Ubuntu Linux Help

As mentioned in the introduction (where I listed the hardware and software I used for this hands-on project), we need to ensure that our hardware is set-up and working before moving on.

To recap, here is the list of hardware used:

Shuttle SN68SG2 Socket AM2 Barebone - NVIDIA 7025, Audio, Video, PCI Express, Gigabit LAN, USB 2.0, Firewire, Serial ATA, 250 Watt Power Supply.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Processor ADA4200CUBOX - 2.20GHz, 1MB Cache, 1000MHz (2000 MT/s) FSB, Windsor, Dual-Core, Retail, Socket AM2, Processor with Fan.

Kingston 1024MB PC5400 DDR2 667MHz Memory (2 of these for 2GB).

Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB Hard Drive - 7200, Browser Problems - Creating a Linux Based Virtual Box - Part 1 of 2 16MB, SATA-300, OEM.

DVD burner: LG GSA H55N Super-Multi Disk Drive 20×20×12

Putting the actual pieces together was very straight forward (use the guide that comes with the Shuttle package). However, I did make one mistake in ordering the hardware…

The Shuttle SN68SG2 comes with it’s own heat sink and cooling system. The metal fins are inserted right behind the fan of the power supply, so that the outbound air blows over the fins and draws heat away from the CPU. (I thought that was an innovative design idea when building such a small-footprint unit). As such, I did not need to order the retail version of the CPU (there’s no use or place, for the fan). Instead, I should have ordered the OEM version of the CPU (without the fan).

Also, after following the instructions that come with the shuttle unit, you may wish to flash the BIOS. I found that I was able to reboot the system with no problem, but whenever I powered it down and then back up (cold start), the PC always tries to boot off the network (until I use the ctrl-alt-del combo to restart it), the shuttle site indicated the fix was BIOS related. It’s probably better to flash the BIOS prior to moving forward (if you’re even interested in fixing this issue). You can fix it with Shuttle’s Flash Utility (awdflash) and the new BIOS (bin file) here: http://global.shuttle.com/download03.jsp?PI=647. Flashing the BIOS is not in the scope of this post, but one guide that gives you the basics of flashing is here: http://howflow.com/tricks/flash_your_award_bios_with_linux. Please remember that flashing a BIOS is serious, if you make a mistake (or power fails while flashing) you might damage the BIOS and have to buy a new motherboard! Be warned! I chose not to flash the bios as (for now) the cold-start issue is just a minor thing.

I didn’t specify a monitor in the list above (I’m sure most would work), but I’ve had no problems using an Acer AL1916W. It’s a 19 inch wide screen (1440 x 900 - 16:10).

Make sure that you have a USB keyboard and USB mouse. I didn’t pay attention the first time and had to exchange the keyboard for a USB one.

During the installation you’ll find two issues:

1. Video may not display clearly (it’s a driver issue).
2. The network card may not work properly (it’s also driver issue).

Here’s one trick I did to resolve this (and make my server install much smoother!)

After putting the hardware together, I did a quick install of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Desktop Edition (64-bit) as I wanted to see if there were any issues. The most critical one I found was that network card appeared not to be working. By fixing this now, I found out I didn’t have to do it during the server install! I’d suggest (strongly) that you also do a quick desktop OS install as well, just to make sure everything is working as it should. (Besides, I don’t mind doing reinstalls as it helps me prepare and get a bit more exposure to some issues.)

Fixing the Network Drivers:

To get the network card working properly took a bit of searching the learn that it was a Marvell. Once I had this information, I opened a terminal and tried:

sudo modeprobe marvell
sudo modeprobe marvell 88e1116

After (88E1116 was the model) the commands completed, I found the network card was able to connect and I could surf the web. I installed the desktop OS twice more and the server OS three times more (because I messed things up), but I never had to modeprobe the network card again - it always worked.

Fixing the Video Drivers:

Each time you install the OS (Server or Desktop), you’ll need to ensure you install the nVidia driver. To get the video drivers working, in terminal:

sudo apt-get install envyng-gtk

The above will install a tool in your desktop GUI. Use it to install the nVidia drivers. This solution came from: http://www.albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html

That’s it for this entry. The next post in this 12 part series, will have us rolling our sleeves up and installing the LAMP server software.