Installing the Linux-libre kernel in Debian

The Debian repository does not currently provide a fully-functional Libre kernel for Loongson-based machines. The reason for that is the fact that some of the very useful changes for Yeeloong currently live in the linux-loongson-community fork, and are not integrated in the vanilla kernel from Linus Torvalds.

Due to that, I suggest to use the prebuilt kernel packages made by Linux-libre. These packages are useful in two aspects: they are deblobbed (Libre), and include the linux-loongson-community improvements.

To install this kernel, first add the following line into your /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://www.fsfla.org/download/linux-libre/lemote/gnewsense/ metad main

After that:

apt-get update
apt-cache search linux-image lemote
 
# see which kernel versions are available and choose one to install (using the latest one is usually the best)
 
apt-get install ... # your chosen kernel package

If you do not use GRUB and boot directly from PMON instead, you may also have to manually add a menu entry for the newly-installed kernel into your /boot/boot.cfg (just use the entries that are already there as a template).