Trying To Get Started

[Frans Pop]

I downloaded Debian 405 some time ago and that loads up to the point that
it tries to continue the install from a mirror site. At this point all I
can get is "Server not there or kernel is unavailable".

There's a known issue for installing Etch. You'll need to add the following
boot parameter in parmfile.debian to make downloading installer components
and packages from a mirror work:
debian-installer/allow_unauthenticated=true

See also http://bugs.debian.org/536353.

Note that you will need installer images with kernel version 2.6.18-6-s390
for the installation to succeed; if you use images that have an older
kernel version the installation will fail at some point. 4.0.5 may well be
too old, but I'm not sure.

The error you quote is not one I recognize. Please give exact error
messages if you need additional help.

So I tried to download 503 from the default site and the ftp starts and
then just stops. So I tried a different site (carroll.aset.psu.edu) and
that site had 501 for download.

Do you mean the download of the installer images themselves fail, or the
downloading of packages during the installation?

If you're using FTP from within some mainframe utility, then please make
sure your transfer settings are correct for binary data. Download
fairlures are most often caused by that (unfortunately I cannot tell you
what the correct settings are). Maybe try downloading the images to a
regular PC first.

The "generic" images available on the mirrors now for the 5.0.3 point
release of Lenny [1] are known to work correctly. Note that not all
mirrors support all architectures.
Most "country" mirrors (ftp.XX.debian.org) should be good. I have
successfully installed Lenny 5.0.3 using the generic images and
ftp.nl.debian.org.

I downloaded CD1 and loaded it - it very quickly gets a kernel failure
and a Disabled Wait.

That sounds as if the CD has an older version of the installer which did
have a serious kernel bug. In general using a CD does not offer any real
advantages over using the 'generic' images.

Cheers,
FJP

[1]http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/dists/lenny/main/installer-s390/current/images/generic/

[Frans Pop]

First of all, when you ask a question on a mailing list, please always
follow up to that mailing list instead of replying to the person who
replied to you.

I downloaded 5.0.3 from mirrors.usc.edu and that seemed to work fine. I
then burned CD1 (using Easy CD Creator). I then use the HMC and "Load
from CD/ROM".
[17179570.168401] Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root
fs on unknown-block(1,0)
Can I not use this technique to install Debian? What is the proper
methodology?

I have just confirmed that booting from CD does not work. We'll have to
look into that. As I said in my previous mail, it is a rather unusual
installation method (only confirmed by the fact that nobody reported it is
broken, and has been for quite some time).

Please use the "generic" images I linked to in my previous mail instead.
Unfortunately I cannot give you detailed instructions myself on how exactly
to use them as I'm only familiar with the Hercules emulator [1] and not
with real hardware.

Cheers,
FJP

[1] On hercules it is done by defining a '3505' type device as
kernel.debian parmfile.debian initrd.debian autopad eof
and IPLing off that.