Acer Aspire Easystore H340 Home Server

[rhdinah]

Does anyone know if Ubuntu server runs on this box? Thanks!

[basementgeek]

I would like to know as well! Being that it's headless, (no vga) I'm not sure how you would even go about installing it (NAS noob)...some sort of network drive install?

Apparently there is a 26 pin header on the mobo that would allow vga and keyboard, but you need a custom cable to make it happen.

[cariboo]

THe unit is based on an Intel Atom motherboard, so you can install Ubuntu on it. Have a look at this page for installation options.

[rhdinah]

THe unit is based on an Intel Atom motherboard, so you can install Ubuntu on it. Have a look at this page for installation options.

Thanks! But being a headless system it makes it a bit rough to see what you're doing, let alone make changes or selections. There is a cable someone has constructed at a healthy price for the HP Mediasmart Server that will enable that. But I think pulling the HD out of the unit, snapping it into a tower, setting up linux and then re-installing might work. From there, knowing the IP Address, one should be able to rlogin. Just passing thoughts by ...

[nerr]

Hey everybody, I actually just ordered this box as well and came to ask the same thing... but after doing some reading, it would appear rhdinah's method should work just fine.

I plan on removing the 1TB HDD it comes with, installing the second 1TB HDD I'm getting for free with mine in my rig, installing Ubuntu Server, updates, and SSH on it, then putting it back in the easyStore and seeing if I can boot Ubuntu and such with it. I'm very excited to give this a shot, but will definitely hold onto that WHS disk until everything is up and running... just in case!

I'll post a reply to let you all know how it goes when mine arrives next Wednesday or Thursday.

[druhboruch]

I installed Ubuntu server on it and I have to tell you that I am very impressed. It is very quiet and runs very cool with stock disk. It may get warmer when I install additional disks.

The only thing that doesn't work is some LED's. The "i" light is flashing blue all the time and the LED's next to disks don't lite at all.

All LED's work OK when booted with WHS.

There is also build in flash memory in this little machine. It contains some drivers for WHS and can be formated as well.

Overall great piece of hardware. I am glad I bought it.

[nerr]

druhboruch, any specific advice or method as to how you installed and got Ubuntu Server running on your box? Did you use the same method I was thinking about trying, or is there a more specific one? I'd really like to get this right the first time around, so your advice is greatly appreciated.

And the LEDs don't work eh? That's a bummer! Not a huge deal for me since I won't even be in the same house as this machine for most of the year, but it'd be cool if you could still use them.

[druhboruch]

This is how I setup ubuntu server on H340:

I plugged disk to another PC and installed Ubuntu Server command line system and SSH server.

During the setup I selected manual network configuration with static IP address.

After setup was completed I rebooted the system.

Enabled root account.

Loged in as root and modified /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules.
Removed the line:

SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:00:00:00:00:00", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth0"

Then I powered down the pc and moved disk back to H340.

It took less than 20 minutes.

Then I installed xorg, gnome-core, ubuntu-artwork and freenx-server.

Everything works as a charm.

[tstack77]

This might be a stretch, but would it be possible to somehow check the bios to see if it can boot from a flash drive?

I would love to use all 4 drives in a raid 5 array.

[druhboruch]

This might be a stretch, but would it be possible to somehow check the bios to see if it can boot from a flash drive?

I would love to use all 4 drives in a raid 5 array.

It is very easy to find out. I would just run installation to flash on another PC and I would try to boot from H340.

It may just work...