fit-PC1, fit-PC Slim Users Forum

alex · Joined: 05 Sep 2007 Posts: 2

Has anyone tried to run RHEL or CentOS (preferrably 4.x) on the system?
Thanks, Alex

arwen · Joined: 20 May 2008 Posts: 11

My first attempt to load RHEL 5.1 failed.

I grabed a USB image off the install CD-ROM and put it on a compact flash card via a
USB to compact flash card reader. Then put it on the fit-PC. The BIOS did not recognize it.
The preloaded Gentoo did find and mount it.

Will see about using a more normal USB flash drive.
_________________
Arwen Evenstar

arwen · Joined: 20 May 2008 Posts: 11

I tried installing the following on my fitPC using the first CD-ROM image as the boot
media, then using NFS installation method, (which works for another system).

RHEL5.0
RHEL5.1
RHEL5.2

All got past the install GUI part, but when it came to loading the software, all 3 crashed
with similar errors. So I quit that, and tried the Gentoo image from fit-PC, and that worked
fine. More to learn, but it works and costs only a burned CD-ROM.

P.S. I have official RHEL5.x licenses for another box, and would have purchased a new
license for my fit-PC. But, I'm glad I tried it out first.
_________________
Arwen Evenstar

actually_mr_goll · Joined: 21 Jun 2008 Posts: 1

I first plugged in my laptop hard disk into the fitpc which has Fedora core 6 i686 installed already - and that ran like a charm, so:

I got a new hard disk (WDC 250GB pata 2.5") , put that in a 1GHz Intel P3 box (with a 2.5->3.5 inch ide adapter), plugged in a DVD, ran the default install. Once completed powered down the box, and removed the said disk.

Plugged that carefully inplace of the Hitatchi model in the FitPC, and hey-presto, it booted with ease. Disabled a few of the services, so all I am left with is :

apmd
crond
iptables
network
smartd
sshd
syslog

and that takes up 48628k (30 running processes), leaving 186648 free for a few apache's, mysql, and a few cronjobs.

for anybody readind this thread (like i did before i purchased), the disk io (hdparm -tT /dev/hda1) is OK :
380MB/s and 30MB/s respectively - which I have heard is comparable with the MAC mini.

arturolix · Joined: 31 Jul 2008 Posts: 1

Hello,

I have installed Centos 5.2 in fit-pc in way similar to the one indicated by actually_mr_goll; it is, installing in a new HD in a P3 box, and replacing with it fit-pc HD.

It runs great !!! Very Happy

yogev_ezra · Joined: 16 Nov 2008 Posts: 143

Indeed when you try to install CentOS 5.2 directly on Fit-PC via native network installation CD ISO image, or via native 6-CD ISO disks, then during kernel boot-up at the installation time, you get an error Kernel Panic "unable to mount root fs..." and the system hangs.

However not everybody has a spare laptop to plug in the 2.5" IDE disk there, so I needed another approach to install CentOS. Also I have Linux only at work computers (servers), and I cannot use them as I like - they are only permitted to be used for work-related matters. So I had to get along with my own computer which runs WindowsXP.

1) I got a USB pen drive (SanDisk Micro Cruzer 2GB, but any USB pen with 1GB or more should do).

2) Downloaded "diskboot.img" from one of CentOS 5.2 mirrors.
Since I am in Israel, then the mirror closest to me was http://centos.spd.co.il/5.2/os/i386/images/

3) Downloaded "dd" tool for Windows from http://www.chrysocome.net/dd (dd-0.5.zip)

4) Inserted the USB pen into my computer, and used "dd" to write the raw "diskboot.img" onto it (at command prompt):
c:\> dd if=diskboot.img of=\\.\f:
(F: is the letter that WindowsXP gave to my USB pen when I plugged it in. You might get another letter of course).
This process takes quite long time compared to plain file copy to the USB pen. I waited at least 5 minutes during which the command prompt was stuck and the USB pen was inaccessible. After dd was completed, I was able to see the contents of the USB pen in WindowsXP.

