Installing Debian onto Ocelot

Installing Debian

Here are my notes for installing Debian Etch (Testing) onto Ocelot. There shouldn't be any surprises here. It is relatively straight-forward.

I chose to recompile the kernel before I compiled an NDIS wrapper for the Wifi card driver. In the past, that was a necessary step. It may not be now. Because I was going to do all of this recompiling, I did a basic installation (no X-server, etc) first, then recompiled the kernel, and then I went ahead and installed X. There is no reason you couldn't install everything else (including the X-server) first, and then recompile.

Ocelot has the following specs:

Sony Vaio PCG-V505AX Laptop
1.8-GHz Pentium 4-M
768MB RAM
12.1" screen (1024x768)
16MB ATI Mobility Radeon graphics chipset
Netgear MA521 PCMCIA 802.11b Wifi card

(written 7/26/2006)

Basic Installation

The following is what I do to get a basic Debian installation (no X-server, etc)

Boot off of the Debian Etch (Testing) install CD.
Hit Esc and then F2 to view the boot menu to boot off the CD.
At the boot prompt, type

install vga=791

Note: The vga=791 forces the installation to display at 1024x768 (making the text smaller).
At the prompt for the Primary Network Interface, there are two network cards that are detected. Choose "eth0: Intel Corporation 82801CAM (ICH3) PRO/100 VE (LOM) Ethernet Controller".
Choose to manually edit the partition table. The machine dual boots Windows XP and Linux, so I need to have a primary partition (for Windows), and three logical partitions (/, swap, and /home for linux).

/dev/hda1 21.0GB vfat (WinXP)

/dev/hda5 6.0GB reiserfs /

/dev/hda6 2.0GB swap swap

/dev/hda7 11.0GB xfs /home
Choose to install GRUB to the master boot record. I prefer LILO, so I will remove GRUB at a later point in the installation. For now, GRUB will do, because it's easier.
Reboot

I chose not to change my apt sources (/etc/apt/sources.list), but I'm going to list the default sources here:

deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ etch main
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ etch main
deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main

At the end of the install process, you can choose the predefined collections of software to install. The default options include Desktop Environment, Laptop, and Standard System. I chose to install Laptop, but none of the others. If you choose to install the Desktop Environment collection, it will install Gnome (whereas I prefer KDE).

(written 7/26/2006)

Switching Boot Loader

I don't really get GRUB. However, I have a lot of experience configuring LILO, so I am a lot more comfortable with it. After doing a basic installation, I usually remove GRUB and install LILO.

log in
Become root again

$ su
Get the lilo package

# apt-get install lilo
I wanted to scp a bunch of files, but realized that scp wasn't installed. So, install those packages first.

# apt-get install putty-tools openssh-client
Copy the sbmonitor.bmp file (lilo splashscreen image) to /boot. I modified that image file to use as the splashscreen background.
Create and modify lilo.conf (I like using nano, but obviously, you can use whatever you want)

# nano -w /etc/lilo.conf

Then add the following lines:
lba32

boot=/dev/hda

map=/boot/map

compact

default="Linux_2.6.15"

prompt

nowarn

timeout=50

install=bmp

bitmap=/boot/sbmonitor.bmp

bmp-table=50p,145p

bmp-timer=95p,300p,1

bmp-colors=4,0,0,1,0,0

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-1-486

    label="Linux_2.6.15"

    root=/dev/hda5

    initrd=/boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-1-486

    vga=791

    read-only

other=/dev/hda1

    label="WinXP"
Write lilo.conf to MBR

# /sbin/lilo
Reboot to check that it works correctly
Assuming it does, log back in
Become root again

$ su
Remove the GRUB package

# apt-get remove grub

(written 7/26/2006)

Now continue on to recompiling the kernel.