks in advance.

Jonas Smedegaard:
> [re-posting to list]
> 
> Quoting encrypt...@riseup.net (2019-10-30 00:51:00)
>> Dear Debian Family,
>>
>> Hope you are good. I have a LUKS project on Debian but i don't know 
>> exactly how can i do this. Let me explain the details.
>>
>> I watched a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cchdw75WKXQ) and he 
>> was explaining how to install Kubuntu with custom LUKS options with 
>> detached header in a USB thumb drive and i liked that project and i 
>> wanted to do this on Debian 10 but i don't have enough knowledge about 
>> that. My questions:
>>
>> 1) How can i use detached header on UEFI computer?
>> 2) How can i use Serpent instead of AES on Debian?
>>
>> The most important question (in short) how can i adapt this project to 
>> Debian 10 Buster?
>>
>> My goal is installing Debian 10 Buster like this project.
> 
> Enable "Expert" mode in "Advanced options" initially in debian-installer 
> - then you should have all options available to you at disk formatting 
> time: 
> https://www.debian.org/releases/buster/amd64/ch06s03.da.html#di-partition
> 
> 
>  - Jonas
> 

Re: Installing Debian 10 Buster With Custom LUKS Options

[Jonas Smedegaard]

[re-posting to list]

Quoting encrypt...@riseup.net (2019-10-30 00:51:00)
> Dear Debian Family,
> 
> Hope you are good. I have a LUKS project on Debian but i don't know 
> exactly how can i do this. Let me explain the details.
> 
> I watched a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cchdw75WKXQ) and he 
> was explaining how to install Kubuntu with custom LUKS options with 
> detached header in a USB thumb drive and i liked that project and i 
> wanted to do this on Debian 10 but i don't have enough knowledge about 
> that. My questions:
> 
> 1) How can i use detached header on UEFI computer?
> 2) How can i use Serpent instead of AES on Debian?
> 
> The most important question (in short) how can i adapt this project to 
> Debian 10 Buster?
> 
> My goal is installing Debian 10 Buster like this project.

Enable "Expert" mode in "Advanced options" initially in debian-installer 
- then you should have all options available to you at disk formatting 
time: 
https://www.debian.org/releases/buster/amd64/ch06s03.da.html#di-partition


 - Jonas

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

 [x] quote me freely  [ ] ask before reusing  [ ] keep private


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Re: installing Debian 10 to 3 hdds as one big system

[tomas]

On Sun, Aug 11, 2019 at 04:44:32PM -0700, David Christensen wrote:

[...]

> So, "Linux MD RAID 10" can be RAID 1, RAID 10, or something totally
> different.
> 
> 
> Co-opting and redefining standard terms is bad engineering.

To be honest, and as I remember, the term RAID-10 was doomed from the
get-go. Each manufacturer had a slightly different take on it, so at
the time I filed it under "whatever the marketing department du jour
just came up with". Kind of like the mauve database [1]. This was long
before Linux started doing RAID.

Cheers
[1] https://dilbert.com/strip/1995-11-17

-- t


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Re: installing Debian 10 to 3 hdds as one big system

[David Christensen]

On 8/11/19 12:42 AM, Reco wrote:

On Sat, Aug 10, 2019 at 05:25:30PM -0700, David Christensen wrote:

On 8/10/19 3:55 PM, Pascal Hambourg wrote:

Le 10/08/2019 à 19:27, David Christensen a écrit :

On 8/10/19 4:35 AM, Andy Smith wrote:

Personally I would use the three devices as a RAID-10 which would
result in half the capacity of the total (768G) and you could
withstand the loss of any one device.


RAID 10 requires 4 drives:


Not Linux implemention of RAID 10, which requires at least 2 drives.


Do you have a URL or man page that describes this?



...

https://raid.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/A_guide_to_mdadm#Raid_10



Thanks for the pointer.  STFW:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID_10

"... a nonstandard definition of "RAID 10" was created for the Linux
MD driver ..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID#Non-standard_levels

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_MD_RAID_10#Linux_MD_RAID_10


So, "Linux MD RAID 10" can be RAID 1, RAID 10, or something totally 
different.



Co-opting and redefining standard terms is bad engineering.


David

Re: installing Debian 10 to 3 hdds as one big system

[Andy Smith]

Hello,

On Sat, Aug 10, 2019 at 11:18:49AM -0700, David Christensen wrote:
> But, as others have said, two HDD's and one SDD in JBOD (or RAID)
> is not optimal.

