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 1. If you want to install '''to''' a USB key or SD/SDHC card, follow [:DebianEeePC/HowTo/InstallOnSDcardOrUsbStick].  1. If you want to install '''to''' a USB key or SD/SDHC card, read this document first and then follow [:DebianEeePC/HowTo/InstallOnSDcardOrUsbStick].

?TableOfContents

Translations: [:DebianEeePCFrench/HowTo/Install:French] [:DebianEeePCGerman/HowTo/Install:German]

Selecting the appropriate install method

  1. The usual way to install Debian Lenny on an Eee PC is to install directly to the internal SSD with our [:DebianEeePC/HowTo/CustomInstaller:custom installer] as described below.

  2. If you want to install to a USB key or SD/SDHC card, read this document first and then follow [:DebianEeePC/HowTo/InstallOnSDcardOrUsbStick].

  3. If you have special needs not currently addressed by our custom installer, such as crypto or accessibility, follow [:DebianEeePC/HowTo/InstallUsingStandardInstaller:standard installer] instead.

Custom installer development status

The goal is to have a standard debian-installer "just work", so we're taking the extra time and effort to do that rather than working around the problem by making a lot of custom Eee-specific code.

Our installer now includes the non-free madwifi packages so that Debian "Lenny" (aka "Testing") can be installed on the Eee PC using either a wifi network or ethernet. This version requires fewer manual steps to [:DebianEeePC/HowTo/Configure:configure] the system after installation, installing automatically the wifi and ACPI packages. See [:DebianEeePC/FreeYourEee] for status of a completely DFSG-free installation of Debian on the Eee.

See liable's announcement on the eeeuser forums:

http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=21474

This is a BETA installer that has the additional option of installing over wireless as well as ethernet. (Open and WEP only supported at the moment) It installs lenny with the 2.6.24 kernel. Other than setting up your access point, the installation process is exactly the same as the standard Debian installer. During install, the debian-eeepc.net repository is added, and packages for both wireless and acpi are downloaded in the last stages of the installer. The idea behind this is to have as much work out of the box from install as possible. Install instructions are as follows.

Note: When you upgrade, you should keep an eye on [:DebianEeePC/HowTo/Upgrade] as we will add there any issues that might arise as things change in the archives.

Download

You can download the image from the following url.

http://eeepc.debian.net/images/debian-eeepc.img (md5sum: http://eeepc.debian.net/images/debian-eeepc.img.md5)

Copy it onto your USB stick in the normal way with dd

 dd if=debian-eeepc.img of=/dev/<YOUR-USB-DEVICE>

Note: <YOUR-USB-DEVICE> = the whole device, not a device partition (e.g. /dev/sdX NOT /dev/sdX1)

You may have noticed that you are using the entire device without a partition table. This works because the BIOS knows how to boot directly from FAT partitions. This boot mode is called "superfloppy" mode and is supported by the Eee PC BIOS for USB devices and SD cards.

Boot your eeepc with the stick in a port and hit escape to get into the bios to chose which device to boot from. Once booted into the install, proceed as you would normally. Just install a standard system, you can add the software you want later on.

Configuring Wireless

Once you get to the network section of the installer you should be presented with two devices to chose from. eth0 is your ethernet and ath0 is your wireless device. Chose ath0 and the installer will scan for networks.

You will need to know the ESSID of your access point as the installer does not give you a list of AP's to chose from. After entering the ESSID it will ask for your wep key if needed. Remember to preceed with 's:' if its an ascii string for your key. (Note: The current version of the installer does not work with wpa, but that can be set up after the install. A future release will include wpa in the installer.)

It will then try and get a dhcp lease from the access point, and if that fails, it will give you the option to configure the network manually. (If you have static ip's for your network, I presume you know what to do here.)

Possible Issues

In testing the installer, I have noticed that sometimes it will pick an access point without asking for input from the user. This of course means that sometimes it will try to associate to the wrong AP, and if you have put in a WEP key, then network configuration will fail. You have two courses of action here. After network configuration fails, you will be given a debconf window that will give you various options of configuring the network. Chose "Reconfigure Wireless Network" and it will then ask what mode, chose "Infrastructure". Next it will ask you for an ESSID and also the wep key again. This is where you put in the particular ESSID that you want to associate with.

Alternatively, you can switch to vt2 and use iwconfig on the command line to set the ESSID and key, and then run dhclient.

From here on in, it's all as per normal for a Debian install.

Partitioning and swap

It is fine to use ext3 as your filesystem, which is the default. See http://wiki.eeeuser.com/ssd_write_limit for a compelling argument that you're not going to kill your flash drive by the small percentage of extra writes that a journaling filesystem will add over the lifespan of the drive. You may wish to do without swap simply because it will save space on the relatively small SSD in the Eee. Also ["DebianEeePC/TipsAndTricks"] links to some tuning tips if after reading this article you're still concerned about write life-span.

Further Configuration

When you boot for the first time, wireless will be automatically brought up using the same AP and key that you used during install (provided you installed over wireless). To change the settings for this, you need to edit your /etc/network/interfaces file. See man interfaces for more information on this, or see the following page:

http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEeePC/HowTo/Wifi

After installing the Eee, you may wish to [:DebianEeePC/HowTo/Configure:Configure] the system for some other things to work, e.g. the webcam and Xorg tuning.

Getting Help

As mentioned, this installer is still in the BETA stage. If you have problems please join us on #debian-eeepc on oftc (if liable is awake, feel free to harrass him ;)), or you can alternatively ask on the mailing list.