fresh install
Because my Dell laptop install was an older version of the debian
installer that didn't support partition encryption, and because I
needed to use a different driver for the PCMCIA card, and because
installing Debian is fun, I decided to reinstall from scratch.
Mostly because I like the idea of an encrypted home
partition.
I noticed on my backup desktop that sometimes the encryption failed
with a slightly uninformative error along the lines of "Unable to
encrypt partition", but this time around I found that if you create
all your partitions first, but do not assign them any mount points,
then select the one you wish to encrypt and configure that, before
you have enabled a swap or root partition, that the encryption
process works without any errors.
I don't know why this is, but it works for me, YMMV.
Once that was done, I got through the rest of the installation and
after logging in for the first time I issued my first
super-duper-command, specially designed to get me everything I need
on a linux box:
apt-get install linux-image-2.6.18-1-686 linux-source-2.6.18 linux-doc-2.6.18
linux-headers-2.6.18-686 module-assistant build-essential gdb manpages-dev
autoconf automake1.9 libtool flex bison gnu-standards make gcc debhelper cvs
nvidia-glx modconf xfce4 gdm xorg apt-listbugs apt-listchanges debian-goodies
reportbug grep-dctrl devscripts devscripts-el lintian pbuilder w3m-el debian-el
dictionary-el emacs-goodies-el dpkg-dev-el emacs-snapshot-el mplayer acidrip
mpg123 vorbis-tools wodim transcode cplay grip k3b libdvdcss2 libdvdnav4
alsa-utils alsamixergui sox dvd+rw-tools cdparanoia lame lame-extras
quicktime-utils bongo diveintopython rubybook rutebook autobook elisp-manual
ebook-dev-alp devhelp zsh-beta-doc gdb-doc autoconf-doc libtool-doc make-doc
gcc-doc newbiedoc debian-reference emacs-lisp-intro glibc-doc apt-howto-en
glibc-doc-reference apt-doc gimp-help-en gimp-helpbrowser tar-doc
sysadmin-guide w3-doc-e21 transcode-doc automake1.9-doc foobillard bzflag
bzflag-server flightgear htop pciutils usbutils aspell dictd ntpdate
wamerican-large dict-moby-thesaurus dict-foldoc dict-gcide dict-jargon
spellutils unclutter mail-notification aspell-en ssh-askpass gaim irssi
irssi-scripts w3m firefox libflash-mozplugin mozilla-mplayer sun-java5-plugin
sun-java5-jre sun-java5-fonts msttcorefonts ttf-larabie-deco
ttf-larabie-straight ttf-larabie-uncommon ttf-mikachan ttf-xfree86-nonfree
ttf-bitstream-vera x-ttcidfont-conf ttf-dustin ttf-freefont ttf-gentium
ttf-summersby ttf-isabella ttf-mgopen ttf-opensymbol ttf-staypuft
xfonts-cyrillic xfonts-artwiz xfonts-75dpi-transcoded xfonts-100dpi-transcoded
imagemagick gimp gftp evince bittorrent nanoblogger
Next up was the new wireless driver, the card, a Netgear Wg511 V2,
uses the ndiswrapper module.
m-a prepare ndiswrapper
(insert Windows CDROM)
mount /media/cdrom0
cd /media/cdrom0/Windows
sudo ndiswrapper -i Windows\ ME/WG511v2.INF
[aec@supergrass:~/wg511v2/Driver]% sudo ndiswrapper -l
Installed drivers:
wg511v2 driver installed, hardware present
sudo insmod /lib/modules/2.6.18-1-686/misc/lib/modules/2.6.18-1-686/misc/ndiswrapper.ko
(then add ndsiwrapper to the last line of /etc/modules)
Tonight I will reconfigure my router to accept this new MAC address
and hopefully the thing will work, allowing me to once again lay on
the couch downstairs whilst doing the email/irc/surfing
thing.