Notices

Basically the x server and hildon desktop are loaded from init scripts. To load xfce for example, you would just stop hildon desktop and the x server, then start the x server then run xfce4-session. This is more proof of concept than "everyday usable." Glad you're enjoying it.

I decided to abandon the boot-to-Debian approach for a while, and go back to the chroot-to-Debian approach (using your config). This way, I can do stuff on-tablet, and my wireless lan and bluetooth keyboard both work.

I changed the /etc/apt/sources.list, because the Debian ARMEL project has become official! So I added in:

deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian sid main
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian lenny main

Now an apt-get dist-upgrade gives me 247 packages to upgrade! Woot!

Ok, so to take the next version from "proof of concept" to "usable by geeks", I think you need to:

(1) Figure out a way to copy the user's maemo wireless lan and bluetooth settings, or at least write a how-to for us non-uber-geek types. I want to be able to have a wireless connection and a bluetooth keyboard (or an on-tablet way of bringing them up) when I boot to Debian.

(2) Boot to a command line, start a more complete WM (XFCE4) upon boot, or give a basic text menu to choose what WM to boot to. (I wonder if we could get the Ubuntu Mobile interface running on top of Debian?) The current bare-bones Hildon / matchbox interface isn't very useful. Most, if not all, of the Debian apps are not hildonized, so we should be starting a WM that won't mangle their interfaces.

(3) Install GIMP by default. I hear it runs well on the tablet.

Of (1), I think BT is much more important; I can set up networking with a keyboard. I can't readily set up a keyboard without a keyboard. (Working through SSH is, IMHO, a pain.)

Looks like I'm just repeating my betters.

And, in my current daytime environment, I can't SSH into my tablet due to silly firewall rules, nor can I create a USB network interface on my desktop computer (since I don't have root). So I need to be able to type on-tablet. This means getting the bluetooth settings for an already-paired keyboard and having Debian auto-pair, just like Maemo.

Hmm, How about a USB keyboard? I have the magic jolouis USB OTG connector, could I plug a USB keyboard into the tablet and have Debian auto-recognize it? I didn't bring my adapter today, so I can't test it...

Even if we could get a working xvkbd, I could peck out a few keystrokes to pull up the bluetooth and wireless.


EDIT: This post has instructions for getting the wlan0 up. Does it work? Should it be in the wiki?

I didn't put anything in the wiki about wireless or bluetooth because they work exactly like they do in debian:
for wireless just add this to /etc/network/interfaces:
and type ifup wlan0

For bluetooth, I believe blueman is in the extras menu.

For a keyboard just hit the center d-pad button to get matchbox keyboard. It's a pain to use but it works.

@qole: automagically extracting people's WLAN and bluetooth info is more of a project than I want to take on, but your other thoughts seem reasonable. I think for now I'll drop people off into X given that forcing them to use a console restricts this to n810 owners and people with keyboards. GDM might be reasonable though (if it doesn't pull in an insane number of gnome deps). hmm, maybe gpe-dm.

-John

I think I'd have better luck with xfce than I'm having with matchbox. The matchbox keyboard really doesn't work at all on the hildon desktop (it crashes the desktop completely), and I think I'd have more luck with xfce4 and xvkbd.

What I need to know is: where is the init script for debian? There's gotta be a text file that I can change from "hildon-desktop" to "xfce4-session" ...

Also, the sources.list I gave before isn't complete. At the very least, we need (new bits bolded):

http://http.us.debian.org/debian sid contrib main non-free
http://http.us.debian.org/debian sid contrib main non-free

But hey, we're on the cutting edge anyway, so I would recommend the "kitchen-sink" approach, and make a sources list with this too:

http://http.us.debian.org/debian unstable contrib main non-free
http://http.us.debian.org/debian testing contrib main non-free
http://http.us.debian.org/debian testing-proposed-updates contrib main non-free

EDIT: Here's a weird thing. They seem to have pulled "vncserver" (and all of its relatives) from the armel distributions. Why? Is there anywhere else I can get it?

EDIT AGAIN:

This page has some useful info about Debian Init Scripts:
http://wiki.debianhelp.org/pmwiki.ph...ianInitScripts

This has some more stuff about the init.d scripts:
http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/28

I'm still having a hard time finding the init script for xfce4, however. I've installed it, but it doesn't seem to have a startup script in init.d ...

This project is great! But what about the /var and tmp directories? Are they written to a ramfs or will it kill the flash memory?

@asnelt: I believe /tmp is on a tmpfs. I think /var is not. Realisticly, parts of var could be in RAM (and might be for the next release) but there are also parts that see significant amounts of large files, such as /var/cache/apt/archives.

@qole: normally, desktop environments don't come with init scripts. Until the next release, you might be stuck modifying the init script that launches hildon to launch xfce.

I tried putting the suggested stuff into /etc/network/interfaces, and then I tried adding ifup wlan0 into the /etc/rc.local script, but no luck. I'm trying to figure out a way to get my tablet to put itself onto the wireless network without a keyboard, because then I can easily ssh in from any other computer and get a console.

Replacing the hildon desktop with the xfce4 one would be a real bonus, too. I've tried changing the name of /etc/rc2.d/S25hildon-session to K75hildon-session as suggested in one of the howtos I linked above, and then I've tried to add a script, /etc/init.d/startxfce4, that just runs the startxfce4 script, and then I've tried to add that to the init sequence using "update-rc.d startxfce4 defaults 25" but that just makes the tablet refuse to boot into Debian at all. I've also created a /home/user/.xsession file that just says, "exec startxfce4", but no dice. Anyone with tips on how to get hildon to NOT start and xfce to start instead?

It looks like vncserver was removed from the ARM versions of Debian due to some dependency problems. This really sucks; it was there in older versions and it worked fine for me! I guess I have to figure out how to repackage it from my other Debian chroot install or something... Arrgh.

It feels like I'm only inches away from being able to boot to a working Debian install, but instead, all I get is a useless hildon desktop with a very broken virtual keyboard, or any way to get connectivity.

Hmm, maybe I could create a .desktop icon that runs "ifup wlan0" for me.

EDIT: Nope, I tried using visudo to give user "user" access to the ifup command, and then I made a .desktop file that runs ifup wlan0, but it doesn't work. Oh well. I guess I'll just wait until someone figures out how to get Debian to boot to xfce4.