[linrad] SATA Drive issues with Debian, Knoppix security

[w3sz@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Thanks for the note, Ramiro!  

I have been able to get Debian to start installing; it is currently doing its 500 MB download-to-make-a-desktop installation thing.

The issue was the SATA drivers, and the solution was somewhat complex [for me, anyway].  Here is what it took, for those of you who will be getting SATA-drive systems in the future [and you may get them without knowing it, as happened to me].

1.  [of course]  make sure you have the necessary free space on your HD

2.  Put your Debian boot disk in the CD ROM drive. I used debian-testing-i386-netinst.iso

3.  Go into the BIOS SETUP on your computer [F2 on my Dell 8400]

4.  Go to DRIVES and switch it from ACHI to ATA mode, save the results, and exit the bios setup

5.  Type 'expert26' when you get the Debian boot screen, and hit 'enter'

6.  Don't select manual entry of module parameters unless you want to be kept really busy at the keyboard, hitting 'enter' incessantly

7.  DEselect the ata-piix driver initially when asked if you want to load it, as although it is needed to run the SATA drives, loading it before the CD ROM drivers are loaded  will block the CD-ROM from working and you won't be able to access the necessary files on the CD-ROM

8.  After the CD-ROM contents have been loaded, when the installer again presents you with the option to load the ata-piix driver, go ahead and load it

9.  Partition the disk using the Debian installer

10.  The installation should proceed smoothly from there.

AFTER this it will be necessary to make some housekeeping changes, and upgrade the kernel for SATA support, so that you can change things back to SATA [otherwise things will run more slowly in Debian, and you won't be able to access that extremely useful and easy to use Windows-XP operating system any more].

Helpful hints and a roadmap for all of this are at:

http://www.ubuntulinux.org/wiki/InstallingUbuntuOnaDell8400

and

http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/errata

I have still not found a solution for the security issues with Knoppix after its installed on the hard drive  [which most users NEVER need to do]; it won't let you be root, period.  You can emulate root by doing 'sudo su', but not be root.  This is an issue with some of the GUI commands that ask for a root password.  I get around that by just typing the command in a 'sudo su'd terminal window.  Whenever a gui window comes up and asks for root password, it always shows you the command that caused the GUI window to appear, so you can duplicate it in a terminal window.  Changing root passwords using 'sudo passwd root', or modifiying the passwd and shadow files directly, or changing permissions in 'sudoers' all seem to have no effect.  Mr Knoppix has very effectively 'blocked' the root user from modifications, it seems.  Nasty.

I wil post more if there is anything else to be learned after I complete the Debian install.  But the main hurdle [I HOPE] has been crossed.

73,

ROger
W3SZ


> 
> > Does anyone know how I can get 'real' Debian installed on my 'Debian' 
> > partition when all I have are SATA drives?
> > 
> > I will continue looking into the 'root' and 'passwd' issue.  I spent 
> > several hours on it last night before discovering/remembering the 'sudo 
> > su' workaround.
> > 
> > Thanks, and 73,
> > 
> > Roger
> > W3SZ
> > 
> 
> 
> Hello Roger.
> 
> I have been out of the mailing list for some time, first due to my old
> email address problems, and now, I am busy because exams at the
> University. :-(
> 
> I can not help you with the SATA drives cause I have not got any of
> them. The only thing I suggest you is downloading the last version of
> the installer. Sarge is going to be released on 6th of June, if
> everything goes well. It is strange that the installer does not
> recognice SATA drives, as they are well known drives for Linux.
> 
> try the RC-3 version:
> 
> http://cdimage.debian.org/pub/cdimage-testing/sarge_d-i/i386/rc3/sarge-i386-neti
> nst.iso
> 
> If if fails try the last daily built image at:
> 
> http://cdimage.debian.org/pub/cdimage-testing/daily/i386/current/debian-testing-
> i386-netinst.iso
> 
> Hope it helps
> 
> Ramiro.
> EA1ABZ.
> 
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