Via EPIA 800: Difference between revisions

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''Oct 2010 -- This EPIA board died on me some time ago, so this page is all just historic data now.''
== Overview ==
== Overview ==


Got myself a Via C3 EPIA 800 board, so that I could build a tiny low power Linux server, with a LCD/kbd/mouse for surfing, listening to music and so forth.
I got a Via C3 EPIA 800 board, so that I could build a tiny low power Linux server, with a LCD/kbd/mouse for surfing, listening to music and so forth.


These are my setup notes.
These are my setup notes.


I powered it up connected to the drive for an existing Ubuntu server and it worked, so I put it into a PC case, attached a random hard drive I had lying around, and tried to do a network install of Trustix 3. That crashed. So...
I chose to use a Debian distribution. I tried Ubuntu but it is bulky.
I had to build a kernel to get stability; modern distros are built for Intel processors and this thing really needs a C3 kernel or it will crash periodically. With the C3 kernel, it is completely stable.


==Hardware==
==Hardware==


*The Via board currently lives in a PC case.
*The Via board currently lives in a custom wood case.
*It is connected to a 200 GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10 drive.
*It is connected to a 200 GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10 drive.
*Power supply is an Antec 65W MicroATX from an HP Vectra.
*Power supply is an Antec 65W MicroATX from an HP Vectra.


*Plugged into the serial port, a Magnavox MX-9212 GPS receiver.
*Plugged into the serial port is a Magnavox MX-9212 GPS receiver.
*In the parallel port, an HP Laserjet 4ML
*In the parallel port, an HP Laserjet 4ML
*USB port 1: an APC UPS
*USB port 1: an APC UPS
Line 19: Line 22:
*Keyboard, a Belkin PS-2
*Keyboard, a Belkin PS-2
*Audio line output: a pair of Acoustic Partner speakers
*Audio line output: a pair of Acoustic Partner speakers
*Video: an Asus flatpanel LCD
*VGA video: an Asus 15" flatpanel LCD


Northbridge: PLE133
On this board, the northbridge chip is the PLE133
This is the lightweight. No hardware support for MPEG-2 so no DVD watching.
I don't have a DVD drive anyway.


Audio -- trying to build Alsa support and trying to use the Via driver from
Audio -- see http://www.viaarena.com/PageId=294#md
http://www.viaarena.com/PageId=294#md


ALSA works fine. You get it when you build a 2.6 kernel.
ALSA works fine. You get it when you build a 2.6 kernel.
Run alsaconf to set up the kernel modules and set default audio levels.
Run alsaconf to set up the kernel modules and set default audio levels.


It's still kind of crackley and noisy.
The board will support 6 channel audio.


Southbridge:  
Southbridge: 8231
8231


Sensors:  
Sensors: According to the EPIA howto, I can activate sensors by compiling the vt8231 module and loading it.
There don't appear to be any sensors to speak of. The CPU fan is 3 wire so in theory it has a speed sensor. Hmm... disappointing.


===Cooling===
===Cooling===
Line 42: Line 44:
and put its fan and another 80 mm fan onto a speed controller / temperature monitor. Now it is both cool and quiet.
and put its fan and another 80 mm fan onto a speed controller / temperature monitor. Now it is both cool and quiet.


==Software==


'''Big note:''' VMware-player will not run on this machine. It requires the CMOV instruction which is not implemented in the C3.
'''Big note:''' VMware-player will not run on this machine. It requires the CMOV instruction which is not implemented in the C3.


===Operating system===
== Operating system ==
 
I did a network install of Ubuntu. The install worked fine, but the system crashed periodically. I found some notes saying this fellow has a kernel compiled that works better with the C3 processor. http://zagar.cactus.org/via/
 
But I don't especially like GNOME so I backed off and installed Debian.
 
====Debian====


The mirror is so close for Debian, seems a shame not to use it. (I live a mile away from the Oregon State Open Source Lab.) So I will.
I did a network install of Debian (I used [[PXEboot]] to boot the new system from my old server over the network.)
 
I did a network install (booting system from the old server over network.)


Here is a page about installing the old "Woody" version: http://www.debianplanet.com/node.php?id=818
Here is a page about installing the old "Woody" version: http://www.debianplanet.com/node.php?id=818
 
But I don't want Woody, I want Sarge (current stable release) so
I don't want Woody, I want Sarge (current stable release) so


On the boot server
On the boot server
Line 77: Line 69:
Hard drive performance was ABYSMAL. After tuning with "-d1 -X66 -m16"
Hard drive performance was ABYSMAL. After tuning with "-d1 -X66 -m16"
performance jumped from 2 MBps to 88.
performance jumped from 2 MBps to 88.
I have the drive set to spin down after 10 minutes of inactivity.
Settings are in /etc/hdparm.conf


=== non-686 code ===
=== non-686 code ===
Line 132: Line 128:
rrdtool
rrdtool
torrus-apache2, torrus-common ([http://www.torrus.org/ Torrus project])
torrus-apache2, torrus-common ([http://www.torrus.org/ Torrus project])
== Mini-ITX links ==
[http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT3470636459.html Mini-ITX Madness] an article from Linux Devices
=== Linux audio ===
[http://www.agnula.org/ Agnula]

Latest revision as of 19:18, 18 October 2010

Oct 2010 -- This EPIA board died on me some time ago, so this page is all just historic data now.

