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Linux on Via Mini-ITX EPIA...
Sep. 24th, 2010 08:28 pmProblem: I needed to find a Linux that'd work on a Via Mini-ITX EPIA 800 based PC I'd put together a long time ago.
Now, it already had a Linux on it, but it was a too-old version of Fedora and upgrading didn't look possible. The reason for its sorry state is that Linux has always proved problematical on this box. The first distro I installed was Mandrake 7 (I think), which worked OK. But then Mandrake 8 could only be made to work by some very cludgy intervention while it was being installed.
Whether Mandrake 9 could be made to work or not I can't remember, but I guess not, as a switch was made to Redhat at some point, and then to the old Fedora on it. (This chain of events is why I'm not a committed Linux user.)
However, recently I needed to get a modern linux working on this box. So, using live distros as the starting point, here's how things panned out...
1st attempt: Ubuntu 10.04. No go, it just loading from the CD for a long time and then nothing - just a black screen.
2nd attempt: CentOS 5.5. Even less promising than Ubuntu, it just starting to load and then resetting after a few seconds, and starting to load again, etc...
3rd attempt: Fedora 13. No go also, though at least it said why...
This kernel requires the following features not present on the CPU:
cx8 cmov
Unable to boot - please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU.
(Ironically, I've just noticed that one Linus Torvalds states that the use of cmov is a bad idea... As to what cx8 is I couldn't quickly find out, though I assume it's also one of the newer x86 commands.)
4th attempt! Puppy Linux 5.10. I had some hope for this, due to a longish discussion on a Puppy message-board here about getting it to work on an EPIA machine. So some Puppy Linux people are interested in such boards. And the live distro did work! (And Puppy Linux's desktop is clean and tidy and quick to use - so a second thumbs-up for it.)
So I tried to install it to the hard-drive - and it failed... Weep! And much extra time spent trying to get it to install also failed.
But still, it's too nice not to use, and is designed to be usable from the CD, (it running in RAM after booting), so it is a viable option. (And it also boots faster from CD on this 800MHz machine than XP does on my dual core laptop, but lets not ponder on that.)
Incidentally, the Puppy Linux focus seems to be on having it installed on a flash drive. This is a nice approach, but my EPIA board only has two USB ports which are both needed during normal use. So that approach wouldn't be practicable for me, though perhaps it'd be easier to upgrade the OS if a flash drive was used just for booting.
Now, it already had a Linux on it, but it was a too-old version of Fedora and upgrading didn't look possible. The reason for its sorry state is that Linux has always proved problematical on this box. The first distro I installed was Mandrake 7 (I think), which worked OK. But then Mandrake 8 could only be made to work by some very cludgy intervention while it was being installed.
Whether Mandrake 9 could be made to work or not I can't remember, but I guess not, as a switch was made to Redhat at some point, and then to the old Fedora on it. (This chain of events is why I'm not a committed Linux user.)
However, recently I needed to get a modern linux working on this box. So, using live distros as the starting point, here's how things panned out...
1st attempt: Ubuntu 10.04. No go, it just loading from the CD for a long time and then nothing - just a black screen.
2nd attempt: CentOS 5.5. Even less promising than Ubuntu, it just starting to load and then resetting after a few seconds, and starting to load again, etc...
3rd attempt: Fedora 13. No go also, though at least it said why...
This kernel requires the following features not present on the CPU:
cx8 cmov
Unable to boot - please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU.
(Ironically, I've just noticed that one Linus Torvalds states that the use of cmov is a bad idea... As to what cx8 is I couldn't quickly find out, though I assume it's also one of the newer x86 commands.)
4th attempt! Puppy Linux 5.10. I had some hope for this, due to a longish discussion on a Puppy message-board here about getting it to work on an EPIA machine. So some Puppy Linux people are interested in such boards. And the live distro did work! (And Puppy Linux's desktop is clean and tidy and quick to use - so a second thumbs-up for it.)
So I tried to install it to the hard-drive - and it failed... Weep! And much extra time spent trying to get it to install also failed.
But still, it's too nice not to use, and is designed to be usable from the CD, (it running in RAM after booting), so it is a viable option. (And it also boots faster from CD on this 800MHz machine than XP does on my dual core laptop, but lets not ponder on that.)
Incidentally, the Puppy Linux focus seems to be on having it installed on a flash drive. This is a nice approach, but my EPIA board only has two USB ports which are both needed during normal use. So that approach wouldn't be practicable for me, though perhaps it'd be easier to upgrade the OS if a flash drive was used just for booting.