APU1C Installation

A short brain-dump and how2 to install the APU1C Board from PCEngines.

Create a bootable USB Stick

We use the netinstaller of debian. Also the non-free drivers has to be downloded, because the LAN Chip is a Realtek Chip. PXE Boot did not worked for me, the TFTP Download aborted after some data packages (the board did not send any further ACK Package...)

# create FAT16 partition on /dev/sdc1 first
syslinux /dev/sdc1
mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt
cd /mnt
wget http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/dists/jessie/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/debian-installer/amd64/initrd.gz
wget http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/dists/jessie/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/debian-installer/amd64/linux
wget http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/firmware/jessie/current/firmware.zip
unzip firmware.zip
rm firmware.zip

Create a File syslinux.cfg with the following content:

default linux

timeout 100
prompt 1

label linux
kernel linux
append vga=off initrd=initrd.gz console=ttyS0,115200n8 fb=false

Boot and install Debian

Now attach Serial-USB converter. Attention: It is not sufficant to connect RX,TX and GND to the DB9 Connector! You need to have all Cables connected! (like DTS, RTS, ...) Then start a serial console:

screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200 8N1

Press F12 if asked, when seeing "boot: " press Enter follow normal debian installer process... grub2 seems to fail for installation spawn a shell, to install grub manually.

mount -o bind /dev/ /target/dev
mount -o bind /sys /target/sys
mount -o bind /proc /target/proc
chroot /target

# in my case, /dev/sdc was the mSATA SSD
grub-install /dev/sdc
apt-get install vim
vim /etc/default/grub
update-grub
exit
exit

The Content of /etc/default/grub looks like this:

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="console=ttyS0 console=ttyS0,115200n8"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
GRUB_TERMINAL=serial
GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND="serial --speed=115200 --unit=0 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1"

go forward with "installation without bootloader" When restarting, you will see the GRUB Bootloader, then the kernel loading and then nothing. Wait a few seconds, then you will get a login prompt!

Basic Setup

apt-get install vim firehol bind9 isc-dhcp-server bridge-utils etckeeper
apt-get install collectd lm-sensors --no-install-recommends

Wireless Access Point

hostapd is really great! You can even use the n standard! This is a sample config for your access point with the AR928X Network Card:

ssid=<YOUR SSID NAME>
wpa_passphrase=<YOUR WPA PASSPHRASE>
interface=wlan0
bridge=br0
auth_algs=1
macaddr_acl=0
channel=7
driver=nl80211
hw_mode=g
logger_stdout=-1
logger_stdout_level=2
max_num_sta=5
wpa=2
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
wpa_pairwise=TKIP
rsn_pairwise=CCMP
wme_enabled=1
ieee80211n=1
ht_capab=[HT40+][SHORT-GI-40][DSSS_CCK-40]

IPv6 with Austrian FTTH provider