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Develop a live-helper based Debian live & installer image for the Eee PC. = A Debian live demo & installer for the Eee PC =
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See http://git.debian.org/?p=debian-eeepc/eeepc-live.git;a=summary [[TableOfContents]]

== Introduction ==

Eeepc-live is a [:DebianLive] based live demo system including an installer. Because it is in '''alpha''' stage of development, it is primarily of interest at this time only to developers and testers. It does not yet include a very useful desktop, as our focus is first on infrastructure and basic functionality before we start adding applications.

In future releases, the system will include a small a selection of [:DebianEeePC/Software] to demonstrate a minimal yet functional Debian desktop, well suited to the capabilities of the Eee PC.

== Download ==
=== USB/HDD images ===

||eeepc-live-1.0~a3.img || the complete binary.img produced by lh_build ||
||eeepc-live-1.0~a3.img.md5 || the md5sum of the .img to verify download integrity ||

=== Source ===
||eeepc-live-config-1.0~a3.tar.gz || the debian-live config used to build the .img ||

=== Repository ===
The source code repository is at http://git.debian.org/?p=debian-eeepc/eeepc-live.git;a=summary

== Testing the image ==
Some USB keys will not boot on the Eee if you dd the .img to the key. Instead, make a 'superfloppy' image containing just the partition, e.g.
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eeepc-live is ALPHA status and is therefore only useful to developers/testers.
It does not include a very useful desktop at this early stage, as we are
working on infrastructure before we start adding applications to it.
dd if=eeepc-live-1.0~a3.img of=eeepc-live-1.0~a3.part.img bs=512 skip=63
}}}
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Files
-----
eeepc-live-1.0~a3.img the complete binary.img produced by lh_build
eeepc-live-1.0~a3.img.md5 the md5sum of the .img to verify download integrity
eeepc-live-config-1.0~a3.tar.gz the debian-live config used to build the .img
Then dd this image (assuming your USB key device is /dev/sdc):
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Testing the image
-----------------
Some USB keys will not boot on the Eee if you dd the .img to the key. Instead,
make a 'superfloppy' image containing just the partition, e.g.
{{{
dd if=eeepc-live-1.0~a3.part.img of=/dev/sdc
}}}
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dd if=eeepc-live-1.0~a3.img of=eeepc-live-1.0~a3.part.img bs=512 skip=63 Note: We used /sbin/fdisk -ul on the image to verify that the partition starts at block 63 and blocks are 512 bytes long, but this is not expected to change from one release to the next.
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Then dd this image (assuming your usb key device is /dev/sdc): Testing the image in qemu is useful in a limited way. Of course, none of the hardware-specific stuff will work. However, you can check that the rest of the live system works correctly.
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dd if=eeepc-live-1.0~a3.part.img of=/dev/sdc == Building the image ==
We recommend you use a deb caching proxy like 'approx' if you're going to be building a lot of live-helper images from the supplied conf. That way, you will not re-download the package files each time you do a new build (though live-helper itself does some caching; still, sometimes you need to lh_config --purge which deletes this cache, so using approx will help here).
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Note: I used /sbin/fdisk -ul on the image to verify that the partition starts
at block 63 and blocks are 512 bytes long but don't expect this to change from
one release to the next.
To use the proxy, you'll need to configure it properly on your build host and then adjust the archive URL in ./config/bootstrap to point at your proxy URL (e.g. "deb http://192.168.1.2:9999/debian lenny main contrib"). Likewise, you can use the proxy for our custom repo in ./config/chroot_sources/eeepc.chroot.
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Testing the image in qemu is useful in a limited way. Of course, none of the
hardware-specific stuff will work. However, you can check that the rest of the
live system works correctly.
Building the image is then as simple as the following. We assume a sid build system; lenny/etch will work too, but then you should use the live-helper from sid and a backport of cdebootstrap if you use etch.
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Building the image
------------------
I recommend you use a deb caching proxy like 'approx' if you're going to be
building a lot of live-helper images from the supplied conf. That way, you
will not re-download the package files each time you do a new build (though
live-helper itself does some caching; still, sometimes you need to lh_config
--purge which deletes this cache, so using approx will help here).

To use the proxy, you'll need to configure it properly on your build host and
then adjust the archive URL in ./config/bootstrap to point at your proxy URL
(e.g. "deb http://192.168.1.2:9999/debian lenny main contrib"). Likewise, you
can use the proxy for our custom repo in ./config/chroot_sources/eeepc.chroot.

Building the image is then as simple as (assuming a sid build system; lenny/etch
will work too, but then you should use the live-helper from sid and a backport
of cdebootstrap if you use etch).

