Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

been trying to install for days, searched all the threads can not find a solution.

Using the DEb image installer go through the set up. it happily find img then i get system error "cannot reset system swap. Please close all applications & try again."

Unable to post log as the x term closes

do not know how to close apps as none are open

Easy Debian + Ubuntu = Menu Mess
 

Hi everybody, I'm having some troubles and didn't find the answer, so far. I usually work with Easy Debian, but yesterday wanted to try Ubuntu. After installing I successfully opened it, but when I clicked on the menu button, many applications that I usually have with Easy Debian, were missing from drop-down menus.

I uninstalled Ubuntu and rebooted: but when I opened Easy Debian, the menu now had the same missing applications on the menu. It's not that the programs have been deleted: if I activate - for example 'Evince' - from command line or control panel, the application opens properly: it simply doesn't appear on the menu.

I tried many times to completely uninstall Debian LXDE from the app manager, and to download anew the 2 gb image: but no matter what i do, the Easy Debian menu doesn't return to its original default configuration.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Domenico

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Domenico: I bet your problem is in your home directory somewhere, maybe in the .config directory... Does anyone know where the menus are stored?

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

axuy09: So you, like others, have a widget or something that blocks the resetting of swap.

I guess I could let people like you proceed, with a warning, "Because swap could not be reset, this will take a long time and may cause your phone to reboot"...

I think I need to experiment with just zipping the image and using gnome-vfs to unzip it? But I don't even know how to do that...

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

According to http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/130834 it should be something like

to extract filename.fil from tararchive.tar and copy it to /path/myfilname.fil.

If you want to have gzip also, should be

Both definitely work on my n900. :D

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Thanks Qole,

I'm using Filebox to browse the whole .config folder, and to edit/open every conf file I find: there's some 'lxde' folder, as well as a 'menu' folder but, so far, no luck with the Easy Debian menu. : (

Domenico

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Actually, above the home directory there's a '.debian' folder: is it safe to completely delete it? I was going to do it, but now i can see it contains too many references to the Maemo OS: it seems dangerous to delete it, but still can't figure why a .debian directory contains Maemo-specific data.

Domenico

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

debernardis: what kind of times are you getting? does the tar / gzip process seem to go quickly?

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Well, let me prepare my n900 for such a suicide mission... backupmenu + full backup of MyDocs need some time :cool:

In the meantime I downloaded debian-m5e from your server, un-lzma-ed and tar-gzipped it giving a 534541737 bytes beast.

When everything is ready, I'll try to uncompress it with gnomevfs-cat on my MyDocs partition, and I'll give the time *if* my N900 is still alive and well after the effort.

EDIT1: started... cpu is completely pegged of course. Too bad I didn't get it online before starting, at least I could try ssh'ing in.

EDIT2: screen is black and can't be revived by usual methods. How do I know it's still alive?

EDIT3: Attached the charger cord, nokia logo shows up... it wasn't alive after all :cool: Watchdogs must have killed the thing after finding the cpu too much engaged in decompressing.

POST-MORTEM: optfs seems ok, decompressed file has been created but is zero bytes length - now fsck'ing MyDocs (must be something sick inside, I guess).

MyDocs is ok, surprisingly. :p

What next? :confused:

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

It sounds like you are saying that decompression via gnome-vfs is just as problematic as lzma. So that isn't the magic bullet.

I guess I'll tweak the installer to only use the swap reset hack if the image is on the MyDocs partition, and I'll strongly encourage people to put their image file on a fast SD card.

Honestly, with 8GB SD cards so inexpensive these days, it shouldn't be a problem to just buy an SD card and run Easy Debian on there.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

It may be also worth mentioning it on bug report, isn't it? I wonder if that means all the thing about "swapping hell" due to bad cp program (or decompression) are false...

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Hello,

I have a problem with locales. Is there a workaround or solution for this?
Easy debian v3e.


Thanks

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

rpugsley:

http://wiki.maemo.org/Easy_Debian#Localization

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Hi, sorry for bothering, but somehow in my n900 inside debian, it is reading the 2ndF button as it was the CTRL button... How do I resolve this? I tried the "fixhwkbd" shortcut but it does nothing.

What is even stranger is that in the first times it worked. |:/

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Hi!

Like user rebhana mentioned earlier (thx for that) and as it is also written in the EasyDebian-Wiki, i tried to make encfs work. Everything seems to work fine but loading fuse. When I do

in Terminal, i get

I'm quite not shure if this error depends on PowerKernel or if there is a some problem with my EasyDebian-Image (v3d).
How can i solve the Problem? Any ideas?

