I have to note here that you should always dpkg debian packages when you are IN debian chroot (either lxterminal in lxde or after typing debbie in maemo xterm)

If you try to install a debian armel package on maemo, maemo will not complain but bad things may happen as it will probably fill up your rootfs. Note that it is possible to run debian binaries directly from maemo if the dependencies are met by manually extracting the package (dpkg -x) to /opt or /home/user (I have successfully been using unison like that)