Joggler home VPS alternative?

General discussion relating to the O2 Joggler, from the default O2 setup, to alternative operating systems and applications.
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acesabe
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2011 2:19 pm

Joggler home VPS alternative?

Post by acesabe »

Been a while and while I'm laid up with busted ankle, might get the old Joggler out again and see if can get some more use out of it!
So, been doing a lot with my Synology NAS lately but adding all these useful apps and services is really pushing it way beyond it's intended use, and checking the basic/free package specs of cloud VPS services out there, I reckon the Joggler could make a usable alternative for running a few basic web services which can easily be set up on a basic Linux install and as home internet connections a a lot faster than a few years (well depending on were you live), I like the idea. And it's more secure as nobody else can access your server/data!
I don't case about the Joggler display and it's abandonware GMA500 issues (although there is an Ubuntu PPA with updated driver https://launchpad.net/~thopiekar/+archive/ubuntu/emgd for anyone interested), what is of paramount importance is that the base OS is up to date security wise, and that the install is basic and not loading a bunch of media services, desktop environments and other ram eating stuff. I haven't really seen anything up to date here or a base install image that anyone has made, so wondering is anyone is or has been working on one, or whether the existing Xubuntu 14.04 is upgradable or maybe there is some other new system that might fit well on the old Joggler?

NextCloud? https://nextcloud.com/

LEDE project? https://lede-project.org/ a wider encompassing OpenWRT based system

WordPress https://wordpress.org, Odoo https://www.odoo.com/ and anything else you could run on a web server which doesn't demand too much ram or heavy DB usage..

A basic Debian install would suit me fine, just it's been so long since my last Joggler hacking, I can hardly remember how much work/trouble it is to boot the Joggler from custom images and using the Efi Grub...

So any thoughts, comments welcome, hopefully will get more done on this one than my last project, Android, which due to the graphics was a non runner in the end!

Also latest kernel developments reputed to improve some Atom functions, inc audio with HDMI
https://liliputing.com/2017/03/linux-4- ... trail.html
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pete
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Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2011 6:33 am
Location: Time Traveler

Re: Joggler home VPS alternative?

Post by pete »

Hope you get well soon!! Broke my ankle once a few years back and ended up not liking the term of anatomically correcting my bone structure. Busted off the tibula and fibula and all of the ligaments. Lots of pins. I did get to watch the surgery for a bit.

Here ventured a bit to the Openpeak devices which are a bit different. Changes done to these devices and working have been:

1 - writing a Seabios X86 Bios replacing the EFI boot Bios
2 - installation of an SSD drive over the USB wireless stick with a ZIF cable to the middle of the motherboard.
3 - installation of an RTC mini clock wired (using hair thin wires) to the Openpeak motherboard
4 - small USB 4-5 port hub glued to the back with USB 2.0 connectivity to the motherboard
5 - The Openpeak devices included a DECT and Zigbee chip which I never did play much with.
6 - massive metal heat sink across the entire motherboard covering the entire thing.

I have run running Ubuntu via the 16Gb SSD drive and EFI bios doing fine. I have been able to run opensource automation programs on the Joggler in Linux like:

1 - OpenHAB
2 - Domoticz
3 - HomeGenie
4 - Homeseer (for pay)

None of the above stuff though will run on a 1Gb eMMC; just a tad too small. Squeezebox player / Ubuntu 14.04 runs great though on the eMMC. At one time installed a Crystal HD card in the Openframe2 box for nice streaming 1080 with Kodi (XBMC).
- Pete
O2 Jogglers running EFI Ubuntu / Squeezeplayer
OpenPeak Voip Telephony / Zigbee tabletops hardware modded with Seabios / RTC / Ethernet ROM edits / SSD drives running XPe for automation screens

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acesabe
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2011 2:19 pm

Re: Joggler home VPS alternative?

Post by acesabe »

pete wrote: Fri Oct 20, 2017 8:31 pm Hope you get well soon!! Broke my ankle once a few years back and ended up not liking the term of anatomically correcting my bone structure. Busted off the tibula and fibula and all of the ligaments. Lots of pins. I did get to watch the surgery for a bit.
Ouch! Nothing as serious here just will take bit of time till fracture sets...
Here ventured a bit to the Openpeak devices which are a bit different. Changes done to these devices and working have been:

1 - writing a Seabios X86 Bios replacing the EFI boot Bios
2 - installation of an SSD drive over the USB wireless stick with a ZIF cable to the middle of the motherboard.
3 - installation of an RTC mini clock wired (using hair thin wires) to the Openpeak motherboard
4 - small USB 4-5 port hub glued to the back with USB 2.0 connectivity to the motherboard
5 - The Openpeak devices included a DECT and Zigbee chip which I never did play much with.
6 - massive metal heat sink across the entire motherboard covering the entire thing.
I remember many of the hacks, I'll probably do little more than swap out the internal WiFi USB for mem stick, fit decent heat-sink depending on how much physical alterations required. Flashing the BIOS is always tempting however risk factor is high....Yeah USB hub is good idea, although once up and running, likely to only use ssh to access..
One important consideration will be where to mount the volatile mounts for the OS, sticking it all on mem stick isn't gonna be ideal, maybe will use combi of USB stick and Sata USB physical drive....getting bit complicated there now tho...Probably why I should really be looking into using an embedded Linux OS rather than Ubuntu based for example, something that can fit on the onboard or SUB stick and supplement with extra storage if required...
I have run running Ubuntu via the 16Gb SSD drive and EFI bios doing fine. I have been able to run opensource automation programs on the Joggler in Linux like:

1 - OpenHAB
2 - Domoticz
3 - HomeGenie
4 - Homeseer (for pay)

None of the above stuff though will run on a 1Gb eMMC; just a tad too small. Squeezebox player / Ubuntu 14.04 runs great though on the eMMC. At one time installed a Crystal HD card in the Openframe2 box for nice streaming 1080 with Kodi (XBMC).
For what I need, I expect the base system could easily fit on the eMMC, it's just finding the right system and starting from there...
Perhaps time to revisit an old friend...Voyage Linux http://linux.voyage.hk/ we used this at Bristol Wireless for the embedded network nodes, Debian based and easily customised but designed for embedded hardware and storage...
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pete
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Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2011 6:33 am
Location: Time Traveler

Re: Joggler home VPS alternative?

Post by pete »

Yes here not in to any dependences on the cloud. I use it and tinker with it but not dependent on it.

The BIOS tinkering on the O2 Joggler is easy because it is a removable chip that can be hot swapped.

One test box here is using eMMC, USB and SSD and works well.

I am guessing configuring the O2 Joggler eMMC to do a PXE boot would work.

Only USB booting OS that works 100% of the time is Linux Ubuntu for me. Years ago best Seagate Dockstar Debian that worked was USB SSD drives.
The USB SSD drive works well on the O2. Only thing is that I cannot find them much these days. I had settled on the Kingspec 8-16 Gb SSD. It was a true SSD drive.

Still playing here with OpenWRT. Latest endeavor was using a micro router which has open GPIO ports and is 1" X 2". The GPIO ports are connected to a tiny combo RTC and 1-wire temperature sensor.
- Pete
O2 Jogglers running EFI Ubuntu / Squeezeplayer
OpenPeak Voip Telephony / Zigbee tabletops hardware modded with Seabios / RTC / Ethernet ROM edits / SSD drives running XPe for automation screens

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