Debian 5.0.5 AMD64 installation

An installation of Debian 5.0.5 AMD64 from DVD. The installation failed when I tried to use the disks in AHCI mode and had to revert to the old IDE mode. The installation then failed when I tried to do anything with disk partitions. Debian partition handling is worse with every release.

My first attempt had SATA set to AHCI mode. None of the Linux distributions liked AHCI except Ubuntu. I tried again with SATA set to IDE.

Add your computer MAC address to your router for DHCP before installation so the DHCP step can allocate an IP address. If this paragraph is meaningless to you, ask your network person for an explanation and help. A MAC address looks like 6C-F6-44-D8-93-65 or 6C:F6:44:D8:93:65. A good computer manufacturer will print the MAC address on the box or an instruction sheet. There are various network related programs that display MAC addresses. in most systems, you can install the operating system first then use the operating system to display the MAC address. Many routers have an automated way of temporarily adding a computer to a network and setting a permanent address later.

The installer boot menu offers the following options.

• Install
• Graphical install
• Advanced options
  • Expert install
  • Rescue mode
  • Automated install
  • Graphical expert install
  • Graphical rescue mode
  • Graphical automated install
  • Alternative desktop environments
• Help

Graphical install

Choose language

Choose a language: English Continue

Choose a country, territory or area: Australia Continue

The expert mode lets you select more than one locale.

Select a keyboard layout

Keymap to use: American English Continue

Detect and mount CD-ROM

This will take a minute or two.

Load installer components from CD

One minute.

Detect network hardware

Very quick.

Configure the network

The expert mode gives you a lot of options you may never need unless you plug your network in through a PC card on an old notebook computer.

Hostname: r2 Continue

Domain name: Continue

Configure the clock

Select a city in your time zone: Sydney Continue

The expert install lets you choose to use NTP and specify the NTP server pool.

Partition disks

Partitioning method:

• Guided - use the largest continuous space
• Guided - use entire disk
• Guided - use entire disk and set up LVM
• Guided - use entire disk and set up encrypted LVM
• Manual

Guided - use entire disk [Continue]
You see a list of your disks.

Select disk to partition:
SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) - 64 GB ATA ARSSD64GBU
SCSI1 (0,1,0) (sdb) - 500.1 GB ATA Samsung HD501LJ
SCSI2 (0,0,0) (sdc) - 500.1 GB ATA Samsung HD501LJ
SCSI2 (0,1,0) (sdd) - 500.1 GB ATA Samsung HD501LJ
The first one is selected. [Continue]

Partitioning scheme:

All files in one partition
Separate /home partition
Separate /home, /user, /var, and /tmp partitions

Separate /home partition

Separate /home, /user, /var, and /tmp partitions

The installation had to stop here. The Debian disk partitioning program locked up every time it made more than the tiniest change to the partitions.

Conclusion

Debian 5.0.5 is not ready for prime time. Do not use on modern hardware. Do not use it to partition disks or any of the other things that would make you choose Debian instead of Ubuntu. I will go back to struggling with Ubuntu.