And now back to our regular programming [about Linux on computers]…
In my last post, I was able to get LMDE (Linux Mint - Debian Edition) installed and working on the tiny $81 LarkBox Pro mini PC… after finally determining that my original USB boot stick had somehow been corrupted with all the abortive attempts at getting the BIOS settings set up to boot from USB. When I finally created another LMDE boot media, it was recognized and installed fine. But I was still unclear what the BIOS settings needed to be…
So, I ordered another $81 LarkBox Pro from the same vendor. I had no problem this time installing LMDE. Though they come pre-installed with that other OS, the “Secure Boot” setting in the BIOS is already disabled and, on the “Boot Options” tab, disabling the “Windows Boot Manager” should result in your USB media being recognized… provided you’ve plugged it in before booting into the BIOS. Repeatedly tapping Del during first moments while powering up get you into the BIOS. There’s one other setting on the BIOS Boot tab about “New Boot Policy” (or somesuch) which gives a “first” or “last” or “default” option. I’m not sure whether it’s “first” or “last” since the BIOS entries change once you install the new OS… you just don’t want “default”. Try “first” and if it doesn’t boot to your media… try “last”. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of tries… and you never need to boot to the pre-installed OS.
Again, as I’ve noted [probably] ad nauseam, I’m replacing RPi5’s with these little devices… which are actually cheaper but far more powerful with their Celeron CPU, 6G RAM, and 125G SSD. Gsender, UGS, CNC.js, Lightburn, and any number of other programs can all be installed on the same device… and any/all programs I’ve tried run smoothly and quite responsively; i.e. and without the lag I’ve seen with the RPi’s.
I’ve also left these mini PC’s running 24/7 while connected to my Grbl controller for several days at a time… and they don’t drop the USB connection or go to sleep. I think this is because I’m controlling them across wifi with Xrdp, which doesn’t actually run a desktop environment on the device itself. VNC OTOH shares a desktop running on the device and the screensaver/sleep/lock screen and power management settings are in play if you don’t disable them. I’ve got 3 or 4 mini PC’s now running 24/7 and have been running the occasional GSendre or UGS CNC “job” (without motor power) to completion… even while playing Spider/Mahjongg or running other programs on the same device. I’ve not seen a single “job” failure yet… as long as you don’t fire up two gcode senders at once, so that they contend for the USB connection.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my observations and will now hush about these little devices… unless someone asks questions or wants more info about how I’m using them. I’ll be happy to help as I can.
– David