I installed Debian/squeeze/6.0 on my new fitpc2 without problems:

• You need an USB stick and a wired ethernet connection for installation.
• Wireless network connections can be enabled after installation, see below.
• The video driver is detected automatically.

Older posts indicated problems with the wireless connection and with the video driver. I did not experience any such problems. Most likely, the necessary drivers have been added to the main distribution.

Preparation: Create Installation USB stick
See: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEeePC/HowTo/InstallUsingStandardInstaller

Login to an existing Linux system as root and find out the correct device name for your USB stick:

The above command shows all your drives. By comparing the output of the two calls, you can find out how the newly added USB stick is called. In my case, it is: /dev/sda

Download the Squeeze netinst ISO image from http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/ . Choose the i386 image.

Write the image to your empty USB drive:

In the above line, I need to replace sdX by sda --- use the correct drive for your USB stick.

Now, insert the USB stick into the fitpc2 and switch on the fitpc2. You may have to configure the boot sequence to enable booting from USB drives (press F2 after power on to enter the BIOS configuration).

Installation
The installation preceeds normally --- like any Debian installation. Because the wifi chip requires a proprietary driver (details below) you cannot use the wifi connection for the installation: you need a wired network connection for that.

X-Windows/graphics (updated)
You may either select a pre-defined package bundle (e.g. "Desktop") or hand-pick each package that you want. I tried both approaches:

The "desktop" installation needs about 2.5 GB disk space for a selection of desktop applications. It recognizes the video chip correctly.

Alternatively, I started with a minimal installation and added the "xorg" package (X-Windows system; correctly recognizes the video chip) and a window manager (I like "awesome" but your mileage may vary). Again, the video chip is detected automatically.

Of course, if you use your Fit-PC2 as a server, neither desktop applications nor windows manager are necessary.

Wifi wireless networking (updated)
See: http://wiki.debian.org/rt2860sta

As of now, there is no free driver available for your chip. You need to add the propriary driver. (Note: There is now active development for a free wifi driver for Intel chips. Maybe by the time you are reading this, this driver is already included into debian and you may not need the proprietary driver.)

Edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list and add the following line:

Note: you may use the same server as you use for your other package repositories.

After saving the changed file, execute the following two commands as root:

I use the network-manager package to configure the wireless connection. If this is not already installed, you can install it like this:

You may have to reboot the fit-PC2 after installing these packages before you can use them.

The network manager adds a small icon to the systems tray. If it is not automatically started, open a xterm and run:

After this installation, I was able to use the wireless connection.

How is the video driver working? Can you play 1080P movie or even get compiz working with it?

Personally, I don't view videos --- just light XWindows usage and web browsing. For this, the video driver certainly works fine. Sorry that I cannot help with more information regarding your question.

That's fine. I'm dual-booting Debian 6.0.1 and Mint 9 now. You installation guide is very helpful.

Hi WRC4,


So, did you succeed with 1080P movies and with the compiz installation on Debian? Your feedback may help others that have the same quesion. Please give a short status update...

You know, since I'm dual booting, I haven't even tried making those work under Debian 6. However, I'm trying to figure out an issue with my setup, which is when I shutdown from within Mint, sometimes the machine will not turn off. The screen will be blank but the Power LED remains on. Anyway, this might be unrelated to the topic.

One question to yaakov - did you install your Debian on HD or SSD?

Thanks,

Emil

I installed it on HD (my fitpc2 has HD and no SSD).

Do you know if there any trouble expected with the SSD version?
Debian Squeeze

So far, I have never used SSD --- so I don't know. From what I read in this forum and on the web, I would guess:

• FitPC2 follows normal PC standards (with high quality). What works for "normal" PCs should also work for the FitPC2.
• Debian seems to work on SSD "out of the box". A quick google showed for instance: http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2011/03/msg02117.html (please read the follow-ups and google by yourself).
• It seems to be advisable to reduce the write activity to avoid wearing out your SSD quickly. See, e.g.: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEeePC/TipsAndTricks?highlight=(ssd)#Extending_flash_memory_life --- again, please do your own research rather than trusting me.