Post-install Steps For Debian Eabi With Installer, What to do after installing debian the cortez way! Options

[tux]

What needs doing after a successful installation of cortez-debian. I'm talking about the version of debian and the installer provided by cortez in this thread Debian Eabi With Installer.

Please re-read the first post in that thread because it has been updated. Follow the steps carefully to ensure fewer problems during and post-install.

It is worth remembering that the kernel and modules used in this method, 2.6.23 at the moment, have been produced by cortez using the build system and source tree used by the Poky linux developers. I believe this is based on bitbake and the angstrom work. I think it is worth considering that there may be incompatabilities between this system and the angstrom kernel, modules and packages.

I have successfully installed this system. However I did make an error in allowing the partitioner to format the new / partition. This meant that I had to copy the modules for the kernel across to the microdrive by using the method shown on the TitchyLinux site. I mean I had to mount the SD card and use this command: dpkg-deb -x (pathtofileon SDcard)zaurus_specific.deb . while being in the / directory of the microdrive.


Does it matter if I use keymap.map as in ZDevil's Monster thread or the spitz.gz file from the TitchyLinux files in order to set up the keyboard? Would it be automatically set upif I hadn't let the partitioner format /?

What about the gui/X system? Where do I start looking? cortez says get kdrive from PokyLinux and install it. Then install the window maager of your choice.

One definite plus for this install, the hardware clock is sorted out without needing any clever tricks.

The wifi only had the post-install problem of blacklisting the hostap modules. I have to do this post-install with all methods and varieties of debian, because all my wifi cards work with orinoco and fail with hostap loaded.

The dhcp in the installer works well!

It is much easier to work from the console if you install the openssh-server and login from a terminal on your desktop or use putty. It is vital to work this way when trying to get X to work. It is possible to have a Zaurus which loads X, but a non-working variety, and the only way to mend things is from a remote console.

Hope this thread is of use, especially to me , to people who are testing this convenient way of installing an EABI + EABI debian system on their Z.

This post has been edited by tux: Nov 4 2007, 12:47 AM

[cortez]

Make sure to check the original thread for any updates on the installation process, I'll try to keep it updated to prevent all this useful info scattering all over the forum. Any post-installation steps can easily be integrated into the Installer by extending the preseed.cfg file located in the root directory. Look for instructions on how to do this here.

The file currently contains:

CODE

# Preseed file to make d-i download udebs from unstable, useful for daily
# builds and development builds.
d-i mirror/udeb/suite string unstable
d-i mirror/udeb/suite seen false

# armel repo
d-i mirror/country string enter information manually
d-i mirror/country seen false
d-i mirror/http/hostname string ftp.gnuab.org
d-i mirror/http/hostname seen false
d-i mirror/http/directory string /debian
d-i mirror/http/directory seen false
d-i mirror/suite string unstable
d-i mirror/suite seen false
d-i debian-installer/allow_unauthenticated string true
d-i apt-setup/local0/repository string http://ftp.gnuab.org/debian/ unreleased main
d-i apt-setup/local0/source boolean true
d-i apt-setup/local0/key string http://archive.gnuab.org/gnuab_key_2007.asc

[tux]

Fixing the keyboard.

I got keymap.map from ZDevil's afterinstall tar and copid it to /etc.Then loadkeys /etc/kemap.mapworked to load the correct key table. It has to be repeated at each reboot but I can fix that later. I am going to check keymap.spitz.gz from the TitchyLinux setup file. If that works I'lldo the pernaent cute with that file.

Bear in mind that cortez has set the keymap file he uses to copy into /etc at install and that I didn't tell the partitioner not to format /, so this fix may not be necessary for you.

I suppose I should try a reinstall to check that out?

[tux]

Fixing the keyboard.

I got keymap.map from ZDevil's afterinstall tar and copied it to /etc.Then loadkeys /etc/kemap.mapworked to load the correct key table. It has to be repeated at each reboot but I can fix that later. I am going to check keymap.spitz.gz from the TitchyLinux setup file. If that works I'll do the permanent cure with that file.

Bear in mind that cortez has set the keymap file he uses to copy into /etc at install and that I didn't tell the partitioner not to format /, so this fix may not be necessary for you.

I suppose I should try a reinstall to check that out?

I did try and reinstall and ran into many problems. Is there some sort of limit on the usable size of SD card for flashing purposes? I seem to be getting a success with my 128 MB card and my failures were with a 1GB card.

If this re-install works I'll check if the keymap.map file is present.

Is there an enthusiastic and dozy amateur's guide to getting the kdrive packages and installing them? (And I do mean dozy!) I have gone wandering around the poky site and the angstrom site and Google is not being very friendly at the moment! Has someone got a 'smart' question for me use?

Cheers

This post has been edited by tux: Nov 4 2007, 01:39 PM

[dlj0]

Fixing the keyboard.

