[Debian] UPDATED: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM, etc
 

UPDATE 12-Oct-08: New TURBO CHARGED version! Go HERE!

The Bundyo-Benson-Build

easy-deb-chroot-0.6-2_armel.deb

This version uses Bundyo's 'hostwin' app to open the IceWM window (and give it a nice icon). The most important thing about this is that there are no more dependencies on Python packages. You can install the easy chroot package on a stock tablet now. It also includes Benson's much more flexible chroot script, which allows you to change your chroot settings by changing the settings in the /home/user/.chroot file.

This update also includes:

• Kilian's clock fix: the clock now reads correctly in IceWM
• fatalsaint's xmodmap: N810 keys now work correctly in IceWM
• debernardis' /tmp resize: PDF creation and complex doc printing now work
• Darken's GTK stylus fix: once the correct packages are installed (see below*), tap-and-hold in AbiWord and other GTK apps will act as a right-click.
• IceWM preference tweaks: network activity now shows, matchbox-keyboard now starts from toolbar button (instead of xvkbd), kazehakase* starts from toolbar button (instead of iceweasel)

PLEASE see this post and this post for more (important) information.

Finally, Debian for everyone! :D :)

This package, when installed, will give you OpenOffice.org, AbiWord, the IceWM window manager, Firefox 3.0 (called Iceweasel in Debian) with Java support, printing support, and access to thousands of applications that can be easily browsed and downloaded.

This package will give you all of these applications without any need for installing dependencies or other applications, and it should work on all of the tablets.

What you need:

You need 1.3 GB free on one of your memory cards (this includes the built-in 2GB on the N810), although after installing, you will only need 1 GB.

You need to keep your expectations reasonable. Big desktop applications like OpenOffice and Firefox run slowly on the tablet. They are designed for big, power-hungry CPUs. The N8x0's processor is comparable to a Pentium II processor. Just imagine running these apps on your computer from the mid-90s (remember Windows 95?), and you'll get the idea. But sometimes, you really need something on the tablet that only these apps can provide, like MS Word compatibility or Java applets.

Install instructions:

You need to install the easy-deb-chroot package. Install it with the Application Manager.

When this package is installed, you have to run the "Debian Image Installer" in your Extras menu. This will download and install the big image to the memory card of your choice. It will take about a half hour to download if you have fast Internet connection, and another 15 minutes to extract it on your tablet.

This may take longer... Start the install when you can leave your tablet downloading for a while, maybe just before bed or before going out ;) :D

Finally, when you get the "Congratulations!" message, REBOOT.

Using the IceWM Window Manager:
If it doesn't work: You need Python and PyGTK to open the window in OS2008.
Switching to OS2008: Just press the "Home" key (with the house on it) to get back to OS2008.
Switching to IceWM: Click on the icon on the left hand side of OS2008, or use the Home key to choose IceWM.
Onscreen Keyboard: The button to the left of the "x-terminal" button on the toolbar pops up an on-screen keyboard. Getting this to work can be tricky sometimes. I've found that it helps to check the "Always on top?" on the xvkbd menu (lower left corner of kbd), even though it doesn't actually keep the keyboard on top, then click on the app that you want to type in, then click on a key on the keyboard. This brings the keyboard to the top but lets you type in the app.
Exiting IceWM: Log out, don't just close the window.

International (non-English speaking) users:

Please click on the "Debian chroot" icon and type the following command:
Choose your language(s).

Note that you should choose the language with no period between the language and the iso code (eg. "en_CA ISO-8859-1"), and optionally, the utf-8 version, too (eg. "en_CA.UTF-8").

Want more install space?

If you want more space for installing stuff, you can purge all of the language and localization files that you aren't using. Make sure you have configured your locales (as shown above) first.

