If you have rebooted after running fdisk, the device /dev/sda1 might get mounted. If so the "mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1" command will fail. I unmounted the device with the command "umount /dev/sda1" and re-ran the mkfs command successfully.

''If you have rebooted after running fdisk, the device /dev/sda1 might get mounted. If so the "mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1" command will fail. I unmounted the device with the command "umount /dev/sda1" and re-ran the mkfs command successfully.

1. If you have reboot after running fdisk, the device /dev/sda1 might get mounted. If so the "mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1" command will fail. I unmounted the device with the command "umount /dev/sda1" and re-ran the mkfs command successfully.

You may also need to copy /etc/modprobe.d/eth0 to etc/modprobe.d/eth0 so that the network comes up at boot.

ar -x debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3.1_arm.udeb

wget http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3.1_arm.udeb

NOTICE: this page describes the old, manual procedure for bootstrapping Debian in a slug, using the SlugOS/LE kernel (formerly know as DebianSlug). Currently, if you want to install Debian in your slug it is recommended that see the new instructions about Debian/NSLU2 and use debian-installer, as described in http://www.cyrius.com/debian/nslu2/.

Now you have a little endian SlugOS/LE image that can be used to bootstrap the offical Debian arm port (you didn't do this yet? Go here and install it first). Here's how to do it.

• Installing kernel-modules (SlugOS/LE 3.10beta)

• Upgrade SlugOS/LE to new firmware

• This page describes the manual procedure to install SlugOS/LE, formerly know as DebianSlug, through a manual procedure using the debootstrap program.

• If you're flashing from stock NSLU2 Firmware or Unslung, keep in mind that the IP address of the slug may not be the same. SlugOS/LE will attempt to get it's IP address from a DHCP server first. Make sure there's a DHCP server (e.g. your router) connected to your NSLU2. This does not apply if you're flashing from OpenSlug or OpenDebianSlug. In that case it will use the IP configuration you've set up in OpenSlug.

Boot your just reflashed image and log in using ssh as root. Note that the initial password is opeNSLUg (and not e.g. something like debiaNSLUg). Actually the bootstrap image is a Little Endian OpenSlug image. I found it useful if you use PuTTY and once logged in, type export TERM=linux; stty erase '^H' or stty erase '^?' depending on how your PuTTY is configured.

Now configure the passwd package, set the password for root and install openssh-server, so you will be able to log into your SlugOS/LE after the reboot. First, configure passwd and enable the shadow passwords when asked.

Notice (added by Petr Jakes): It takes long time to check the file system for big harddrives (500G) during the boot. System can not boot because of that in some cases. For example, after changing time (hwclock -w) directly after SlugOS/LE install, I was not able to boot from the 500GB HDD without following tune2fs command. Because of above mentioned type in:

Add your name to the SlugOS/LE Users? list. (And you might want to rm -rf /work after you've rebooted ;-)

Installing kernel-modules (SlugOS/LE 3.10beta)

Notice: these instructions only apply if you are running SlugOS/LE after the manual bootstrap procedure. If you have installed Debian/NSLU2 using debian-installer, you should install the official Debian modules through apt-get.

If you're running SlugOS/LE 3.10beta and have to install additional kernel modules (USB-sound e.g.), you have to use the kernel-modules on

Another way to install a kernel module for SlugOS/LE is to manually decompress the .ipk file, copy the module to the /lib/modules/2.6.16 dir and test it.

Be sure to get the little endian SlugOS (SlugOS/LE) firmware, that may still be identified as DebianSlug, and NOT the big endian SlugOS (OpenSlug) firmware. If you happen to pick the big endian version and follow the instructions above (as I mistakenly did) it will manifest itself by finishing the debootstrap step entirely too quickly, and the log will report:

NOTICE: this page describes the old, manual procedure for bootstrapping Debian in a slug, using the DebianSlug kernel. Currently, if you want to install Debian in your slug it is recommended that you use debian-installer, as described in http://www.cyrius.com/debian/nslu2/.

Notice: these instructions only apply if you are running DebianSlug after the manual bootstrap procedure. If you have installed NSLU2 using debian-installer, you should install the official Debian modules through apt-get.

Add the network driver explicity to etc/modules, in order to get the network port working after reboot. Use nano to edit the file, adding the following line at the end:

ixp400_eth dev_max_count=1

Notice (added by Petr Jakes): It takes long time to check the file system for big harddrives (500G) during the boot. System can not boot because of that in some cases. For example, after changing time (hwclock -w) directly after DebianSlug install, I was not able to boot from the 500GB HDD without following tune2fs command. Because of above mentioned type in:

/sbin/tune2fs -c 0 -i 0 /dev/sda1

Notice (added by Steve G): If like me you tried to be clever and put /usr on a different partition to / then you will have a problem later when turnup checks for a "complete system" on /dev/sda1. The hack I did was to (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:) cp /mnt/debinst/usr/sbin/chroot /mnt/debinst/sbin/chroot (:tableend:) before unmounting the filesystems. There are probably better hacks, such as creating /mnt/debinst/usr/sbin when only /dev/sda1 is mounted, and putting a dummy file called chroot in there (such that the "real" /usr mounts over it).

Steve G: If like me you tried to be clever and put /usr on a different partition to / then you will have a problem later when turnup checks for a "complete system" on /dev/sda1. The hack I did was to
cp /mnt/debinst/usr/sbin/chroot /mnt/debinst/sbin/chroot before unmounting the filesystems. There are probably better hacks, such as creating /mnt/debinst/usr/sbin when only /dev/sda1 is mounted, and putting a dummy file called chroot in there (such that the "real" /usr mounts over it).

If like me you tried to be clever and put /usr on a different partition to / then you will have a problem later when turnup checks for a "complete system" on /dev/sda1. The hack I did was to cp /mnt/debinst/usr/sbin/chroot /mnt/debinst/sbin/chroot before unmounting the filesystems. There are probably better hacks, such as creating /mnt/debinst/usr/sbin when only /dev/sda1 is mounted, and putting a dummy file called chroot in there (such that the "real" /usr mounts over it).

My nslu2 also failed to load after the bootstrap. The nslu2 boots but halts just after mounting the external disk and adding swap (the last line in /var/log/messages was "kernel: EXT3? FS on sda1, internal journal"). The nslu2 does not ack pings and does not provide ssh access. After some trials, "turnup -i -f /dev/sda1 -t ext3" copied the root filesystem into sda1. When the operation finished, rebooted the nslu2 and then it suddenly worked!

Installing kernel-modules (DebianSlug 3.10beta)

If you're running DebianSlug 3.10beta and have to install additional kernel modules (USB-sound e.g.), you have to use the kernel-modules on http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/debianslug/cross/3.10-beta. There are two ways to install such modules, using dpkg or unpacking the modules manually. Both methods are described below, pick the one you feel more comfortable with.

Install using dpkg

Download the module you want to your NSLU2 using wget and install them using:

You will probably see a few warnings about missing dependencies. Ignore all warnings regarding the lack of kernel-image-2.6.16 and update-modules, but pay attention to any dependencies on other modules. This may be an indication that you'll need to install other modules to get the current one to work.

Check the output of modprobe and dmesg to see if the opreation succeeds (replace modulename with the one you just installed):

If there are warnings about unresolved symbols, it's very likely that the new kernel module depends on another one that's not yet installed. You can check this with

Manual install

Another way to install a kernel module for DebianSlug is to manually decompress the .ipk file, copy the module to the /lib/modules/2.6.16 dir and test it.

In order to unpack the .ipk file, you'll need ar from the binutils package. Install it if you don't have it already: Modprobe should automatically load dependent modules (if they're installed), so check the loaded modules:

apt-get install binutils

Now, after downloading the desired module, unpack the .ipk file and the data.tar.gz file inside it:

ar -x kernel-module-<module>.ipk tar xvzf data.tar.gz -C /

After that, the module .ko file will be in the correct place under /lib/modules/2.6.16. From this point, you can load and test it just like if it was installed using dpkg:

modprobe -v modulename dmesg | tail

If it succeeds, you'll be able to see the module loaded into the kernel:

lsmod

Again, if there is some dependency problem, you can use modinfo to check:

modinfo modulename | grep depends

Debootstrapping Sarge

These are the differences between the thing you need to do for sid, so you still have to read the above!

Instead of using sid, run debootstrap with debian sarge:

export DEBOOTSTRAP_DIR=`pwd`/usr/lib/debootstrap
./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sarge /mnt/debinst http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/

Don't forget to add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://security.debian.org/ sarge/updates main

Replace "openssh-server" with "ssh".

Make sure you install udev:

apt-get install udev

nslu2-utils is not in the stable feed, so get it and it's dependencies directly from the pool: (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

wget http://debian.planetmirror.com/debian/pool/main/n/nslu2-utils/slugimage_0.10+r58-5_all.deb
dpkg -i slugimage_0.10+r58-5_all.deb
wget http://debian.planetmirror.com/debian/pool/main/d/devio/devio_1.2-1_arm.deb
dpkg -i --force-depends devio_1.2-1_arm.deb
wget http://debian.planetmirror.com/debian/pool/main/n/nslu2-utils/nslu2-utils_0.10+r58-5_arm.deb
dpkg -i nslu2-utils_0.10+r58-5_arm.deb

(:tableend:)

Or try doing it with apt-pinning, explained here: http://jaqque.sbih.org/kplug/apt-pinning.html

Replace modutils with module-init-tools (being in the chroot) : (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

apt-get install module-init-tools 

(:tableend:)

Upgrade DebianSlug to newer firmware

BETA INSTRUCTIONS!

If you prefer to remain seated while upgrading then it is probably best not to use /initrd/sbin/reflash while running Debian from disk, so reboot into Slugos instead. To reflash an image file /home/nslu2user/newfirm.img just shutdown the system with the halt command and unplug the disk. Then turn it on again. It boots into Slugos. Then:

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:) turnup ram
reboot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/debinst
reflash -i /mnt/debinst/home/nslu2user/newfirm.img
reboot (:tableend:)

Note that the account is root and password is opeNSLUg if the system boots from flash. Then when the system boots up with new Slugos firmware update the Debian kernel and reboot into Debian :

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:) turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/debinst
cp -Ra /lib/modules/* /mnt/debinst/lib/modules
umount /mnt/debinst
reboot (:tableend:)

Notes

There are some Debian-specific tips in /usr/share/doc/nslu2-utils/README.Debian that are worth reading.

Status LEDs

The status LED will continue to flash amber. There is a nslu2-tools debian package under development that will contain a LEDs binary that will switch it back to green.
This binary seems to be non-functional at the moment (mar 5 2006). It worked for me after a reboot (mar 10 2006).

To use the LEDs anyway, execute the following commands: (You have to apt-get install nslu2-utils before doing this, this will set up the links in /etc/rc?.d so the scripts will be called during booting) (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

cp /initrd/sbin/leds /usr/bin/leds
cp /initrd/etc/default/functions /etc/default/functions
cp /initrd/bin/beep /bin/beep

(:tableend:)

Then select the correct timezone:

tzconfig

It takes long time to check the file system for big harddrives (500G) during the boot. System can not boot because of that in some cases. For example, after changing time (hwclock -w) directly after DebianSlug install, I was not able to boot from the 500GB HDD without following tune2fs command. Petr Jakes.

Because of above mentioned type in:

/sbin/tune2fs -c 0 -i 0 /dev/sda1

Finally, type ^D (control-D) or exit to drop out of the chroot done a lot earlier.

Unmount your filesystems:

umount /mnt/debinst/proc killall syslogd anacron umount /mnt/debinst

Make the external drive with Debian on it your boot device: (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3 

(:tableend:)

• Debian releases are named for characters in the movie "Toy Story". The latest (so-called "unstable") release of Debian is always called "Sid". The previous (or "stable") release was called "Sarge". The first set of instructions on this page are relevant to the unstable ("Sid") Debian distribution. For the stable Debian distribution, see the last part of this page, which indicates where the installation for "Sarge" differs from "Sid". Most people should probably just install "Sid".