I got keymap.map from ZDevil's afterinstall tar and copid it to /etc.Then loadkeys /etc/kemap.mapworked to load the correct key table. It has to be repeated at each reboot but I can fix that later. I am going to check keymap.spitz.gz from the TitchyLinux setup file. If that works I'lldo the pernaent cute with that file.

Bear in mind that cortez has set the keymap file he uses to copy into /etc at install and that I didn't tell the partitioner not to format /, so this fix may not be necessary for you.

I suppose I should try a reinstall to check that out?

Hey, I could not find keymap.map from Zdevil's tarball. Where is it? I may have a bad version of it, since the untar ended abnormally. Anyway, to get me started, can you send keymap.map to me? I can't get much running without a / !

[tux]

I have re-installed: but BigZ insists on my choosing to let the partition be formatted. hence I have to dpkg-deb -x on the zaurus-specific.deb to get the modules across. I also had to blacklist hostap and hostap_cs.

As usual, once these debian thingies are installed they are rock solid in the wifi department.

Right dlj0 here is my attempt at uploading the keymap file from ZDevil's Monster method tar.

I'm hoping some clever fellow will give me some hints about the X business. I suppose I could try to use the afterinstall tar ball and scripts from ZDevil? But I'd have to watch out for incompatibilitiies with yongun?

Attached File(s)

 keymap.map.txt ( 5.75K ) Number of downloads: 18

 

[dlj0]

I have re-installed: but BigZ insists on my choosing to let the partition be formatted. hence I have to dpkg-deb -x on the zaurus-specific.deb to get the modules across. I also had to blacklist hostap and hostap_cs.

As usual, once these debian thingies are installed they are rock solid in the wifi department.

Right dlj0 here is my attempt at uploading the keymap file from ZDevil's Monster method tar.

I'm hoping some clever fellow will give me some hints about the X business. I suppose I could try to use the afterinstall tar ball and scripts from ZDevil? But I'd have to watch out for incompatibilitiies with yongun?

Thanks. Keys work now. As soon as I can figure out how to configure either of my wifi cards and get on the net, I will get back to you on the X stuff.

I can get the hostap modules blacklisted, as I did with titchy, but unlike titchy, it didn't automatically work after than. I have to configure the wifi settings somehow, and haven't done that before. I also have to worry about my new card, but that is another day.
How did you configure your wifi settings?

[tux]

Replying to dlj0's post above.

That sounds strange! Obviously it must have worked during install as it did for me. It didn't work for me after install even after I did the dpkg-deb -x trick on the zaurus-specific.deb that cortez provides.

I did depmod and rebooted. The wifi got errors at boot-up because of the hostap v Orinoco conflict. So I edited etc/modprobe.d/blacklist and did the usual. Then I booted again and this time the wifi started up OK.

The interfaces file is the one that the install set up. I just had to do the blacklisting.

Well here it is anyway:

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
# wireless-* options are implemented by the wireless-tools package
wireless-mode managed
wireless-essid any (I will replace this with my routers essid)
wireless-key1 I put this in during install

This is not quite as fancy as I usually use. I use this example that ZDevil posted and edit it to match my router's configuration.

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.0.111 ## Or any static IP address of your Z
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.0.0 ## Or your router's IP but change the last number to "0"
broadcast 192.168.0.255
gateway 192.168.0.1 ## Or your router's IP
# wireless-* options are implemented by the wireless-tools package
wireless-mode managed
wireless-essid YouKnowYouAreNotThatStupid
wireless-key1 ComeOnYourKnowIt
# dns-* options are implemented by the resolvconf package, if installed
dns-nameservers 192.168.0.1 ## Or your router's IP, plus any other nameservers addresses found on your router's interface if you like

Here is the reply from ifconfig -a :-

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:02:6F:34:4D:6B
inet addr:192.168.1.107 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:5989 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2537 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:6924887 (6.6 MiB) TX bytes:326917 (319.2 KiB)
Interrupt:169

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:560 (560.0 TX bytes:560 (560.0

Here is the response to iwconfig :-

lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"*****" Nickname:"Prism I"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 00:12:17:BD:4B:29
Bit Rate:11 Mb/s Sensitivity:1/3
Retry short limit:8 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:************************** Security mode:open
Power Management:off
Link Quality=82/92 Signal level=5/153 Noise level=130/153
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:1 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

Actually the ***** is just me obscuring the router essid and wep key

I suppose I should emphasise that the wifi is eth0 and not the eth2 that appears to have to be used in ZDevil's monster thread and in jpmatrix's threads on this stuff...


The cards I am using are all Zonet CF1100s under their skin. Working fine.

This post has been edited by tux: Nov 6 2007, 12:48 AM

[dlj0]

Replying to dlj0's post above.

