There are official instructions on how to install Debian on http://wiki.debian.org/DebianOnFreeRunner, and the announcement.
Previous, partly now outdated information on how to install Debian manually has been moved to Manual Debian.
The default root password is blank. You should change that as soon as you can.
What's good for every linux booting is also good for our debian on the freerunner: booting in quiet mode. To do so by default just boot your Neo Freerunner in NOR-Flash and execute this configure-script: configure-uboot.sh.
It changes default booting to quiet-mode and adds another boot-option to boot without quiet-mode for debugging purpose.
To make suspend available you have to install apmd:
apt-get install apmd
After that you can suspend your phone with:
apm -s
and make it wake up again with pressing the power button.
Issues:
The default time zone is UTC. Reconfigure it by running
# dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
Set the clock manual using, e.g.
# date -s 00:33
Issues:
You can set up the wireless connection to your home router. Assuming your wireless router uses WPA security and DHCP:
# apt-get install wireless-tools wpasupplicant dhcp3-client
Edit /etc/network/interfaces
to include a section like this:
auto eth0 iface eth0 inet dhcp wpa-driver wext wpa-ssid "MyWirelessName" wpa-psk "MyWirelessPassword"
Where, of course, you're using the name of your wireless network and it's password instead of MyWirelessName and MyWirelessPassword.
You can test by running
# ifup eth0
You can determine your IP address by running
# ifconfig eth0
Issues:
ifup eth0
The Freerunner uses the standard Linux bluez stack, installed with
# apt-get install bluez-utils
There is also a module missing from /etc/modules, which is critical to getting your device recognized. (kudos to johnsu01 on irc.freenode.net:#openmoko-debian for the find)
# echo ohci-hcd >> /etc/modules
The first time you try this, you can also
# modprobe ochi-hcd
The only atypical part of using bluetooth on the Freerunner is turning it on, which can be done with
# echo 1 > /sys/bus/platform/devices/neo1973-pm-bt.0/power_on # echo 0 > /sys/bus/platform/devices/neo1973-pm-bt.0/reset
Then the device should be visible using
# hcitool dev
xfce is small and lightweight and so quite fast for the Freerunner.
apt-get install xfce4 cp /etc/init.d/zhone-session /etc/init.d/xfce
Then you may hack /etc/init.d/xfce making
PROG_FSO=/usr/bin/startxfce4
Customize the boot process :
update-rc.d -f zhone-session remove update-rc.d -f xfce defaults
edit your /etc/hosts to have :
127.0.0.1 localhost debian-gta02
Start XFCE !
/etc/init.d/zhone-session stop /etc/init.d/xfce start
The desktop takes a while to start but once up was snappy as can be expected. I've not yet looked at the reason for the seemingly too slow start for the desktop.
zhone is available from the "Office" menu in xfce. The matchbox keyboard is available in "Accessories".
To make the cursor invisible create a file called empty.cursor with this content:
#define empty.cursor_width 16 #define empty.cursor_height 16 static unsigned char empty.cursor_bits[] = { 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00};
Now you can execute:
xsetroot -cursor empty.cursor empty.cursor
and the cursor will be invisible. To make this permanent you have to invent something ;) It must be executed after zhone has finished starting up.
If you are running Linux (or a similar xorg capable operating system) on your Desktop, you can export your xsession to the openmoko device and use your mouse and keyboard on the Neo screen. A little program called x2x makes it even possible to do this simultaneously on the fly. When activated you just move your mouse to the edge of your monitor and then the mouse cursor continues on the screen of your openmoko device. If you select a window on the OM, the input of your keyboard is automatically entered in that window. You can even use the clipboard to copy data from tour desktop to OM and in the reverse direction.
Configure your desktop computer to export your xsession:
On your desktop (with root permissions): Make sure that sshd is installed and in /etc/ssh/sshd_config you have set X11Forwarding yes
In K/Ubuntu sshd is in the package openssh-server.
On your OM device install x2x (with root permissions)
apt-get install x2x
Now open a new X terminal on your desktop computer. You MUST be the same user that is running the xsession on your desktop (i.e. do not su to root or another user in your x terminal!). On your OM device you should be running an xsession as the user openmoko. Assuming that you have a usb networking connection to OM (with standard configuration) on the user prompt of your desktop type:
user@desktop:~$ ssh -X openmoko@192.168.0.202 "/usr/bin/x2x -east -to :0.0"
Hit return and enter your password. The xterm window will be unresponsive after that, but keep it open until you disconnect your OM device.
Now move your mouse cursor across the right edge of your monitor. It should enter the screen of your OM device from the left. Of course you can also use -west, -north or -south, depending on your preference where you place your OM.