• There seems to be confusion about which Debian mirror is best to use. Check the list at http://www.debian.org/mirror/list (you're looking for ones with ARM distros) and subsitute ftp.debian.org/ftp.nl.debian.org with the nearest local debian mirror. Its faster and the poor Netherlands mirror isnt stressed that much ;).

Boot your newly flashed slug

Boot your just reflashed image and log in using ssh as root. Note that the initial password is opeNSLUg (and not e.g. something like debiaNSLUg). Actually the bootstrap image is a Little Endian OpenSlug image. I found it useful if you use PuTTY and once logged in, type export TERM=linux; stty erase '^H' or stty erase '^?' depending on how your PuTTY is configured.

Partition the hard drive and create filesystems

Partition your hard disk if you haven't already, assuming you have a empty (unpartitioned) drive.
To delete partitions, type "d" inside fdisk and remove the existing partitions one by one.

Adjust the partition size to fit your needs. You might have to reboot if fdisk gives you a warning message saying that the partition table could not be re-read.

Notice: after the bootstrap procedure, you will need to run turnup disk in order to boot from the external hard drive. Do not skip this step, it is clearly mentioned at the end of the installation steps below.

Setup your internet connection

If you are using DHCP, please ignore the two steps below. If you're using a static IP address, then you need to need to do the following:
(1) Add a default gateway
(2) Add your DNS server information.

For (1), assuming that aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd is the IP address of your router/gateway, then type:

For (2), if you know that your router/gateway is also a DNS server, then you can use the same address above for the address below. Otherwise, you'll have to get that information (WinXP/2k/98 in a command prompt, type ipconfig /all ) and use your ISP's DNS server. Edit the file /etc/resolv.conf and append the line below:

Get and run the bootstrap utility, debootstrap

Grab the debootstrap .udeb from a Debian mirror (remember to look for a mirror close to you that carries the arm distribution):

wget http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb

Extract the debrootstrap udeb:

ar -x debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb tar xzvf data.tar.gz

Notice: previous versions of debootstrap required Perl in order to retrieve package data, but the latest version (0.3.3) includes pkgdetails to do this job, so Perl is no longer necessary.

Run debootstrap with your choice of Debian distro and mirror:

export DEBOOTSTRAP_DIR=`pwd`/usr/lib/debootstrap ./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian

Depending on your network connection, this will take at least 50 minutes (even with a broadband connection), because this downloads and installs many Debian packages.

As sid is unstable by definition, the results of this can vary a lot! If you get error messages, try again later when the repsitory will be eventually fixed, or think about trying to use stable (see below).

If even after downloading from ftp.nl.debian.org you see only a couple of packages retrieved, and not hundreds, try again.

Important: The bootstrap is not completed successfully until the last line is: I: Base system installed successfully.
If you do not get this line, you will not have a successful build. Error messages may be found in /mnt/debinst/debootstrap/debootstrap.log.

Final configuration

Copy in some important configuration files:

cd .. cp /etc/resolv.conf etc/resolv.conf cp /etc/hosts etc/hosts cp /etc/hostname etc/hostname cp /etc/network/interfaces etc/network/interfaces

Notice: you may only needed to copy /etc/hosts into etc/hosts for DHCP configuration.

Copy in the kernel modules from the flash image:

cp -a /lib/modules/* lib/modules

Mount the proc filesystem:

mount -t proc proc /mnt/debinst/proc

(:tableend:)

Now chroot into your new Debian environment for the final steps:

cd / chroot /mnt/debinst

Put a working fstab file into place (you may need to tweak this config and add extra partitions depending on your partition layout) by typing: nano /etc/fstab and type in the contents below:

proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 /dev/sda1 / ext3 defaults 1 1 /dev/sda2 swap swap defaults 0 0

followed by a ^X (control-X) to get out of nano. Be sure you type Y when asked to save the file.

Edit the inittab file. Type: nano /etc/inittab and disable the tty[1-6] entries by prefixing the entries with "#". Then add the following serial console entry:

S0:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 115200 ttyS0

Add the network driver explicity to etc/modules, in order to get the network port working after reboot:

echo "ixp400_eth dev_max_count=1" >> /etc/modules

For more detailed setup of the network, read man interfaces and edit /etc/network/interfaces.

After debootstrapping, the debian system has no apt sources.list. Type nano /etc/apt/sources.list and prepend with:

deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable main non-free contrib

Update the Debian distro and install cron, nslu2-utils and popularity-contest. Popularity-contest reports what architecture and packages you are using back to the Debian community anonymously to help in deciding where to put developer effort. In order to promote nslu2 and arm you are kindly requested to say "yes" to enabling popularity-contest.

Notice: you must set the current date before running apt-get update. Otherwise gpg signature checking will fail.

To install these packages, type:

apt-get update apt-get -y dist-upgrade apt-get -y install anacron popularity-contest nslu2-utils

Now configure the passwd package, set the password for root and install openssh-server, so you will be able to log into your DebianSlug after the reboot. First, configure passwd and enable the shadow passwords when asked.

dpkg-reconfigure passwd

Now install openssh-server. This takes a couple of minutes, because it will generate the necessary host keys. Install will fail if /etc/shadow is missing. It will also fail if you don't install "adduser-ng" package before installing openssh-server.

apt-get -y install openssh-server

To get rid of the annoying LC_ALL, LANG etc. errors when running perl and other apps, install locales:

apt-get install locales dpkg-reconfigure locales

It takes long time to check the file system for big harddrives (500G) during the boot. System can not boot because of that in some cases. For example, after changing time (hwclock -w) directly after DebianSlug install, I was not able to boot from the 500GB HDD without following tune2fs command. Petr Jakes.

Because of above mentioned type in:

/sbin/tune2fs -c 0 -i 0 /dev/sda1

Finally, type ^D (control-D) or exit to drop out of the chroot done a lot earlier.

Unmount your filesystems:

umount /mnt/debinst/proc killall syslogd anacron umount /mnt/debinst

Make the external drive with Debian on it your boot device:

turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3

Reboot into Debian, by typing "reboot" at the prompt.

Add your name to the DebianSlugUsers? list. (And you might want to rm -rf /work after you've rebooted ;-)

Installing kernel-modules (DebianSlug 3.10beta)

If you're running DebianSlug 3.10beta and have to install additional kernel Modules (USB-sound e.g.) you have to use the kernel-modules on http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/debianslug/cross/3.10-beta/ . Download them to your NSLU2 using wget and install them using:

dpkg --force-architecture -i kernel-module-<module>.ipk depmod -a

Check the output of (replace modulename with the one you just installed)

modprobe -v modulename dmesg | tail

to see if the operation succeeds. If there are warnings about unresolved symbols, it's very likely that the kernel-module depends on another one that's not yet installed. You can check this with

modinfo modulename | grep depends

Modprobe should automatically load dependent modules (if they're installed), so check the loaded modules:

lsmod

If one or more modules which are listed in "depends" of your module, you have to install them as described above.

Debootstrapping Sarge

These are the differences between the thing you need to do for sid, so you still have to read the above!

Instead of using sid, run debootstrap with debian sarge:

export DEBOOTSTRAP_DIR=`pwd`/usr/lib/debootstrap ./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sarge /mnt/debinst http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/

Don't forget to add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://security.debian.org/ sarge/updates main

Replace "openssh-server" with "ssh".

Make sure you install udev:

apt-get install udev

nslu2-utils is not in the stable feed, so get it and it's dependencies directly from the pool:

wget http://debian.planetmirror.com/debian/pool/main/n/nslu2-utils/slugimage_0.10+r58-5_all.deb dpkg -i slugimage_0.10+r58-5_all.deb wget http://debian.planetmirror.com/debian/pool/main/d/devio/devio_1.2-1_arm.deb dpkg -i --force-depends devio_1.2-1_arm.deb wget http://debian.planetmirror.com/debian/pool/main/n/nslu2-utils/nslu2-utils_0.10+r58-5_arm.deb dpkg -i nslu2-utils_0.10+r58-5_arm.deb

Or try doing it with apt-pinning, explained here: http://jaqque.sbih.org/kplug/apt-pinning.html

Replace modutils with module-init-tools (being in the chroot) : (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

apt-get install module-init-tools

'''All you need to do is run turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3 after bootstrapping, so the kernel in the flash will know that a new root device exists in the external drive.

/sbin/tune2fs -c 0 -i 0 /dev/sda1

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:) [@

@] (:tableend:)

To get rid of the annoying LC_ALL, LANG etc. errors when running perl and other apps:

It takes long time to check the file system for big harddrives (500G) during the boot. System can not boot because of that in some cases. For example, after changing time (hwclock -w) directly after DebianSlug install, I was not able to boot from the 500GB HDD without following tune2fs command. Petr Jakes.

Because of above mentioned type in:

tune2fs -c 0 -i 0 /dev/sda1

The above line should be: ./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://ftp.debian.org/debian

I am using a micro (4gig) usb-attached hard disk as the root partition. After following all of the instructions, my nslu2 would could continue to boot with the flash filesystem. After a few trials, it looks like the disk needs a brief period to spin up. I used "turnup disk -s5 /dev/sda1 -t ext3" and everything worked properly!

(:cellnr:) mt-daapd (:cell align=left:) aka firefly. This is an daapd server (ITunes?) I like, however its not in debian sid

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:) [@

@] (:tableend:)

dpkg -i slugimage_0.10+r58-5_all.deb

dpkg -i nslu2-utils_0.10+r58-5_arm.deb

Installing kernel-modules (DebianSlug 3.10beta)

If you're running DebianSlug 3.10beta and have to install additional kernel Modules (USB-sound e.g.) you have to use the kernel-modules on http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/debianslug/cross/3.10-beta/ . Download them to your NSLU2 using wget and install them using:

dpkg --force-architecture -i kernel-module-<module>.ipk depmod -a

Check the output of (replace modulename with the one you just installed)

modprobe -v modulename dmesg | tail

to see if the operation succeeds. If there are warnings about unresolved symbols, it's very likely that the kernel-module depends on another one that's not yet installed. You can check this with

modinfo modulename | grep depends

Modprobe should automatically load dependent modules (if they're installed), so check the loaded modules:

lsmod

Notes

There are some Debian-specific tips in /usr/share/doc/nslu2-utils/README.Debian that are worth reading.

Status LEDs

The status LED will continue to flash amber. There is a nslu2-tools debian package under development that will contain a LEDs binary that will switch it back to green.
This binary seems to be non-functional at the moment (mar 5 2006). It worked for me after a reboot (mar 10 2006).

To use the LEDs anyway, execute the following commands: (You have to apt-get install nslu2-utils before doing this, this will set up the links in /etc/rc?.d so the scripts will be called during booting) (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

cp /initrd/sbin/leds /usr/bin/leds
cp /initrd/etc/default/functions /etc/default/functions
cp /initrd/bin/beep /bin/beep

(:tableend:) The LEDs should be operating as expected after rebooting the slug.

Booting problems

I followed the above instructions, but my nslu2 failed to boot afterwards. However, after doing a "turnup -i /dev/sda1 -t ext3", erasing the content of the partition "mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1" and debootstrapping again everything worked fine. Could it be, that "turnup -i" writes the boot sector of the hard drive?

the right firmware

additional docs

• When your Debian installation has booted, read /usr/share/doc/nslu2-utils/README.Debian

Interesting packages

• Some packages you might find useful:
  

(:table border=1 cellspacing=0 width=60%:) (:cellnr:) samba (:cell align=left:) SMB File- & Print-server (:cellnr:) less (:cell align=left:) Program for viewing textfiles (:cellnr:) joe (:cell align=left:) Program for editing textfiles (aiming toward less experienced users) (:cellnr:) psmisc (:cell align=left:) contains killall (:cellnr:) apache (:cell align=left:) Apache 1.3x webserver (:cellnr:) libapache-php4 (:cell align=left:) PHP4 for Apache 1.3x (:cellnr:) proftpd (:cell align=left:) FTP Server (:cellnr:) udev (:cell align=left:) hotplug / udev filesystem (:tableend:)

Status LEDs

Status LEDs

Install perl, which is required by debootstrap:

As sid is unstable by definition, the results of this can vary a lot! If you get error messages, try again later when the repsitory will be eventually fixed, or think about trying to use stable (see below).