5) Plugged the USB pen and network cable into Fit-PC, and turned it on. In BIOS set the drive C: to be NAND-Flash and the first boot to be from drive C: . Saved to CMOS and exited.

6) CentOS 5.2 boot menu appeared with "Boot:" prompt.
I pressed F3 to get to advanced options, and typed: "linux askmethod" to get the option to install via network.

7) After the kernel booted, I was prompted to select my language, keyboard and then the boot method. I selected HTTP and then followed this article from "STEP 2":
http://www.zoneminder.com/wiki/index.php/CentOS

Note that getting installation files over network takes a lot of time, so you might think sometimes that the Fit-PC is stuck, but it's not so. You can use CTRL+ALT+F3 and CTRL+ALT+F4 to watch the console messages while the files are downloaded. Go back to the installation screen by CTRL+ALT+F1

yogev_ezra · Joined: 16 Nov 2008 Posts: 143

It seems that I was too fast on conclusions Sad

When I used the above method, the Kernel Panic error did not occur and I was able to do all the configuration and package selection, but when it started the actual installation, I got another error Sad

yogev_ezra · Joined: 16 Nov 2008 Posts: 143

Providing "rpmarch=i686" at the boot time allowed downloading all the packages but when the installation started, it still failed with another error: package for incorrect arch

This is also documented in: http://bugs.centos.org/view.php?id=2552&nbn=6

Apparently there is no known way to install CentOS 5 (5.0 / 5.1 / 5.2) on Fit-PC without using your laptop as a temporary installation platform. I have no spare laptop I can waste, so it's a stopover for me here. I am thinking whether to try CentOS 4.7 installation, or to move to Ubuntu right now...

yogev_ezra · Joined: 16 Nov 2008 Posts: 143

CentOS 4.7 (i586 kernel) installed flawlessly using the method I described above (dd the "diskboot.img" on USB stick then do install over HTTP). I hope it will be stable. But I still want to patch the AMD Geode-specific drivers onto this kernel. I will update here how it goes.

EDIT: The AMD Geode drivers I am talking about:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/ConnectivitySolutions/ProductInformation/0,,50_2330_9863_11363,00.html
No idea if they are really needed, will they improve performance or only harm the installation?

yogev_ezra · Joined: 16 Nov 2008 Posts: 143

After finishing with all the AMD patches... and oh my G-d it took forever to apply all of them as AMD documentation is not the best Embarassed

... I tried to compile linux-uvc drivers (for the UVC V4L2 camera - Logitech Orbit MP) - only to find that kernel is too old Sad

I tried with both original CentOS 4.7 kernel 2.6.9 and with AMD-patched kernel 2.6.11 - and in both cases the drivers cannot compile Sad

Browsing various forums through Google made me come up with information that linux-uvc drivers compile without problems only with kernel versions 2.6.15 and later...

Having said that, switching to Ubuntu will be my last resort when all other options are not possible, so my brother lent me an old laptop without warranty, which I can open and plug there the SSD Transcend HD without breaking the warranty. Then I could try to install CentOS 5.2 there as people here did, and later move the HD back to Fit-PC. I will definitely update you with my progress Smile

yogev_ezra · Joined: 16 Nov 2008 Posts: 143

I used my brother's old laptop to install CentOS 5.2 on the SSD hard disk, as people above described. This worked. ZoneMinder installation also worked, but ZoneMinder does not display the camera output correctly. However this is already CentOS 5.2 and/or ZoneMinder problem, not related to Fit-PC. I will try more when I have more time...
_________________
Green Gadgets LTD
Official Fit-PC distributor in Israel
http://www.fit-pc.co.il

yhfung · Joined: 08 Mar 2010 Posts: 1

How about the new CentOS 5.4? Is the installation completed without any problem?

YH