Debian install

This is a small Guide to replace the original Linux (and its WebInterface) with a Debian 3.0 Woody Installation

Get a Debian Image
Get a Debian image from one of the following locations:
 * genbako.vodapone.com/ Debian 3.1 (Sarge)
 * [Obsolete] genbako.com/
 * [Obsolete] 210.166.208.216/kuro-box/archive/ (most recent image dating from 2005)
 * [Obsolete] kurobox.com/debian/downloads (most recent image dating from 2005)
 * [Obsolete] Improved Debian image made by Sylver

Tip: Use Firefox for download because IE will download a .tgz as a .tar

Prepare the harddisk

 * Put your Kurobox in EM mode (login via telnet with default username/password. For the Kuro standard it is root/kuro and for the Kuro HG it is root/kuroadmin).
 * When you just installed a harddisk, the box will start automatically in EM mode
 * If you have already partitioned the HDD, then telnet into the kurobox and run the following command followed by a reboot:

echo "NGNG" > /dev/fl3
 * Telnet into your box and follow the these steps
 * Delete ALL partitions and data with the command

mfdisk -e /dev/hda


 * Then recreate partitions manually via the command

mfdisk -c /dev/hda (this is the menu-driven interactive mode)


 * Our goal is to create the following partiton-table:

/dev/hda1 Bootable Typ 83(Linux) 2GB /dev/hda2 Typ 82(LinuxSwap) 256MB /dev/hda3 Typ 83(Linux) the rest of the Disk


 * Creating the first partition:

Command (m for help): n Command action e extended p primary partition (1-4) p Partition number (1-4): 1 First cylinder (1-, default 1): Using default value 1 Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1- ), default ): +2048M


 * Now we need to make this first partition bootable:

Command (m for help): a Partition number (1-4): 1


 * Next partition 2 aka the Swap Partition:

Command (m for help): n Command action e extended p primary partition (1-4) p Partition number (1-4): 2 First cylinder ( -, default ): Using default value   Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1- ), default ): +256M


 * The system ID for partition 2 needs to be set to "Linux Swap"

Command (m for help): t Partition number (1-4): 2 Hex code (type L to list codes): 82 Changed system type of partition 2 to 82 (Linux swap)


 * The 3rd and final partition will take the remainder of the disk.

Command (m for help): n Command action e extended p primary partition (1-4) p Partition number (1-4): 3 First cylinder ( -, default ): Using default value   Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1- ), default ):  Using default value  
 * Now print the partition table and verify that there are 3 partitions. The first one should be marked as bootable, the second should be the swap partition, the the last should just have the remainder.  To check this just type p at the prompt

Command (m for help): p


 * The partitions are created and need to be saved

Command (m for help): w


 * Now it's time to make the filesystems:
 * Format the file system on the system partition:


 * 1) mkfs -j /dev/hda1


 * Format the file system on the data partition:


 * 1) mkfs -j /dev/hda3


 * Format the swap partition:


 * 1) mkswap /dev/hda2


 * Mount the system partition:


 * 1) mount /dev/hda1 /mnt

Prepare Debian

 * Transfer the fetched Debian image via FTP from another computer to the directory /mnt on the Kuro.
 * First, set the correct date in the system. (This is important since many systems start with a date of October 2004 and the tgz file has files that contain newer datestamps.)  You may have to create a symlink for date. The date is in MMDDhhmmCCYY format. For the following example, it is setting the date to September 26, 2006, 1515hrs
 * 1) ln -s /bin/busybox /bin/date
 * 2) date -s "092615152006"
 * Back in the Telnet session, unpack the Debian image
 * 1) cd /mnt
 * 2) tar xvfz debian_2005_04_09_dist.tgz


 * Now is a good time to change some settings
 * Network settings


 * 1) vi etc/network/interfaces
 * Example of static address interface settings

auto eth0 lo iface eth0 inet static address 192.168.0.100 network 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255 gateway 192.168.0.1 iface lo inet loopback
 * Example of dynamic address interface settings

auto eth0 lo iface eth0 inet dhcp iface lo inet loopback


 * If a static address is used, you might want to change resolv,conf


 * 1) vi etc/resolv.conf

search nameserver 


 * Change your hostname:


 * 1) vi etc/hostname

Jeeves


 * Update your hosts file with your new IP & hostname (if using static IP)


 * 1) vi etc/hosts

127.0.0.1 localhost 192.168.0.100 Jeeves

[It has been reported that FTP (proftpd) will not work unless the hosts file matches your hostname.]
 * Have a look at the hosts.allow file to make sure you will not be able to login again


 * 1) vi etc/hosts.allow
 * There you should add your network :

ALL : 192.168.x.0/255.255.255.0 ALL : 127.0.0.1

(Note - I just got a kurobox, and write_ok was not required at this stage, booted straight up into Debian)
 * Reboot the Kuro
 * 1) write_ok (This is IMPORTANT! Kurobox will not leave EM mode on reboot unless you do this command)
 * 2) reboot

The first boot of debian:
Because of the user root has no right to telnet in you have to use the user tmp-kun with the password tmp-kun. After you logged in as tmp-kun you may su to the root-user and the password root

For editing and some lowend terminal you should set your terminal-enviroment to vt100
 * 1) export TERM=vt100

For security-reasons you should add your own personal user with
 * 1) adduser

delete the standard-user tmp-kun (exit and logout first, login as new user then SU) with
 * 1) deluser tmp-kun

Set a new password for root while you are logged in as root
 * 1) passwd

If this is a new Kuro, you should set the correct time and date.
 * 1) date                 <to display the current date and time


 * 1) date [MMDDhhmmCCYY]  <to change (minus the brackets of course)

Change the Time Zone as well.
 * 1) tzconfig

The Debain woody packages have been archived. Update your /etc/apt/sources.list to include this line deb http://archive.debian.org/debian-archive/debian/ woody main contrib non-free

Now you can update the debian-package list via
 * 1) apt-get update

and then update your currently installed packages via
 * 1) apt-get upgrade

Debian seems to use a little amount of memory in the Kurobox:

14:04:40 up 1:06, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 23 processes: 22 sleeping, 1 running, 0 zombie, 0 stopped CPU states: 1.0% user, 1.4% system, 0.0% nice, 97.6% idle Mem: 127088K total, 61644K used, 65444K free, 1508K buffers Swap: 265064K total, 0K used, 265064K free, 48800K cached
 * 1) top

What to do from now
For more information on how to tune your new Debian system, check Debian on the Kurobox