On the other hand it's probably not going to be worse than 3 HDDs.
All the ways of trying to exploit the speed of the SSD are quite
complicated so if 1x SSD and 2x HDD is what you have to work with,
just putting them all together in a RAID isn't necessarily a bad
idea.

Cheers,
Andy

-- 
https://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting

Re: installing Debian 10 to 3 hdds as one big system

[Pascal Hambourg]

Le 11/08/2019 à 09:42, Reco a écrit :


The big question is - why would anyone make a RAID10 consisting of two
drives. It's impossible to reshape it (mdadm does not support it for
RAID10), it's I/O characteristics are indistinguishable from RAID1.


With two drives the default RAID 10 "near" layout is identical to RAID 
1. But the RAID 10 "far" layout is expected to provide better sequential 
read speed than RAID 1 (like RAID 0).




"RAID-10 has a layout ("far") which can provide sequential read 
throughput that scales by number of drives, rather than number of RAID-1 
pairs. You can get about 95 % of the performance of the RAID-0 with same 
amount of drives."

Re: installing Debian 10 to 3 hdds as one big system

[Reco]

Hi.

On Sat, Aug 10, 2019 at 05:25:30PM -0700, David Christensen wrote:
> On 8/10/19 3:55 PM, Pascal Hambourg wrote:
> > Le 10/08/2019 à 19:27, David Christensen a écrit :
> > > On 8/10/19 4:35 AM, Andy Smith wrote:
> > > > Personally I would use the three devices as a RAID-10 which would
> > > > result in half the capacity of the total (768G) and you could
> > > > withstand the loss of any one device.
> > > 
> > > RAID 10 requires 4 drives:
> > 
> > Not Linux implemention of RAID 10, which requires at least 2 drives.
> 
> Do you have a URL or man page that describes this?

[1] says (emphasis mine):

Raid 10 is a special linux mode which stores multiple copies of the data
across several drives. There must be at least as many drives as there
are copies - if the *two are equal* it is equivalent to raid-1.

...

Conversion between raid-0 and raid-10 is supported - to convert to any
other raid you will have to go via raid-0 - backup, BACKUP, BACKUP!!!
The code does not appear to support conversion between raid-1 and
raid-10 which should be easy for a *two-device* array.


The big question is - why would anyone make a RAID10 consisting of two
drives. It's impossible to reshape it (mdadm does not support it for
RAID10), it's I/O characteristics are indistinguishable from RAID1.

Reco

https://raid.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/A_guide_to_mdadm#Raid_10

Re: installing Debian 10 to 3 hdds as one big system

[David Christensen]

On 8/10/19 3:55 PM, Pascal Hambourg wrote:

Le 10/08/2019 à 19:27, David Christensen a écrit :

On 8/10/19 4:35 AM, Andy Smith wrote:

Personally I would use the three devices as a RAID-10 which would
result in half the capacity of the total (768G) and you could
withstand the loss of any one device.


RAID 10 requires 4 drives:


Not Linux implemention of RAID 10, which requires at least 2 drives.


Do you have a URL or man page that describes this?


David

Re: installing Debian 10 to 3 hdds as one big system

[Pascal Hambourg]

Le 10/08/2019 à 19:27, David Christensen a écrit :

On 8/10/19 4:35 AM, Andy Smith wrote:

Personally I would use the three devices as a RAID-10 which would
result in half the capacity of the total (768G) and you could
withstand the loss of any one device.


RAID 10 requires 4 drives:


Not Linux implemention of RAID 10, which requires at least 2 drives.

Re: installing Debian 10 to 3 hdds as one big system

[deloptes]

Pavel Vlček wrote:

> I have computer with 3 hdds. One is ssd, 2 others are hdd. I want to
> install Debian 10 to all 3 disks as one big system. What to use, raid or
> lvm? I found an issue with lvm, when I want to create lvm, it shows you
> can use $minsize and $maxsize, but all disks are 512, Gb. I want to
> start with the ssd, it is sdc device. I know, how to create the lvm with
> textual installer, but I have problem expanding it to next two hdds,
> /dev/sda and sdb, so I am doing something wrong. I want to use all data
> in one lvm partition, so / for everything.
> Can you help please?

May be it will help to explain what is the desired usage of the system as
many mentioned SDD and HDD is not good to mix. In the case I would use the
SDD for the operating system and not sensitive data that is written more
often for example a scratch box.
The HDDs you can put in RAID1 and probably now and then backup your
configuration from the SDD, so that you can recover if the SDD fails. It is
not likely but it happens more often than you can think.