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public:hardware:intel-compute-stick-stck1a32wfc:start

Intel Compute Stick STCK1A32WFC


0. Story

Bought when I got inspired by Action Retro - Intel's Tiny, Weird Computer video about Intel Compute Stick. I wanted a small, low-power x86 computer with bare minimum stuff included, as local home server connected 24/7 to the TV. If GPU allows for 1080p30 playback, this would make a great movie watching station.


1. The Plan

Software

I want to install Alpine Linux (with edge branch), using F2FS on root partition, no swap.

Hardware

STCK1A32WFC supports powered USB 2.0 hubs, and up to 128GB SDXC microSD card. I want to install Kioxia Exceria g2 128GB as secondary partition (with F2FS as well), USB→RJ45 adapter, and potentially external hard drive in the future.


2. Problems

  1. With unpowered 4-port USB 2.0 hub, STCK can't handle connected USB devices on boot.
  2. With another, powered 7-port USB 2.0 hub, modloop service on Alpine Install won't start in specified 60 seconds

3. Alpine Linux installation

After restarting modloop service manually after boot, I was able to connect Realtek 10/100 USB Ethernet adapter, load modules and do pretty much standard setup-alpine. I manually setup eMMC partitions for 1GB vFAT EFI and the rest to ext4 rootfs. setup-disk automatically found that it's on UEFI system and installed and configured GRUB without any help.


4. Post-config

I've installed XFCE4 using setup-desktop, but with 2GB of RAM (without SWAP…) and such low-spec CPU, it's simply not worth it.

Instead, I disabled lightdm service, and configured my own reverse-ssh service which uses autossh to estabilish a tunnel to my remote machine, so I could SSH into home from any network available.

Also configured 128GB Kioxia Exceria G2 microSD card with f2fs, and made it mount automatically via fstab at boot. Works great!


5. Next steps

  • Design and 3D print some sort of enclosure, so it will sit with USB hub in nice package
  • Replace thermal paste
  • Maaaaaybe add some better cooling solution?

Docs

public/hardware/intel-compute-stick-stck1a32wfc/start.txt · Last modified: by mdukat