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Any news regarding the issues with the image installer?


edit: anything that won't involve uninstalling and reinstalling lots of **** i could do to help diagnose what is going on?

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

groxx: make sure you insert the modules in Maemo, before starting Debian. You need modules compiled for your kernel.

TiagoTiago: can you just buy a class 6 / 10 microSD and install on there? An 8GB class 10 is less than $15 here in Canada...

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Now we definitely need Easy Debian for the N9[50].
Qole you did apply for the dev program, didn't you? :)
And, you know, also Easy Debian for the androids. I feel ready to experiment, now after I understood what is adb and how to backup every partition of the Tab (thanks to Danramos) ;)

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Hi debernardis. I was wondering if a plan b was possible. Easy Debian is so great because it is a portal to the debian repositories which have so many useful applications. Are there current android phones that could potentially run software in the Debian repositories without recompiling? Anyways, I do not begrudge Nokia for marketing the n9 without keyboard (their choice), indeed I am greatfull that they made n900 in the first place, which is a great device, but as a consumer, I purchase a product based on my needs which the kb less n9 can't possibly meet because I do too much typing and the slide out kb make it so much easier in many ways. So while I love using the n900 and plan to do so for quite a while, it still comes up a bit short as it needs a faster processor, more ram and bigger screen 4-5 inches to take better advtange of the debian software. Such improvements would make using openoffice more productive for example. Also the ui of debian available software like wxmaxima would be nicer to use as text is still pretty small. Perhaps a better ui would solve this but scaling things up a little wouldn't hurt. Perhaps another possibility is adapt a mobile version of ubuntu to hack on an android. It would be great if there was a mobile version of debian that could also be used to make phone calls, something with a GUI ... wait isn't that called Maemo. aaarrrgggghhhh!!!!

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

It seems to me that one of the first things we need to know is, does the Harmattan onscreen VKB pass keystrokes through to all apps, or is it limited to a small set of "compliant" apps, like the N900 keyboard?

I suspect we'll need to re-invent the wheel, maybe we can grab the MeeGo VKB and use it for Easy Debian...

We won't know until we're able to start experimenting, but the N9 supposedly has a working USB OTG, and BT, so we can theoretically get external keyboards working. Remembering how much they stripped out of the N900, we might have a lot of hacking to do first.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Thx qole for your quick answer!

So I checkt out the loaded modules before starting Debian by

meaning fuse has been loaded and nobody is using it.
The file /var/run/onfirstchroot-ext.rc (executable) includes the following lines:

so it says

But running an encfs-command gives me

Just an idea: Is it possible that fuse in kernel-power47 isn't compatible with encfs from lenny repositories?

--

@mscion: "It would be great if there was a mobile version of debian that could also be used to make phone calls, something with a GUI... " - Heard people saying they were working on it but it seems to be very difficult make the phone working.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Qole: Good luck. I hope you get it to work.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

groxx: There's some info about encfs in the Wiki (I didn't put it there). Perhaps it might help.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

@qole: jap, found that already but thanks anyway.

• Removed encfs, checked repositories, reinstalled encfs.
• Checkt whether onfirstchroot-ext.rc is executable and contains correct code
• checkt users of groups
• restarted Debian several times

... no luck at all :-(

I've got a bad feeling about kernel-power47 beeing responsible on that although fuse is available. Maybe someone using this kernel version could verify?

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Good one! A bit redundant there!

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

In other words we might need something like a QT-powered Xephyr. Maybe we can ask Nokians and testers who already have the N9 to install Xephyr and launch some simple X program (Xev?) to see if kb events get passed...

In any casr, nothing seems to infer that the N9 has USB OTG (or host). At least on published specs as today. So, maybe only BT.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

I can't see anything wrong in what you did - seems to be exactly the same as I did but with the standard kernel (the wiki entry is from me). Have you tried encfs from the squeeze repository instead of the one from lenny?

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

I asked about OTG (and HDMI out) on Twitter and got:

So that's some good news in terms of keyboard input. The video output continues to be disappointing, though. It probably has the same video out as the N900, just a very low quality clone of the device's screen.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

qole, i've asked few pages ago, but without response (I'm sure thats because many people posted on other things after that) - is there any progress on fixing gconf2 upgrade problem?

Don't get me wrong - I'm not demanding anything, it just would be great to get detailed info. It's becoming more and more serious problem - now even simple and not-so-critical apps like dosbox (debian version, of course) need gconf2 update, not to mention thing like LibreOffice. Slowly, but unavoidably, we're getting into state of obsolete with our Ed image - that would be SEVERE loss. I really LOVE using ED, but upgrading on current state become very big hassle, if not impossible task (less and less backports + Debian developers doesn't care much - nor should they - about us on ED without possibility to upgrade problematic, yet critical packages like gconf2).