Click on the "Debian chroot" icon and type the following command:
This will get you at least 80MB back. You should probably do this first, before starting to install. Running out of space during an install in Debian is ugly. :(

Also, remember to frequently use "apt-get clean" to clear out old downloaded packages. That will help with free space. You can also probably safely delete lots of support packages. For example, if you don't plan to print from your applications, you can probably do "apt-get remove --purge cups"


Some notes / warnings:

• As I said above, the big desktop apps start up really slowly, especially Iceweasel (since it has no splash screen). The tablet seems to be sitting there, doing nothing, sometimes for a long time. Don't hammer the button, you'll just get several copies trying to start at the same time, slowing things down even more.
• If you want to use the apps in OS2008 with an N800, you will need an external keyboard, the matchbox-keyboard included with the package or the maemo xkbd port. You want the OS2008 version. If you install it, you maybe should use debernardis' method given here.
• OpenOffice is completely OS2008 unfriendly. If you run it in OS2008, there's no icon on the left-hand app panel. If you lose your OpenOffice screen, or you need it fullscreen, use the included "Make OpenOffice Fullscreen" (in the Extras menu). I would have made one for AbiWord too, since the AbiWord fullscreen hides all the menu bars, but AbiWord sets the window title to your document name so I have no idea what window to fullscreen.
• This deb messes with very little in OS2008. After install, your tablet should remain much the way it was before.
  Please note, however, that, in order to run properly on the tablet, running Debian apps have access to a lot of stuff, and they can possibly do damage, although none has been reported so far. This chroot isn't much of a "jail", on purpose. Experimenting can occasionally have some unexpected results. Sometimes, installing or updating an app will shut down or restart an important service on the tablet as part of the install. This can sometimes cause the tablet to freeze or reboot. The good news is that a reboot will always fix whatever went wrong.
• The matchbox-keyboard menu item causes the matchbox keyboard (father to our tablet stylus keyboard) to pop up, or if it is up, the menu item makes it go away. There's no "hide" button on the matchbox-keyboard, so you have to use the menu item to hide it.
• To run a Debian application as user from the command line, type "debbie <command>". If you need to run the app as root, use "sudo debian <command>".
• I install qwerty12's movable-windows hack for OS2008. You really need it for running Debian programs in OS2008. If you hate that, uninstall my .deb, or copy /etc/osso-af-init/matchbox.defs.orig back to matchbox.defs and everything will be the way it was before.

Using This Thread:

Please post questions about installing this package, ideas for improving it, and related topics in this thread. For hacker / developer discussion about running Debian using this method, use the Running Debian in a chroot thread.

If you wish to discuss the best applications to run on the tablets, and the tweaks and changes needed to get them running well, please use the Debian Applications That Run Well on the Tablets thread.

IceWM running AbiWord and xvkbd, with OS2008 menu (invoked by pressing Home key)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3162/...517973ff_o.png


THANKS:

Johnx for egging me on about Gimp ;) and getting me interested in Debian on the tablets again
penguinbait for the base downloader script from his very cool KDE packages
Benson for always knowing the answer
qwerty12 for the movable window hack
debernardis and the hackers over in the developer thread for figuring stuff out with me (and for wanting openoffice so badly :) )
thp for showing us how cool it would be to have an easy-switching window manager in his video

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Totally awesome! Thank you a ton! Can Ubuntu support be far behind?

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Trust me - ubuntu-mid is nothing to be desired...

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Wow! Thanks quole! This looks very interesting. I can't wait to try it out, but it'll have to be tomorrow, so I will get the benefit of this thread before I get started.;)

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Thank you very much Qole!
You know what's lacking now (I guess)?
Mapping for 2nd functions of the N810 keyboard under Xephyr/Icewm.
I think that Xmodmap is needed and a fellow with some spare time.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

I completely agree. I also just realized I didn't include a file manager in IceWM. Funny that a window manager doesn't have one by default...

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Thanks for all the work that went into this. I'm really excited about using this, but can't get it to work. The .deb installed fine, and the image seemed to download fine, but the installer quits before extracting it. When I run Debian chroot I get and error message:

You have no debian.img.ext2 on your memory cards.

When I run Debian image installer I get this error:

the file is already fully retrieved; noting to do.

And then it exits. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Everything works, thank you qole.

It took 31 min for the dl, I think the file is ~288M. It then took 15 min to extract it. and I guess, upon successful, there is a message in a white rectange: "Congratulation......" If you get that far, you made it.

Upon loading Iceweasel, it took another 23 seconds, as if the tablet is NOT doing a thing, suddenly, here comes the web page.

