My first post, i hope will be helpful to someone setting up their Lappy for Debian
I am a total n00b at this so here go's ....
Spec's : Presario 2500 (2543AH)
RAM : 512mb
Vid : Onboard ATI IGP 340M
Network: Belkin 54g Wireless CardBus (F5D7010au)
40 gig HDD
128 Lexar JumpDrive
USB Belkin Mouse
Debian Install 3.1R0A CD1
I think thats all of it
INSTALL:
Ok well first thing i did was throw the disc in
then i had a small problem booting .. i found if i just hit enter at the boot screen the start-up would freeze up at the device finding area... So to fix this i typed in linux26 to boot up the 2.6X kernel ...this went well ...basically i did the default install..setting up my root pass etc and user name and pass etc. Made apt-get to access the disk to get other installs needed laterafter the install was finished it rebooted and then i logged in as root and @ the console typed in aptitude this will allow you to install x11 and a desktop (kde) plus other installs you might want
After i did the installs i wanted, then i exit out of root and login as user.. Then @ the console typed in startx this will start up kde and give you your pretty desktop after setting kde up lang, region etc. Ok at here your done with a very basic set up will do if thats what your happy with.
If you want to add more to your debian lappy ... i edited the /etc/apt/source.list ... so it looks likes this
#deb file:///cdrom/ sarge main
deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 r0a _Sarge_ - Official i386 Binary-1 (20050607)]/ unstable contrib main
deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free
deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main non-free contrib
deb-src http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main non-free contrib
Then was able to use KPackage Manager to update and even upgrade .. No problems at all
NETWORK:
Ok this is the main reason for my post ...as i found i had the most problem with this ok you need (for belkin 54g wireless) ndiswrapper (use KPackage to find ndiswrapper and install that way ..nice and easy or go Here ) plus the Windows Broadcomm drivers.. [http://www.users.on.net/~hegan1/Belkin3/]Here[/url] basically you need the bcmwl5a.inf in ir directory (dell/drivers/r76521/ir) download the whole folder... i tried downloading the single file but i think other files may be needed as well....
Ok so you've install ndiswrapper (to check ... open a termial as su and type ndiswr hit TAB and it should finsh the word ndiswrapper if so you're all set ) and you have the dell drivers ok now in a termial as su type in ndiswrapper -i [where your bcmwl5a.inf file is eg: /home/kills/dell/drivers/r76521/ir/bcmwl5a.inf] if all go's well it will return no errors ...
1.Now in the same termial type in modprobe ndiswrapper this will make the green light on your cardbus light up
2.Now in the same termial type in iwconfig wlan0 essid [name of lan/network eg: WLAN]( i have tried 'any' in the essid setting but doesn't seem to work for me )
3.Now in the same termial type in iwconfig wlan0 channel [channel which the lan/network eg: 11
4.Now in the same termial type in dhclient
This works first time for me ...and found this is all i had to do. The main problem i had with this was that everytime i had to reboot (not offen..me hugs linux) all the setting had to be reset ..and the belkin card didn't light up on starting ... so i had to keep redoing steps 1-4 to get it up and going each time (always as su/root) but i decided that i was too lazy each time to do this so i decide to make it happen on start up
To do this i had to make a shell script and get it to run on start up
Ok i am a n00b and i'm sure there is a easy way to do this but this is how i did it ....
ok first i reboot ...when you get to the kde login screen on the right is a drop down tab which lets you drop back to a console/command line. Do this and login in as root type in startx (this is the nice visual way ) now go to the init.d folder (/etc/init.d) look for the networking file copy and paste it back in the same folder (will say folder has file the same name ... i changed it to networking_1, make 3 it total eg:networking_2 etc etc. ) now open a termial and type in vim /etc/init.d/networking_1 edit the file so it looks like this
#!/bin/sh
#
# manage network wireless-interfaces and starting up the network
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
modprobe ndiswrapper
exit 0
OK now in the 2nd file (networking_2) edit it so it looks like this
#!/bin/sh
#
# manage network wireless-interfaces and starting up the network
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
iwconfig wlan0 essid [Your lan/network HERE]
exit 0
Ok now in the 3rd file (networking_3) edit it so it looks like this
#!/bin/sh
#
# manage network wireless-interfaces and starting up the network
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
dhclient
exit 0
Ok nearly there in the termial type in update-rc.d networking_1 defaults 20
Do the same for networking_2 and 3
Ok that should be it ...try it out reboot and see if it all starts up ...mine did
As stated i am very new to this but you do have some problems feel free to ask and i'll try and help you out ...or if you have advice for me to make it easier please let me know.
I have also been able to get the usb JumpDrive going as well but will add it only if there is any interest
hehehe oh well still much to learn