  The metal-insulator transition observed in the In/Si(111)-4x1 reconstruction
is studied by means of ab initio calculations of a simplified model of the
surface. Different surface bands are identified and classified according to
their origin and their response to several structural distortions. We support
the, recently proposed [New J. of Phys. 7 (2005) 100], combination of a shear
and a Peierls distortions as the origin of the metal-insulator transition. Our
results also seem to favor an electronic driving force for the transition.