Load up IceWM is fast. Some difficulty in using the keyboard though, / \ and numerals do not work; even with an ext keyboard.


bun

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

It sounds like your installer is downloading the file, but not extracting it. Could you please open a terminal window and type the following:

This will run the installer, but it won't close the window when it's finished, so you can report what it says after "the file is already fully retrieved; nothing to do".

It should sit for a long time saying nothing but "debian.img.ext2", as it extracts the image, but it sounds like there's something wrong with the extraction process. Funny, there's supposed to be an error window if the extraction fails, I wonder why there isn't...

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Try to get into Xterm as root/synaptic pack manager, stuck at the admin password. Try user, rootme, root didnt work. ???

It works with an ext kbd, virtual kbd, but when I slide the N810 kbd out, screen got to be very slow, and when I tapped a few chars, it crashed.


Edit: after reboot, all chars worked now.

bun

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

The password for Debian's root user should be the same as your Maemo root user, because my script copies the user info from Maemo. (Just checked; it works...) Beware that if you have an N800 and you try to run Synaptic in IceWM, you will need a hardware keyboard to enter the admin password.

Perhaps you shouldn't bother trying to do that stuff in IceWM; after all, just press the "Home" key (with the house on it) to get back to OS2008. If you run the "Debian chroot" from your menu, it drops you to a root prompt in Debian. Also, the "Synaptic Package Manager" item from the menu gives you root access without a password.

EDIT: Bun, you changed your post after I replied! Cheater! ;)

EDIT2: I just checked, there's a passwordless root terminal in IceWM under Programs / Applications / Terminal Emulators called "X-Terminal as root (GKsu)"

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Great job Qole! Is there any additional functionality packed in the deb as far as the chroot'ing and whatnot that goes beyond the initial one (besides the automatic image download bit - e.g. if I wanted to keep utilizing my existing image, would there be benefits to grabbing the updated easy-deb-chroot deb?)

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

You definitely should upgrade your easy-deb-chroot .deb. The scripts are much much better now. As for the big disk image, you can use your old one, but the IceWM setup in this version is pretty cool.

Major changes since first chroot package:

• I've got the IceWM setup in there now!
• Locales left in for international users
• No hacks to remove docs
• New un-hacked versions of OpenOffice and Iceweasel

The new script looks for the first image file that starts with "debian" so you could, in theory, keep both image files, and just rename the one you don't want to use to "xdebian.img.ext2" as required to use one or the other (rebooting between uses).

IceWM on top of OS2008 is cool:

IceWM running AbiWord and xvkbd, with OS2008 menu (invoked by pressing Home key)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3162/...517973ff_o.png

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

incredible work :D

These tablets are going from strength to strength!

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

The answer is ROX (the puppy linux way...)
http://packages.debian.org/etch/rox-filer

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

which package should i use?

Or if I go to synaptic, they offer 2.7 rox-filer instead of 2.5. Would 2.7 make the tablet explode?


bun

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

finnaly,you announced it.great job,thanks a lot.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Version 2.7 is allright, I was only pointing to the debian page showing it is available.
Rox-filer is very light and configurable, but remember it needs the right mouse key, so in order to have it install keylaunch. I don't know if it's already in Qole last easy debian package because I'm still using my old rootfs from Johnx.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Yes, rox-filer 2.7 installed successfully.

Open Synaptic Package Manager, wait for 20 seconds or so, manually locate rox-filer 2.7-1 and marked for install, and follow installation, takes some 2 minutes. Get out, boot into IceWM, debian>Programs>Applications>System>ROX Filer.

Error message, '/home/user/.icons' not found, other than that, it seems working. Have not learned how to use it yet, :( , it is a 10 page user manual.


bun

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

On the synaptic, there is also kde desktop environment. Can I install it? Would that made my house on fire?

BTW, the clock is always 3 hrs ahead, is that qole's clock? How do I set it to average user use? Thanks, it is fun........till reflash, I guess :rolleyes:

bun

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

I don't have keylaunch yet. I think that's the package that only works on the N810? Benson said he was going to map right-click to the HW + key for me, but he's been busy with other stuff, I guess..

I'll look into mapping the right-click somehow. Help would be appreciated.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Hello;

I fixing this issue coping the OS2008's time local definition in the Debian's chroot:

Maybe Qole can add this file to the package "easy-deb-chroot".

