Ubuntu 10.04LTS Server Edition on Diskless FitPC?

Post Reply
MikeT
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2010 10:31 am

Ubuntu 10.04LTS Server Edition on Diskless FitPC?

Post by MikeT »

Hi All,

I've been trying to get an answer from the sales people regarding running Ubuntu 10.04LTS Server Edition on a diskless FitPC but cannot get them to help me!

What I need to know is will 10.04LTS Server Edition install OK on a mini-sd card, will grub write the boot sector correctly to the sd card and will the FitPC boot from it successfully after installation?
(Remember this is a diskless unit!!)

Has anyone done this?
Could any of you that already have a FitPC try this for me?

I look forward to hearing back from you all!

Thanks.

Mike.

EDIT: Forgot to say I will be installing from a USB CDROM drive!

fly
Posts: 162
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 2:02 pm

Re: Ubuntu 10.04LTS Server Edition on Diskless FitPC?

Post by fly »

What I need to know is will 10.04LTS Server Edition install OK on a mini-sd card, will grub write the boot sector correctly to the sd card and will the FitPC boot from it successfully after installation?
(Remember this is a diskless unit!!)
I don't have a SD card (and actually I don't like SD cards; when size doesn't matter that much, i still prefer industrial grade CF cards..), but installing from an usb cdrom to an usb stick and to a usb cardreader worked flawlessly. USB installation in fixed disk mode arae even more trickier than SD booting, so it should work out for you. Even if not, fixing the boot record should not be that hard. There are some threads about SD booting, so you should check them out, too.

[1] http://www.fit-pc2.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1772
[2] http://www.fit-pc2.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1618

MikeT
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2010 10:31 am

Re: Ubuntu 10.04LTS Server Edition on Diskless FitPC?

Post by MikeT »

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.
Did you use ext3 filesystem or FAT for your USB devices?
I will be looking to use ext3 or ext4 not FAT.
Which ubuntu edition did you install, desktop or server?
Was it a LiveCD type install you did to your device or a fully installed version as would be used on a hard drive?

Thanks.

Mike.

fly
Posts: 162
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 2:02 pm

Re: Ubuntu 10.04LTS Server Edition on Diskless FitPC?

Post by fly »

Did you use ext3 filesystem or FAT for your USB devices?
I use ext3 and ext4 on all setups, with the only change to a normal install being that I mount everything with noatime. USB sticks might wear off, but industrial grade CF cards don't wear off in their planned life cycle even when used as normal desktop system. When forced to use USB pen drives or SD cards, I opt for a copy2ram solution.
Which ubuntu edition did you install, desktop or server?
Did install quite a lot of different distros and both flavors of Ubuntu - server and destop. I am currently running 10.04 destop version running as my main development unit. It is always on.
Was it a LiveCD type install you did to your device or a fully installed version as would be used on a hard drive?
It's a full installed version with the only change to norma installations is the noatime option mentioned earlier. Again: For pen drives I would use a live system / copy2ram solution. I don't know where SD cards stand, but they have yet to prove long term reliability to me.

Post Reply

Return to “Ubuntu 10.04”