Important:

cp /etc/network/interfaces etc/network/interfaces

to get networking going after reboot, the modules need to be spcified explicitly:

echo "ixp400_eth dev_max_count=1" >> /etc/modules

for more detailed setup of the network, read man interfaces and edit /etc/network/interfaces

After debootstrapping, the debian system has no apt sources.list. Type nano /etc/apt/sources.list and prepend with:

deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable main non-free contrib

Update the Debian distro and install cron, ssh and popularity-contest. Popularity-contest reports what architecture and packages you are using back to the Debian community anonymously to help in deciding where to put developer effort. In order to promote nslu2 and arm you are kindly requested to say "yes" to enabling popularity-contest.
Notice! You must set date before running apt-get update. Otherwise gpg signature checking will fail. To do this, type (for example): \\

apt-get update apt-get -y dist-upgrade apt-get -y install anacron popularity-contest nslu2-utils

Make sure you do this or you will not be able to get into your DebianSlug without setting this password for root:

dpkg-reconfigure passwd

and enable the shadow passwords when asked.

Installing openssh-server takes a couple of minutes. Install will fail if /etc/shadow is missing. It will also fail if you don't install "adduser-ng" package before installing openssh-server.

apt-get -y install openssh-server

To get rid of the annoying LC_ALL, LANG etc. errors when running perl (and other apps):

apt-get install locales dpkg-reconfigure locales

type ^D (control-D) or exit to drop out of the chroot done a lot earlier.

Unmount your filesystems:

umount /mnt/debinst/proc killall syslogd anacron umount /mnt/debinst

Make the external drive with Debian on it your boot device:

turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3

Reboot into Debian, by typing "reboot" at the prompt.

Add your name to the DebianSlugUsers? list. (And you might want to rm -rf /work after you've rebooted ;-)

Notes

There are some Debian-specific tips in /usr/share/doc/nslu2-utils/README.Debian that are worth reading.

Status LEDs
The status LED will continue to flash amber. There is a nslu2-tools debian package under development that will contain a LEDs binary that will switch it back to green.
This binary seems to be non-functional at the moment (mar 5 2006). It worked for me after a reboot (mar 10 2006).

To use the LEDs anyway, execute the following commands: (You have to apt-get install nslu2-utils before doing this, this will set up the links in /etc/rc?.d so the scripts will be called during booting)

cp /initrd/sbin/leds /usr/bin/leds cp /initrd/etc/default/functions /etc/default/functions cp /initrd/bin/beep /bin/beep

The LEDs should be operating as expected after rebooting the slug.

Booting problems
I followed the above instructions, but my nslu2 failed to boot afterwards. However, after doing a "turnup -i /dev/sda1 -t ext3", erasing the content of the partition "mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1" and debootstrapping again everything worked fine. Could it be, that "turnup -i" writes the boot sector of the hard drive?

Installing kernel-modules (DebianSlug 3.10beta)

If you're running DebianSlug 3.10beta and have to install additional kernel Modules (USB-sound e.g.) you have to use the kernel-modules on http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/debianslug/cross/3.10-beta/ . Download them to your NSLU2 using wget and install them using:

dpkg --force-architecture -i kernel-module-<module>.ipk depmod -a

Check the output of (replace modulename with the one you just installed)

modprobe -v modulename dmesg | tail

to see if the operation succeeds. If there are warnings about unresolved symbols, it's very likely that the kernel-module depends on another one that's not yet installed. You can check this with

modinfo modulename | grep depends

Modprobe should automatically load dependent modules (if they're installed), so check the loaded modules:

lsmod

These are the differences between the thing you need to do for sid, so you still have to read the above!

Or try doing it with apt-pinning, explained here: http://jaqque.sbih.org/kplug/apt-pinning.html

.rmrecovery problems
If /.rmrecovery isn't removed after a successful boot, do this:

apt-get install nslu2-utils

To get rid of the annoying LC_ALL, LANG etc. errors when running perl (and other apps):

apt-get install locales dpkg-reconfigure locales

type ^D (control-D) or exit to drop out of the chroot done a lot earlier.

Unmount your filesystems:

umount /mnt/debinst/proc killall syslogd anacron umount /mnt/debinst

Make the external drive with Debian on it your boot device:

turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3

Reboot into Debian, by typing "reboot" at the prompt.

There are some Debian-specific tips in /usr/share/doc/nslu2-utils/README.Debian that are worth reading.

Make sure you do this or you will not be able to get into your DebianSlug without setting this password for root:

dpkg-reconfigure passwd

and enable the shadow passwords when asked.

Installing openssh-server takes a couple of minutes. Install will fail if /etc/shadow is missing. It will also fail if you don't install "adduser-ng" package before installing openssh-server.

apt-get -y install openssh-server

type ^D (control-D) or exit to drop out of the chroot done a lot earlier.

Unmount your filesystems:

umount /mnt/debinst/proc killall syslogd anacron umount /mnt/debinst

Make the external drive with Debian on it your boot device:

turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3

Reboot into Debian, by typing "reboot" at the prompt.

To get rid of the annoying LC_ALL, LANG etc. errors when running perl (and other apps):

apt-get install locales dpkg-reconfigure locales

There are some Debian-specific tips in /usr/share/doc/nslu2-utils/README.Debian that are worth reading.

Add your name to the DebianSlugUsers? list. (And you might want to rm -rf /work after you've rebooted ;-)

Notes

Status LEDs
The status LED will continue to flash amber. There is a nslu2-tools debian package under development that will contain a LEDs binary that will switch it back to green.
This binary seems to be non-functional at the moment (mar 5 2006). It worked for me after a reboot (mar 10 2006).

To use the LEDs anyway, execute the following commands: (You have to apt-get install nslu2-utils before doing this, this will set up the links in /etc/rc?.d so the scripts will be called during booting)

cp /initrd/sbin/leds /usr/bin/leds cp /initrd/etc/default/functions /etc/default/functions cp /initrd/bin/beep /bin/beep

The LEDs should be operating as expected after rebooting the slug.

Kernel modules (non DebianSlug 3.10beta)
Currently there is no debian-specific feed, so if you are interested in building your own kernel you'll need to use the MasterMakefile (if you haven't already) and copy the relevant ipk files to your slug. You can find the kernel modules in debianslug/tmp/deploy/ipk, copy them to the slug and install them using:

dpkg --force-architecture -i kernel-module-<module>.ipk

This will report an irrelevent dependancy error on 'update-modules', the kernel module should be ready to modprobe etc.

.rmrecovery problems
If /.rmrecovery isn't removed after a successful boot, do this:

apt-get install nslu2-utils

Booting problems
I followed the above instructions, but my nslu2 failed to boot afterwards. However, after doing a "turnup -i /dev/sda1 -t ext3", erasing the content of the partition "mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1" and debootstrapping again everything worked fine. Could it be, that "turnup -i" writes the boot sector of the hard drive?

Installing kernel-modules (DebianSlug 3.10beta)

If you're running DebianSlug 3.10beta and have to install additional kernel Modules (USB-sound e.g.) you have to use the kernel-modules on http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/debianslug/cross/3.10-beta/ . Download them to your NSLU2 using wget and install them using:

dpkg  --force-architecture -i kernel-module-<module>.ipk
depmod -a

Check the output of (replace modulename with the one you just installed)

modprobe -v modulename
dmesg | tail

to see if the operation succeeds. If there are warnings about unresolved symbols, it's very likely that the kernel-module depends on another one that's not yet installed. You can check this with

modinfo modulename | grep depends

Modprobe should automatically load dependent modules (if they're installed), so check the loaded modules:

lsmod

(don't make "turnup disk -i /dev/sda1 -t ext3" before you bootstrapped Debian - debootstrap will fail if you do this.)

Before running the actualy debootstrap to d/l the packages, it is strongly suggested that you first update perl. Doing so for this contributor (DMH) would have saved many hours of frustration:

ipkg update ipkg install perl

(:tableend:)

Run debootstrap with your choice of Debian distro and mirror: (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

export DEBOOTSTRAP_DIR=`pwd`/usr/lib/debootstrap ./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://ftp.debian.org/

IMPORTANT: if you get only the output below (versus a few hundred package retrievals), using ftp.debian.org please use:
./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/ or (among many other mirrors...) ./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://gulus.usherbrooke.ca/debian/

I: Retrieving Release
I: Retrieving Packages
I: Retrieving Packages
I: Retrieving Packages
I: Resolving dependencies of required packages...
I: Resolving dependencies of base packages...

Error messages may be found in /mnt/debinst/debootstrap/debootstrap.log. Did you update perl as suggested above?

Copy in some important configuration files:

cd .. cp /etc/resolv.conf etc/resolv.conf cp /etc/hosts etc/hosts cp /etc/hostname etc/hostname

(note: you may only needed to copy /etc/hosts into etc/hosts for DHCP configuration)

Copy in the kernel modules:

cp -a /lib/modules/* lib/modules

Mount the proc filesystem:

mount -t proc proc /mnt/debinst/proc

Chroot into your new Debian environment:

cd / chroot /mnt/debinst

Put a working fstab file into place (you may need to tweak this config and add extra partitions depending on your partition layout) by typing: nano /etc/fstab and type in the contents below:

proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 /dev/sda1 / ext3 defaults 1 1 /dev/sda2 swap swap defaults 0 0

followed by a ^X (control-X) to get out of nano. Be sure you type Y when asked to save the file.

Type: nano /etc/inittab and disable the tty[1-6] entries by prefixing the entries with "#". Then add the following serial console entry:

S0:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 115200 ttyS0

Type: nano /etc/network/interfaces and enter in the contents shown below, depending on whether you have a static or dynamic (via DHCP) IP address.
For DHCP use the following as an example:

There may be problems with apt-get-sources. Type nano /etc/apt/sources.list and prepend with:

deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable main non-free contrib

Important:

The bootstrap is not completed successfully until the last line is I: Base system installed successfully.

If you do not get this line, you will not have a successful build. Error messages may be found in /mnt/debinst/debootstrap/debootstrap.log.

One solution to try is:

The bootstrap is not completed successfully until the last line is I: Base system installed successfully. Error logs may be found in /mnt/debinst/debootstrap.

There may be problems with apt-get-sources. Type @@nano /etc/apt/sources.list and prepend with:

deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable main non-free contrib

There may be problems with apt-get-sources. Type nano /etc/apt/sources.list and prepend with:

deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable main non-free contrib@@

Update the Debian distro and install cron, ssh and popularity-contest. Popularity-contest reports what architecture and packages you are using back to the Debian community anonymously to help in deciding where to put developer effort. In order to promote nslu2 and arm you are kindly requested to say "yes" to enabling popularity-contest.
Notice! You must set date before running apt-get update. Otherwise gpg signature checking will fail. To do this, type (for example):
date 123218582021
for December 32, 18:58 (6:58PM) year 2021

apt-get update apt-get -y dist-upgrade apt-get -y install anacron popularity-contest nslu2-utils

Create /etc/shadow with:

touch /etc/shadow

(the file may already be there) and set the root password so you can get in when you SSH into it after reboot, and exit the environment:

pwconv passwd

Make sure you do this or you will not be able to get into your DebianSlug without setting this password for root.

As an alternative, you can use:

dpkg-reconfigure passwd

and enable the shadow passwords when asked.

Installing openssh-server takes a couple of minutes. Install will fail if /etc/shadow is missing. It will also fail if you don't install "adduser-ng" package before installing openssh-server.

apt-get -y install openssh-server

type ^D (control-D) or exit to drop out of the chroot done a lot earlier.

