Download the netinst cd

Remove all partition tables on pendrive

Download boot image

As root preform (where as /dev/sdX is your USB device):

zcat boot.img.gz > /dev/sdX

Copy iso image to flashdrive

Plug the pendrive into the netbook and boot (hold escape at the bios splash to select the boot device). Begin install as normal. No network device will be found, select no etherent card and continue as normal. When it came to configuring apt I hit the go back button till I am asked if I want to continue without a network connection. The install will finish and reboot. Upon reboot you are presented with a base line system.

Format pendrive to ext3 and copy the 2.6.31 kernel image and headers packages; thanks to Robertalks.com

Login as root and mount flash drive and install the image first then the headers with dpkg. reboot and the 2.6.31 kernal will be the default on grub. Log into root again, plug in an ethernet cable connected to a router/modem and issue the command:

dhclient eth0

Check the connection by updating apt and see that all entries in the sources.list where found. Edit /etc/apt/sources.list with nano and add my favorite mirror.

deb http://mirror.its.uidaho.edu/pub/debian/ lenny main cont rib non-free

Apt-get update and upgrade and all is well. Now, install a basic X environment and configure

apt-get install x-window-system-core fluxbox
Xorg -configure

cp xorg.conf.net /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Install sudo with apt-get and configure

apt-get install sudo
visudo

Towards the end remove the comment from the %sudo line and replace NOPASSWD: with (All) and hit ctrl X to exit. Add the regular user to the sudo group

gpasswd -a myuser sudo

Exit root and login as regular user and edit .xinitrc

exec startfluxbox

Test X with the command startx and there should be a working fluxbox desktop.

Open up a terminal and type sudo tasksel. Select laptop and press ok, tasksell will then fetch all laptop related packages and configure them. Then I install synaptic, which has the added benefit of installing a general gtk enviroment for future gtk application. Also install gtk-theme-switch and gtk-engines. Type switch2 to adjust the gtk-theme for you X enviroment (I selected crux). Underneath applications system package management find synaptic. Upon running it the gksu dialog pops up; type in root (to change to sudo mode open terminal and type gksu-properties). With synaptic, install laptop-mode-tools laptop-net.

To get wireless access add to the /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://www.backports.org/debian lenny-backports main contrib non-free

Update apt and install debian-backports-keyring and wicd. Afterwards add the user to the netdev group and restart dbus.

Sudo gpasswd -a user netdev.
Sudo /etc/init.d/dbus restart

Exit fluxbox and exit user. Log back in as user and startx. In the applications under network and monitor WICD is now listed. Click on it and it loads in the system tray. Right click and find the available wireless services.

to get sound working install alsa-utils and its dependencies. Then run sudo alsaconf and select hda-intel

add deb http://eeepc.debian.net/debian lenny main contrib non-free to /etc/apt/sources.list then:

wget http://eeepc.debian.net/debian/archive-key-eeepc.asc
sudo apt-key add archive-key-eeepc.asc

Install eeepc-acpi-scripts

To get the webcam to work first download the 2.6.31 source and install. Now, install v4l-conf dov4l gspca-source libpt-plugins-v4l2 gcc-4.2 and run as root:

I spent over 3 hours trying to get the webcam working with no luck. After walking away from it, I downgraded to the 2.6.30 image and headers found in the backports, and could see myself when I ran luvcview.However, the trade off is that my eth0 device is no longer availible, but I always connect with wireless with my netbook.

And now I have a basic environment in which I can start to install applications and configure my netbook. I will continue in another post to describe specific configurations to get the most out of Debian on the Asus eee PC 1005HA.

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