[PLUG] debian and kernel2.6 test

[Jeff Schwaber]

Hi,

I'm not one to try out development kernels, really, but today I did.
Another reason I'm not one to try out development kernels is I very much
dislike compiling kernels. So when I chose to try 2.6 test2, I got a
binary image (apt-get install kernel-image-2.6test2-1 I believe). And
despite having tried to read lkml for about 3 months, I'm not entirely
sure how to go about gathering enough data to file a bug report (or
determine if it is a bug or a misconfiguration). Kernels are a bit
outside the area of my knowledge.

So folks, help.

With 2.6 installed, I turn on the machine and get to LILO, and choose my
2.6, which has an initrd (my current, working kernel does not). It says
"Loading TestLinux ...................... BIOS info received" (not sure
about info received, but it definitely says something about the BIOS,
and then it turns blank.

2 times out of 3, gdm comes up 30 seconds later, which is pretty damn
quick, I'll admit. The third time out of three, the computer, a laptop,
turns itself off.

Checking dmesg, I don't find any obvious errors, though it says it's
using ACPI, and my last kernel tends to say something along the lines of
"detecting dell, broken ACPI, turning off and using emulation." 

It also says it's using video mode 317. I've been using 791 for a while
for no apparent reason than that it was in a lilo.conf I found and it
worked and I left it.

Everything else, though different from the 2.4 messages, seems okay. It
gets my ps2 mouse (actually a touchpad, but happy as a ps2 mouse) and it
loads usb support and notices my usbmouse. And that's the end of the
dmesg output.

But neither of my mice is working when I get to gdm. And if I go to a
virtual terminal, I get bizarre random color bitmaps. They look
identical to what I normally get for half a second going to a virtual
terminal, ever since I started using the actual driver for this video
card (or, I think it's the actual driver -- ati, it's an ati rage pro).
When I was using vesa, it didn't get the color bitmaps, but they go away
in half a second, and using the driver let's me use the xv extensions.
But here, those bitmaps don't go away. I can log in, because I did, but
I can't see anything happening. clear, reset, ctrl-l, make no
difference.

Back in X, my mice aren't working. Everything else seems fine. 

I checked lsmod, while seeing if any modules were missing, and there
were a TON of modules I'd never heard of without easily comprehensible
names. 

Anybody have any ideas?

Jeff