Overview

I got a Via C3 EPIA 800 board, so that I could build a tiny low power Linux server, with a LCD/kbd/mouse for surfing, listening to music and so forth.

These are my setup notes.

I chose to use a Debian distribution. I tried Ubuntu but it is bulky. I had to build a kernel to get stability; modern distros are built for Intel processors and this thing really needs a C3 kernel or it will crash periodically. With the C3 kernel, it is completely stable.

Hardware

  • The Via board currently lives in a custom wood case.
  • It is connected to a 200 GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10 drive.
  • Power supply is an Antec 65W MicroATX from an HP Vectra.
  • Plugged into the serial port is a Magnavox MX-9212 GPS receiver.
  • In the parallel port, an HP Laserjet 4ML
  • USB port 1: an APC UPS
  • USB port 2, a Logitech mouse
  • Keyboard, a Belkin PS-2
  • Audio line output: a pair of Acoustic Partner speakers
  • VGA video: an Asus 15" flatpanel LCD

On this board, the northbridge chip is the PLE133 This is the lightweight. No hardware support for MPEG-2 so no DVD watching. I don't have a DVD drive anyway.

Audio -- see http://www.viaarena.com/PageId=294#md

ALSA works fine. You get it when you build a 2.6 kernel. Run alsaconf to set up the kernel modules and set default audio levels.

The board will support 6 channel audio.

Southbridge: 8231

Sensors: According to the EPIA howto, I can activate sensors by compiling the vt8231 module and loading it.

Cooling

The standard C3 cooling fan was very whiny. The smaller they are the more annoying; 6000 rpm. I removed it and its heatsink and installed a Zalman Northbridge heatsink. I added a duct (cardboard) from the power supply fan, and put its fan and another 80 mm fan onto a speed controller / temperature monitor. Now it is both cool and quiet.


Big note: VMware-player will not run on this machine. It requires the CMOV instruction which is not implemented in the C3.

Operating system

I did a network install of Debian (I used PXEboot to boot the new system from my old server over the network.)

Here is a page about installing the old "Woody" version: http://www.debianplanet.com/node.php?id=818 But I don't want Woody, I want Sarge (current stable release) so

On the boot server

wget ftp://debian.osuosl.org/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz

Unpack the tar in /var/lib/tftpboot (This assumes the dhcp and tftpd servers are already set up.)

Reboot the C3 from network card.

It should come up in the debian installer now.

Tuned the hard drive

Hard drive performance was ABYSMAL. After tuning with "-d1 -X66 -m16" performance jumped from 2 MBps to 88.

I have the drive set to spin down after 10 minutes of inactivity.

Settings are in /etc/hdparm.conf

non-686 code

From http://five.nocrew.org/via/debian.html

Dealing with non-686 software

Although VIA C3 is i686 compliant, some software packages use non-i686 compliant instructions (like cmov) in their i686 distributions. Examples for this is libcrypto and libssl.

You should compile and use a i586/MMX compliant kernel for VIA C3. When using apt-get and install on some packages like libcrypto and libssl, you can have problems running them. Just copy the libraries in /usr/lib/i586 to /usr/lib/i686.

Building a C3 compliant kernel

Initially I compiled a 2.4.32 kernel setting it for C3 processor and the system is now very stable.

Building a kernel on Debian

Today I broke down and installed a 2.6 series kernel. Now I have to get audio working again.

This C3 is a Samuel 2 processor and the recommended compiler flags are: 

-march=c3 -m3dnow -O3 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer -mmmx

See http://www.courville.org/phpwiki/Gcc

I had to build an initramfs too, installed initramfs-tools and used the command 

VERS=2.6.15
mkinitramfs -o /boot/initramfs-$VERS $VERS

Services on this machine

ssh server

dhcp server

privoxy (dont think i really need squid)

apache2 + php

ntpd

nfs + samba

cups

New fun stuff

rrdtool

To collect data from the GPS, mostly.

rrdcollect rrdtool torrus-apache2, torrus-common (Torrus project)

Mini-ITX links

Mini-ITX Madness an article from Linux Devices

Linux audio

Agnula

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