Debian Lenny on Acer 3004 laptop

I needed a stable, fast environment to get some work done so I decided that as I had a spare partition on my Acer 3004 laptop i’d go back to Debian Lenny.

I installed Debian Lenny Netinstall via a wired connection to my router.

I chose to install to an Ext3 partition, and only selected the base files and laptop files as I am going for a Fluxbox driven rocket box.

This laptop has Broadcom wireless, a Sis graphics card, and a Synaptics touchpad. Everything else is standard

I updated and upgraded after install and then got my wireless drivers and additional wireless necessities (I have a wpa2 tkip wireless connection):
aptitude instal bcm43-fwcutter wireless-tools wpasupplicant
Then as I like to use Wicd which isn’t available in the standard Lenny repos, I added Lenny backports and pinned the standard repos as default:
Lenny Backports:
# Backported packages for Debian Lenny
deb http://www.backports.org/debian lenny-backports main contrib non-free
Backports key:
apt-get install debian-backports-keyring

Pin Lenny as default:
echo 'APT::Default-Release "lenny";' > /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/default
While I was at it, I added “contrib” and “non-free” to the standard repos

Install Xorg Sis driver which automaticall installs Xorg dependencies
aptitude install xserver-xorg-video-sis
Incidentally, I always add video=sisfb after ro quiet splash on the menu.list or grub.cfg to make sure that the sisfb framebuffer gets used. Vesa witll leave you with a blurry desktop with the wrong colour depth. But that’s what you get for buying a laptop with a pile of crap graphics card like Sis. Sis have stated there will never be drivers for Linux, so we just have to put up with it, or buy Ati/Nvidia next time.

Synaptics Touchpad
aptitude install xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
(See my xorg.conf to add the relative synaptics section, without it you get no scroll action)

Next up I configured Xorg and copied the new xorg.conf over to /etc/X11
su to root
X -configure
Then copy it over:
cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Next up I had to manually add my Spanish keyboard and the section for my Synaptics touchpad
As a quick fix to get your keyboard keymap correct while you are getting everything setup, you can issue this command with your keymap (mine is “es” for Spain):
setxkbmap es
My Xorg.conf for my laptop with everything working
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "X.org Configured"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
RgbPath "/etc/X11/rgb"
ModulePath "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "GLcore"
Load "dri"
Load "dbe"
Load "record"
Load "glx"
Load "xtrap"
Load "extmod"
Load "synaptics"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "es"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "TapButton1" "1"
Option "SpecialScrollAreaRight" "true"
Option "VertEdgeScroll" "true"
Option "VertTwoFingerScroll" "true"
Option "SHMConfig" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
EndSection