All info regarding this highly appreciated. It really, really would be shame and pitiful to see our bellowed ED not upgradeable in near future.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Estel: If you must upgrade your apps, and you can't avoid the gconf upgrade using
then you might have to hack your Easy Debian by upgrading, then replacing the new files with the old ones, like I had to do with the audio system...

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Thanks for the tip, will try. Of course I always use --no-install-recommends, keeping an eye on recommended packages anyway. Unfortunately, more and more packages depend on upgraded gconf2. Will try trick with replacing.

Anyway, what about info I kindly asked for? Do we got at least ideas why it doesn't work? I'm not the kind of debian guru that can help fixing it (probably), but maybe other people interested will have a clue, and together we will be able to overcome that limitation?

The worst thing that i think about is lack of information. Neither here or on the wiki one can read what-how exactly doesn't work, and what we know about possible source of problems. My very limited knowledge doesn't give ANY ideas why new version of gconf2 can't work, for example.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

The answer is fairly straightforward: Maemo uses an old version of gconf, and the problems happen when a too-new version tries to co-exist with the Maemo version.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

So, we're without any hope of fixing it for N900 by any means? I suppose replacing maemo version of gconf (backporting new) is beyond scope anyway?

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Estel: I think our one hope in this area would be the CSSU. If you can propose a way to integrate newer gconf libraries without breaking existing Maemo apps, you might have a chance of getting them added.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

where did you hear that? From what I've read, it seems that no one has any clue if that chip (can't remember which one) is present. It's the same as fm rx/tx... no clue if it exists in hardware.

My dream? To have a flashy (modern, small, powerful) linux (can support debian repos) phone that I can hook up to an HDMI monitor and a keyboard (usb or bt) and hack away happily while on the road. I travel a lot for work, and I would love to not have to bring my laptop all the time to get my vim fix.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

I use the N900 as a linux-everywhere machine pretty much, i rarely ever use the phone/sms functionnality on it, so it's more like a mobile computer with 3G data for me

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Hey rebhana!

Thx for that hint but it didn't help. I think i've messed my Debian configuration long time ago or it's the kernelpower47 which is incompatible with encfs. When there's time, i'm goning to reinstall Easy-Debian. I'm gona tell you...

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

Hello,

If you remember, I had a very bad rebooting problem with ED before a few months ago where it became unusable. I had some time recently to try out ED again with the latest 9.56 scripts. I used a fresh image v3e and there were no changes to my N900 since the previous time. Unfortunately, when installing new applications through Synaptic, my device rebooted after about 10 minutes and destroyed the ED image.

After that I played around with other areas of my N900 and here is what I have achieved. I have now been running ED with a heavy disk and cpu load for a few hours and there has been no problem. I made the following changes to my N900:

- power kernel 46
- swap on eMMC increased to 1.75G (not sure if this does anything)
- chroot is on /dev/mmcblk1p3, dedicated ext2 partition. I would have used ext4 but the maemo kernel version does not allow mounting of ext4 without a journal. I'm sure having a journal would be fine, as SD cards are very cheap now anyway
- modified the qchroot script to stop mounting /home/user inside the chroot, as this interferes with maemo settings. I can still mount MyDocs. Not sure why you would mount the Maemo /home/user inside the chroot anyway... and is this what is causing the gconf errors?

I am not going to unzip any ED image on the N900 any more, as my PC is so much faster. However, by having the entire chroot filesystem on its own microSD partition, this makes the transferring and backing up much faster. It used to take me 1 hour to transfer the 2GB image, like mscion. I now use dd if=/dev/sdc3 of=/..../debian.backup bs=262144, this takes 4 minutes to backup 2G.

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

@zero That is a nice improvement in time to transfer file. The best I did was about 12 minutes. So you are better by a factor of three. Specifically, what makes the additional speed up happen?

Re: Easy Debian Fremantle Beta Testing
 

I don't know, probably the fact that it is on a separate partition so it is not mounted and nothing else is trying to access the card at the same time.. I always run the "close debian" program before trying to copy

Oh, by the way I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but last time when my N900 was very slow and rebooting, it was in a very hot, dry and dusty house, and I also suffered reboots on my AMD PC. I tried putting the N900 in the fridge (and used ssh) but it still rebooted. Now I am in a cool and slightly more humid environment and my PC here (intel) is no longer rebooting either. Does the N900 ARM monitor its temperature the same way as a desktop processor?