Debian Eabi With Installer, Fully customized installation - Testers needed Options

[bdbell]

I tried this on my 3100 - and I get the following error;

/tmp/update/updater.sh: 1: Syntax error: ")" expected
error (1)
Rebooting

My Z is currently running Debian OABI - as per ZDevil's guide Q15, and I have updated the kernel to the Pokylinux 2.6.21 kernel. My microdrive (6 gig) is partitioned with ~ 5.5 gig root, 512 swap. Used a 1 gig SD to flash - have used it many times for PDAXii13 flashing with no problems.

Syntax error?!? That's really strange. I suppose you just renamed the updater.sh.gz file to updater.sh?
I just checked on my 3100, and it works as expected. Anyone having the same problems?

Ummm - your instructions say to rename the files - but I hat to extract the updater.sh.qz - not just simply rename it, that allowed the updater to work, but still errors. So I extracted both the zaurus_specific.deb.gz and zImage.bin.gz - and got further - but still get an error mounting some tmp dir near the end of the flashing, and after reboot I get a kernel panic.

did I miss something in the instructions? what files need to be extracted, and which ones renamed?

[tux]

Hi cortez,

everything appeared to be going very smoothly: exactly as per your instructions. I'm impressed that you got dhcp put in, love the choose the network card bit.

I've got stuck. When the partitioner tries to format it bottles out with the swap partition. I'm not sure whether it is the format stage or the 'mount' the swap stage. I've used B+D and fdisk to clear the old partitions from my other installs. It still stuck at that point.

I'm trying again with a clean SD card and your files again. I'll get back to you. It may well be something about my previous set up. If it fails again at this stage I'll use Meanie's pdxaIII utilities and clean everything up, might even use the diagnostic utilities..

This is looking so smooth I'd hate not to be able to use it! Oh and it seems to be happy on a 1GB SD.

The error message is attempt to mount ... at none ... failed. I have double checked and this is definitely the case here on my system.

But I bet that clearing out my system and returning to a naked state for BigZ will cure this! Coupled with new downloads of your file.

This post has been edited by tux: Nov 1 2007, 10:51 AM

[cortez]

I tried this on my 3100 - and I get the following error;

/tmp/update/updater.sh: 1: Syntax error: ")" expected
error (1)
Rebooting

My Z is currently running Debian OABI - as per ZDevil's guide Q15, and I have updated the kernel to the Pokylinux 2.6.21 kernel. My microdrive (6 gig) is partitioned with ~ 5.5 gig root, 512 swap. Used a 1 gig SD to flash - have used it many times for PDAXii13 flashing with no problems.

Syntax error?!? That's really strange. I suppose you just renamed the updater.sh.gz file to updater.sh?
I just checked on my 3100, and it works as expected. Anyone having the same problems?

Ummm - your instructions say to rename the files - but I hat to extract the updater.sh.qz - not just simply rename it, that allowed the updater to work, but still errors. So I extracted both the zaurus_specific.deb.gz and zImage.bin.gz - and got further - but still get an error mounting some tmp dir near the end of the flashing, and after reboot I get a kernel panic.

did I miss something in the instructions? what files need to be extracted, and which ones renamed?

Extraction of individual files should really not be needed!! I don't know why, but maybe your browser is doing something stupid with the files. I've attached an all-in-one archive for you to try. This time only extract the .tar file, after that transfer the files to SD and try again. Please let me know if this works.

Attached File(s)

 AllInOne.tar ( 4.34MB ) Number of downloads: 23

 

[tux]

That might be an explanation for my problem: corrupted download? So I'm downloading the tar now and will report back on what happens. Of course it might also be a glitch with BigZ. I have shoved a lot of installs through the system in the last week or so!

This looks such a good job cortez!

[cortez]

Hi cortez,

everything appeared to be going very smoothly: exactly as per your instructions. I'm impressed that you got dhcp put in, love the choose the network card bit.

