I would like to see your notes on installing on the ALIX SBC as well. * Keith Lofstrom <[email protected]> [2009-01-06 10:04:32 -0800]:
> On Tue, Jan 06, 2009 at 09:48:43AM -0600, Glenn Horton-Smith wrote: > > > We recently needed a small PC for a slow monitoring application, and ended > > up getting an Asus Eee PC 1000 HD mini notebook. An SBD like the ALIX 2D3 > > would have been another option, but we liked that the Eee came with its own > > monitor, hard drive, and integrated "uninterruptible power supply" (i.e., > > batteries). We just got it yesterday, still trying to figure out whether to > > stick with the preinstalled Xandros OS or try installing SL instead. > > Glenn - I hope you don't mind me sharing this on the list. I think > we will get some useful contributions from others. > > > First, an interesting idea for the ALIX: the input power supply > will run on the 12 to 14 volts from a car battery. Hence, you > could use an ALIX with a battery, a solar panel and a miniPCI > wifi card with a high gain antenna, and you have something that > you can place miles from the power grid. That would be hard to > do with an EEE, though if wall power is available 23.9x7 the > EEE is an easier way to get the job done. Either way, you get > to run the same software. > > > Second, regards the EEE: I help run a monthly Linux Clinic. One > of our "clients" brought in a pair of ASUS EEE PCs, one with the > preinstalled Xandros on a solid state drive, and another with > preinstalled WinXP on a SATA hard drive. We blew away the XP > and installed Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy. We ran into a problem with > networking - the built-in CAT5 and wireless ethernet interfaces > were not handled by the drivers provided with Ubuntu. We limped > through the install and updating with USB ethernet and USB > wireless (using a cheap ZyDAS wireless adapter). The client > found drivers for the native hardware. > > I suggest that you make an external image of the Xandros drive, or > else set the machine up dual boot, so you can pull drivers from it > as necessary. If it is a SATA drive, you can replace it with a > similarly-sized spare and install SL5 on that. The Ubuntu 8.04 > kernel and x.org are about a year more advanced than SL5, so there > may be more driver problems with SL5, but these can be fixed. > > The EEE PC is just the thing for what you want to do - it would > be better for many applications than the ALIX. And SL5 is a > much better distro for any kind of scientific work. In fact, I > am planning to purchase an EEE Box (not the microlaptop, but the > hardback-sized computer box) for my wife's office, to replace > the power-hungry and unreliable Shuttle ITX system she has now - > and of course I will run SL5 on it. > > So please share your own experiences with the SL5 install. Given > the positive response I've gotten (especially from Troy - Oh boy, > I get to pay back a little!) I plan to put the ALIX instructions > on my wiki at wiki.keithl.com. You are welcome to use that if > KSU Physics doesn't already have a good place for your own > contributions. At the very least, we will link to each other! > > Keith > > -- > Keith Lofstrom [email protected] Voice (503)-520-1993 > KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon" > Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs > -- Dan McDaniel 703-367-1753 Key fingerprint = 1F40 FADD 9F23 2AAF 5D33 E037 CFF5 25E9 A53F 184F
