Format CF card then install debian base system.

fdisk /dev/sdb
mkfs.ext2 /dev/sdb1
mkdir /mnt/cf
mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/cf
debootstrap --arch i386 wheezy /mnt/cf http://ftp.fr.debian.org/debian

Chroot on the target OS

mount -t proc none /mnt/cf/proc
mount -t sysfs none /mnt/cf/sys
mount -o bind /dev /mnt/cf/dev/
LC_ALL=C chroot /mnt/cf /bin/bash
mount devpts /dev/pts -t devpts

Add noatime to every FS in /etc/fstab to reduce CF card wear level.

Disables the internal getty instances in /etc/inittab and replace it by

T0:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 38400 vt102

Grub: preparations Install the grub package on the CF and create the file menu.lst, which will be used later on. Don’t configure grub at this stage.

apt-get install grub
cp /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/* /boot/grub

Create /boot/grub/menu.lst (flash card will be sda on Alix):

default 0
timeout 5

serial --unit=0 --speed=38400 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1
terminal --timeout=5 serial console

title Debian
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 ro console=ttyS0,38400n8
initrd /boot/initrd.img

Install custom kernel kernel

Change the root password:

passwd root

Disable udev network interface rules:

rm /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules
chmod 444 /lib/udev/write_net_rules

Configure the locale to en_US.UTF-8:

apt-get install locales
dpkg-reconfigure locales

Create the file setlocale.sh in /etc/profile.d, with the following contents:

#!/bin/bash
export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

Exit the chroot & umount special filesystems

umount /dev/pts
exit
umount /mnt/cf/proc
umount /mnt/cf/sys
umount /mnt/cf/dev/
umount /mnt/cf

Install grub in the MBR & umount the flash card:

grub-install --no-floppy --root-directory=/mnt/cf /dev/sdb
umount /mnt/cf

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="console=tty1 console=ttyS0,38400n8"
GRUB_TERMINAL="serial"
GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND="serial --speed=38400 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1"