Section "Device"
### Available Driver options are:-
### Values: : integer, : float, : "True"/"False",
### : "String", : " Hz/kHz/MHz"
### [arg]: arg optional
#Option "Accel" # []
#Option "AccelMethod" #
#Option "TurboQueue" # []
#Option "FastVram" # []
#Option "HostBus" # []
#Option "RenderAcceleration" # []
#Option "ForceCRT1Type" #
#Option "ForceCRT2Type" #
#Option "ShadowFB" # []
#Option "DRI" # []
#Option "AGPSize" #
#Option "GARTSize" #
#Option "Vesa" # []
#Option "MaxXFBMem" #
#Option "EnableSiSCtrl" # []
#Option "SWCursor" # []
#Option "HWCursor" # []
#Option "UseColorHWCursor" # []
#Option "Rotate" #
#Option "Reflect" #
#Option "Xvideo" # []
#Option "InternalModes" # []
#Option "OverruleFrequencyRanges" # []
#Option "RestoreBySetMode" # []
#Option "ForceCRT1" # []
#Option "XvOnCRT2" # []
#Option "PanelDelayCompensation" #
#Option "PDC" #
#Option "PanelDelayCompensation2" #
#Option "PDC2" #
#Option "PanelDelayCompensation1" #
#Option "PDC1" #
#Option "EMI" #
#Option "LVDSHL" #
#Option "ForcePanelRGB" #
#Option "SpecialTiming" #
#Option "TVStandard" #
#Option "UseROMData" # []
#Option "UseOEMData" # []
#Option "YV12" # []
#Option "CHTVType" # []
#Option "CHTVOverscan" # []
#Option "CHTVSuperOverscan" # []
#Option "CHTVLumaBandwidthCVBS" #
#Option "CHTVLumaBandwidthSVIDEO" #
#Option "CHTVLumaFlickerFilter" #
#Option "CHTVChromaBandwidth" #
#Option "CHTVChromaFlickerFilter" #
#Option "CHTVCVBSColor" # []
#Option "CHTVTextEnhance" #
#Option "CHTVContrast" #
#Option "SISTVEdgeEnhance" #
#Option "SISTVAntiFlicker" #
#Option "SISTVSaturation" #
#Option "SISTVCFilter" # []
#Option "SISTVYFilter" #
#Option "SISTVColorCalibFine" #
#Option "SISTVColorCalibCoarse" #
#Option "SISTVXScale" #
#Option "SISTVYScale" #
#Option "TVXPosOffset" #
#Option "TVYPosOffset" #
#Option "SIS6326TVAntiFlicker" #
#Option "SIS6326TVEnableYFilter" # []
#Option "SIS6326TVYFilterStrong" # []
#Option "SIS6326TVForcePlug" #
#Option "SIS6326FSCAdjust" #
#Option "YPbPrAspectRatio" #
#Option "TVBlueWorkAround" # []
#Option "ColorHWCursorBlending" # []
#Option "ColorHWCursorBlendThreshold" #
#Option "CRT2Detection" # []
#Option "ForceCRT2ReDetection" # []
#Option "SenseYPbPr" # []
#Option "CRT1Gamma" # []
#Option "CRT2Gamma" # []
#Option "GammaBrightness" #
#Option "GammaBrightnessCRT2" #
#Option "CRT2GammaBrightness" #
#Option "Brightness" #
#Option "NewGammaBrightness" #
#Option "CRT2Brightness" #
#Option "CRT2NewGammaBrightness" #
#Option "Contrast" #
#Option "NewGammaContrast" #
#Option "CRT2Contrast" #
#Option "CRT2NewGammaContrast" #
#Option "CRT1Saturation" #
#Option "XvGamma" # []
#Option "XvDefaultContrast" #
#Option "XvDefaultBrightness" #
#Option "XvDefaultHue" #
#Option "XvDefaultSaturation" #
#Option "XvDefaultDisableGfx" # []
#Option "XvDefaultDisableGfxLR" # []
#Option "XvChromaMin" #
#Option "XvChromaMax" #
#Option "XvUseChromaKey" # []
#Option "XvInsideChromaKey" # []
#Option "XvYUVChromaKey" # []
#Option "XvDisableColorKey" # []
#Option "XvUseMemcpy" # []
#Option "BenchmarkMemcpy" # []
#Option "UseSSE" # []
#Option "XvDefaultAdaptor" #
#Option "ScaleLCD" # []
#Option "CenterLCD" # []
#Option "EnableHotkey" # []
#Option "ForceCRT1VGAAspect" #
#Option "ForceCRT2VGAAspect" #
#Option "MergedFB" # []
#Option "TwinView" # []
#Option "MergedFBAuto" # []
#Option "CRT2HSync" #
#Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" #
#Option "CRT2VRefresh" #
#Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" #
#Option "CRT2Position" #
#Option "TwinViewOrientation" #
#Option "MetaModes" #
#Option "MergedDPI" #
#Option "MergedXinerama" # []
#Option "TwinviewXineramaInfo" # []
#Option "MergedXineramaCRT2IsScreen0" # []
#Option "MergedNonRectangular" # []
#Option "MergedMouseRestriction" # []
#Option "SHMConfig" "true"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "sis"
VendorName "Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]"
BoardName "661/741/760 PCI/AGP or 662/761Gx PCIE VGA Display Adapter"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 1
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 4
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 8
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 15
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Once that was all done I installed my desktop and a few apps:
aptitude install fluxbox wicd gdm bbrun fluxconf fbpager xfce4-terminal conky lua50 imlib2 iceweasel scrot imagemagick
No themes, no wallpaper, no frills………….. at the moment ;-)

Then reboot, at GDM choose Session > Fluxbox then login to a very sparse but very fast Fluxbox desktop.

