Creating an Ubuntu Server on a Z3735F Device

Post date: Aug 13, 2015 10:41:36 AM

Unfortunately creating an Ubuntu server on a Z3735F device is not as simple as just downloading and installing the server ISO from 'releases.ubuntu.com'. Firstly the server kernel does not have in-built eMMC support so the install script will not see your internal storage. Secondly the server kernel is a different version so it will not support the dynamic kernel modules for wifi and bluetooth.

However it is quite simple to convert a desktop installation to a server one. First download and install the Ubuntu desktop ISO for a Z3735F device (hint: use the ISO from remembering to patch if using a 32-bit bootloader with 'linuxium-32bit-patch.sh'). Once installed, do not log in but press 'Ctrl+Alt+F1' to open a virtual console. Now log in and enter the following commands to create your server. Afterwards you can then access your server remotely using 'ssh unsername@ip.address'.

# Open terminal window with ctrl-alt-F1

sudo su -

apt-get update

# Change grub to text mode

sed -i 's/^GRUB_TIMEOUT=.*/GRUB_TIMEOUT=0/' /etc/default/grub

sed -i 's/^GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=.*/GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="text"/' /etc/default/grub

sed -i 's/^#GRUB_TERMINAL/GRUB_TERMINAL/' /etc/default/grub

update-grub2

# Remove desktop packages

apt-get -y install tasksel

tasksel remove ubuntu-desktop

aptitude -y purge '~c'

# Set up networking - and modify as required if using static IP addresses

cat <<EOF >> /etc/network/interfaces

auto eth0

iface eth0 inet dhcp

EOF

ifup eth0

# Set up remote access

apt-get -y install ssh openssh-server

# Install server packages

tasksel install server

# Perform updates

apt-get update

apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 16126D3A3E5C1192

apt-get update

# Reboot to finish

reboot