I've got stuck. When the partitioner tries to format it bottles out with the swap partition. I'm not sure whether it is th format stage or the 'mount' the swap stage. I've used B+D and fdisk to clear the old partitions from my other installs. It still stuck at that point.

I'm trying again with a clean SD card and your files again. I'll get back to you. It may well be something about my previous set uop. If it fails again at this stage I'll use the pdxa utilities and clean everything up, moght evewn use the diagnostic utilities..

This is looking so smooth I'd hate not to be able to use it! Oh and it seems to be happy on a 1GB SD.

Thanks for your feedback. I'm glad the updater script seems to works for you. Too bad you're running into problems, although I'm glad you made it this far. When I stopped late last night I had trouble setting up my network. I will try again later tonight. What Debian archive mirror did you choose, the default ftp.gnuab.org?

If this works and a few of us have a working installation I will try to setup the Installer using preseeding (for info look here). This way we could automate or finetune the installation process. It also makes it possible to run after-installation scripts or do additional package installations. It would make the installation of Debian a lot more user friendly than it is now. But... first we have to get it to work

I hope you have more success later. Keep trying, I won't be able to do this on my own!

cortez

[bdbell]

I tried this on my 3100 - and I get the following error;

/tmp/update/updater.sh: 1: Syntax error: ")" expected
error (1)
Rebooting

My Z is currently running Debian OABI - as per ZDevil's guide Q15, and I have updated the kernel to the Pokylinux 2.6.21 kernel. My microdrive (6 gig) is partitioned with ~ 5.5 gig root, 512 swap. Used a 1 gig SD to flash - have used it many times for PDAXii13 flashing with no problems.

Syntax error?!? That's really strange. I suppose you just renamed the updater.sh.gz file to updater.sh?
I just checked on my 3100, and it works as expected. Anyone having the same problems?

Ummm - your instructions say to rename the files - but I hat to extract the updater.sh.qz - not just simply rename it, that allowed the updater to work, but still errors. So I extracted both the zaurus_specific.deb.gz and zImage.bin.gz - and got further - but still get an error mounting some tmp dir near the end of the flashing, and after reboot I get a kernel panic.

did I miss something in the instructions? what files need to be extracted, and which ones renamed?

Extraction of individual files should really not be needed!! I don't know why, but maybe your browser is doing something stupid with the files. I've attached an all-in-one archive for you to try. This time only extract the .tar file, after that transfer the files to SD and try again. Please let me know if this works.

It works now! Thanks - must have been a corrupted file. I am going through the installer now - will report back later.

[cortez]

It works now! Thanks - must have been a corrupted file. I am going through the installer now - will report back later.

I'm glad the flashing works! I'll change the instructions in the first post for all to use the AllInOne.tar archive instead of doing the renaming trick on the individual files.

[dlj0]

First post updated with some additional info:
You can put any additional Debian package files on the SD if you want to use them. After flashing the kernel the updater script will extract any .deb file from the SD to the root of the microdrive. This makes it possible for instance to use a different kernel. Just add the corresponding kernel modules (in a deb package format!) to the SD and it should work.

I haven't tried yet, but I wonder if adding extra packages on top of the rootfs would cause dependency issue (such as libc6, etc).

Providing additional packages is meant to be a way of influencing the installer, for instance by adding the libertas driver

That's tempting. So, have you tried to insmod the libertas module from yonggum's version, and if so, did it load?

[cortez]

That's tempting. So, have you tried to insmod the libertas module from yonggum's version, and if so, did it load?

The good news is that I'm building a new kernel right now. Apart from the libertas module I'll include the fast FPE floating point emulation and the CPU frequency scaling.

[tux]

The good news is that I'm building a new kernel right now. Apart from the libertas module I'll include the fast FPE floating point emulation and the CPU frequency scaling.

I've just tried again with the files from your big tar. I'd used meanie's pdaxIII utilities to put a blank label/dos thingy on it. I get stuck in a loop with the partitioner. It keps saying that it can't mount the swap partition at none.

