Alexandru T. and I have exchanged a few emails, and he sent through a few helpful suggestions that were provided from ICOP. I have included them below. Thanks Alexandru!

1. Install Debian 5.0 on a normal PC (using a netinst image, for minimal install)
2. After installation boot normally from the same PC
3. Then, take the kernel from ftp://icop.com.tw/DIS_info/VDX/operating_system/VDX_Linux/linux-image-2.6.30-vortex86mx_1.0_i386.deb and then issue the following commands :

# dpkg -i  linux-image-2.6.30-vortex86mx_1.0_i386.deb
# update-initramfs -k 2.6.30-vortex86mx -c
# update-grub
# restart

4. Then take the hard-drive and install it on the Vortex86DX
5. When GRUB menu appears, press “e” and modify the boot loader as follows :

root        (hd0,0)
kernel        /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.30-vortex86mx root=/dev/hdb1 ro         --> if hdb1 does not work you can try (hda1= Primary Master or hdc1=Secondary Master)
initrd        /boot/initrd.img-2.6.30-vortex86mx

Then press b to boot

6. After booting, go to /boot/grub/menu.lst and make modifications from above permanently, so you will boot without any intervention ;)

**Edit:**Bob A. has also sent through some additional resources for your eboxing pleasures.

FYI - this Swedish company, http://www.lweb.se/tag/ubuntu/, has a pre-made ISO for Ubuntu 8.04LTS with the correct kernel for the eBox 3300/3310. It even supports the new (1011) IDE controller on the recent models. You can just put the ISO on a thumb drive, stick it in your eBox, and install normally. No need to install first on another machine, and no need to update the kernel after you’re done. If you’re happy with running 8.04 then this is way easier than any other install option that I’ve found
so far.

As a preface, I take absolutely no credit for the below instructions. Stefan L kindly sent these through these instructions on installing Debian on the 3310A. I need to send a special thanks to Stefan, as I receive a lot of emails about the 3310 - but I don’t have one, so I can’t really do much:

The only edit I’ve done is change out the links to my files on S3. If you find these helpful, or want to suggest an alteration, please leave a comment.

Download these files first:

• 2.6.31.5 kernel image
• 2.6.31.5 kernel headers
• 2.6.31-14 custom pata_rdc module

EDIT 16-03-2025: I have since removed these files.

The steps to install Lenny to CF in brief is:

1. Install i386 version of Lenny to CF on another computer
2. Add the revised kernel deb with dpkg -i *.deb
3. Change fstab from hda1 to sdb1 (sda1 if there is no micro sd card) - uuids may be better
4. Change /boot/grub/menu.lst to:

title           Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.31.5-vortex86-sl3
root            (hd0,0)
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31.5-vortex86-sl3 root=/dev/sdb1 ro verbose

5. Probably need to change /boot/grub/device.map

(hd1)   /dev/sda
(hd0)   /dev/sdb

With no micro sd it would be:

(hd0) /dev/sda

6. delete the section below “# PCI device ….” in /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules (Otherwise the eBox network gets remapped to eth1 and may not appear if only eth0 is specified in the network settings)
7. Reboot & pray The next one is a revised initrd for the current Ubuntu 9.10: http://staff.washington.edu/lombaard/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic-pata_rdc. (EDIT 12-03-2025: Lost my image that was linked from here). The two changes are: blacklist dm_raid45 & add pata-rdc.ko “blacklist dm_raid45” needs to be added to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf I managed to boot into gnome desktop without any further problems. I have enabled PCI IDE Bus Mastering, plug&play and IDE native mode in the bios. Hope this saves someone else a few hours of frustration.

Back in 2000 I managed to acquire several retired systems to bring to Uni: this included 4-5 cheap P120 machines. At the time, I thought this was great; I had an OpenBSD box as my gateway, a FreeBSD box, a few Linux boxes, and likely something else that doesn’t even exist now. The school has a superfast connection, unlimited bandwidth, and I was curious. Although I didn’t really have time, I still managed to install and have all these servers running from my room.

I realized I was doing at home what I was being paid to do at work.

Fast forward to 2007, and my mindset has changed. In 2007 I didn’t want to have 6 servers running at once, I wanted to have one server running 12 servers at once! Thanks to Xen and VMware this was easily obtained. Initially using Xen, and then ESXi, I had the freedom to setup Domains, tear them down, and start over. Eventually, however, I realized I was doing at home what I was being paid to do at work. That doesn’t sound like fun. I also realized that, despite picking a motherboard and processor that could shift into low power usage, I was still using more watts than I needed to. I was also spending way too much time mucking around with things - I want to focus on just one or two projects at a time, and I really want to start programming more.

Last month I finally finished the ultimate ‘consolidation’: I moved everything to a tiny embedded Linux box. While back in the U.S. I contacted WDL Systems and requested for shipping costs on a tiny embedded box. I bought the eBox-3300, with an embedded board from ICOP, and it was promptly shipped out. After returning home to Sydney I migrated all my apps from the various virtual servers to my little box running Debian 5.0: OSSEC, Samba, Lighttpd, Asterisk and flow-tools. The little box is just perfect for what I need - a tiny home server. I still get around 8MB/sec transferring files, which indicates the network is still the bottleneck, and VOIP calls with Asterisk are still clear.

Overall, I’ve been happy with this little box. My ‘playing time’ with IT has gone down significantly, my energy usage has gone down, and I now have a server I can take with me wherever I go.