[Debian-eeepc-devel] Install Debian on your Eee PC over wireless

[Glenn Saberton]

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Ben Armstrong wrote:
> http://syn.theti.ca/articles/2008/04/06/install-debian-on-your-eee-pc-over-wireless
> 
> Install Debian on your Eee PC over wireless
> 
>    Posted by Ben Armstrong Sun, 06 Apr 2008 14:20:00 GMT
> 
>    Installing Debian on your Eee PC is even easier now, as the option to
>    install over wireless[1] is now present in our custom debian-installer
>    image. Also, the new installer automates installation of many more
>    things than prior releases, so wireless, acpi hotkeys and suspend all
>    'just work' out of the box.
> 
>    Two barriers remain to including wireless support for the Eee in Debian
>    main. The first is the lack of wireless support in the official d-i
>    installer. The second is the dependency on the non-free madwifi driver.
>    I have no illusions about this being ready for Lenny, but I hope in
>    Lenny + 1 this will be realized.
> 
>    The good news is that Nick Kossifidis is working on getting support for
>    the Eee into ath5k. For patches, see:
>    
>    http://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/mickflemm[2].
> 
>    I have created a stub page FreeYourEee[3] in our wiki about making a
>    completely DFSG free install of Debian on the Eee. I encourage anyone
>    going this route to contribute.
> 
>    1. http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEeePC/HowTo/Install
>    2. http://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/mickflemm
>    3. http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEeePC/FreeYourEee
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Debian-eeepc-devel mailing list
> Debian-eeepc-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org
> http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/debian-eeepc-devel
> 

As an update to this, I have been working on getting WPA PSK support
added to the installer. This is almost complete and a beta image is
available for testing. Dont expect it to be perfect, I still have quite
a few issues to work though, but it is actually usuable if you have your
left foot raised slightly and your head tilted up. ;)
Some points on install..

1) during network setup, you will presented with either ath0 or eth0.
chose ath0
2) the installer will then scan for networks and possibly connect to one
without asking for an ssid. If it asks for a ssid, put your ssid for
your AP in there. If it doesn't ask for a ssid, see point below.
3) you will then be presented with the option of either wep protected or
wpa psk protected (for some reason yet determined you have to hit enter
twice here)
4) chose wpa
5) next choice is for your psk passphrase. enter it here, needs to be
between 8 and 64 charaters
6) hopefully the installer will get a lease and off you go. It will
write out a config file for wpasupplicant, but as yet won't edit your
interfaces file properly, so dont expect wireless to work on reboot
without running wpasupplicant manually.
7) if all else fails, let the installer go through to the chcp stage,
and when that fails, you can start wpasupp from vt2 and then try the
dhcp option again.

If you have made a mistake when you entered your ssid or passphrase then
you can go back and reconfigure your wireless network, but first you
need to switch to vt2, run ps and kill wpasupplicant. I should hopefully
have this sorted out tomorrow, and will upload when i do.

If the installer has chosen a ssid by itself and its the incorrect one,
you will have to reconfigure the network manually, and follow the steps
above. I am hoping to improve the scan and ssid chosing functions soon
as well.

Cheers
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