(1) Prepare the new USB disk

Format the new USB disk with at least tow partitions, one is ext2 partition for the root file system and the other is swap space. You can use fdisk to do this.

(2) Install the debian base system using debootstrap

You need to install the debootstrap in gdium first.

urpmi debootstrap

Mount the new USB disk to your gdium, /mnt for example. Replace /dev/sdc1 to the name of your USB device.

mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt

Install the debian base system using debootstrap. You can change lenny to sid if you want to use the debian testing system. To me, I prefer lenny.

debootstrap --arch=mipsel lenny /mnt

It will download the packages and install to system. So please be patient if your network speed is slow.

Copy /etc/resolv.conf  to your new system and set the hostname of the new system.

copy /etc/resolv.conf  /mnt/etc/resolv.conf

echo YOUHOSTNAME > /mnt/etc/hostname

Chroot to your new system.

chroot /mnt /bin/bash

(3) Install the kernel image

wget http://lebesgue.cowpig.ca/~philippe/gdium/linux-2.6.24-gdium-1_2.6.24-gdium-1_mipsel.deb

dpkg -i linux-2.6.24-gdium-1_2.6.24-gdium-1_mipsel.deb

Change /etc/modules to the following:

gdium_laptop
ipv6
i2c_gpio
sm501_gpio
lm75
hwmon_vid
hwmon
eeprom
i2c_dev

Install udev in debian. Otherwise the debian will complain about rtc after rebooting.


apt-get install udev

(4) Reboot your gdium and set the env parameters pf PMON

Reboot the gdium and press DEL on the keyboard when gdium powers up to enter the PMON console. Set the env parameters of PMON to let it loads the correct kernel image and find the correct root file system.

set al /dev/fs/ext2@usbg0/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-gdium-1

set karg console=tty0 root=/dev/sda1 rootwait video=sm501fb:1024x600 init=/sbin/init

reboot

Please change root=/dev/sda1 according to your USB disk's partition setting.

(5) Install software in debian

apt-get install lm-sensors

Change the /etc/sensors3.conf to the following:

chip "lm75-*"
set temp1_max      40
set temp1_max_hyst 35

Install the video card driver.

apt-get install xorg

wget http://lebesgue.cowpig.ca/~philippe/gdium/xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion_1.7.0-0_mipsel.deb

dpkg -i xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion_1.7.0-0_mipsel.deb

Install lxde desktop. Of course you can install xfce4 or gnome.

apt-get install lxde

Install the wireless card driver and wicd. Change the /etc/apt/sources.list to the following.

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian lenny main non-free
deb http://apt.wicd.net lenny extras

apt-get update

apt-get install firmware-ralink wicd wireless-tools

modprobe rt61pci

Ok. Now you have a working debian lenny system with lxde desktop.

Issues & solutions:

(1) portmap hangs and you can't turn off gdium

Add the following lines to /etc/network/interfaces.

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

(2)cannot access mtab: Input/output error

That's because /etc/fstab is not configured. Add the follow lines into your /etc/fstab. You can add or delete the partitions if you want.

/dev/sda1 / ext3 noatime 1 1
/dev/sda4 swap swap defaults 0 0
none /tmp tmpfs defaults 0 0
none /var/log tmpfs defaults 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /sys/kernel/debug debugfs defaults 0 0

(3) Sound does not work on my system!!

Add you the the audio group.

usermod -a - G audio yajin

(4) The system can not display Chinese characters.

apt-get install locales

dpkg-reconfigure locales

Please make sure zh_CN locale is selected. You can install wqy fonts if you want.

apt-get install xfonts-wqy ttf-wqy-zenhei

(5) How to display the flash player in youtube

apt-get install swfdec-mozilla

The feedbacks are welcome.