Debian Install Notes

Location of Files: \\asimov.cscf.uwaterloo.ca\sysprep\SYSPRIMG\CSCF_DEB

Install the split image. root wants to be /dev/hda5 (first partiton in an extended partition) and swap wants to be /dev/hda6.

There may also be a single install image that contains both Debian and Windows partitions. That one is built up from the independent Windows and Debian installs, so the following notes apply in either case.

You'll need a rescue CD, see RescueCD.

1. For P4P800VM motherboards, flash the BIOS to the latest stable revision. Currently the March 2005 build is known to work.
2. Boot the rescue CD - choose "Linux with no keymap". root has no password by default.
3. Mount the Linux root partition to /mnt/hd. If the machine has SATA drives, root is at /dev/sda5, otherwise it's at /dev/hda5.
4. chroot /mnt/hd (if you don't know what chroot does, you shouldn't really be trying this on your own)
5. If the machine has parallel ATA drives:
   1. edit /boot/grub/menu.lst, and change all sda to hda
   2. Repeat above procedure for /etc/fstab
   3. While you're in fstab, edit the /dev/hdc line to /dev/hda so the automounter can properly mount CDs for the user - it's the line with /media/cdrom0 in it.
   4. Tell grub about the changed default kernel option and default boot device (see below)
6. Install grub: type "grub", then "root (hd0,4)", then "setup (hd0)". Then "quit" gets you back to prompt.
7. See the password box for passwords for Linux; you'll need them to complete the setup.
8. ONLY IF THE MACHINE WILL NOT BE USING DHCP:
   1. Edit /etc/network/interfaces:
      • comment out the DHCP line
      • uncomment the remain static IP lines
      • change the first occurrence of xxx to your subnet
9. edit /etc/hostname replacing localhost with the system hostname
10. edit /etc/hosts adding the ip and host name of the system (ie "129.97.74.237 csgradpc49 csgradpc49.cs csgradpc49.cs.uwaterloo.ca csgradpc49.uwaterloo.ca")
11. edit /etc/resolv.conf removing 192.168.1.1 entry
12. reboot
13. NB! If you get an error with pivot_root during boot (and it panics and locks up) you either need to reimage the PC with something >= 0.8.8 image or else obtain a "magical initrd" disk. See MikePatterson or TrevorGrove for details. Essentially whatever image is on there has an initial ramdisk that is looking for parallel ATA and the machine is serial ATA, or vice versa.
14. dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config (to tell it about the new hostname)
15. rm /etc/ssh/*key* and dpkg-reconfigure ssh (to generate new host keys)
16. adduser userid - to add the user account
17. edit /etc/group and add user to all of the groups with cscf-adm in it
    • cd /etc && sed -e 's/:cscf-adm/:cscf-adm,userid/' group > group.new && mv group.new group
18. set root password to be same as the user account
19. do a visudo and add the user's permissions - just copy cscf-adm's

Example usage to change hda to sda in menu.lst:

vi /boot/grub/menu.lst
 %s/sda/hda/
  :wq
or -
 sed -e 's/sda/hda/' /boot/grub/menu.lst  > /boot/grub/menu.new
 mv /boot/grub/menu.new /boot/grub/menu.lst

Telling grub about changed devices: edit the file /boot/grub/menu.lst and look for the line kopt. Uncomment it and change the root= segment appropriately (hda for PATA and sda for SATA). If you need to change the default root partition (shouldn't be necessary) uncomment and change the groot= line. grub will automatically reconfigure itself the next time you boot.

-- MikePatterson - 06-10,14 Oct,23 Nov 2004, 06 January 2005 (with help from MikeGore and TrevorGrove)