Installing IPFire on an APU2 system

Note: PC Engines - End of Life

You will need

  • an APU2 system with an installed disk
  • a null modem serial cable
  • an USB stick (back up previous data as it will need to be wiped)

Serial cable test and BIOS update (optional)

Before we install IPFire, we need to get the latest APU BIOS flashed to our unit. As a nice side effect, this will also test your serial cable if you are not sure whether or not it's working right and is the correct type: e.g. you just bought one for the first time off of a non-PCEngines retailer.

  1. Download Debian live standard ISO image
    • make sure it has standard in the name and is a .iso file
    • e.g. here.
      Or directly.
      This link may be bit rotted; just look for standard.iso wherever Debian downloads are.
  2. Flash it to your USB stick using this info.
  3. Insert the USB stick and hook up serial cable to APU2 system.
  4. Boot it by plugging in the power jack.
  5. On boot menu, hit TAB and add console=ttyS0,115200n8 to the command line options.
    • This is a good test of your serial cable. If you see gibberish, test serial cable and ensure it is null modem or equivalent.
  6. Log in: username user, password live
  7. Become root: sudo su
  8. Run: apt update && apt install flashrom
  9. wget latest firmware. For APU2 series, get the APU2 series firmware.
    • firmware site
    • ex: wget https://3mdeb.com/open-source-firmware/pcengines/apu2/apu2...
    • verify hash. You don't want to flash a broken download. This 5 second check will save you a lot of headaches.
  10. Run:
    flashrom -w apu2_vx.y.z.a.rom -p internal:boardmismatch=force
    • The force flag seems to be needed as the manufacturers almost, but don't quite, align.
  11. Power off APU2; unplug flash.

Alternatively you can update the BIOS easily later on a running IPFire APU2 system with the firmware-update add-on.

IPFire install

  1. Download latest .iso from here.
  2. Write it to an USB key by using a Windows or Linux computer
  3. Unplug USB drive and plug into APU2, then boot APU2 by plugging in the power jack.
  4. Install IPFire fairly simply following the vanilla install instructions, considering these issues

References

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Last changed by Martin Bell, June 18 View Older Revisions