Guide to installing Debian + WM + Internet on WM85

If you want to install Debian (not run it from the SD card) you can just setup your SD card directly from Windows.

Format it (one partition) to FAT32, from fatpart.tgz (you can use winrar to extract) copy the /script folder (renaming cmd.install and scriptcmd.install to cmd and scriptcmd accordingly), then copy extpart.tgz on the SD card.

You should also copy wi-on, wi-off, wifisetup and xorg.conf (make sure you edit xorg.conf beforehand if your keyboard layout is not US) to the SD card, as you will need them. You can get those from abrasive's website:

Once all that is done, you're ready to install:

1) Put in your SD card and boot

2) If install couldnt read your extpart, and you're back at console, do:

mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt/sd
mount /dev/mtdblock9 /mnt/mtd
tar xzf /mnt/sd/extpart.tgz -C /mnt/mtd

It'll take awhile to extract. Once done and back to console, take out the SD card, and type: reboot

Now, once loaded it'll ask for a login, just type in: root
Once you're back at console, stick the SD card back in, and:

mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt
cd /mnt
cp wifisetup /sbin
cp wi-on /sbin
cp wi-off /sbin

then simply type: wifisetup

and follow the instructions to setup your wifi (it will auto connect after you're done).

Now you should be back at console, with internet working. Before you install anything, here are a few things you should do:

type in: passwd

and setup a password for the root account

type in: adduser YourUsername

and setup a user account you'll be using instead of root once everything is properly installed

type in: mkdir /var/apt/log

to keep a small error from popping up when you're installing packages.

apt-get update

to grab latest packages from repository

apt-get upgrade

to upgrade your distro packages to latest

Once you've done this, you have many options, depending on which WM you want to use. Here are a few i found to be working:

FLUXBOX:

apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-fbdev xfonts-base xinit fluxbox

XFCE4:

apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-fbdev xfonts-base xinit xfce4

LXDE:

apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-fbdev xfonts-base xinit lxde

GNOME MINIMAL:

apt-get install  xserver-xorg-video-fbdev xfonts-base xinit gnome-session gnome-panel metacity gnome-terminal

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If you want a graphical login manager, I recommend using 'slim' as it is lightweight and looks good. GDM is also nice looking but requires many gnome dependencies so you should avoid it, xdm is lightweight too but pretty ugly.

apt-get install slim

will do the trick.

if you've installed fluxbox, you will need to copy your xorg.conf if your keyboard layout isnt US and you've properly edited it, so stick in your SD card:

mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt
cd /mnt
cp xorg.conf /etc/X11
cd ..
umount /mnt
wi-off

take out your SD card, and 'reboot' you should now have a working Debian distro with WM and internet working properly.

To enable wifi, just type in console, from anywhere, 'wi-on'

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Recommended packages:

Web browser: links2, Galeon
Games: gtkboard
Notepad clones: Leafpad, Mousepad
Word clones: Abiword
Email: evolution
Terminal: xterm

which you can install using: apt-get install packagename

These are the ones I tried and know work 100% with those WMs. There are probably more out there.

Hope this helps!