Mika/Notes/Computer Stuff/Debian Installation: Difference between revisions
(Step 3, 4, 5, MISC) |
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There are a few things that could be changed in BIOS. For example, I don't have a fingerprint reader, so all the settings for fingerprint can be disabled. Also, under security, there seem to be a few options that allow third-party monitoring of the laptop, so those can be disabled as well. | There are a few things that could be changed in BIOS. For example, I don't have a fingerprint reader, so all the settings for fingerprint can be disabled. Also, under security, there seem to be a few options that allow third-party monitoring of the laptop, so those can be disabled as well. | ||
=Step 3: Installation= | |||
Most of the default settings are good. I should have thought about a new hostname before. | |||
I ran into a problem for GRUB (grub-pc couldn't be installed). I chose LILO instead and that worked ok. I could continue with installation without either but I just can't restart at any point if I do that. After the basic installation completed: | |||
apt-get install grub-pc | |||
sudo grub-install /dev/sda | |||
sudo update-grub | |||
If I don't get any errors, then I can apt-get purge lilo. | |||
=Step 4 Wide aspect ratio= | |||
I had a few problems because the kernal I initially installed was old. | |||
A few ways to check what might be going on are: | |||
xrandr | |||
lspci |grep VGA | |||
grep drivers /var/log/Xorg.0.log | |||
=Step 5 Wifi= | |||
Some of the new laptops kept crashing our router last year but Bernie said that the problem might have been fixed, so we gave it a try. | |||
Since I needed to get non-free packages (most of the wireless cards are non-free?), I had to add non-free sources to /etc/apt/source.list: | |||
deb http://debian.lcs.mit.edu/debian unstable non-free | |||
deb-src http://debian.lcs.mit.edu/debian unstable non-free | |||
I can comment out these lines once I finish | |||
Bernie and I tried getting firmware-linux-nonfree but that didn't do the trick, so we did: | |||
apt-get install firmware-iwlwifi | |||
rmmod iwlwifi | |||
modprobe iwlwifi | |||
My wifi didn't crash the router. | |||
=MISC= | |||
#Setting up sudo | |||
Use visudo, which checks for errors. | |||
Revision as of 17:09, 20 January 2012
I got x220 core i7. I can either log into Windows once and go to http://goodbye-microsoft.com/ or try the following.
Step 1: Get image files
Since I have network access, I was going to put image files on a usb stick via http://www.debian.org/distrib/netinst#verysmall . However, this page leads to individual files and I wanted to download them all at once. According to Lenovo website, I have amd64 and here's [cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/6.0.3/amd64/iso-cd/debian-6.0.3-amd64-netinst.iso the link] for a complete package. If you want to collect other parts, try the link but when I did it (note that you need to dd if=boot.img of=/dev/sdb(or whereever the usb is in order to convert and copy the img files onto the usb stick), installation failed.
Other pages of interest at this point:
I put the file onto my USB stick.I kept putting wrong image files on the usb but I unmounted the usb stick and without removing the stick from the laptop, I did d if=(path/filename) of=/dev/sdb .
If I just type in mount, it shows where things are mounted.
Step 2: Booting with the USB stick
Insert the USB stick and boot the new computer. Press the blue ThinkVantage button when the first page appears. A new page that allows alternative booting or BIOS setup will appear. In BIOS, USB booting should be enabled.
Choose F12 to select USB booting.
The first time I did it, I got boot error because I didn't copy the image file by dd. If I just drag and drop or cp, it doesn't work.
There are a few things that could be changed in BIOS. For example, I don't have a fingerprint reader, so all the settings for fingerprint can be disabled. Also, under security, there seem to be a few options that allow third-party monitoring of the laptop, so those can be disabled as well.
Step 3: Installation
Most of the default settings are good. I should have thought about a new hostname before.
I ran into a problem for GRUB (grub-pc couldn't be installed). I chose LILO instead and that worked ok. I could continue with installation without either but I just can't restart at any point if I do that. After the basic installation completed:
apt-get install grub-pc
sudo grub-install /dev/sda
sudo update-grub
If I don't get any errors, then I can apt-get purge lilo.
Step 4 Wide aspect ratio
I had a few problems because the kernal I initially installed was old.
A few ways to check what might be going on are:
xrandr
lspci |grep VGA
grep drivers /var/log/Xorg.0.log
Step 5 Wifi
Some of the new laptops kept crashing our router last year but Bernie said that the problem might have been fixed, so we gave it a try.
Since I needed to get non-free packages (most of the wireless cards are non-free?), I had to add non-free sources to /etc/apt/source.list:
deb http://debian.lcs.mit.edu/debian unstable non-free deb-src http://debian.lcs.mit.edu/debian unstable non-free
I can comment out these lines once I finish
Bernie and I tried getting firmware-linux-nonfree but that didn't do the trick, so we did:
apt-get install firmware-iwlwifi
rmmod iwlwifi
modprobe iwlwifi
My wifi didn't crash the router.
MISC
- Setting up sudo
Use visudo, which checks for errors.
