PC Engines
PC Engines is a swiss hardware manufacturer for embedded x86 devices.
apu2c4
This document describes how to install Arch Linux to the SSD via an SD card or USB flash drive.
Hardware
CPU: AMD Embedded G series GX-412TC, 1 GHz quad Jaguar core with 64 bit
RAM: 4GB DRAM with ECC
Assemble the device with care and read the guide for the cooling system!
Setup preperations
- You need a serial (RS-232) connection to the apu to control it.
- Add your user to uucp
- Install picocom or something similar, see Working with the serial console#Making Connections
- Download and verify the arch-dualboot.iso
Boot the system
To see the BIOS use this command
LANG=C picocom --baud 115200 --omap crcrlf /dev/ttyUSB0
If your device does not boot from the SD card or USB flash drive, press F10 during boot to bring up a boot menu. Then close picocom with "Ctl+A" "Ctl+Q"
Reconnect to the ArchIso Grub:
LANG=C picocom --baud 38400 /dev/ttyUSB0
Enter cli mode by pressing "Tab", prompt should look like this:
kernel ....
add the following with a leading space
console=ttyS0,38400
and press "Enter"
Now wait for about 30 seconds and you will get a colorful boot prompt
Install the system
The most comfortable way to install Arch now is to start the sshd and use Install guide
You may need to get a new IP with dhclient and start sshd
systemctl start sshd.service
One possible layout of the SSD maybe looking like this:
/dev/sda1 2048 264191 262144 128M 83 Linux /dev/sda2 264192 25430015 25165824 12G 83 Linux /dev/sda3 25430016 31277231 5847216 2.8G 82 Linux swap / Solaris
It is a good idea to use a MBR layout with GRUB:
grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sda grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
If using Syslinux, make sure to provide a console
option in the boot menu:
/boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg
LABEL arch MENU LABEL Arch Linux LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux APPEND root=UUID=1ef5a2eb-1908-4929-9b91-f6c4183695ac rw console=ttyS0,38400 INITRD ../initramfs-linux.img
Also you should read Working with the serial console#Configure console access on the target machine
Remember to remove the SD card or USB flash drive after you finished your setup.