This guide will guide you through the steps of installing Debian GNU/Linux “etch” on an OLPC XO-1, and get it online with functioning apt package system.

From there you can install a windowing system, or upgrade your edition of Debian.

There exists guides on the official OLPC website, but they are outdated and have broken links. This page aims to update the documentation from the official source, until the official document is updated. This page will link to local sources, so as long as this page is up, so are all the required resources for downloads etc.

This documentation assumes that you are running a clean install of OLPC XO-1 software, but should work on a system with at least 300 MB free space on the system disk. If you are having issues with any steps documented before booting into Debian, try reimaging the OLPC XO-1 software with version 8.2.0 (also known as build 767). Follow the instructions here under Offline upgrade to reinstall the operating system. All existing files on the OLPC will be erased!

Follow the steps outlined here: Installing Debian as an upgrade mirror of aforementioned document. Please note the changes for some steps you may need to follow outlined below.

In Step 1, if you do not have a pre-existing Debian system, you may want to download a prebuilt bootstrap package: xo-debian.tgz Right-click the link and shift-click “Save As” if the file doesn't download automatically.

In Step 2, the TAR command will probably not work as documented. Use the following command instead:

# tar xzf /media/*/xo-debian.tgz

• Boot into Debian and log-in as root.
• Run the following commands:

  $ modprobe usb8xxx
  $ iwconfig eth0 essid "<SSID>" key "s:<PASSWORD>"

Replace <SSID> and <PASSWORD> with respective values

To connect to WIFI (WPA or WPA2):

- Copy to root of a FAT32 formatted USB stick:

1. wpasupplicant_05.5.5-2_i386.deb 
2. libdbus-1-3_1.0.2-1+etch3_i386.deb

- Connect USB stick to OLPC and mount it:

$ mkdir /media/usb
$ mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /media/usb

- Install packages:

$ cd /media/usb/
$ dpkg --install wpasupplicant_05.5.5-2_i386.deb 
$ dpkg --install libdbus-1-3_1.0.2-1+etch3_i386.deb

- Create wpa_supplicant.conf:

$ wpa_passphrase "<SSID>" "<PASSWORD>" | tee /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

Replace <SSID> and <PASSWORD> with respective values

- Add the following lines to /etc/network/interfaces:

  auto lo
  iface lo inet loopback

- Connect to WIFI:

$ modprobe usb8xxx
$ wpa_supplicant -B -Dwext -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -i eth0
$ dhclient eth0

- Test by pinging 8.8.8.8 and www.google.com

- If previous test worked, automate WIFI connection on startup:

Create /root/wifion.sh:

  #!/bin/bash
  #
  wpa_supplicant -B -Dwext -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -i eth0
  dhclient eth0

Make executable:

$ chmod 770 wifion.sh

Create symbolic link to wifion.sh:

$ ln -s /root/wifion.sh /etc/rc2.d/S99wifion

Restore apt-get functionality for “etch”:

- Open /etc/apt/sources.list and replace the first line with the following:

deb http://archive.kernel.org/debian-archive/debian etch main

- Run the following commands:

$ aptitude install debian-archive-keyring
$ apt-get update