{{{
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}}}
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When you're done you should have a binary.img and build.log will contain the
log of the build in case of errors. Test your new image as per above.
When you're done you should have a binary.img and build.log will contain the log of the build in case of errors. Test your new image as per above.
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Hacking the live config
-----------------------

For each change to ./config you should sudo lh_clean before doing another
lh_build (although depending on what you changed, lh_clean options such as
--binary or --purge may be more appropriate).
== Developing the live config ==
For each change to ./config you should sudo lh_clean before doing another lh_build (although depending on what you changed, lh_clean options such as --binary or --purge may be more appropriate).
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When customizing, don't manually change the files outside of ./config (e.g.
./chroot) as they are generated files and will be cleaned up by lh_clean. You
may find it instructive to create a new directory and run 'lh_config' in it to
generate a default live-helper config. Then diff -r the default config tree
with eeepc-live/config to see what we've done to customize it.
When making changes to the image, don't manually change the files outside of ./config (e.g. ./chroot) as they are generated files and will be cleaned up by lh_clean. You may find it instructive to create a new directory and run 'lh_config' in it to generate a default live-helper config. Then diff -r the default config tree with eeepc-live/config to see what we've done to customize it.
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For more help on using/hacking this live config, see #debian-eeepc @ irc.oftc.net and talk to me (SynrG) or use our mailing list.
}}}
For more help on developing this live config, see #debian-eeepc @ irc.oftc.net or use our mailing list.

A Debian live demo & installer for the Eee PC

?TableOfContents

Introduction

Eeepc-live is a [:DebianLive] based live demo system including an installer. Because it is in alpha stage of development, it is primarily of interest at this time only to developers and testers. It does not yet include a very useful desktop, as our focus is first on infrastructure and basic functionality before we start adding applications.

In future releases, the system will include a small a selection of [:DebianEeePC/Software] to demonstrate a minimal yet functional Debian desktop, well suited to the capabilities of the Eee PC.

Download

USB/HDD images

eeepc-live-1.0~a3.img

the complete binary.img produced by lh_build

eeepc-live-1.0~a3.img.md5

the md5sum of the .img to verify download integrity

Source

eeepc-live-config-1.0~a3.tar.gz

the debian-live config used to build the .img

Repository

The source code repository is at http://git.debian.org/?p=debian-eeepc/eeepc-live.git;a=summary

Testing the image

Some USB keys will not boot on the Eee if you dd the .img to the key. Instead, make a 'superfloppy' image containing just the partition, e.g.

dd if=eeepc-live-1.0~a3.img of=eeepc-live-1.0~a3.part.img bs=512 skip=63

Then dd this image (assuming your USB key device is /dev/sdc):

dd if=eeepc-live-1.0~a3.part.img of=/dev/sdc

Note: We used /sbin/fdisk -ul on the image to verify that the partition starts at block 63 and blocks are 512 bytes long, but this is not expected to change from one release to the next.

Testing the image in qemu is useful in a limited way. Of course, none of the hardware-specific stuff will work. However, you can check that the rest of the live system works correctly.

Building the image

We recommend you use a deb caching proxy like 'approx' if you're going to be building a lot of live-helper images from the supplied conf. That way, you will not re-download the package files each time you do a new build (though live-helper itself does some caching; still, sometimes you need to lh_config --purge which deletes this cache, so using approx will help here).

To use the proxy, you'll need to configure it properly on your build host and then adjust the archive URL in ./config/bootstrap to point at your proxy URL (e.g. "deb http://192.168.1.2:9999/debian lenny main contrib"). Likewise, you can use the proxy for our custom repo in ./config/chroot_sources/eeepc.chroot.

Building the image is then as simple as the following. We assume a sid build system; lenny/etch will work too, but then you should use the live-helper from sid and a backport of cdebootstrap if you use etch.

sudo apt-get install cdebootstrap live-helper
tar -xzf eeepc-live-1.0~a3.tar.gz
cd eeepc-live-1.0~a3
script build.log
sudo lh_build
exit               # leave 'script'

When you're done you should have a binary.img and build.log will contain the log of the build in case of errors. Test your new image as per above.

Developing the live config

For each change to ./config you should sudo lh_clean before doing another lh_build (although depending on what you changed, lh_clean options such as --binary or --purge may be more appropriate).

When making changes to the image, don't manually change the files outside of ./config (e.g. ./chroot) as they are generated files and will be cleaned up by lh_clean. You may find it instructive to create a new directory and run 'lh_config' in it to generate a default live-helper config. Then diff -r the default config tree with eeepc-live/config to see what we've done to customize it.

For more help on developing this live config, see #debian-eeepc @ irc.oftc.net or use our mailing list.