README

DebiaN900

A set of scripts to facilitate the installation of Debian GNU/Linux on the N900.


FILES

build_kernel.sh - Checks out the kernel source from Git and builds it.

kernel.conf - The configuration file for build_kernel.sh.

install_debian.sh - Bootstraps a Debian system and runs post-install
configuration, pulling in a built kernel and modules.  Creates the file
configure_u-boot.sh to be run under Maemo.

debian.conf - The configuration file for install_debian.sh.

configure_u-boot.sh - Configures U-Boot on the N900.  This script is generated
by install_debian.sh.


GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

An N900 with pali's U-Boot installed.

A Linux PC with the following:
- A POSIX compatible shell
- GCC cross compiler for ARM Cortex-A processors
- QEMU with support for ARM emulation
- qemu-debootstrap
- Internet access


GENERAL USAGE

- If necessary, configure CROSS_COMPILE in kernel.conf with the prefix of your
cross compiler executable.

- Run build_kernel.sh on a PC to checkout and build a kernel.

- Create an ext4 slice on an SD card and mount it to /mnt or configure the mount
point in debian.conf.

As a safety measure, the Debian install script will only install to a clean
file system (it should contain nothing but the lost+found directory).  If the
script fails or is interrupted, anything that has been installed will need to be
removed before the script can be run again.

- Run install_debian.sh on your PC to install to the SD card.

- Unmount SD card.

- Copy configure_u-boot.sh to your N900 and execute it to complete the
installation.


LICENCE

Distributable under the terms of the GNU GPL version 3.


REFERENCES

http://wiki.debian.org/pkg-n900
http://wiki.debian.org/MaemoAndSqueeze
http://wiki.debian.org/n900-wheezy-armhf
http://elektranox.org/n900/index.html
http://elinux.org/N900


THANKS

Many thanks to all of those who have worked on the pkg-n900 project and a
special thanks to sre, pali, freemangordon and everyone else who has worked on
upstreaming N900 Linux kernel patches.