That sounds strange! Obviously it must have worked during install as it did for me. It didn't work for me after install even after I did the dpkg-deb -x trick on the zaurus-specific.deb that cortez provides.

Oddly, when I booted it up today with the wifi card in it worked. But when I hotplugged the card in yesterday, it did not work.

I have an odder problem now. I am adding a package, texlive. It is taking a long, long time. I thought I would do something on the side, but cannot log in to another terminal. My password is not accepted. I think this had something to do with the keymap --- basically, what was typed before the keymap change. But I don't know what that was....

Progress occurs. I will try to re-install cortez' zaurus-specific stuff, which I have not yet done since succeeding in getting a system.

[jpmatrix]

eth0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"*****" Nickname:"Prism I"
Encryption key:668C-1CA8-EF5C-533F-0B35-E9CD-F5 Security mode:open
Actually the ***** is just me obscuring the router essid.

...and you forgot to hide yout key

I suppose I should emphasise that the wifi is eth0 and not the eth2 that appears to have to be used in ZDevil's monster thread and in jpmatrix's threads on this stuff...

mine was eth2 on initial start but after some reboots (or another miracle!) it has become eth0

[tux]

[quote name='jpmatrix' date='Nov 6 2007, 06:05 AM' post='170841']


...and you forgot to hide your key


I've done it now but there isn't much likelihood of some lurker here turning up on my street to hack my router is there?

[tux]

....

Progress occurs. I will try to re-install cortez' zaurus-specific stuff, which I have not yet done since succeeding in getting a system.

I suppose I ought to try a dpkg -i on that package too. I may have unpacked the contents to the microdrive but it may very well need the configuring from the package manager,

About the problem with logging in: I presume you are sshing in from your desktop? If this install is a big package you might have done better to ssh in first and do the install from the terminal session. The processing of the package might be taking most of the resources of the system and having no time for trivialities like logging in ssh sessions!

Cheers

[dlj0]

Adieu for now folks.

I need to have my system working. Unfortunately, that is not going to happen with debian/eabi, at least not for me, not now. I am going to re-install my oabi titchy from my backups, and get back to work.

My frustrations, for the moment, have involved:

1) the x server, which I can't seem to get going except as root. Both xdm and gdm exit without explanation. I can't get the touchscreen stuff to work at all, and nothing is actually any better than with 'ol titchy. I still can't get the mouse working correctly, and with in addition the touchscreen not working, ...

2) the fact that iceweasel and icedove, though they technically exist on the archive, don't work. Those two apps are critical for me, and without them my machine is not that usable.

I just hope this re-install works.... I will leave in cortez' kernel and modules. That will probably get my sparklan card working. Wish me luck!!

I will check back with this in a bit, since I do believe that eabi is really the way to go.

[tux]

Adieu for now folks.

I need to have my system working. Unfortunately, that is not going to happen with debian/eabi, at least not for me, not now. I am going to re-install my oabi titchy from my backups, and get back to work.

SNIPPED ..

I just hope this re-install works.... I will leave in cortez' kernel and modules. That will probably get my sparklan card working. Wish me luck!!

I will check back with this in a bit, since I do believe that eabi is really the way to go.

I'm going to persist with this. As you can see from my sig, I'm in the happy position of not needing to use BigZ for my working Z. In fact the 6000L is my workaday machine. As regards Debian on the Z, you are absolutely correct. The TitchyLinux system is the most complete: you can have a stable working system with X in a fairly short time and with the minimum of command line tinkering. The only thing that does not 'just work' is multimedia, in particular the sound. If BigZ was my only Z, then TitchyLinux would be my Debian choice until someone sorted out the setting up of the EABI system and some packages, important to me, got built.

I know that some people are working hard to make EABI Debian on the Z much easier to install and make into the stable, working system we all want.

Hope to see you back soon in this neighbourhood.

[jpmatrix]

Adieu for now folks.

you should say "au revoir", not "adieu"
adieu means you'll never come back

I need to have my system working. Unfortunately, that is not going to happen with debian/eabi, at least not for me, not now. I am going to re-install my oabi titchy from my backups, and get back to work.

My frustrations, for the moment, have involved:

1) the x server, which I can't seem to get going except as root. Both xdm and gdm exit without explanation. I can't get the touchscreen stuff to work at all, and nothing is actually any better than with 'ol titchy. I still can't get the mouse working correctly, and with in addition the touchscreen not working, ...

2) the fact that iceweasel and icedove, though they technically exist on the archive, don't work. Those two apps are critical for me, and without them my machine is not that usable.

1- flux just gave a trick which enables to run X as $USER and it works perfect

2- with gnuab sources.list, people have reported iceweasel is working. however i didn't succeed but i think that's because i mixed applieddata and gnuab libraries..i'd to remove & try again.