Guide: Installing Ubuntu 12.04 (desktop + server use)

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maever
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Nov 20, 2010 3:49 pm

Guide: Installing Ubuntu 12.04 (desktop + server use)

Post by maever »

So like some other people here on the forum I've been trying to get ubuntu 12.04 going.
Now I know there are 20 different distributions that might better suite this little fitpc2, though not many compare to the amount of updates and available (user friendly) documentation like Ubuntu has it.
That's why I made this Guide to install Ubuntu 12.04 on your FITPC2(i) for both desktop and server use (with and without Gnome environment).

In order to get this working I had to patch together multiple guides from multiple sources.
Now the setup I'm describing can work for Both desktop and server intended use:

Installing Ubuntu as Desktop.
(server install guide below)

Let me start off by saying that by default the Gnome/Unity GUI package offered by Ubuntu is not the most desired desktop environment for the FITPC2.

1. Get Unetbootin to prep a USB stick for installation, minimal size of 1GB recommended, make sure the USB stick is formatted as FAT32, NOT ntfs!
URL : http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
2. Start unetbootin, as distribution select Ubuntu and as version select "12.04 Live" (not x64!).
3. Choose the correct USB drive letter and press OK.

[it will now prep the USB stick, if prompted anything, select Yes to All]

4. Once your USB stick is done insert in the back of your FitPC2 somewhere.
5. Start up your FitPC2 and go to the bios, confirm the USB stick appears in the bios boot menu and that it is the first selected boot device
6. It will start the live CD, at this point you will see a splash screen Ubuntu after which the driver will but out and you get either half a screen or no screen at all.

Luckily, Ubuntu documentation offers a fix for this:
Live (Desktop) CD 12.04
The default Ubuntu 12.04 kernel works, but requires a custom boot option. Without that option, you will either get a black screen or distortions, such as top half of the screen only.

Switch to a console - Ctrl-Alt-F1
Restart X with 'sudo service lightdm restart'
That should bring you back to a functional graphical desktop, so that you can proceed testing or installing.
Source: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport ... ktop.29_CD

A more permanent fix is also possible, read on!

7. Install Ubuntu as you normally would walk through the steps and let it install.

[Possible issue] 7a. Now this issue might not occur with everyone, I've had it and will add it to prevent pitfalls here.
In case Grub Refuses to install to your MBR, this is most likely due to the fact that it's detecting your USB-Stick as primary disk, simply remove your USB stick and try again. Removing the USB stick SHOULD not cause any problems.

8. After it installed and rebooted you should again have to do the trick in step 6 to get the screen in order.

[Possible issue] 8a. At this point it could occur that your system reboots and your screen stays completely black.
to fix this, reinsert your Ubuntu Live USB stick, boot it up and open a terminal (alt + ctrl + t) and mount your main harddrive.

Usually this will be something like

Code: Select all

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt


Edit the /boot/grub/grub.cfg file and scroll down until you find a line starting with "menuentry".
not far below this line there should be a line that starts with "linux" and looks like this:

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 linux   /vmlinuz-3.2.0-32-generic-pae root=UUID=ef8520c1-3870-46f5-9bcf-a5e225c50512 ro   quiet splash
(note your line could look at little different, this is okay as long as it starts with: linux /vmlinuz)

Remove the "splash" part at the end of the line and add "console=tty1 nomodeset" (without the quotes of course).
It now should look like:

Code: Select all

 linux   /vmlinuz-3.2.0-32-generic-pae root=UUID=ef8520c1-3870-46f5-9bcf-a5e225c50512 ro   quiet console=tty1 nomodeset
Do this for all similar "Linux" entries you encounter, there should be multiple.

(note: the system isn't actually stuck if this issue occurs, it's booting just fine in the background, you could even SSH into the box.
If you are still having issues and no booting system, scroll all the way down in my post)

9. If you got your system booting at this point it is time to add a permanent fix to your half-monitor / no screen problem.
Open a terminal (alt + ctrl + t) and edit /etc/default/grub file ( sudo nano /etc/default/grub )

find the line:

Code: Select all

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
Change into:

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GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet console=tty1 nomodeset"
Now do the following command to update grub.

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sudo update-grub
10. Reboot, see it work in action, you should be all set!

Installing Ubuntu as Server.
The setup should be pretty similar to above desktop install, main difference being that we will use 12.04 NetInstall in step 2.
If you dont or cant connect it to the network use HDMedia version of the installer instead.
In this particular guide I'm actually expecting that you do not install any Graphic environment with the installer and go for the "basic Ubuntu" setup with the "OpenSSH Server" package.

