Installing #! Linux on Ebox 3300 / Microclient

[Fireboy Tech]

Here's how to get setup on a great little Linux distro. Super easy to install, really nice to use - especially if you're used to working with linux already.

1. Download either of the i486 images from http://mirror.is.co.za/mirrors/crunchbanglinux.org/crunchbang/. I used crunchbang-10-alpha-01-openbox-i486.iso, but if you would prefer to use XFCE as your WM, then select the XFCE image.
2. Burn it to CD or DVD (or alternatively, transfer the image using an appropriate script or tool to a USB key).
3. Assuming you are using a CD or DVD, connect a USB optical drive to your Ebox 3300. I found a powered USB hub was needed as the Ebox couldn't handle powered the optical drive at the same time as my keyboard and mouse.
4. Ensure there is a 8Gb+ CF or SD card for installing to ;).
   
5. Power on the Ebox and press the delete key to enter the BIOS. Make sure:
• the boot order has the optical drive listed first, and
• the OnBoard IDE Operate Mode is set to Native (found under OnBoard PCI IDE Controller)
6. Press F10 to save and exit.
7. You will begin booting from the crunchbang image. Select text install at the menu (loads faster).
8. The installation itself is very straightforward. Follow the prompts. Just remember that flash disks don't do well with lots of reads and writes. For this reason:
   
• consider a partition scheme that does include a "swap" space.
• consider either a non-journalling filesystem (ext2) or use a journalling fs (ext4) but remember to set the appropriate parameters in /etc/fstab to minimize writes.
9. After the install is finished, remove the disk and reboot.
10. Log in with your user and open a terminal.
11. The aptitude package manager will present you with a few "warnings" if you try to use apt to install packages. Let's fix that:
• In the terminal, install the debian-keyring package:
  

sudo apt-get install debian-keyring

• Once installed, install the archive keyring:

sudo apt-get install debian-archive-keyring

Voila, you're installed and ready. You can use sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade to update the packages. Ideally, you'll probably want to upgrade to the most recent kernel. This is isn't a complicated process but I haven't tested it yet. Theoretically:

    1. Reboot your machine if you have performed any updates.
    2. Open a terminal.
    3. Use gedit (or vi) to edit /etc/apt/sources.list:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

    4. Delete all the contents of this file, and replace with this:

 ## CRUNCHBANG
## Compatible with Debian Squeeze, but use at your own risk.
deb http://packages.crunchbang.org/statler statler main
#deb-src http://packages.crunchbang.org/statler statler main

## CRUNCHBANG MULTIMEDIA
## Debian Multimedia Mirror
#deb http://packages.crunchbang.org/statler-mm squeeze main non-free
#deb-src http://packages.crunchbang.org/statler-mm squeeze main non-free

## CRUNCHBANG MOZILLA
## Debian Mozilla Mirror
deb http://packages.crunchbang.org/statler-mozilla squeeze-backports iceweasel-release
#deb-src http://packages.crunchbang.org/statler-mozilla squeeze-backports iceweasel-release

## DEBIAN
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main contrib non-free
#deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main contrib non-free

## DEBIAN SECURITY
deb http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main
#deb-src http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main

## DEBIAN BACKPORTS
deb http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports squeeze-backports main contrib non-free
#deb-src http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports squeeze-backports main contrib non-free

    5. Save and repeat the procedure for /etc/apt/preferences:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/preferences 

    6. Delete the contents and replace with:

Package: *
Pin: release a=statler
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: *
Pin: release a=squeeze-backports
Pin-Priority: 900

Package: *
Pin: release a=squeeze
Pin-Priority: 500

    7. Save and return to terminal.

    8. You'll notice if you 'apt-get update' now, there will be a problem with signatures. Let's fix this be downloading the appropriate ones now that our repositories have changed.

wget http://packages.crunchbang.org/statler-dev/crunchbang.key

apt-key add crunchbang.key

    9. Now we can update and upgrade to the latest and greatest:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Again, haven't tested the second part, but once I do, I'll post any modifications to this process.