On 2/18/22 09:15, Gene Heskett wrote:
Two problems:
terminals went funkity late tuesday, spent Wed-Thu trying to reboot, would not
go beyond the 15 second mark rebooting. Finally ran the net installer in rescue
mode, copied my 122gb /home dir, on a 1.9T raid10 to a different drive and
reinstalled, then copied it back, but kmail refuses to use the copied back data
so I'm using FF to post this.
I also need to get totally, absolutely rid of brltty, its driving me berzerk
with its incessant muttering in a voice as bandwidth limited, or worse, than a
cell phone. Understandable maybe 5% of the time. I purposely did NOT even visit
those pieces of the installer for fear it would be enabled, because even though
killed by removing brltty in the previous install, 90% of the syslog was errors
because it couldn't use brltty. But I got it anyway. So how do it get rid of
it without it tearing down the system with its copius error screaming?
Thanks for any advice on these two fronts.
Cheers, Gene
On 2/18/22 15:38, Gene Heskett wrote:
> I'm on web mail using FF, which does not quote worth a damn. My "usb
tree" looks like a weeping willow and contains several devices that
answer to serial protocols. Both this keyboard and this mouse are
wireless, and speak serial. So how am I supposed to install with no
keyboard?
>
>
> Interesting question that.
>
>
> Thanks, Cheers Gene
On 2/18/22 18:13, Gene Heskett wrote:
> On Fri, 18 Feb, 2022 at 7:41 PM, Greg Wooledge <g...@wooledge.org> wrote:
>> But what are the *actual* symptoms? What did Gene see? What did he
>> try, to troubleshoot, and what results did he get?
>
>
>
> Exactly what I wrote Greg, the boot stops at the 15 second mark,
forever. I let it set there once for several hours while I caught some
shuteye.
>
>
> Repeated at least 20 times.
>
>
>
> Putting the install dvd in that drive, and selecting rescue mode,
works and I was able to make a backup of /home. Then I reinstalled. And
on the reboot after the install this PITA of a blast of unintelligible
noise per keystroke was back and I did not go anywhere near those menu
item for this install.
>
>
>
>> These are basic questions that someone with Gene's level of experience
>> shouldn't need to be asked.
>
>
>
> Maybe so but I also getting upset with the feigned ignorance of what
I type you won't believe. I said it stopped at about 15 seconds and I
don't understand your lack of comprehension of the word "stopped". At
that point, the only thing that worked was the front panel of this 30"
towers reset button, or after a delay, the power button.
>
>
> Right now I've removed brltty and its api library which stops he
racket of unintelligible sound, but my syslog is growing by abut 6 lines
of errors per keystroke because brltty can't be found, or about every 4
or 5 seconds even if the keyboard isn't in use.
>
> I need to find a way to remove this stuff w/o eviscerating half the
system with its dependencies. Respin the installer for 11-4 if needed
but this needs fixed.
>
>
>
> I'd also bet you a six pack of suds it won't reboot right now because
I have removed brltty, and that IS the 15 second showstopper. But if my
theory is correct, it will also add to the reinstall count which is
already annoyingly high. Which with this system means at least a day to
do it.
>
>
> Give us back stretch, once the install was fixed so it had
networking, it just worked, till hell froze over.
>
>
> Oh, since we're on the subject, how do I put an option on the kernel
load line,(in grub.cfg) to make very noisy debugging so the next time I
have to reboot, I can see exactly what stopped it. That would be a
great help.
>
>
>
> Thanks Greg, take care and stay well.
>
>
> Cheers Gene
I recall that you have several computers, that your hobby is using Linux
for CNC woodworking, and that you modify the OS's significantly and/or
install specialized, non-Debian software.
I have found that when I install too much software, when I put
non-Debian software on a Debian computer, and/or when I make too many
changes to the OS and/or software, that the computer becomes unstable.
I have found it useful to spread storage and functionality across
several computers, to limit the scope of disasters and to facilitate
recovery. These are the three key computers at my site:
1. Primary workstation.
2. Live server (Samba and SSH/CVS).
3. Backup/ archive/ image/ replication server.
For Debian and FreeBSD machines, including the above, I install the OS
as follows:
1. Disconnect all hard disk drives, solid-state drives, USB flash
drives, SDHC cards, etc..
2. Disconnect all external devices from the computer except a keyboard,
a mouse, a monitor, and the network connection (servers and desktops),
or the network connection (laptops).
3. Install a blank SSD. Ensure that it is the first device node when
the installer runs (e.g. /dev/sda).
4. Do the simplest install of the OS of choice onto the SSD, using
BIOS, MBR, and partitioning the OS drive such that the system image fits
onto "16 GB" devices with room to spare -- 1 GB ext4 boot, 1 GB
encrypted swap, 12 GB encrypted ext4 root.
For the key computers, I then install "official" packages for only the
software needed for the chosen function. For a Debian primary
workstation, I also install the Debianized VirtualBox from Oracle.
I use VM's and/or additional computers for everything else.
The small OS image size makes it easy to take and restore images;
monthly and as needed. I keep all of the system configuration files in
a version control system (CVS). And, I backup boot and root daily and
as needed. So, when an OS instance becomes damaged, recovery is
straight-forward.
Your computer with the RAID10 (4 @ 1 TB HDD?) would seem to be the
logical choice for use as a live server. Put the OS on a small SSD and
use the big disks for data.
Pick a machine to use as your workstation. Put the OS on a small SSD
and move as much of the 122 GB as you can to the live server. My home
directory is ~2.6 GB and fits on root. Most of that is used by Xfce and
apps. The only volatile user data is e-mail. If you cannot shrink your
home directory, move it to another partition or to a second SSD.
Pick a machine to use as your backup (Amanda?), etc., server. Again, a
small SSD for the OS; one or more big disks for backups, etc..
David