Next up was to edit my ~/fluxbox/menu to add my main apps right at the top, and also add wicd and conky as my startup apps on ~/fluxbox/startup

That’s it for the moment for a basic Debian Lenny Acer laptop H4x0r-R0kk3t-B0x.

Tota Linux "Showcase" Final Released

Tota Linux Final version “Showcase” is now available to download.

What is Tota Linux?
A Debian Squeeze based distro with 4 window managers; Fluxbox, Window Maker, Openbox and Awesome, Conky-Full and Tint2.

Who is Tota for?
Desktop and Conky hackers, and people who want to create their own Linux distro. T.O.T.A stands for Tools Of The Adventure, and that’s what it provides.

Who created/contributed to Tota Linux?
richs-lxh
palemoon
chadfluegge
bruce
mahngiel
visiblespirit

Where can I download Tota Linux?
TORRENT: (coming later this week)
ZSYNC: RIGHT CLICK and “Save Link As…”
DreamStep MIRROR: RIGHT CLICK and “Save Link As…”
LxH MIRROR: RIGHT CLICK and “Save Link As…”
**MD5SUM**: RIGHT CLICK and “Save Link As…” d1880667e2012734b040351010835e0a

Known Issues:
Tota is essentially Debian Squeeze (Testing), and as such will have the same bugs/issues.

The Tota Dev Team

Tota Linux Beta released

Well, I just found time from developing Tota to post a few bits and bobs on my blog.

Tota Beta was released: http://www.totalinux.org/forum/index.php/topic,82.0.html

Palemoon supplied and awesome Window Maker config, Bruce has kept us all on our toes testing his latest and greatest Conky scripts. We also just invited Mahngiel to the dev team as he has proven to be another Conky whizz who has taken an interest in the Tota project. Ch@d has produced some amazing graphics and Darthlukan provided us with an awesome Awesome window manager setup. This will be configured for the RC release.

Me, I had to create a few workarounds to build the isos and provide both user and root passwords for the live CD. Next up was to edit the installer to create a new installed user, as the default Tota user was being transferred instead.

Regarding passwords and other Live only configs which you don’t want on the installed version, never underestimate the power of rc.local which is a great help.

I installed and compiled manually everything that was needed to provide an iso worthy of Beta status. This time downloads were available via zsync and a torrent along with mine and Palemoon’s servers.

There’s still a bit of tweaking to do, but Tota as a concept and Conky + Window Manager showcase is coming along very nicely.

Whatsmore I am now confident that I can produce any Debian Squeeze based Live/Installable distro.

There has been a month of Googling, reading, forum and manpage searching, sometimes into the early hours of the morning, but it has all been worth it.

I am now outlining the design for a pure Fluxbox Hacker edition which will incorporate everything I personally feel epitomizes Linux.

A fast, lightweight operating system for network and server admins, just packed to the brim with networking tools.

I spend a lot of time online using web and network based applications for my servers and databases which run my websites and forums.

I have a home wireless network with a Debian Apache server and will soon be building another IPcop standalone Firewall. The server and firewall are just toys really which I use to learn more about networking, hacking techniques, and security issues as well as using them as a testing platform for forums, websites, cms, wikis etc.

Only Geeks will understand the fascination of watching network data scrolling by as packets come and go. Or the fun you get out of cracking the keys on (your own) wireless routers, or cracking passwords on your networked Windows box. For me that is a laptop with a WinXp partition which I boot up just to hack. It has wireless and wired local network access but no external internet access (for obvious reasons).

My ideal distro has fluxbox and only network tools. I’ve done this before with a Dreamlinux remix as well as with Ubuntu, but for Debian I already had Grml which basically provides what I want to create for myself, only installed, not just a Live CD.

Have to get Tota finished first though.

//