Edited 10.8.2011: Updated the howto because there were some errors and missing info.

UPDATE 0: I have now added some stuff into the howto. It looks pretty messy but if you read carefully and slowly then you should understand :) I have added some UPDATEs and NOTEs in some parts to give more important info.

UPDATE 1: The part 2. Download boot files is NOT NEEDED! Because we dont use them anywhere :) The script provided will download the files from elsewhere.

UPDATE 2: This post tells you to create boot partition for external SD card but we wont actually copy anything to it. I havent tested to install Debian on external SD card without the boot partition so proceed as guided.

UPDATE 3: There will be fixed and properly tested howto for this in some time..maby after the holidays :) Meanwhile use this as it is..it SHOULD work!

UPDATE 4: It is possible to install Debian on the external card without making and extra boot partition. Also we do not need the uImage to get it up and running.

UPDATE 5: I havent tested wlan, blutooth etc, just the installation!

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This little guide tells howto install Debian on Dreamplugs external SD memory card. And now we are talking about fresh Debian installation, not the image from Globalscale!

I wrote about the Dreamplug in finnish few months ago when I was waiting for the NewIT forums to process my forum registeration. Now 1,5months later I still haven't got the accept to the forums so I decided to write this in english too!

So the problems is that the Dreamplugs internal memory card includes only Ubuntu 9.04 which is veeeery old. Of course you want to update it and maby install some other OS in it. I wanted this also, but I was too afraid to "brick my plug" so I decided to find a way to install the other OS to the external SD card.

Globalscale technologies also offer ready Debian packages which can be relatively easily installed to the internal card. Get them here.

Changing the operating system of Dreamplug

Here are the quick notes how I installed Debian on the Dreamplugs external SD card using working Linux laptop. NOTE:JTAG module is required!

1. Prepare the SD card

UPDATE:Actually the SD card does NOT NEED two seperate partitions. It works also with one normal ext3 partition. No need to make it bootable. Just make one partition like 2-xx GB

I have 8GB SD card which is formatted (with fdisk) like this:

• /dev/sdb1 100MB boot partition (flag as bootable!)
• /dev/sdb2 on big partition with rest of the free space

Format boot partition (sdb1) as FAT32 and the other partition (sdb2) as EXT3
sudo mkdosfs -F 32 /dev/sdb1
sudo mkfs.ext3 -b 4096 /dev/sdb2

2. Download necessary boot files

THIS PART IS NOT NEEDED! SKIP SKIP!!
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We need two files for the boot partition: uInitrd and uImage. Source #1 told to get uInitrd from here: ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/squeeze/main/installer-armel/current/i...
uImage file is downloadable from the Dreamplugs Google Code site: http://code.google.com/p/dreamplug/downloads/list
SKIP ends here!!
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3. Create necessary root files for Dreamplug Debian

Nickname IvanSanchez has created a nice script for creating the root files. Here is the post about it.

The script uses Multistrap (remember to install it!) to build working Debian system files. Then the files can be copied to the external SD card.

The script uses a Multistrap configuration file which can be also downloaded from Ivan's website.

The script empties the folder /media/disk and then downloads the required files in there. Of course you can modify the script to work as you want. Make sure /media/disk exists:
mkdir /media/disk

I commented out this line from the script:
echo -e \"$rootpasswd\\n$rootpasswd\\n\" | /usr/bin/passwd root

I also commented out the section which starts like this:
echo \"Tweaks to reduce flash writes
and ends like this:
>> /etc/sysctl.conf

Commenting was done because the script did not work (no idea why) until I commented them out. Remember to make the (commented) changes after the installation is complete.

NOTE: before running the script make sure that multistrap is installed!
apt-get install multistrap
NOTE: running the script might need superuser rights. Run script as sudo for example:
sudo ./script.sh

Put the script and the multistarp.conf in the same folder and execute the script. Note: Internet access is required, because Debian files are download directly from Debian servers. At the end of this process, there should be about 300MB stuff in the /media/disk folder.

Copy the files from /media/disk to the SD cards partition /dev/sdb2
Insert the SD card in Dreamplugs external SD card slot.

UPDATE: if you have only one partition at the SD card then the partition is usually named /dev/sdb1

4. Changing the boot options of the Dreamplug

You should now read the manual provided by Globalscale about installing the Debian filesystem to the Dreamplug. The manual is available from the Google Code site.

Note: The manual provided in the site describes how the Globalscales Debian image is installed in Dreamplug. So the manual in example tells you to use different partitions. I am telling you to read the manual just to know what is going to happen next.

These are short notes, please read the official manual for more info!
Open connection to the Dreamplug from Linux computer:
sudo screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200
View current boot setup:
printenv
Default root line should look like this. Sda2 is the root partition of the default memory card(MicroSD) included in the Dreamplug.
x_bootargs_root=root=/dev/sda2 rootdelay=10
Tell Dreamplug to boot the itself from the SD cards sdb2 partition:
setenv x_bootargs_root root=/dev/sdb2 rootdelay=10
saveenv
To see the changes, use the printenv command.
Reboot the device using this command:
reset

UPDATE: If you have only one partition on the SD card, then use /dev/sdb1 !!

Dreamplugs first boot from external SD card

I recommend using the JTAG when booting first time with the new root files. This way you can see possible errors and other info messages.

If you copied the script "as-it-is" the Dreamplug LEDs should be blinking during the boot. JTAG should print some Debian package installation information. The device is booted at the end of installation.

If everything went well, you should see the normal Debian login screen. Password should be password

If you see some incorret info, please leave a comment!

Source info

Thanks to all sources!
Lähde/source 1: http://blog.davideaves.com/archives/2011/03/21/installing_debian_gnulinu...

Lähde/source 2: IvanSanchez http://www.newit.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=2073.0
Guess I own you a beer or two now :)

http://code.google.com/p/dreamplug/downloads/list
http://newit.co.uk/
http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/