[PLUG] Problems Installing Debian Sarge On Laptop

[Michael M.]

On Sun, 2007-02-18 at 12:32 -0800, Dr. Terry L. Bonner wrote:
> Perhaps some wise soul can help.  I am attempting to install Debian 
> 3.14r on my HP Pavilion ze4230.  The process hangs on the select 
> language screen, when the setup stops responding to keyboard commands.
> 
> In the past, I have successfully installed both Mandriva and Ubuntu on 
> this laptop.  The keyboard is a ps2, as this old laptop's original 
> keyboard is kaput.
> 
> I am assuming that the hangup is caused by some hardware interface 
> problem, being as it occurs so early in the installation process.
> 
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> I've always wanted to configure a debian box, as this is some sort of 
> rite of passage.  However, I'm not off to a promising start.


Any reason why you're trying to install Sarge and not Etch?  I ask only
because the release of Etch is imminent and the upgrade from Sarge to
Etch can be tricky (hotplug => udev, monolithic xf86 => modular xorg,
etc.).  Etch is very stable at this point and has been for quite awhile
-- it's in feature freeze, so the only updates are fixing RC bugs.  The
Etch RC1 installer released in November [1] breaks because of key
expiry, except for the full installation CDs and DVDs, but you can use
one of the [2] daily built images if you want to do a net install.  The
last time I tried it, the graphical mode didn't work for me (it hung
somewhere, I forget where), but the text (ncurses) mode worked just
fine.  The Etch RC2 installer should be out any day now.

If you can install Etch, you could save yourself some potential upgrade
trouble.  And at this point I don't think the Debian devs are interested
in Sarge installer bugs -- all the emphasis is on getting Etch released.

[1] http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/News/2007/20070210
[2] http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/


-- 
Michael M. ++ Portland, OR ++ USA
"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions
of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to
dream." --S. Jackson