[HOWTO] Debian 6 on a 760XL (prolly others)

[ozzymud]

These instructions assume you have an external floppy and internal CD...
(SEE NOTES IF SWAPPING CD/FLOPPY!! or optionally to not have to reboot into installer again)

1. Make dos boot floppy, install SBM (Smart Boot Manager)

2. Boot from floppy with http://hammurabi.acc.umu.se/debian-cd/6 ... etinst.iso in CD drive, Debian 5 is the same iirc
You can also use the full install CD, but I have a network card and fast connection.

3. At 1st menu video mode is not detected, press enter and the use "0" as the mode (80x25)
Others work as well... like 80x43, I haven't tried em all.

4. Install Debian (install only the base system near the end, no desktop or other)
I'm sure it's possible to install more then the base system initally, but on my 4GB CF card,
I tried to choose SSH Server and Graphical Desktop and it crashed 90% through (read couple of hours)
as it had ran out of hard drive space from the apt-cache and installed files

5. Reboot, here is the reason i wrote this, you will be dropped to an initramfs shell as the system cannot find the root filesystem
Debian 5, Ubuntu, and other debian based used to give "Waiting for root filesystem"

6. (START HERE on a previously installed system that wont boot [drops to initramfs])
Reboot from the install CD again, this time choose advanced and recovery (again with mode 0)

7. Continue all the way until "[!!] Enter rescue mode", at this point, press alt-f2 and press enter to activate the console

8. At ~# enter: chroot /target /bin/dash
You'll get a # prompt in your installed system

9. This is the meat of the troubles...
Enter:

Code: Select all

nano /etc/initramfs-tools/modules

add:

Code: Select all

ide_generic

to the bottom, press ctrl-x, y, enter

10. At the # prompt again, enter:

Code: Select all

update-initramfs -u -k all

11. Type exit to return to the installer shell then type reboot

You should be good to go

Notes:

If you don't have an external floppy (but do have both floppy and cd), boot from a dos floppy with SBM, install sbm to the hard drive mbr.
Then boot from the hard disk and use sbm to boot the CD

Also, at the end of step 4 above BEFORE REBOOT... press alt-f2 and continue to step 8 BEFORE REBOOTING as sbm will no longer be on the hard drive.

POST Installation:

Cardbus not working on 6.0, edited sources list and upgraded to Sid as the kernel in 6.0 is 2.6.32, the Yenta patch aint in the kernel until 2.6.34 (Sid at the time of this writing is at 2.6.38), after reboot... Belkin USB 2.0 cardbus: WORKS [note to plug in external power], Wireless G cardbus: WORKS
No need for newer kernel if all you use is 16-bit cards though, Yenta patch only affects 32-bit cardbus. THIS is why i love linux a 1996 pc still supported in 2011, let's see M$ do that