Eurotech provides instructions for installing and using several Linux distributions on the Catalyst, but does not provide free direct support for using the Catalyst in this way. These instructions are intended to help you install this distribution in the most appropriate way for this hardware, and to help you with common problems involved in using a this distribution on the Catalyst. If you need other support with a Linux distribution, we recommend using the distrubution's own support channels.
In order to install Debian, you will need a USB stick of at least 256 MB in size, which will be used to boot the Debian Installer. Set this USB stick up as follows:
Debian can be installed to either an external USB drive (a hard disk or another flash memory stick), or to the Catalyst's internal SSD. Using an external drive provides Debian with much more space for desktop environments such as Gnome, and for development, but installation to the SSD is easier.
Installation to internal SSD: - Connect Catalyst to network; attach 256 MB USB stick and a keyboard.
- Power on the Catalyst.
- When the Debian menu appears, press Enter to start the Debian Installer.
- Answer installation questions.
- In the partitioner, choose the IDE disk, which is the SSD. Note that all information on this drive will be erased by the installer.
- When you are prompted which software to install, do not select anything. This will install a mimimal system on the limited size SSD.
- Remove the 256 MB usb stick, when prompted to remove the installation media.
- The installer will reboot into Debian.
Installation to external USB disk: - Connect the Catalyst to ethernet; attach 256 MB USB stick and a keyboard.
- Power on the Catalyst.
- Once the Debian menu appears, attach a USB hard drive (or a USB memory stick that is 4 GB or larger), which Debian will be installed to. Note that all information on this drive will be erased by the installer.
- Press Enter to start the Debian Installer.
- Answer installation questions.
- In the partitioner, choose the USB disk you connected.
- When you are prompted which software to install, you can check "Desktop environment" to get a complete Gnome desktop; or un-check it to install a mimimal system.
- When you are prompted, "Install the GRUB boot loader to the master boot record?", choose NO. On the next screen, enter "/dev/sdb"
- Now you must manually fix the grub configuration to correctly boot from the USB hard disk. Wait for the installer to prompt you to remove the installation media, but do not press Enter to continue.
- Instead, press Alt-F2. Press Enter to get to a shell prompt.
- At the prompt, run this command: sed -i -e 's/hd2/hd1/' -e 's/sdb/sda/' /target/boot/grub/menu.lst
- Press Alt-F1 to return to the installer.
- Now remove the 256 MB usb stick, and press Enter to finish the installation process.
- The installer will reboot into Debian.
Post-installation software installation:
After Debian is installed, additional software can be installed from Debian using aptitude. For example, to install a complete compiler toolchain, log in as root and run:
aptitude install build-essential
To install the XFCE desktop, a small desktop environment which will fit on the internal SSD, log in as root and run:
aptitude install xorg gdm ~txfce-desktop; /etc/init.d/gdm start
After installing software, remember to run "apt-get clean" to clean its cache and get back some disk space.
Known issues:
Debian 5.0 does not support the Catalyst's touchscreen. In order to use the touchscreen, a third-party driver is needed. this topic describes how to obtain, install, and use the touch screen driver.
The sound chip is supported, but by default it may be muted, preventing audio playback or recording. Run "alsamixer" and increase the volume levels if necessary.
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Posted - 01 Sep 2009 : 15:10:45
