Debian 8 install

[mechanic]

I have been thinking about installing Deb8.

However I'm not sure where the initrd should go or what the command lines should look like.

Help!

P.S. xeno74. Deb7.9 and Mint 11 boot and run fine on 4.5 alpha. I'll get to rc1 soon.

[xeno74]

I have been thinking about installing Deb8.

However I'm not sure where the initrd should go or what the command lines should look like.

Help!

P.S. xeno74. Deb7.9 and Mint 11 boot and run fine on 4.5 alpha. I'll get to rc1 soon.

Hi Mechanic,

Many thanks for testing. Debian 8 is a good choice. I use it on my A1222 (Tabor) and I am very satisfied with it.

Debian 8 MATE desktop:



You could try one of these initrd.gz files to install it:

http://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/jessie/main/installer-powerpc/current/images/powerpc64/netboot/initrd.gz

http://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-powerpc/current/images/powerpc64/netboot/initrd.gz

Please use the following commands to start the Debian installer from the initrd.gz:

1. From a USB pen drive:
   

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   CFE> ramdisk –z –addr=0x24000000 –fatfs usbdisk0:initrd.gz

   From a CF card:
   

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   CFE> ramdisk –z –addr=0x24000000 –fatfs cf0:initrd.gz

   You could also start it from a Debian DVD:
   

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   CFE> ramdisk -z -addr=0x24000000 -fs=iso atapi0.1:install/powerpc64/initrd.gz

2. Code: Select all

   CFE> setenv bootargs "root=/dev/ramdisk"

3. Loading the kernel
   
   From a USB pen drive:
   

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   CFE> boot -elf -noints -fatfs usbdisk0:vmlinux-XX

   From a CF card:
   

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   CFE> boot -elf -noints -fatfs cf0:vmlinux-XX

Good luck!

Cheers,

Christian

[mechanic]

Deb 8 is installed on /dev/sdb1.
The supplied initrd.img is on cf0:
Kernel 4.5 rc2 is on cf0:

Now.......How do I get this thing to boot?

[xeno74]

Deb 8 is installed on /dev/sdb1.
The supplied initrd.img is on cf0:
Kernel 4.5 rc2 is on cf0:

Now.......How do I get this thing to boot?

You can boot it with the following commands:

Code: Select all

CFE> setenv bootargs "root=/dev/sdb1"

Loading the kernel:

Code: Select all

CFE> boot -elf -noints -fatfs cf0:vmlinux-4.5

Later you could set up a CFE boot menu entry with the following commands:

Code: Select all

CFE> setenv -p MENU_2_LABEL “Debian 8”
CFE> setenv -p MENU_2_COMMAND 'set pmu -astate=A4 ; setenv bootargs "root=/dev/sdb1" ; boot -elf -noints -fatfs cf0:vmlinux-4.5'

[mechanic]

Nope. Tried that several times already.
It gets to a point then just a blank screen with a blinking cursor. If I do Ctrl+Alt+F1 it looks like it stopped working at bringing up eth1.

I can login as root and shutdown -h now, but nothing else useful.

In var/log/messages the last entry is rsyslogd: exiting on signal 15.
The Xorg.0.log at the end shows several EE errors
No devices found
No screens found

The display manager log is showing the display server is stopped due to "Process 2629 exited with return value 1.

Think I'll try a re-install.

I'll be back. Thank You.

[nbache]

I'm probably going to try this as well when I get some spare time. I also prefer Debian over all those fancy *buntus and stuff. (And xfce is my ideal desktop - except for WB, of course - already have a couple of x64 machines humming nicely along with that config).

So I'll be following this thread and hopefully mechanic's eventual success.

But one thing struck me as slightly odd:

You could try one of these initrd.gz files to install it:

http://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/jess ... /initrd.gz

http://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/stab ... /initrd.gz

Aren't those two actually the same? I.e. isn't stable an alias for Jessie?

Best regards,

Niels

[xeno74]

Nope. Tried that several times already.
It gets to a point then just a blank screen with a blinking cursor. If I do Ctrl+Alt+F1 it looks like it stopped working at bringing up eth1.

I can login as root and shutdown -h now, but nothing else useful.

In var/log/messages the last entry is rsyslogd: exiting on signal 15.
The Xorg.0.log at the end shows several EE errors
No devices found
No screens found

The display manager log is showing the display server is stopped due to "Process 2629 exited with return value 1.

Think I'll try a re-install.

I'll be back. Thank You.

Maybe there is a problem with Xorg on some new Debian distributions.

debian dont work with radeonhd in ppc.
only sid seems working but i dont tested it. with radeon hd works Mate 14, lubuntu 14.04,3 an mate 15.10

Link: ubuntuforums.org

Alex , dont waste your time with debian . it is broken from RadeonHD side because Xorg 1.7 and radeon driver .
only sid is working for now and oldest (wheezy 7.6 and down)

I don't know what the situation of Debian is regarding Xorg. Maybe a downgrade of Xorg could solve the problem.

We had a similar problem with Ubuntu last year.

Links:

(X)(L)ubuntu (MATE) 15.04
(X)(L)ubuntu (MATE) 15.04

[mechanic]

Sounds like X is most likely the problem.

I tried reinstalling what I had but it still would not boot. The I downloaded the latest alpha 5 and installed that, it only gets to producing a command line but the screen is flickering so bad because the OS is running around trying to reload X so much that the keyboard is useless. I looked at some logs and they are just pages long.
Difficult to do anything without a working keyboard. F1, F3, all useless.

I think I'll wait a few weeks before attempting a new download, meanwhile Deb 7.9 is working just fine with Gnome and LXDE.

(There goes three days I'll never get back.)

[xeno74]

Sounds like X is most likely the problem.

I tried reinstalling what I had but it still would not boot. The I downloaded the latest alpha 5 and installed that, it only gets to producing a command line but the screen is flickering so bad because the OS is running around trying to reload X so much that the keyboard is useless. I looked at some logs and they are just pages long.
Difficult to do anything without a working keyboard. F1, F3, all useless.

I think I'll wait a few weeks before attempting a new download, meanwhile Deb 7.9 is working just fine with Gnome and LXDE.

(There goes three days I'll never get back.)

You could login via SSH and downgrade the Xorg packages. I did it last year a lot. I connected my X1000 via SSH and I downgraded the Xorg packages (see above).

[mechanic]

That is good advice, but I'm not done tinkering yet.

Today I installed only the base system and it works. Then the xorg packages and it still booted and I could do normal terminal things. When I installed xfce or gnome is when everything went to hell, and that is before starting X.

I should have gone for a bike ride.