1. Get Unetbootin to prep a USB stick for installation, minimal size of 1GB recommended, make sure the USB stick is formatted as FAT32, NOT ntfs!
URL : http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
2. Start unetbootin, as distribution select Ubuntu and as version select "12.04 NetInstall" (not x64!).
3. Choose the correct USB drive letter and press OK.
4. Once your USB stick is done insert in the back of your FitPC2 somewhere.
5. Start up your FitPC2 and go to the bios, confirm the USB stick appears in the bios boot menu and that it is the first selected boot device
6. It will start the text-based Installer now, which will require an internet connection depending on whether you're using the netinstaller or HDMedia version. you can walk through all steps without any special instructions.
[Possible issue] 6a. In case Grub Refuses to install to your MBR, this is most likely due to the fact that it's detecting your USB-Stick as primary disk, simply remove your USB stick and try again. Removing the USB stick SHOULD not cause any problems.

7. Your system should now restart, it could be that your screen remains black, in which case please check step 8a. of the 'Installing Ubuntu as Desktop' Guide. Note that you should probably be able to do this step through SSH, as that WILL boot.


[Possible issue]

Another issue I'd like to mention independently of the installation instruction is that I myself had the issue that grub wouldn't boot because it listed my partitions as MSDOS partitions in the in grub setup thus leading to a broken boot and a GRUB ERROR.
I fixed this by booting into Live CD, mounting the main disk and editing /boot/grub/grub.cfg directly.
Changing every instance of:

Code: Select all

set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
into

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set root='(hd0,1)'
(thus simply removing the msdos part and leaving the number that stood behind it)

[Something to know]

Do remember, whenever you install a new Kernel version (using 'apt-get upgrade' for example) your grub.cfg WILL reset and may require you to redo some of the fixes mentioned above through either SSH or Ubuntu Live USB stick.

[Some words]
As many others here, I love this little FitPC and has proven to be a very useful homeserver for various purposes.
Recently even put a small Intel SSD in mine since the 2.5"disk broke (which aren't really made for 24/7 operation in the first place), it works very well. I hope this guide helps you get the most out of your old FitPC2 as well!


Sources:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/131125/u ... ation-help
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport ... ktop.29_CD

gabrielh
Site Admin
Posts: 1260
Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2011 1:13 pm

Re: Guide: Installing Ubuntu 12.04 (desktop + server use)

Post by gabrielh »

Dear maever

I thank you for your detailed guide. I personally use the YUMI tool (http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multi ... b-creator/) to put the Ubuntu installation ISO on the USB drive. But that is only my favorite tool.
Also, you can refer to this guide http://www.fit-pc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=2991 to add your Ubuntu installation the EMGD support. As you know, Linux Mint is an Ubuntu derivative, so the instruction in this guide will suite Ubuntu 12.04 also
Gabriel Heifets

Fit-PC2/3/IntensePC support.

raymond
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2012 2:29 pm

Re: Guide: Installing Ubuntu 12.04 (desktop + server use)

Post by raymond »

Dear Gabriel,

I have been having problems installing and booting Ubuntu 12.04.1 on fitPC2i and had to resort to updating grub as described by maever.

Just to clarify, do I still need to install EMGD 1.16 if I will be only using Ubuntu Server(without UI)?
Will installing EMGD 1.16 allow me to boot Ubuntu 12.04.1 without updating grub options?

Thanks,
Raymond

gabrielh
Site Admin
Posts: 1260
Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2011 1:13 pm

Re: Guide: Installing Ubuntu 12.04 (desktop + server use)

Post by gabrielh »

Dear Raymond

If you intend to use Ubuntu without a GUI (aka server mode), you don't need to use the EMGD driver. If you want to use an installer with a GUI, than you should restart the lightdm service to get the correct GUI performance after the Live CD finishes the boot up process.
Gabriel Heifets

Fit-PC2/3/IntensePC support.

Kalle
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon May 30, 2011 12:08 pm

Re: Guide: Installing Ubuntu 12.04 (desktop + server use)

Post by Kalle »

Sorry for the resurrection of this old thread, but I thought it was worth noting that if you get a black screen after hitting "Install Ubuntu server" it is fixed by changing 'vga=788' to 'vga=normal' (I also removed 'quiet' from the parameters, don't know if that did anything). I fought with this problem for hours before trying it and it worked!

thejman
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2015 12:09 am

Re: Guide: Installing Ubuntu 12.04 (desktop + server use)

Post by thejman »

I am a new Fit-PC2i user and tried to install Ubuntu 12.04 Server LTS today.

None of the boot option solution work for me. The only thing that worked was from this posthttp://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2073727.

In short you need to edit

Code: Select all

/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
and add this line behind:

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blacklist gma500_gfx
The reason is that Ubuntu is supposed to use the gsb500_gfx graphics driver instead of the gma500_gfx in this case. The system only load the driver after the splash screen and hence the black screen.

I spend a whole afternoon on this issue and I hope this post helps people.

nicelydone
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2016 2:48 pm

Re: Guide: Installing Ubuntu 12.04 (desktop + server use)

Post by nicelydone »

thejman wrote:I am a new Fit-PC2i user and tried to install Ubuntu 12.04 Server LTS today
Thanks for this, why did you install 12? Do more recent versions not work with the fitpc2?

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