Many instructions here are mirrored from Toby Schneider's instructions at http://gobysoft.org/wiki/InstallOnGumstixOvero.  

Root filesystem preparation

Follow these steps to create a debian wheezy root filesystem.  In this section we will use # host to indicate commands run on the host machine, and # chroot for commands commands run inside the chroot filesystem.  

  1. Install dependencies:

    # host
sudo apt-get install multistrap qemu-user-static
  2. Pick a working folder, in this case ~/duovero
     

  3. Create a directory to hold the root filesystem:

    # host
cd ~/duovero
mkdir rootfs

  4. Create a configuration file debian.conf in ~/duovero and paste in the following.  Additional packages can be included here or installed later using apt-get.  

    [General]
arch=armel
directory=~/duovero/rootfs
retainsources=~/duovero/sources
cleanup=true
noauth=true
unpack=true
bootstrap=Wheezy Net Utils
aptsources=Wheezy

[Wheezy]
packages=apt locales udev adduser sudo nano build-essential less
source=http://debian.lcs.mit.edu/debian
suite=wheezy

[Net]
packages=netbase ifupdown iproute net-tools iputils-ping ntp
source=http://debian.lcs.mit.edu/debian

[Utils]
packages=wget
source=http://debian.lcs.mit.edu/debian

  5. Run multistrap to create the root filesystem.  

    # host
multistrap -a armel -d ~/duovero/rootfs -f debian.conf

  6. Copy the QEMU ARM emulator into the new root filesystem so it is on the path when we chroot in.  

    # host
sudo cp /usr/bin/qemu-arm-static ~/duovero/rootfs/usb/bin/

  7. (Optional) If you need /dev/random (for installing openssh-server for example), mount /dev in the chroot.  

    # host
sudo mount -o bind /dev ~/gumstix/rootfs/dev

  8. Chroot into the new filesystem.  

    # host
sudo chroot ~/duovero/rootfs /bin/bash

  9. Finish setting up packages 

    # chroot
dpkg --configure -a

    Answer "no" when prompted to use "dash" as "/bin/sh".  If any packages fail to configure (possibly ifupdown), just run dpkg again.  

  10. Set the root user password.

    # chroot
passwd

  11. (Optional) Add a new user and give it sudo permissions 

    # chroot
adduser mit
printf "mit     ALL=(ALL) ALL" >> /etc/sudoers

  12. Configure locales.  Choose 136 for en_US.UTF-8.  

    # chroot
dpkg-reconfigure locales

  13. Add a DNS server 

    # chroot
printf "nameserver 8.8.8.8" > /etc/resolv.conf

  14. Add a static network entry for eth0 (install the isc-dhcp-client package for dhcp support) 

    # chroot
nano /etc/network/interfaces
 
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.102
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1

  15. Restart networking to apply the new interface. 

    # chroot
/etc/init.d/networking restart

    This might yield an error, but try pinging something anyways and it should work.  
     

  16. Update the apt repositories 

    # chroot
apt-get update

  17. Assign a hostname and update the hosts file 

    # chroot
printf "nostromo" > /etc/hostname
printf "127.0.0.1   nostromo\n" >> /etc/hosts

  18. Add the serial console (specific to gumstix overo and duovero) 

    # chroot
printf "T0:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty -L 115200 ttyO2 vt102\n" >> /etc/inittab

  19. Add a proc filesystem to fstab 

    # chroot
nano /etc/fstab
 
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0