The annoying thing, I mean the most annoying thing , is that the partitions appear to be set up! Is there any significnce in the fact that the partitioner progress bar sits at 33% for ages? Is there any hope of going out to a shell and mounting the partitions by hand? Then go back into the installer and carry on?

Is there any way you could make partitioning an optional step in the install process? I could then partition manually and get this system up.

I'll have one last go at a shell fdisk. If I can't get any further I'll leave this until some good news comes in.

[cortez]

That's tempting. So, have you tried to insmod the libertas module from yonggum's version, and if so, did it load?

The good news is that I'm building a new kernel right now. Apart from the libertas module I'll include the fast FPE floating point emulation and the CPU frequency scaling.

Argh, unfortunately the build aborts with "FATAL: This kernel is too big for your PXA Zaurus and will destroy data if you flash it. Please reduce the size of the kernel by making more of it modular.". Sorry dlj0, the rebuild will be without the libertas

[dlj0]

That's tempting. So, have you tried to insmod the libertas module from yonggum's version, and if so, did it load?

The good news is that I'm building a new kernel right now. Apart from the libertas module I'll include the fast FPE floating point emulation and the CPU frequency scaling.

Argh, unfortunately the build aborts with "FATAL: This kernel is too big for your PXA Zaurus and will destroy data if you flash it. Please reduce the size of the kernel by making more of it modular.". Sorry dlj0, the rebuild will be without the libertas

Huh? But if the libertas stuff is a module, how can it make the kernel too big? And is should be a module, of course. Heck, I should be able to use 2or0's libertas module -- that was my plan before your announcement of a new build.

I do want to second the idea of cutting partitioning out of the script, so that we can roll our own in advance -- just set it up to install on /dev/hda1 or whatever you might prefer.

[cortez]

That's tempting. So, have you tried to insmod the libertas module from yonggum's version, and if so, did it load?

The good news is that I'm building a new kernel right now. Apart from the libertas module I'll include the fast FPE floating point emulation and the CPU frequency scaling.

Argh, unfortunately the build aborts with "FATAL: This kernel is too big for your PXA Zaurus and will destroy data if you flash it. Please reduce the size of the kernel by making more of it modular.". Sorry dlj0, the rebuild will be without the libertas

Huh? But if the libertas stuff is a module, how can it make the kernel too big? And is should be a module, of course. Heck, I should be able to use 2or0's libertas module -- that was my plan before your announcement of a new build.

I do want to second the idea of cutting partitioning out of the script, so that we can roll our own in advance -- just set it up to install on /dev/hda1 or whatever you might prefer.

Yeah, I know it sounds strange, but leaving the module out builds the kernel successfully. I will try to continue without it first. I would have to look into it later.

[snk4ever]

Oh my, the instructions are so positively simple !
I'm willing to try that on my C760, if you need me.
In what country do you live ? If you want to conduct some IRC/real time debuging, I think I can find some time.

[bdbell]

I am also getting an error trying to mount the swap partition, but there is another error earlier that may be the cause - on first boot after flashing I get the following;

Setting up filesystem, please wait ...
modprobe: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/2.6.23/modules.dep: No such file or directory

Mount: Mounting none on /dev failed: No such device
modprobe: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/2.6.23/modules.dep: No such file or directory

Mount: Mounting devfs on /dev failed: No such device
modprobe: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/2.6.23/modules.dep: No such file or directory

modprobe: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/2.6.23/modules.dep: No such file or directory

I don't know – maybe this is normal on first boot? I only have the 4 files on my SD

Also – during the 'Choose mirror of the Debian archive' part it asks to enter info manually – if I change the location it gives me an error, if I go with the defaults of ftp.gnuab.org and /debian I get an error during the 'Download Installer Components' part – “No kernel modules were found.”? If I choose to ignore that and continue without installing the kernel modules I get to the partitioning and get stuck in the loop!

Otherwise – this installer really looks great! Can't wait for an update – keep up the great work cortez!