Unmount your filesystems:

umount /mnt/debinst/proc killall syslogd anacron umount /mnt/debinst

Make the external drive with Debian on it your boot device:

turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3

Reboot into Debian, by typing "reboot" at the prompt.

To get rid of the annoying LC_ALL, LANG etc. errors when running perl (and other apps): (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

apt-get install locales
dpkg-reconfigure locales

(:tableend:)

wget http://debian.planetmirror.com/debian/pool/main/n/nslu2-utils/slugimage_0.10+r58-5_all.deb

wget http://debian.planetmirror.com/debian/pool/main/n/nslu2-utils/nslu2-utils_0.10+r58-5_arm.deb

(Instruction-follower's note:) Being the victim of several reinstalls, it seems the note at the end of this document seems correct: you *really* should follow this up by using: "turnup disk -i /dev/sda1 -t ext3" as mentioned below under "booting problems".

./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://gulus.usherbrooke.ca/debian/

wget ftp://gulus.usherbrooke.ca/debian/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb

Note: The above probably won't work (file not found), so use one of the many other mirrors, like this one in the Netherlands:

wget ftp://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb

or like this one, in North America:

wget ftp://sluglug.ucsc.edu/debian/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb

(:tableend:)

Extract the debrootstrap udeb: (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

ar -x debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb tar xzvf data.tar.gz

Run debootstrap with your choice of Debian distro and mirror:

export DEBOOTSTRAP_DIR=`pwd`/usr/lib/debootstrap ./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://ftp.debian.org/

IMPORTANT: if you get only the output below (versus a few hundred package retrievals), using ftp.debian.org please use:
./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/ or (among many other mirrors...) ./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://sluglug.ucsc.edu/debian/

I: Retrieving Release I: Retrieving Packages I: Retrieving Packages I: Retrieving Packages I: Resolving dependencies of required packages... I: Resolving dependencies of base packages...

Depending on your network connection, this will take at least 50 minutes (even with a broadband connection), because this downloads and installs many Debian packages.

If even after downloading from ftp.nl.debian.org you see only a couple of packages retrieved, and not hundreds, try again.

If the above fails with the following error: E: No pkgdetails available; either install perl, or build pkgdetails.c from source, just do this and try again:

ipkg update ipkg install perl

Copy in some important configuration files:

cd .. cp /etc/resolv.conf etc/resolv.conf cp /etc/hosts etc/hosts cp /etc/hostname etc/hostname

(note: you may only needed to copy /etc/hosts into etc/hosts for DHCP configuration)

Copy in the kernel modules:

cp -a /lib/modules/* lib/modules

Mount the proc filesystem:

mount -t proc proc /mnt/debinst/proc

Chroot into your new Debian environment:

cd / chroot /mnt/debinst

Put a working fstab file into place (you may need to tweak this config and add extra partitions depending on your partition layout) by typing: nano /etc/fstab and type in the contents below:

proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 /dev/sda1 / ext3 defaults 1 1 /dev/sda2 swap swap defaults 0 0

followed by a ^X (control-X) to get out of nano. Be sure you type Y when asked to save the file.

Type: nano /etc/inittab and disable the tty[1-6] entries by prefixing the entries with "#". Then add the following serial console entry:

S0:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 115200 ttyS0 @] (:tableend:)

Type: nano /etc/network/interfaces and enter in the contents shown below, depending on whether you have a static or dynamic (via DHCP) IP address.
For DHCP use the following as an example: (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:) [@

iface eth0 inet dhcp

Instead if you want to use a static address (highly recommended) use the following as an example (replacing the address and gateway with the address you want to use):

1. /etc/network/interfaces
2. configuration file for ifup(8), ifdown(8)
4. The loopback interface

auto lo iface lo inet loopback

2. The NSLU2 built-in ethernet

auto eth0 iface eth0 inet static

        pre-up modprobe -f ixp400
        pre-up modprobe -f ixp400_eth dev_max_count=1
        address 192.168.1.77
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        gateway 192.168.1.254

There may be problems with apt-get-sources. Type nano /etc/apt/sources.list and prepend with:
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable main non-free contrib

Update the Debian distro and install cron, ssh and popularity-contest. Popularity-contest reports what architecture and packages you are using back to the Debian community anonymously to help in deciding where to put developer effort. In order to promote nslu2 and arm you are kindly requested to say "yes" to enabling popularity-contest.
Notice! You must set date before running apt-get update. Otherwise gpg signature checking will fail. To do this, type (for example):
date 123218582021
for December 32, 18:58 (6:58PM) year 2021

apt-get update apt-get -y dist-upgrade apt-get -y install anacron popularity-contest nslu2-utils

Create /etc/shadow with:

touch /etc/shadow

(the file may already be there) and set the root password so you can get in when you SSH into it after reboot, and exit the environment:

pwconv passwd

Make sure you do this or you will not be able to get into your DebianSlug without setting this password for root.

As an alternative, you can use:

dpkg-reconfigure passwd

and enable the shadow passwords when asked.

Installing openssh-server takes a couple of minutes. Install will fail if /etc/shadow is missing. It will also fail if you don't install "adduser-ng" package before installing openssh-server.

apt-get -y install openssh-server

type ^D (control-D) or exit to drop out of the chroot done a lot earlier.

Unmount your filesystems:

umount /mnt/debinst/proc killall syslogd anacron umount /mnt/debinst

Make the external drive with Debian on it your boot device:

turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3

Reboot into Debian, by typing "reboot" at the prompt.

To get rid of the annoying LC_ALL, LANG etc. errors when running perl (and other apps): (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

apt-get install locales
dpkg-reconfigure locales

(:tableend:)

Note: The above probably won't work (file not found), so try this, or a similar from the others in the mirrors list:

  http://www.debian.org/mirror/list (you're looking for ones with ARM distros)

(Instruction-follower's note:) Being the victim of several reinstalls, it seems the note at the end of this document seems correct: you *really* should follow this up by using: "turnup disk -i /dev/sda1 -t ext3" as mentioned below under "booting problems".

Now you have a little endian DebianSlug image that can be used to bootstrap the offical Debian arm port (you didn't do this yet? Go here and install it first). Here's how to do it.

(Addendum from a user:) From several reinstalls, it seems the note at the end of this document seems correct: you *really* should set up your boot HD using: "turnup disk -i /dev/sda1 -t ext3" as mentioned below under "booting problems".

Note: The above probably won't work (file not found), so try:

IMPORTANT: if you get only the output below (versus a few hundred package retrievals), using ftp.debian.org please use:\\

• There seems to be confusion about which debian mirror is best to use. Check the list at http://www.debian.org/mirror/list and subsitute ftp.debian.org/ftp.nl.debian.org with the nearest local debian mirror. Its faster and the poor Netherlands mirror isnt stressed that much ;).

If even after downloading from ftp.nl.debian.org you see only a couple of packages retrieved, and not hundreds, try again.

• Debian releases are named for characters in the movie "Toy Story". The latest (so-called "unstable") release of Debian is called "Sid". The previous (or "stable") release was called "Sarge". The first set of instructions on this page are relevant to the unstable ("Sid") Debian distribution. For the stable Debian distribution, see the last part of this page, which indicates where the installation for "Sarge" differs from "Sid". Most people should probably just install "Sid".

Booting problems
I followed the above instructions, but my nslu2 failed to boot afterwards. However, after doing a "turnup -i /dev/sda1 -t ext3", erasing the content of the partition "mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1" and debootstrapping again everything worked fine. Could it be, that "turnup -i" writes the boot sector of the hard drive?

        pre-up modprobe -f ixp400_eth dev_max_count=1

        pre-up modprobe -f ixp400_eth dev_max_count=1

If the above fails with the following error: E: No pkgdetails available; either install perl, or build pkgdetails.c from source, just do this and try again:

ipkg update ipkg install perl

Copy in some important configuration files:

cd .. cp /etc/resolv.conf etc/resolv.conf cp /etc/hosts etc/hosts cp /etc/hostname etc/hostname

(note: you may only needed to copy /etc/hosts into etc/hosts for DHCP configuration)

Copy in the kernel modules:

cp -a /lib/modules/* lib/modules

Mount the proc filesystem:

mount -t proc proc /mnt/debinst/proc

Chroot into your new Debian environment:

cd / chroot /mnt/debinst

Put a working fstab file into place (you may need to tweak this config and add extra partitions depending on your partition layout) by typing: nano /etc/fstab and type in the contents below:

proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 /dev/sda1 / ext3 defaults 1 1 /dev/sda2 swap swap defaults 0 0

followed by a ^X (control-X) to get out of nano. Be sure you type Y when asked to save the file.

Type: nano /etc/inittab and disable the tty[1-6] entries by prefixing the entries with "#". Then add the following serial console entry:

S0:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 115200 ttyS0 @] (:tableend:)

Type: nano /etc/network/interfaces and enter in the contents shown below, depending on whether you have a static or dynamic (via DHCP) IP address.
For DHCP use the following as an example: (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:) [@

Type: nano /etc/network/interfaces and enter in the contents shown below, depending on whether you have a static or dynamic (via DHCP) IP address.\\

followed by a ^X (control-X) to get out of nano. Be sure you type Y when asked to save the file.

Put a working fstab file into place (you may need to tweak this config and add extra partitions depending on your partition layout) by typing: nano /etc/fstab and type in the contents below:

followed by a ^X (control-X) to get out of nano. Be sure you type "Y" when asked to save the file.

Partition your hard disk if you haven't already\\

Mount the hard drive(s) filesystem:

Depending on your network connection, this will take at least 50 minutes (even with a broadband connection), because this downloads and installs many Debian packages.

Modprobe should automatically load dependent modules (if they're installed), so check the loaded modules:

• When your Debian installation has booted, read /usr/share/doc/nslu2-utils/README.Debian

Installing openssh-server takes a couple of minutes. Install will fail if /etc/shadow is missing. It will also fail if you don't install "adduser-ng" package before installing openssh-server.

apt-get -y install openssh-server

type ^D (control-D) or exit to drop out of the chroot done a lot earlier.

Unmount your filesystems:

umount /mnt/debinst/proc killall syslogd anacron umount /mnt/debinst

Make the external drive with Debian on it your boot device:

turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3

Reboot into Debian, by typing "reboot" at the prompt.

To get rid of the annoying LC_ALL, LANG etc. errors when running perl (and other apps):

apt-get install locales dpkg-reconfigure locales

and enable the shadow passwords when asked.

tar xzvf data.tar.gz

IMPORTANT: if you get only the output below (versus a few hundred package retrievals), using ftp.debian.org please use:\\

(note: you may only needed to copy /etc/hosts into etc/hosts for DHCP configuration)

Type: nano /etc/inittab and disable the tty[1-6] entries by prefixing the entries with "#". Then add the following serial console entry:

Type: nano /etc/network/interfaces\\

There may be problems with apt-get-sources. Type nano /etc/apt/sources.list and prepend with:

apt-get -y dist-upgrade apt-get -y install anacron popularity-contest nslu2-utils

(the file may already be there)

and enable the shadow passwords when asked. Be sure to not configure additional users just yet (do that later with ##useradd##).

Next, you have to use a newer version of "adduser" (aliased by "useradd") that allows names instead of numeric entries. Type:

apt-get -y install adduser-ng

Installing openssh-server takes a couple of minutes. Install will fail if /etc/shadow is missing. It will also fail if you don't install "adduser-ng" package before installing openssh-server.

apt-get -y install openssh-server

type ^D (control-D) or exit to drop out of the chroot done a lot earlier.

Unmount your filesystems:

umount /mnt/debinst/proc killall syslogd anacron umount /mnt/debinst

Make the external drive with Debian on it your boot device:

turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3

Reboot into Debian, by typing "reboot" at the prompt.

To get rid of the annoying LC_ALL, LANG etc. errors when running perl (and other apps): (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

apt-get install locales
dpkg-reconfigure locales

(:tableend:)

cp -a /lib/modules/* lib/modules

Debian "Sid" (unstable) Bootstrap

(v 3.10 as of Aug 2006)

Debian "Sid" (unstable) Bootstrap (3.10 as of Aug 2006)

[we had problems with apt-get-sources. edit /etc/apt/sources.list to point to: (hmn,snd)]
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable main non-free contrib

[If this doesn't work try:
./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sarge /mnt/debinst http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/]

The LEDs should be operating as expected after rebooting the slug.