P.D: Thank's Qole for the awesome package.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Quick question...does the easy-deb-chroot delete everything on the memory card. I'm already booting from memory card.

Thanks

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Manni: It doesn't delete anything from the memory card.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Burning house. You'd run out of room in your disk image for sure. If you're a crazy installer like me, you're better to make a big (2-8 GB) partition and use that instead...

I think that's GMT. You need to set your time zone like St. Kilian says:

I'll include that in version 0.6...

Actually, your Debian install will survive a reflash, since it is on your memory card. You might lose some personal settings from your home diectory, but, a reinstall of the small easy chroot .deb is all that's needed after a reflash.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

I got a 6 G partition, should I, may I, can I :o ?
Somewhere in your post, i guess the 1st one, Debian installation runs out of room is 'ugly'. Does it mean I need to reflash AND reformat the card, or even more.........nay, I leave it alone for the time being.


bun

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Thanks Geneven,

I'm using my 8GB memory card to boot from so my internal memory card on the N800 has a total size of 480MB, the actual "device"memory has enough space how to I install the image file on the actual device memory. Can I download the image file and place it on the actual device memory?

Thanks

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

You need a memory card (called /media/mmc1 or /media/mmc2) with 1.3 GB free on the first partition.

If you install the deb and run the installer, it will show you how much space you have on your cards. You may need to buy a bigger card ;)

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Hi Qole,

The memory card is large enough its just that I'm booting from the memory card using penguinbates deb. Am I able to resize partitions and if so how so without having to wipe the card?

Thanks

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Qole, this really is the bomb.
So practical and applicable.....
I have had great luck with the gimp (using a limited pixel size of course)
and I find ABI Word is quite fast within the Ice Windows Manager.

But, the best part is that now, within Maemo, I can actually move around the non-full-screen menus. -try it with the connection connect window that pops up.

You really executed the Debian environment beautifully.
It is enough to make me jealous of myself!!!

Thank you very much

dcarter

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

How do I find the pygtk installer or package. I have everything working except for that. I have python-2.5. Any help would be very appreciated. I tried look for it but could not find it in the maemo.org site.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

How about JAVA JDK ?
Will my java apps work ?

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Qole, you should get yourself to the Maemo Summit (with sponsorship, probably) and do a talk/demo of Debian chroot on top of Maemo.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Is there a way to install the IceWM Window Manager with an existing setup of a debian chroot? Like one on its own partition made by following the wiki article about running debian in a chroot?

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

That sounds cool. I'll apply for sponsorship and see what happens!

EDIT: Applied. We'll see what happens.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Yes, there is. It's very simple, actually. I am going to be posting some little scripts and stuff over at the developer's thread for you guys who are already running a chroot in a partition, or if you have multiple chroots and you want to switch between them. Just give me a few days; I've been neglecting my family a bit, I have to mend some fences ;)

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

The open-source Java components are all installed, including the Firefox plugin, the JamVM, classpath, gappletviewer, etc.

You can run the "Debian chroot" menu item and try:

This will (eventually) let you play a simple game of tic-tac-toe.

(or try one of the other demo applets)

My tests indicate that Java applets via Debian run about the same speed as through Jalimo, ie very slowly.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

Thanks, that's a bug in my instructions!

I should have written, "python2.5-gtk2"

That package should be in the "extras" repository. If you can't find that package, perhaps the best thing is to install something else that uses that package, like the very cool "mytube" app.

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

I added a new section to my first post, how could I have forgotten it!


THANKS:

Johnx for egging me on about Gimp ;), providing a new Debian rootfs, and getting me interested in Debian on the tablets again
penguinbait for the base downloader script from his very cool KDE packages
Benson for always knowing the answer
debernardis and the hackers over in the developer thread for figuring stuff out with me (and for wanting openoffice so badly :) )
thp for showing us how cool it would be to have an easy-switching window manager in his video

Re: ANNOUNCE: Easy Debian For Everyone! OpenOffice, Firefox 3, Java, AbiWord, IceWM,
 

When I D/L the easy-deb-chroot package the App Manager asks where I want to put Office, Abiword, etc. Do I put them on a card or in Extras?

Thanks,

Bill