Installing Debian Etch on a ThinkPad R60

Wednesday September 20, 2006

NOTE I'm new to Wiki-dom, so I'll be returning to tidy this up and add details as I sort them out

Specs:

ThinkPad R60 945668U
Intel Core Solo 1660 Mhz
512 MB RAM
60 GB Harddrive

Pre-install:

Did the required set up for the Windows XP partition, including burning recovery CDs (6 total) Partitioned the harddrive using GParted

• WinXP reduced to ca 16 GB; 5 GB recovery partition untouched; 35 GB cleared for Debian install

Install:

Etch Net-Install

Regular (non-expert) install, installed only laptop and standard software

• I use Fluxbox, so I don't need to wait around while KDE and Gnome download!

Only problem was GRUB would not install to the MBR

• Probably a problem with the CD I was using
• Resolved by installing LILO instead. LILO installed fine, but didn't recognise the two Windows partitions and just boots directly into Debian.

Configuration:

Boot Loader

On first boot I ran aptitude and did a full upgrade Replaced LILO (which didn't see either Windows partition) with GRUB with the following commands:

grub-install /dev/sda
update-grub

Then I added the following entries to my /boot/grub/menu.lst:

title		 Windows XP
root		 (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader 	 +1

title           IBM Rescue and Recovery
root            (hd0,1)
parttype        (hd0,1) 0x0b
unhide          (hd0,1)
chainloader     +1

I rebooted and verified that GRUB worked, and allowed me to boot into Debian, Windows, and the Recovery Parition. Everything worked so I then purged LILO with aptitude.

Next up, I added contrib and non-free to my /etc/apt/sources.list and installed a bunch of stuff (xorg, fluxbox, firefox, etc). xorg went in without problem.

Wireless

Started by confirming the chipset -

• Install pciutils

Run:

lspci 

and

lspci -n | grep "0200"

reveals that I have an Atheros AR5212 wireless card, or 168c:1014 Digging around on this site confirms this card is compatible with Madwifi, which is available through the non-free repositories However, I found out (the hard way) that I couldn't get it installed without first installing gcc-4.0 So the full set up goes like this:

1. install gcc-4.0, madwifi-source, madwifi-tools, madwifi-doc
2. run the following commands:

m-a prepare
m-a a-i madwifi
modprobe ath_pci

Done!

To actually get a wireless connection going I use two simple bash scripts: First, for my home setup:

#! /bin/bash
iwconfig ath0 key <your_encryption_key_here>
dhclient ath0

Second, for using unencrypted hotspots:

#! /bin/bash
ifconfig ath0 up
iwconfig ath0 ap any
dhclient ath0

Running these scripts as root gets me hooked up.

Summary

So far these things work: screen, USB mouse, touchpad, trackpad, keyboard, wireless, USB drive, sound

Still to confirm or configure: some function keys - the volume buttons worked without tinkering

Still to add: links to the sources for this page