Status LEDs
The status LED will continue to flash amber. There is a nslu2-tools debian package under development that will contain a LEDs binary that will switch it back to green.\\

To use the LEDs anyway, execute the following commands:

IMPORTANT: if you get only the output below, and no "Validating Packages" (rather than a few hundred package retrievals) using ftp.debian.org please use:\\

IMPORTANT: if you get only the output below (rather than a few hundred packages retrievals) using ftp.debian.org please use:\\

DHCP clients, ignore the two steps below. If you're using a static IP address, then you need to need to do the following:
1) Add a default gateway
2) Add your DNS server information.
For 1), assuming that aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd is the IP address of your router/gateway, then type:

If this doesn't work try:
./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/

(note: Rob Lockhart only needed to copy /etc/hosts into etc/hosts for DHCP configuration)

For 2), if you know that your router/gateway is also a DNS server, then you can use the same address above for the address below. Otherwise, you'll have to get that information (WinXP/2k/98 in a command prompt, type ipconfig /all ) and use your ISP's DNS server. Edit the file /etc/resolv.conf and append the line below:

@]

[@

DHCP clients, ignore these two steps below. If you're using a static IP address, then you need to need to do the following: 1) Add a default gateway, and 2) add your DNS server information. For 1), assuming that aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd is the IP address of your router/gateway, then type:

route add default gw aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd

For 2), if you know that your router/gateway is also a DNS server, then you can use the same address above for the address below. Otherwise, you'll have to get that information (WinXP?/2k/98 in a command prompt, type ipconfig /all ) and use your ISP's DNS server. Edit the file /etc/resolv.conf and add the line below to the end of the file:

nameserver eee.fff.ggg.hhh

Grab the debootstrap .udeb from a Debian mirror:

wget http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb The above probably won't work (file not found), so try: wget ftp://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb

Extract the debrootstrap udeb:

ar -x debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb zcat data.tar.gz | tar xv

(:tableend:)

Run debootstrap with your choice of Debian distro and mirror: (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

export DEBOOTSTRAP_DIR=`pwd`/usr/lib/debootstrap
./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://ftp.debian.org/

Boot your just reflashed image and log in using ssh as root. Note that the initial password is opeNSLUg (and not e.g. something like debiaNSLUg). Actually the bootstrap image is a Little Endian OpenSlug image. I found it useful if you use PuTTY and once logged in, type export TERM=linux; stty erase '^H' or stty erase '^?' depending on how your PuTTY is configured.

Boot your just reflashed image and log in using ssh as root. Note that the initial password is opeNSLUg (and not e.g. something like debiaNSLUg). Actually the bootstrap image is a little endian OpenSlug image. I found it useful if you use PuTTY and once logged in, type export TERM=linux; stty erase '^H' or stty erase '^?' depending on how your PuTTY is configured.

The above probably won't work (file not found), so try: wget ftp://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb

Grab the debootstrap .udeb from a Debian mirror:

[This probably won't work, so try: wget ftp://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb ]

Run debootstrap with your choice of Debian distro and mirror:

IMPORTANT: if you get only the output below (rather than a few hundred packages retrievals) using ftp.debian.org please use ftp.nl.debian.org/debian

Depending on you network connection, this will take at least 50 minutes (even with a broadband connection), because this downloads and installs many Debian packages.

If this doesn't work try: ./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/

Adjust the partition size to fit your needs. You might have to reboot.

(Isaac Wilcox found he also needed to apt-get install module-init-tools otherwise the slug failed to respond to pings after the reboot due to failing to load ixp400_eth - but maybe he did something wrong.) (Rob Lockhart noticed that the above command was not needed, it said that module-init-tools is already the newest version)

To do this, type (for example):
date 123218582021
for December 32, 18:58 (6:58PM) year 2021

To do this, type (for example): \\date 123218582021\\

To do this, type (for example): date 123218582021
for December 32, 18:58 (6:58PM) 2021

Boot your just reflashed image and log in using ssh as root. Note that the initial password is opeNSLUg (and not e.g. something like debiaNSLUg). Actually the bootstrap image is a little endian openslug image. I found it useful if you use PuTTY and once logged in, type export TERM=linux; stty erase '^H' or stty erase '^?' depending on how your PuTTY is configured.

Update the Debian distro and install cron, ssh and popularity-contest. Popularity-contest reports what architecture and packages you are using back to the Debian community anonymously to help in deciding where to put developer effort. In order to promote nslu2 and arm you are kindly requested to say "yes" to enabling popularity-contest.
Notice! You must set date before running apt-get update. Otherwise gpg signature checking will fail.

Notice! You must set date before running apt-get update. Otherwise gpg signature checking will fail.

Boot your just reflashed image and log in using ssh as root. Note that the initial password is opeNSLUg (and not e.g. something like debiaNSLUg). Actually the bootstrap image is a little endian openslug image. I found it useful if you use PuTTY and once logged in, type export TERM=linux; stty erase '^H'

Partition your harddisk if you haven't already\\

To delete partitions, type "d" inside fdisk

Adjust the partition size to fir your needs. You might have to reboot.

deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable main non-free contrib (hmn,snd)]

Edit /etc/network/interfaces\\

deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable main non-free contrib (hmn,snd)]

Edit /etc/inittab to disable the tty[1-6] entries (by prefixing the entries with "#") and add the following serial console entry:

Edit /etc/inittab to disable the tty[1-6] entries and add the following serial console entry:

• If you're flashing from stock NSLU2 Firmware or Unslung, keep in mind that the IP address of the slug may not be the same. DebianSlug will attempt to get it's IP address from a DHCP server first. Make sure there's a DHCP server (e.g. your router) connected to your NSLU2. This does not apply if you're flashing from OpenSlug or OpenDebianSlug. In that case it will use the IP configuration you've set up in OpenSlug.

• If you're flashing from stock NSLU2 Firmware or Unslung, keep in mind that the IP-address of the slug may not be the same. DebianSlug will attempt to get it's IP address from a DHCP server first. Make sure there's a DHCP server (e.g. your router) connected to your NSLU2. This does not apply if you're flashing from OpenSlug or OpenDebianSlug. In that case it will use the IP-configuration you've set up in OpenSlug.

• If you're flashing from stock NSLU2 Firmware or Unslung, keep in mind that the IP-address of the slug may not be the same. DebianSlug will attempt to get it's IP-address from a DHCP server first. Make sure there's a DHCP server (e.g. your router) connected to your NSLU2. This does not apply if you're flashing from OpenSlug or OpenDebianSlug. In that case it will use the IP-configuration you've set up in OpenSlug.

Partition your harddisk if you haven't done so yet\\

Boot your just reflashed image and log in using ssh as root. Note that the initial password is opeNSLUg (and not e.g. something like debiaNSLUg). Actually the bootstrap image is a little endian openslug image. I found it useful if you use PuTTY and type export TERM=linux; stty erase '^H'

If you're using a static IP address and a router to access the internet, you also have to do:

(Replace xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx with the IP address of your router.)

Depending on you network connection this will take at least 50 minutes (even with a broadband connection). Because this downloads and installs many debian packages.

(note: I only needed to copy /etc/hosts into etc/hosts for DHCP configuration)

[we had problems with apt-get-sources. edit /etc/apt/sources.list to point to deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable main non-free contrib

Create /etc/shadow with:

As an alternative, you can use:

and enable the shadow passwords when asked.

There are some Debian-specific tips in /usr/share/doc/nslu2-utils/README.Debian that are worth reading.

Add your name to the DebianSlugUsers? list. (And you might want to rm -rf /work after you've rebooted ;-)

The LEDs? should be operating as expected after rebooting the slug.

Boot your just reflashed image and log in using ssh as root. Note that the initial password is opeNSLUg (and not e.g. something like debiaNSLUg). Actually the bootstrap image is a little endian openslug image. I found it useful if you use PuTTY and type export TERM=linux; stty erase '^H'

Boot your just reflashed image and log in using ssh as root. Note that the initial password is opeNSLUg (and not e.g. something like debiaNSLUg). Actually the bootstrap image is a little endian openslug image. I found it useful if you use PuTTY and type ( export TERM=linux; stty erase '^H' )

Boot your just reflashed image and log in using ssh as root. Note that the initial password is opeNSLUg (and not e.g. something like debiaNSLUg). Actually the bootstrap image is a little endian openslug image. I found it useful if you use PuTTY? and type ( export TERM=linux; stty erase '^H' )

(note: I only needed to copy /etc/hosts into etc/hosts for DHCP configuration)

@]

If this doesn't work try: ./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/

IMPORTANT: if you get only the following output (rather than a few hundred packages retrievals) using ftp.debian.org please use ftp.nl.debian.org/debian

[@

[IMPORTANT: if you get only this output using ftp.debian.org please use ftp.nl.debian.org/debian

root@NSLU2backup?:/mnt/debinst/work#]

@] (:tableend:) Depending on you network connection this will take at least 50 minutes (even with a broadband connection). Because this download and install many debian packages.

@] (:tableend:) Depending on you network connection this will take at least 50 minutes (even with a broadband connection). Because this download and install many debian packages.

if you get only this output using ftp.debian.org please use ftp.nl.debian.org/debian

root@NSLU2backup?:/mnt/debinst/work#

[if you get only this using ftp.debian.org please use ftp.nl.debian.org/debian] root@NSLU2backup?:/mnt/debinst/work# ./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://ftp.debian.org/ I: Retrieving Release I: Retrieving Packages I: Retrieving Packages I: Retrieving Packages I: Resolving dependencies of required packages... I: Resolving dependencies of base packages...

• Installation notes

Installation Notes

Be sure to get the little endian SlugOS (DebianSlug) firmware and NOT the big endian SlugOS (OpenSlug) firmware. If you happen to pick the big endian version and follow the instructions above (as I mistakenly did) it will manifest itself by finishing the debootstrap step entirely too quickly, and the log will report:

/mnt/debinst/work/usr/lib/debootstrap/pkgdetails: 1: Syntax error: word unexpected (expecting ")")

[When I try this, no errors are reported, but peeking at /mnt/debinst/debootstrap/debootstrap.log shows three errors like this: /mnt/debinst/work/usr/lib/debootstrap/pkgdetails: 1: Syntax error: word unexpected (expecting ")")]

'''When I try this, no errors are reported, but peeking at /mnt/debinst/debootstrap/debootstrap.log shows three errors like this: /mnt/debinst/work/usr/lib/debootstrap/pkgdetails: 1: Syntax error: word unexpected (expecting ")") [The above error causes the chroot error mentioned below, because /mnt/debinst/bin doesn't exist] '''

[When I try this, no errors are reported, but peeking at /mnt/debinst/debootstrap/debootstrap.log shows three errors like this: /mnt/debinst/work/usr/lib/debootstrap/pkgdetails: 1: Syntax error: word unexpected (expecting ")") ] [The above error causes the chroot error mentioned below, because /mnt/debinst/bin doesn't exist]

Edit /etc/network/interfaces\\

1. /etc/network/interfaces

1. /etc/network/interfaces\\

Edit /etc/network/interfaces

nano /etc/fstab proc /proc proc defaults 0 0

followed by a ^X (control-X) to get out of nano.

mkswap /dev/sda2

[If this doesn't work try: wget ftp://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb]

[If this doesn't work try: ./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/]

mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1 # ext3 is a safe choice

Instead sid, run debootstrap with debian sarge: (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

export DEBOOTSTRAP_DIR=`pwd`/usr/lib/debootstrap ./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sarge /mnt/debinst http://ftp.debian.org/ [If this doesn't work try: ./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sarge /mnt/debinst http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/]

(:tableend:)

Don't forget to add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://security.debian.org/ sarge/updates main

Replace "openssh-server" with "ssh".

