Dell OptiPlex 755 SFF

Custom Unattended Linux Boot CD
The onboard ethernet controller on these computers was not supported by the Unattended Linux boot CD so a custom disk had to be compiled with the necessary driver.

mkdir /extra
cd /extra
wget http://internap.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/unattended/unattended
-4.7.zip
unzip unattended-4.7.zip
cd unattended-4.7/linuxboot

Download the necessary source files for compilation (this could take a bit of time):

make download

Remove the old E1000 driver files:

cd linux-2.6.23.11/drivers/net/e1000
rm -f *

Replace them with the newer driver from Intel:

wget http://downloadmirror.intel.com/9180/eng/e1000-7.6.15.4.tar.gz
tar zxvf e1000-7.6.15.4.tar.gz
mv e1000-7.6.15.4/src/*

Now try compiling a new ISO:

cd /extra/unattended-4.7/linuxboot
make iso

It started the compiling process, but then crapped out when it got to
the E1000 driver because it couldn't find the kernel source. Towards
the beginning of linux-2.6.23.11/drivers/net/e1000/Makefile" is a section:

# Kernel Search Path
# All the places we look for kernel source
KSP :=  /lib/modules/$(BUILD_KERNEL)/build \
        /lib/modules/$(BUILD_KERNEL)/source \
        /usr/src/linux-$(BUILD_KERNEL) \
        /usr/src/linux-$($(BUILD_KERNEL) | sed 's/-.*//') \
        /usr/src/kernel-headers-$(BUILD_KERNEL) \
        /usr/src/kernel-source-$(BUILD_KERNEL) \
        /usr/src/linux-$($(BUILD_KERNEL) | sed 
's/\([0-9]*\.[0-9]*\)\..*/\1/') \
        /usr/src/linux

I modified the last line there and added one more for the kernel source that is included with the linuxboot files:

/usr/src/linux \
/extra/unattended-4.7/linuxboot/linux-2.6.23.11

After that, "make iso" ran fine until it got to to the midid part of compiling dosemu. Can't recall offhand the exact error - it was a screenful of text. Since I didn't think that having some sort of audio/MIDI related component of a disk used just to boot the computer for initial install really mattered, I simply edited

/extra/unattended-4.7/linuxboot/dosemu-1.4.0/src/arch/linux/
Makefile.main

and commented out line 23:

#MIDID=arch/linux/dosext/sound/midid

Ran make iso again, and it proceeded to finish compiling and make the new ISO, /extra/unattended-4.7/linuxboot/linuxboot.iso.

Recent Updates

  • nginx
    8 months 2 weeks ago
    1.27.2 update
  • lighttpd
    8 months 4 weeks ago
    Drupal 10/11 config
  • Drupal 11
    9 months 1 day ago
  • PHP
    9 months 1 day ago
    PHP 8.3.11 and AlmaLinux
  • Pound SSL Proxy
    9 months 1 day ago
    New version of Pound