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A Holt edited this page Sep 27, 2017 · 22 revisions

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Internet-in-a-Box (IIAB/XSCE) Platforms

Operating Systems

Our FAQ documents OS implementation trends among these choices:

  • Raspbian on Raspberry Pi 2 and 3 (desktop or headless)
  • Debian 8.7 Jessie
  • CentOS 7.3 64-bit version (testing would be greatly appreciated)
  • Fedora 22 (for XSCE 6.1)
  • Fedora 18 32-bit on XO laptops
  • Ubuntu Server 16.04.2 LTS (experimental, contact us)

You should start with a minimal install of your chosen OS and read the partition scheme below.

Hardware Platforms

Theoretically IIAB/XSCE should run on any machine that can run Debian 8+ or CentOS 7, and close derivatives.

In practice, IIAB/XSCE has been tested on the platforms and configurations below. For more detail, see "What hardware should I use?" within our FAQ.

Intel NUC and Gigabyte BRIX

Mini PC's also include MSI and Zotac etc, typically configured with 4 to 8 GB RAM and a 1TB of internal hard disk, or 200+ GB SSD. Most models have a minimum of four USB ports and some have an internal Wi-Fi adapter.

  • Installs with CentOS 7.3 and Debian 8.7 (Debian testing is more thorough as of April 2017)

OLPC XO-1.5, XO-1.75, XO-4

OLPC laptop with an SD card of 32, 64, or 128 GB and a subset of the content found on machines with more storage or with an external hard drive.

  • Only Fedora 18 has been tested, arising from OLPC OS

Raspberry Pi 2 and 3

1 GB RAM with a microSD card of 32, 64, or 128 GB. Four USB ports allow the addition of Ethernet dongles, a Wi-Fi adapter, and possibly additional storage.

  • Tested with Raspbian especially

VirtualBox VM

Virtual machines with varying configurations, especially Debian and CentOS 7, are often used for testing or proof of concept.

Other Recent Intel/AMD Computers

A number of users have successfully deployed IIAB/XSCE on late model desktop and laptop computers.

Disk Partitioning

For large disks we recommend the following partitions. Use standard partitioning, not LVM:

  • /boot - 500 MB
  • swap - 2 G
  • / - 50 GB
  • /library - the remainder

For smaller disks and SD cards we recommend not creating a separate /library partition and reducing (or eliminating) swap.

Please note that installers for Fedora often put the remaining disk space into /home. You will need to remove this partition and create /library. This can be done through the graphical installer that comes with Fedora.

Network Adapters

Each of the above devices may have one or more network adapters. These may be internal Ethernet, internal or external Wi-Fi, or Ethernet dongles. The role the server is able to play in the network will depend on what adapters and connections it has.

Sample Gateway Configurations

  • WAN on internal Wi-Fi and LAN on internal Ethernet
  • WAN on internal Ethernet and LAN on internal or external Wi-Fi as Access Point
  • WAN on Ethernet dongle and LAN on internal Ethernet with optional bridged internal/external Wi-Fi as Access Point

Sample Appliance Configurations

  • Internal Wi-Fi connected to an existing LAN
  • Internal Ethernet connected to an existing LAN
  • Ethernet dongle connected to an existing LAN