On Tue, Jan 31, 2017 at 06:20:29PM +0100, Pierre Couderc wrote: > > > On 01/31/2017 05:49 PM, Patrick Bartek wrote: > >On Tue, 31 Jan 2017 13:34:20 +0100 Pierre Couderc <pie...@couderc.eu> > >wrote: > > > >If its an old computer ... You're using a USB keyboard, right? It > >probably has as "dedicated" keyboard port, probably circular. (As well > >as one for the mouse.) Get an adapter and plug the keyboard into that > >port. Or find an old keyboard with that type of port. See what happens. > > > >B > Thank you Patrick, but it is not a hardware problem. > > This PC was under XP and did work fine. It is a debian (or linux ..?) > problem but more probably a problem of the ISO debian install disk. >
Patrick is not suggesting that it is a hardware problem. To expand a little on what he said, if the computer is old, there is a possibility that USB is not supported by the BIOS and needs more of the operating system to be in place than is in place at the first steps of the install, in order for USB to work. That, if true, would translate to the computer being too old to be able to use a USB keyboard, at least for installation (probably would be fine if you managed to get it installed because Linux bins the BIOS and interacts with the hardware without it). If the computer is old enough to have (usually blue and green) 6-pin mini-DIN (circular) plugs for keyboard and mouse on the back, and you have such a keyboard lying around, you could try plugging such a keyboard into those. Or Patrick also suggested a USB to mini-DIN adaptor which should be cheap and would get you past the installation stage. I wouldn't expect you to need it once installed -- your USB keyboard should work fine for normal use once installed. In case you are inclined to start thinking down the path of "why is this necessary with Linux when it wasn't with Windows?", ask yourself, did you ever _install_ Windows from scratch on this machine? In all likelihood the answer is no, and if that is true then you have never seen the computer without an operating system handling everything, until now. I suggest that you would have seen the same problem with the early stages of a Windows install too. I take it from the fact you haven't reported success that a Google search of the mailing list archives didn't turn anything relevant up? That surprises me, I feel like this problem is familiar, like it has been asked and answered before, although as I said unfortunately I don't remember details. You can prove or eliminate this suggestion as the cause by the following simple test -- after you turn the computer on, do whatever it says on the screen or in the motherboard manual to enter the BIOS setup utility. Usually this involves hitting F1, F10, F12, Escape or some other key or combination of keys. Do this with your USB keyboard plugged in, and do it on the USB keyboard. If you can get the computer to respond to that, then your BIOS supports USB and we can forget about this and get back to figuring out why the early stages of the install aren't happy (please note, they work fine for others, including myself, so whatever it is it isn't a straightforward "Debian doesn't work" problem). In this case, the suggestion I made about kernel boot parameters is the best idea we have so far to work with and would bear further research. If you _can't_ get it to respond to those keypresses to enter the BIOS setup utility, then Patrick has guessed right and you should consider the advice in his and the rest of this mail more carefully. HTH Mark