Make sure you install udev:

apt-get install udev @]

nslu2-utils is not in the stable feed, so get it and it's dependencies directly from the pool: [@

As an alternative you can use:

dpkg-reconfigure passwd

and enable the shadow passwords when asked for.

Installing openssh-server takes a couple of minutes. Install will fail if /etc/shadow is missing.

apt-get install openssh-server

type ^D (control-D) or exit to drop out of the chroot done a lot earlier.

Unmount your filesystems:

umount /mnt/debinst/proc killall syslogd anacron umount /mnt/debinst

Make the external drive with Debian on it your boot device:

turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3

Reboot into Debian.

To get rid of the annoying LC_ALL, LANG etc. errors when running perl (and other apps): (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

apt-get install locales
dpkg-reconfigure locales

(:tableend:)

lsmod

• Installing kernel-modules (DebianSlug 3.10beta)

Kernel modules (non DebianSlug 3.10beta)\\

Installing kernel-modules (DebianSlug 3.10beta)

If you're running DebianSlug 3.10beta and have to install additional kernel Modules (USB-sound e.g.) you have to use the kernel-modules on http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/debianslug/cross/3.10-beta/ . Download them to your NSLU2 using wget and install them using: (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

dpkg  --force-architecture -i kernel-module-<module>.ipk
depmod -a

Check the output of (replace modulename with the one you just installed) (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

modprobe -v modulename dmesg | tail

(:tableend:) to see if the operation succeeds. If there are warnings about unresolved symbols, it's very likely that the kernel-module depends on another one that's not yet installed. You can check this with

modinfo modulename | grep depends

Modprobe should automatically load dependant modules (if they're installed), so check the loaded modules:

lsmopd

If one or more modules which are listed in "depends" of your module, you have to install them as described above.

Tips

• When your debian installation has booted, read /usr/share/doc/nslu2-utils/README.Debian
• Some packages you might find useful:
  

(:table border=1 cellspacing=0 width=60%:) (:cellnr:) samba (:cell align=left:) SMB File- & Print-server (:cellnr:) less (:cell align=left:) Program for viewing textfiles (:cellnr:) joe (:cell align=left:) Program for editing textfiles (aiming toward less experienced users) (:cellnr:) psmisc (:cell align=left:) contains killall (:cellnr:) apache (:cell align=left:) Apache 1.3x webserver (:cellnr:) libapache-php4 (:cell align=left:) PHP4 for Apache 1.3x (:cellnr:) proftpd (:cell align=left:) FTP Server (:cellnr:) udev (:cell align=left:) hotplug / udev filesystem

Debootstrapping Sarge

Don't forget to add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://security.debian.org/ sarge/updates main

Replace "openssh-server" with "ssh".

Make sure you install udev:

apt-get install udev

nslu2-utils is not in the stable feed, so get it and it's dependencies directly from the pool:

wget http://debian.planetmirror.com/debian/pool/main/n/nslu2-utils/slugimage_0.10+r58-2_all.deb
dpkg -i slugimage_0.10+r58-2_all.deb
wget http://debian.planetmirror.com/debian/pool/main/d/devio/devio_1.2-1_arm.deb
dpkg -i --force-depends devio_1.2-1_arm.deb
wget http://debian.planetmirror.com/debian/pool/main/n/nslu2-utils/nslu2-utils_0.10+r58-2_arm.deb
dpkg -i nslu2-utils_0.10+r58-2_arm.deb

Replace modutils with module-init-tools (being in the chroot) : (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

dpkg -P modutils
rm /etc/rcS.d/S20modutils
apt-get install module-init-tools 

(:tableend:)

Upgrade DebianSlug to newer firmware

BETA INSTRUCTIONS!

If you prefer to remain seated while upgrading then it is probably best not to use /initrd/sbin/reflash while running Debian from disk, so reboot into Slugos instead. To reflash an image file /home/nslu2user/newfirm.img just shutdown the system with the halt command and unplug the disk. Then turn it on again. It boots into Slugos. Then:

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:) turnup ram
reboot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/debinst
reflash -i /mnt/debinst/home/nslu2user/newfirm.img
reboot (:tableend:)

Note that the account is root and password is opeNSLUg if the system boots from flash. Then when the system boots up with new Slugos firmware update the Debian kernel and reboot into Debian :

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:) turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/debinst
cp -Ra /lib/modules/* /mnt/debinst/lib/modules
umount /mnt/debinst
reboot (:tableend:)

Currently there is no debian-specific feed, so if you are interested in building your own kernel you'll need to use the MasterMakefile (if you haven't already) and copy the relevant ipk files to your slug. You can find the kernel modules in debianslug/tmp/deploy/ipk, copy them to the slug and install them using:

Run debootstrap with your choice of debian distro and mirror:

Update the Debian distro and install cron, ssh and popularity-contest. Popularity-contest reports what architecture and packages you are using back to the Debian community anonymously to help in deciding where to put developer effort. In order to promote nslu2 and arm you are kindly requested to say "yes" to enabling popularity-contest. Notice! You must set date before running apt-get update. Otherwise gpg signature checking will fail.

Installing openssh-server takes a couple of minutes. Install will fail if /etc/shadow is missing.

apt-get install openssh-server

type ^D (control-D) or exit to drop out of the chroot done a lot earlier.

Unmount your filesystems:

umount /mnt/debinst/proc killall syslogd anacron umount /mnt/debinst

Make the external drive with Debian on it your boot device:

turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3

Reboot into Debian.

To get rid of the annoying LC_ALL, LANG etc. errors when running perl (and other apps): (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

apt-get install locales
dpkg-reconfigure locales

(:tableend:)

[If this doesn't work try: wget ftp://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb]

[If this doesn't work try: ./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/]

[i tried this several times but evertime it ends here with this error: "chroot: cannot execute /bin/sh: No such file or directory"]

There are some Debian-specific tips in /usr/share/doc/nslu2-utils/README.Debian that are worth a read.

(Isaac Wilcox found he also needed to apt-get install module-init-tools - otherwise the slug failed to respond to pings after the reboot due to failing to load ixp400_eth - but maybe he did something wrong.)

• If you're flashing from stock NSLU2 Firmware or Unslung, keep in mind that the IP-address of the slug may not be the same. DebianSlug will attempt to get it's IP-address from a DHCP-server first. Make sure there's a DHCP-server (e.g. your router) connected to your NSLU2. This does not apply if you're flashing from OpenSlug or OpenDebianSlug. In that case it will use the IP-configuration you've set up in OpenSlug.

Boot your just reflashed image and log in using ssh as root. Note that the initial password is opeNSLUg (and not e.g. something like debiaNSLUg). Actually the bootstrap image is a little endian openslug image.

If you're using a static ip address and a router to access the internet, you also have to do:

Instead if you want to use a static address (highly recommended) use the following as an example (replacing the address and gateway with the address you want to use):

Status LEDs?
The status LED will continue to flash amber. There is a nslu2-tools debian package under development that will contain a LEDs? binary that will switch it back to green.\\

To use the LEDs? anyway, execute the following commands:

Depending on you network connection this will take at least 50 minutes (even with a broadband connection).

Update the Debian distro and install cron, ssh and popularity-contest. Popularity-contest reports what architecture and packages you are using back to the Debian community anonymously to help in deciding where to put developer effort. In order to promote nslu2 and arm you are kindly requested to say "yes" to enabling popularity-contest. Installing openssh-server takes a couple of minutes.

The status led will continue to flash amber. There is a nslu2-tools debian package under development that will contain a leds binary that will switch it back to green.\\

If you prefer to remain seated while upgrading then it is probably best not to use /initrd/sbin/reflash while running Debian from disk, so reboot into Slugos instead. To reflash an image file /home/nslu2user/newfirm.img just shutdown the system with the halt command and unplug the disk. Then turn it on again. It boots into Slugos. Then:

Note that the account is root and password is opeNSLUg if the system boots from flash. Then when the system boots up with new Slugos firmware update the Debian kernel and reboot into Debian :

Depending on you network connection this will take at least 50 Minutes (even with a broadband connection).

Depending on you network connection this will take at least 50 Minutes (even with brad-band connection).

export DEBOOTSTRAP_DIR=`pwd`/usr/lib/debootstrap

dpkg -i --force-depends devio_1.2-1_arm.deb

nameserver xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx in /etc/resolv.conf

If you're using a static ip address and a router to access the internet, you have also to do.

route add default gw xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

Add the line xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx nameserver in /etc/hosts.

(Replace xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx with the ip address of your router.)

Grab the debootstrap .udeb from a debian mirror:

wget http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb [Didn't work for me, try: wget ftp://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb]

Extract the debrootstrap udeb:

ar -x debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb zcat data.tar.gz | tar xv

Run debrootstrap with your choice of debian distro and mirror:

export DEBOOTSTRAP_DIR=/mnt/debinst/work/usr/lib/debootstrap ./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://ftp.debian.org/ [mirror didn't work for us: we succesfully used http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ instead (hmn,snd)]

Copy in some important configuration files:

cd .. cp /etc/resolv.conf etc/resolv.conf cp /etc/hosts etc/hosts cp /etc/hostname etc/hostname

Copy in the kernel modules:

cp -Ra /lib/modules/* lib/modules

Mount the proc filesystem:

mount -t proc proc /mnt/debinst/proc

Chroot into your new Debian environment:

cd / chroot /mnt/debinst

Put a working fstab file into place (you may need to tweak this config and add extra partitions depending on your partition layout):

cat > /etc/fstab /dev/sda1 / ext3 defaults 1 1 /dev/sda2 swap swap defaults 0 0 proc /proc proc defaults 0 0

followed by a ^D (control-D) to get out of cat.

Edit /etc/inittab to disable the tty[1-6] entries and add the following serial console entry:

S0:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 115200 ttyS0 @] (:tableend:)

Edit /etc/network/interfaces.
For DHCP use the following as an example: (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:) [@

and set the root password so you can get in when you SSH into it after reboot, and exit the environment:

Make sure you do this or you will not be able to get into your DebianSlug without setting this password for root.

and set the root password so you can get in when you SSH into it after reboot, and exit the environment (Make sure you do this or you will not be able to get into your DebianSlug without setting this password for root):

cp /initrd/sbin/leds /usr/bin/leds

nslu2-utils is not in the stable feed, so get it and it's dependencies directly from the pool:

wget http://debian.planetmirror.com/debian/pool/main/n/nslu2-utils/slugimage_0.10+r58-2_all.deb dpkg -i slugimage_0.10+r58-2_all.deb wget http://debian.planetmirror.com/debian/pool/main/d/devio/devio_1.2-1_arm.deb dpkg -i -force-depends devio_1.2-1_arm.deb wget http://debian.planetmirror.com/debian/pool/main/n/nslu2-utils/nslu2-utils_0.10+r58-2_arm.deb dpkg -i nslu2-utils_0.10+r58-2_arm.deb

(hmn,snd)]

[we had problems with apt-get-sources. edit /etc/apt/sources.list to point to <verbatim> deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ unstable main non-free contrib </verbatim>(hmn,snd)]

[mirror didn't work for us: we succesfully used http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ instead (hmn,snd)]

[we had problems with apt-get-sources. edit /etc/apt/sources.list to point to deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ unstable main non-free contrib (hmn,snd)]

t #(change type of partition) 2 #(2nd partition) 82 #(change type to 82 - swap)

[Didn't work for me, try: wget ftp://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb]

Create /etc/shadow with:

touch /etc/shadow

and set the root password so you can get in when you SSH into it after reboot, and exit the environment:

pwconv passwd

type ^D (control-D) or exit to drop out of the chroot done a lot earlier.

Unmount your filesystems:

umount /mnt/debinst/proc killall syslogd anacron umount /mnt/debinst

Make the external drive with Debian on it your boot device:

turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3

Reboot into Debian.

