Setup DSL
From IrisFrame
I've picked DSL as the base linux distribution:
- small footprint
- low hardware requirement
- framebuffer support in the kernel
- debian based
Contents |
Hard drive installation
My picture frame devices don't have a CD-Drive and are too old to boot from a USB key. So in order to install DSL on the drive, I simply plug the laptop drive to a desktop machine (I use an IDE adapter that came with a $12 IDE to USB adapter). I plugged the drive as the ide master and the CD drive as the slave, and booted DSL from the CD with:
dsl 2 dma toram
The option 2 is to start in textmode, I don't care about the GUI for the install.
Then I followed the HDD install instructions from DSL:
cfdisk /dev/hda
Note: you might have to reboot to get the partition table updated.
It best to use /dev/hda1 as the swap partition. Depending on how big your drive is you might want to use more or less space. DSL recommends a minimum of 128Mb, I recommend to use twice your actual RAM.
mkswap /dev/hda1 swapon /dev/hda1 dsl-hdinstall
You'll want to use ext3 as your filesystem: it is more stable than ext2, especially since you will pull the cord often on this kind of device. You could use an other filesystem if you wanted to.
I recommend to pick Grub for the bootloader because it has support to display boot pictures (neat).
When the installer reboots, I recommend you wait for Grub to actually start DSL. As you as you see that the Kernel is running you can turn off the desktop and plug the drive into the laptop, ... or keep going and setup sshd if you don't have a keyboard for the laptop.
If everything works properly you'll see the GUI and you should be able to work from there. If your mouse doesn't work you can quit the X-Server:
- Quit X (ctrl+alt+backspace)
- Run xsetup.sh.
- Select your desired resolution, then select USB mouse.
- Run startx.
- Enjoy.
I would make sure that sshd is working before relaunching X, this way you should be able to configure the laptop from an other machine.
Enable dpkg/apt-get
The standard DSL install is not enough in order to run IrisFrame.
I followed the instructions on the DSL wiki:
sudo dpkg-restore
Then edit /etc/apt/sources.list (you can use nano or vi):
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ oldstable main non-free contrib
to:
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main non-free contrib
I'm using stable and not testing as I got an unstable (as in not working) install while trying to use testing.
apt-get update
Set sshd to run with:
dpkg-reconfigure ssh
Additional packages
apt-get install libsdl-perl xlibmesa-gl perlmagick libconfig-general-perl gsfonts libx11-protocol-perl libdps1 libexception-class-perl
optional:
apt-get install emacs21-nox aptitude subversion
time:
apt-get install ntpdate tzconfig ntpdate time.apple.com
double check: xlibmesa3
