Debian Linux on Via Epia

Well, it’s working for some time now. It has been adopted as my home server, including:

• internet gateway (IPFilter, DHCP, Bind)
• web serwer (Lighttpd)
• file server (vsftpd)

and sometimes

• desktop (Gnome)

Everyting is OK with default installation. Now is the time to get some of the build in hardware features working.

I’ve done some reading and it seems that most of CPU features are available in newest kernel. So I downloaded archives and started playing. I found that there is support for C3 processor based encryption. So I’m going to build own kernel with the support of http://kernelnewbies.org/ website. Wish me luck :-).

Debian installation from USB stick

I gave up the idea of setting up Solaris as my home router/server OS. It seems that I don’t have enough RAM. Actually I have 512MB, and I’m able to install Solaris, but to comfort work it’s just too few.

And now I have Debian. It was quite an adventure. I didn’t want to turn off my PC to borrow
one of DVD drives, so I decided to install it from USB stick (pen drive). Ok… how? Simply copying data from ISO image is not enough.

First, prepare your USB drive. Unmount if mounted automatically. Then:

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
sudo mkdosfs /dev/sda1

Make sure /dev/sda1 is actually your targeted USB device. Before above steps you can make sure wich /dev to use:

sudo mount

on the bottom you should see your device.

Install:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install syslinux mtools

Then:

syslinux /dev/sda1

Now download necessary files:

ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/etch/main/installer-i386/20070308/images/hd-media/gtk/

and appropriate ISO image, eg:

http://ftp.icm.edu.pl/pub/Linux/debian-cd/current/i386/iso-cd/debian-40r0-i386-kde-CD-1.iso

I have 1GB pen drive, so one CD fits for me, but you can choose smaller ISOs: netinst ot bussinescard.

Copy those files to your USB drive:

sudo copy source_file target_file

eg:

copy /tmp/downloads/vmlinuz /mnt/vmlinuz

Additionally you have to have syslinux configuration file:

sudo touch /mnt/syslinux.cfg
nano /mnt/syslinux.cfg

and paste the following:

default vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.gz

Your USB installation media is ready, unmount:

sudo umount /mnt

Set up BIOS on machine you’re about to install Debian to boot from USB-ZIP and you’re done.

NOTE: I didn’t use packages from ISO shown in example only. I’ve done mixed installation ISO + remote (network) repository (mirror). You will have this option available during your own installation so no additional steps in this how-to are necessary.

Bonus: graph showing network usage during Debian mixed installation.

Mini PC parts

I’m building own mini PC variant. The main idea behind this project is to build completly silent and fail safe computer. So the less moving parts the better. And of course it has to be small. It will be home router, web server, etc, and in future home media center. I have to buy slim, slotted DVD drive and set up operating system first. I think it will be Solaris (media center? lol). I chose Via Epia mainboard, model EN15000G. If I had more money I’d buy nano-ITX mainboar (12×12) so I could build PC even smaller than Mac Mini for about 4cm! Well… power supply is PicoPSU, very cool, completly silent and very efficient. It’s the smalles power supply I have seen. The AC adapter is 12V 5A from my Iiyama LCD panel, I replaced it with LG’s 12V 3,5A which is enough. Memory will be: 60GB, 2,5″ and 7200RPM hard disk from Hitachi/IBM plus 512MB of RAM (PC3200/400MHz Hynix/IBM). That’s it!

I already tested this hardware configuration, and it’s working great! Windows with all Via’s drivers and software is booting up from power to clean desktop in 42 seconds. Now i’m preparing to build computer case. First I have to buy some materials and tools. I have so many ideas for this case. I don’t know where to start. Probably there where the costs are smallest.

Below some photos of my new hardware.