To get rid of the annoying LC_ALL, LANG etc. errors when running perl (and other apps): (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

apt-get install locales
dpkg-reconfigure locales

(:tableend:)

This binary seems to be non-functional at the moment (mar 5 2006). It worked for me after a reboot (mar 10 2006).

Make sure you install udev:

apt-get install udev

nslu2-utils is not in the stable feed, so get it directly from the pool:

wget http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/n/nslu2-utils/nslu2-utils_0.10-3_arm.deb dpkg -i nslu2-utils_0.10-3_arm.deb

Replace modutils with module-init-tools (being in the chroot) : (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

dpkg -P modutils
rm /etc/rcS.d/S20modutils
apt-get install module-init-tools 

Don't forget to add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://security.debian.org/ sarge/updates main

Replace "openssh-server" with "ssh".

nslu2-utils is not in the stable feed, so get it directly from the pool:

wget http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/n/nslu2-utils/nslu2-utils_0.10-3_arm.deb dpkg -i nslu2-utils_0.10-3_arm.deb

Replace modutils with module-init-tools (being in the chroot) : (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

dpkg -P modutils
rm /etc/rcS.d/S20modutils
apt-get install module-init-tools 

nslu2-utils is not in the stable feed, so get it directly from the pool: [@

@]

wget http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/n/nslu2-utils/nslu2-utils_0.10-3_arm.deb dpkg -i nslu2-utils_0.10-3_arm.deb

Replace "openssh-server" with "ssh".

• Read first

Read first

• The first set of instructions on this page are relevant to the unstable ("Sid") Debian distribution. For the stable Debian distribution, see the last part of this page. Please do not get the two sets of instructions mixed up.
• If you're flashing from stock NSLU2 Firmware or Unslung, keep in mind that the IP-address of the slug may not be the same. DebianSlug will attempt to get it's IP-address from a DHCP-server first. Make sure there's a DHCP-server (e.g. your router) connected to your NSLU2. . This does not apply if you're flashing from OpenSlug or OpenDebianSlug. In that case it will use the IP-configuration you've set up in OpenSlug.

This binary seems to be non-functional at the moment (mar 5 2006).

This binary seems to be non-functional at the moment (mar 9 2006).

Note that the account is root and password is opeNSLUg if the system boots from flash. Then when the system boots up with new Slugos firmware update the Debian kernel and reboot into Debian :

If you prefer to remain seated while upgrading then it is probably best not to use /initrd/sbin/reflash while running Debian from disk, so reboot into Slugos instead. To reflash an image file /home/nslu2user/newfirm.img just shutdown the system with the halt command and unplug the disk. Then turn it on again. It boots into Slugos. Then:

turnup ram
reboot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/debinst
reflash -i /mnt/debinst/home/nslu2user/newfirm.img\\

and then when the system boots up with new Slugos firmware update the Debian kernel and reboot into Debian :

turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3\\

rm /mnt/debinst/.recovery
cp -Ra /lib/modules/* /mnt/debinst/lib/modules
umount /mnt/debinst\\

(:cellnr:) udev (:cell align=left:) hotplug / udev filesystem

reboot\\

reflash -i /mnt/debinst/home/nslu2user/newfirm.img\\

reboot

Partition your harddisk if you haven't done it yet
(Assuming you have a empty (unpartitioned) drive)
To delete partitions, type "d" inside fdisk!

fdisk /dev/sda n #(add new partition) p #(primary) 1 #(1st partition) 1 #(start sector) +3G #(end sector/partition size; this adds a partion of 3GB size which will be mounted as /) n p 2 #(2nd partition) 1 +512M #(our swap partition (512MB should be enough)) w #(write partition table) q #(quits fdisk)

Adjust the partition size to your needs. You might have to reboot.

Setup the filesystem and swap:

mke2fs -j /dev/sda1 # ext3 is a safe choice mkswap /dev/sda2 sync; sync; sync swapon /dev/sda2

Mount the harddrives filesystem:

mkdir /mnt/debinst mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/debinst mkdir /mnt/debinst/work cd /mnt/debinst/work

Grab the debootstrap .udeb from a debian mirror:

wget http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb

Extract the debrootstrap udeb:

ar -x debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb zcat data.tar.gz | tar xv

Run debrootstrap with your choice of debian distro and mirror:

export DEBOOTSTRAP_DIR=/mnt/debinst/work/usr/lib/debootstrap ./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://ftp.debian.org/

Copy in some important configuration files:

cd .. cp /etc/resolv.conf etc/resolv.conf cp /etc/hosts etc/hosts cp /etc/hostname etc/hostname

Copy in the kernel modules:

cp -Ra /lib/modules/* lib/modules

Mount the proc filesystem:

mount -t proc proc /mnt/debinst/proc

Chroot into your new Debian environment:

cd / chroot /mnt/debinst

Put a working fstab file into place (you may need to tweak this config and add extra partitions depending on your partition layout):

cat > /etc/fstab /dev/sda1 / ext3 defaults 1 1 /dev/sda2 swap swap defaults 0 0 proc /proc proc defaults 0 0

followed by a ^D (control-D) to get out of cat.

Edit /etc/inittab to disable the tty[1-6] entries and add the following serial console entry:

S0:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 115200 ttyS0 @] (:tableend:)

Edit /etc/network/interfaces.
For DHCP use the following as an example: (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:) [@

(You have to apt-get install nslu2-utils before doing this, this will set up the links in /etc/rc?.d so the scripts will be called during booting)

The leds should be operating as expected after rebooting the slug.

The status led will continue to flash amber. There is a nslu2-tools debian package under development that will contain a leds binary that will switch it back to green.
This binary seems to be non-functional at the moment (feb 9 2006).

To use the leds anyway, execute the following commands: (If you installed nslu2-utils before, this will replace the binaries with the scripts used during boot from flash)

cp /initrd/sbin/leds /usr/sbin/leds
cp /initrd/etc/default/functions /etc/default/functions
cp /initrd/etc/init.d/zleds /etc/init.d/zleds
cp /initrd/bin/beep /bin/beep

Kernel modules
Currently there is no debian-specific feed, so you'll have to build your own kernel using the MasterMakefile (if you haven't already) and copy the relevant ipk files to your slug. You can find the kernel modules in debianslug/tmp/deploy/ipk, copy them to the slug and install them using: (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:) dpkg --force-architecture -i kernel-module-<module>.ipk (:tableend:)

If you prefer to remain seated while upgrading then it is probably best not to use /initrd/sbin/reflash while running Debian from disk, so reboot into Slugos instead. To reflash an image file /home/nslu2user/newfirm.img :

touch /.recovery\\

If you prefer to remain seated while upgrading then it is probably best not to use /initrd/sbin/reflash while running Debian from disk, so reboot into Slugos instead. To reflash an image file ~nslu2user/newfirm.img :

• Upgrade DebianSlug to new firmware

The status led will continue to flash amber. There is a nslu2-tools debian package under development that will contain a leds binary that will switch it back to green.

If you are in a hurry then you can find the support files in /initrd/. Carefully update Debian by copying /initrd/sbin/leds, /initrd/etc/init.d/zleds and /initrd/etc/default/functions to their Debian root locations. While you're at it /initrd/bin/beep works too.

Upgrade DebianSlug to newer firmware

BETA INSTRUCTIONS!

It is probably best not to use /initrd/sbin/reflash while running Debian from disk so reboot into Slugos. To reflash an image file ~nslu2user/newfirm.img :

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:) touch .recovery
reboot (:tableend:)

then once the system boots up in Slugos

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:) turnup ram
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/debinst
reflash -i /mnt/debinst/home/nslu2user/newfirm.img (:tableend:)

and then when the system boots up with new Slugos firmware update the Debian kernel and reboot into Debian :

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:) turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/debinst
rm /mnt/debinst/.recovery
cp -Ra /lib/modules/* /mnt/debinst/lib/modules
umount /mnt/debinst
reboot (:tableend:)

mkdir -p lib/modules

Add your name to the DebianSlugUsers? list. (And you might wanna rm -rf /work after you've rebooted ;-)

• Tips

.rmrecovery problems
If /.rmrecovery isn't removed after a successful boot, do this:

apt-get install nslu2-utils

• Some packages you might find useful:
  

(:table border=1 cellspacing=0 width=60%:) (:cellnr:) samba (:cell align=left:) SMB File- & Print-server (:cellnr:) less (:cell align=left:) Program for viewing textfiles (:cellnr:) joe (:cell align=left:) Program for editing textfiles (aiming toward less experienced users) (:cellnr:) psmisc (:cell align=left:) contains killall (:cellnr:) apache (:cell align=left:) Apache 1.3x webserver (:cellnr:) libapache-php4 (:cell align=left:) PHP4 for Apache 1.3x (:cellnr:) proftpd (:cell align=left:) FTP Server (:tableend:)

• When your debian installation has booted, read /usr/share/doc/nslu2-utils/README.Debian

apt-get install locales

Tips

• When your debian installation has booted, read /usr/doc/nslu2-utils/README.Debian

Update the Debian distro and install cron, ssh and popularity-contest. Popularity-contest reports what architecture and packages you are using back to the Debian community anonymously to help in deciding where to put developer effort. In order to promote nslu2 and arm you are kindly requested to say "yes" to enabling popularity-contest. Installing openssh-server takes a couple of minutes.

.rmrecovery problems
If /.rmrecovery isn't removed after a successful boot, do this:

apt-get install nslu2-utils

Debootstrapping Sarge

Replace modutils with module-init-tools (being in the chroot) : (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

dpkg -P modutils
rm /etc/rcS.d/S20modutils
apt-get install module-init-tools 

(:tableend:)

Update the Debian distro and install cron, ssh and popularity-contest. Popularity-contest reports what architecture and packages you are using back to the Debian community anonymously to help in deciding where to put developer effort. In order to promote nslu2 and arm you are kindly requested to say "yes" to enabling popularity-contest. Installing openssh-server takes a couple of minutes.

apt-get install openssh-server

NOTE The following step is deprecated. Install nslu2-utils instead.

apt-get install anacron popularity-contest nslu2-utils

Create /etc/shadow, and set the root password so you can get in when you SSH into it after reboot, and exit the environment:

pwconv

Chage / etc/shadow problems
If you're getting messages like

chage: the shadow password file is not present@@
@@chage failed with return code 15, shadow not enabled, password aging cannot be set. Continuing.

when apt-getting packages, you should run pwconv as root. This worked for me.

Debootstrapping Sarge

Replace modutils with module-init-tools (being in the chroot) : (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

dpkg -P modutils
rm /etc/rcS.d/S20modutils
apt-get install module-init-tools 

(:tableend:)

rm /etc/rcS.d/S20modutils

Currently there is no debian-specific feed, so you'll have to build your own kernel using the MasterMakefile (if you haven't already) and copy the relevant ipk files to your slug. You can find the kernel modules in debianslug/tmp/deploy/ipk, copy them to the slug and install them using:

Status leds
The status led will continue to flash amber. There is a nslu2-tools debian package under development that will contain a leds binary that will switch it back to green.

Kernel modules
Currently there is no debian-specific feed, so you'll have to build your own kernel using the MasterMakefile (if you haven't already) and copy the relevant ipk files to your slug. You can find the kernel modules in debianslug/tmp/deploy/ipk, copy then to the slug and install them using:

dpkg --force-architecture -i kernel-module-<module>.ipk

This will report an irrelevent dependancy error on 'update-modules', the kernel module should be ready to modprobe etc.

Debootstrapping Sarge

Replace modutils with module-init-tools (being in the chroot) : (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

dpkg -P modutils
apt-get install module-init-tools 

(:tableend:)

        gateway 192.168.1.254

Contents

• Debian "Sid" (unstable) Bootstrap
• Notes
• Debian "Sarge" (stable) Bootstrap

Note The first set of instructions on this page are relevant to the unstable ("Sid") Debian distribution. For the stable Debian distribution, see the last part of this page. Please do not get the two sets of instructions mixed up.

Notes

• The status led will continue to flash amber. There is a nslu2-tools debian package under development that will contain a leds binary that will switch it back to green.
• You might want to install additional modules. Currently there is no debian-specific feed, so you'll have to build your own kernel and copy the relevant ipk files to your slug and install them locally using dpkg. dpkg is able to handle .ipk files.

Update /etc/init.d/checkroot.sh to have it delete /.recovery on each successful boot (look for the line where it deletes /dev/shm/root around line 344, there are two and this is the second) and put it after that line:

Update /etc/init.d/checkroot.sh to have it delete /.recovery on each successful boot (look for the line where it deletes /dev/shm/root (around line 344, there are two and this is the second) and put it after that line:

rm -f /dev/shm/root <<< this line already exists; next line needs to be added rm -f /.recovery

killall syslogd anacron

followed by a ^D (control-D) to get out of cat.

type ^D (control-D) or exit to drop out of the chroot done a lot earlier.

NOTE2?: You might want to install additional modules. Currently there is no debian-specific feed, so you'll have to build your own kernel and copy the relevant ipk files to your slug and install them locally using dpkg. dpkg is able to handle .ipk files.

NOTE: The status led will continue to flash amber. There is a nslu2-tools debian package under development that will contain a leds binary that will switch it back to green.

To get rid of the annoying LC_ALL, LANG etc. errors when running perl (and other apps):

dpkg-reconfigure locales

Add your name to the DebianSlugUsers? list.

Debootstrapping Sarge

Replace modutils with module-init-tools (being in the chroot) : (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

dpkg -P modutils
apt-get install module-init-tools 

(:tableend:)

Reboot into Debian.

Edit /etc/network/interfaces.
For DHCP use the following as an example:

Instead if you want to use a static address (highly recommended) use the following as an example (replacing the address and gateway with the address you want to use).

1. /etc/network/interfaces
2. configuration file for ifup(8), ifdown(8)
4. The loopback interface

auto lo iface lo inet loopback

2. The NSLU2 built-in ethernet

auto eth0 iface eth0 inet static

        pre-up modprobe -f ixp400
        pre-up modprobe -f ixp400_eth
        address 192.168.1.77
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        gateway 192.168.1.1

Update /etc/init.d/checkroot.sh to have it delete /.recovery on each successful boot (look for the line where it deletes /dev/shm/root (around line 150) and put it after that line:

rm -f /dev/shm/root # this line is already existing; next line needs to be added rm -f /.recovery

Update the Debian distro and install cron, ssh and popularity-contest. Popularity-contest reports what architecture and packages you are using back to the Debian community anonymously to help in deciding where to put developer effort. In order to promote nslu2 and arm you are kindly requested to say "yes" to enabling popularity-contest.

apt-get update apt-get dist-upgrade apt-get install anacron popularity-contest apt-get install ssh

Set the root password so you can get in when you SSH into it after reboot, and exit the environment:

passwd exit

type ^D (control-D) to drop out of the chroot done a lot earlier.

Unmount your filesystems:

umount /mnt/debinst/proc killall syslogd umount /mnt/debinst

Make the external drive with Debian on it your boot device: (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3 

(:tableend:)

followed by a ^D (control-D) to get out of cat.

type ^D (control-D) to drop out of the chroot done a lot earlier.

killall syslogd

Update the Debian distro and install cron, ssh and popularity-contest. Popularity-contest reports what architecture and packages you are using back to the Debian community anonymously to help in deciding where to put developer effort. In order to promote nslu2 and arm you are kindly requested to say "yes" to enabling popularity-contest.

Update /etc/init.d/checkroot.sh to have it delete /.recovery on each successful boot (look for the line where it deletes /dev/shm/root (around line 150) and put it after that line:

rm -f /dev/shm/root # this line is already existing; next line needs to be added

Boot your just reflashed image and log in using ssh as root. Note that the initial password is opeNSLUg (and not e.g. something like debiaNSLUg). Actually the bootstrap image is a little endian openslug image.

umount /mnt/debinst

Note: I had to do a killall syslogd before I was able to umount /mnt/debinst

./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://ftp.debian.org/

Update checkroot.sh to have it delete /.recovery on each successful boot (look for the line where it deletes /dev/shm/root and put it after that in /mnt/debinst/etc/init.d/checkroot.sh):

Now you have a little endian DebianSlug image that can be used to bootstrap the offical Debian arm port. Here's how to do it.

The first set of instructions on this page are relevant to the unstable ("Sid") Debian distribution. For the stable Debian distribution, see the last part of this page. Please do not get the two sets of instructions mixed up.

Debian "Sid" (unstable) Bootstrap

Update the Debian distro and install cron, ssh and popularity-contest. Popularity-contest reports what architecture and packages you are using back to the Debian community anonymously to help in deciding where to put developer effort.

apt-get install anacron popularity-contest

Replace modutils with module-init-tools (being in the chroot) :

apt-get install module-init-tools

Extract the debrootstrap udeb:

Run debrootstrap with your choice of debian distro and mirror:

Copy in some important configuration files:

Copy in the kernel modules:

Mount the proc filesystem:

Chroot into your new Debian environment:

Put a working fstab file into place (you may need to tweak this config and add extra partitions depending on your partition layout):

Edit /etc/network/interfaces and use the following as an example:

        pre-up modprobe -f ixp400

• Update checkroot.sh to have it delete /.recovery on each successful boot (look for the line where it deletes /dev/shm/root and put it after that in /mnt/debinst/etc/init.d/checkroot.sh):

Update the Debian distro and install cron, gpg, ssh and popularity-contest. Popularity-contest reports what architecture and packages you are using back to the Debian community anonymously to help in deciding where to put developer effort.

Set the root password so you can get in when you SSH into it after reboot, and exit the environment:

Unmount your filesystems:

Make the external drive with Debian on it your boot device:

Replace modutils with module-init-tool (being in the chroot) :

./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://ftp.debian.org/debian/

cd ..

Copy the kernel modules

cp -Ra /lib/modules/* lib/modules

Mount the proc filesystem

mount -t proc proc /mnt/debinst/proc

Chroot into your new Debian environment

cd / chroot /mnt/debinst

Put a working fstab file into place. You may need to tweak this config and add extra partitions depending on your partition layout.

cat > /etc/fstab /dev/sda1 / ext3 defaults 1 1 /dev/sda2 swap swap defaults 0 0 proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs defaults 0 0

Edit /etc/inittab to disable the tty[1-6] entries and add the following serial console entry:

S0:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 115200 ttyS0 @] (:tableend:)

Edit /etc/network/interfaces and use the following as an example. (:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:) [@

• Update checkroot.sh to have it delete /.recovery on each successful boot (look for the line where it deletes /dev/shm/root and put it after that in /mnt/debinst/etc/init.d/checkroot.sh)

rm -f /dev/shm/root rm -f /.recovery

Update the Debian distro and install cron, ssh and popularity-contest. Popularity-contest reports what architecture and packages you are using back to the Debian community anonymously to help in deciding where to put developer effort. The gpg line adds the 2006 repository key to your keychain so that packages do not give an error about verification on install.

apt-get update apt-get dist-upgrade apt-get install anacron popularity-contest gpg apt-get install ssh

Set the root password so you can get in when you SSH into it after reboot, and exit the environment.

passwd exit

Unmount your filesystems.

umount /mnt/debinst/proc umount /mnt

Reboot into Debian.

Debootstrapping Sarge

• Replace modutils with module-init-tool (being in the chroot) :

dpkg -P modutils apt-get install module-init-tool

Now you have a little endian DebianSlug image that can be used to bootstrap the offical Debian arm port.

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

(:table border=0 width=80% bgcolor=#eeffee:)

Now you have a little endian OpenSlug image that can be used to bootstrap the offical Debian arm port.

Debian Bootstrap

Setup the filesystem and swap: (:table border=0 width=100% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

mke2fs -j /dev/sda1 # ext3 is a safe choice
mkswap /dev/sda2    
sync; sync; sync
swapon /dev/sda2

(:tableend:)

Mount the harddrives filesystem: (:table border=0 width=100% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

mkdir /mnt/debinst
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/debinst
mkdir /mnt/debinst/work
cd /mnt/debinst/work

(:tableend:)

Grab the debootstrap .udeb from a debian mirror: (:table border=0 width=100% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

wget http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb

(:tableend:)

Extract the debrootstrap udeb (:table border=0 width=100% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

ar -x debootstrap-udeb_0.3.3_arm.udeb
zcat data.tar.gz | tar xv

(:tableend:)

Run debrootstrap with your choice of debian distro and mirror. (:table border=0 width=100% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

export DEBOOTSTRAP_DIR=/mnt/debinst/work/usr/lib/debootstrap
./usr/sbin/debootstrap --arch arm sid /mnt/debinst http://ftp.debian.org/

(:tableend:)

(:table border=0 width=100% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

cp /etc/resolv.conf etc/resolv.conf
cp /etc/hosts etc/hosts
cp /etc/hostname etc/hostname
cp /etc/defaultdomain etc/defaultdomain

(:tableend:)

Mount the proc filesystem (:table border=0 width=100% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

mount -t proc proc /mnt/debinst/proc

(:tableend:)

Chroot into your new Debian environment (:table border=0 width=100% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

cd /
chroot /mnt/debinst

(:tableend:)

Put a working fstab file into place. You may need to tweak this config and add extra partitions depending on your partition layout. (:table border=0 width=100% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

cat > /etc/fstab
/dev/sda1       /               ext3    defaults        1  1
/dev/sda2       swap            swap    defaults        0  0
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0  0
usbfs           /proc/bus/usb   usbfs   defaults        0  0

(:tableend:)

Edit /etc/inittab to disable the tty[1-6] entries and add the following serial console entry: (:table border=0 width=100% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

S0:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 115200 ttyS0

(:tableend:)

Edit /etc/network/interfaces and use the following as an example. (:table border=0 width=100% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

# /etc/network/interfaces
# configuration file for ifup(8), ifdown(8)
#
# The loopback interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
#
# The NSLU2 built-in ethernet
auto eth0
# Automatically generated from /etc/default/sysconf
# The pre-up option must always be supplied, regardless
# of configuration, to set the hardware correctly.
# Severe network problems may result if this option is
# removed.
iface eth0 inet dhcp
        pre-up modprobe -f ixp400_eth
        pre-up modprobe -f ixp400

(:tableend:)

Update the Debian distro and install cron, ssh and popularity-contest. Popularity-contest reports what architecture and packages you are using back to the Debian community anonymously to help in deciding where to put developer effort. The gpg line adds the 2006 repository key to your keychain so that packages do not give an error about verification on install. (:table border=0 width=100% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

apt-get update
gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv-keys 084750FC01A6D388A643D869010908312D230C5F ; gpg --export 084750FC01A6D388A643D869010908312D230C5F | apt-key add -;
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade
apt-get install anacron popularity-contest gpg
apt-get install ssh 

(:tableend:)

Set the root password so you can get in when you SSH into it after reboot, and exit the environment. (:table border=0 width=100% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

passwd
exit

(:tableend:)

Unmount your filesystems. (:table border=0 width=100% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

umount /mnt/debinst/proc
umount /mnt

(:tableend:)

Set the sytem clock to the correct time. example: January 4th 2006, 14:55, type (:table border=0 width=100% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

date 010414552006

(:tableend:)

Make the external drive with Debian on it your boot device. (:table border=0 width=100% bgcolor=#eeffee:) (:cell:)

turnup disk /dev/sda1 -t ext3 

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Add your name to the DebianSlugUsers? list.

[jeanfabrice's note] Debootstrapping a Sarge distro, I also had to :

• Copy the kernel modules (being out of the chroot) :

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cp -Ra /lib/modules/* /mnt/debinst/lib/modules 

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• Replace modutils with module-init-tool (being in the chroot) :

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dpkg -P modutils
apt-get install module-init-tool 

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• Update checkroot.sh to have it delete /.recovery on each successfull boot. Here are the last four lines of /mnt/debinst/etc/init.d/checkroot.sh :

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rm -f /dev/shm/root
rm -f /.recovery

: exit 0

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