Installing Nova Under Alpine on an OnLogic Panel PC

This article explains how to reimage an OnLogic Panel PC to run Nova under the Alpine Linux distro with the Chromium browser running in kiosk mode to provide your local operator interface. This process replaces the PC’s default Ubuntu distro.

Prerequisites

You will need the following:

• The latest Standard x86_64 Alpine iso file from the Alpine website.
• The latest OnLogic Nova install files obtained by contacting us.
• A disk imaging and formatting tool such as Rufus.
• Two USB memory sticks of at least 8GB in size.
• A USB keyboard that you can connect to your panel PC.
• An Ethernet connection that can reach the Internet.

Booting Alpine

To boot into Alpine on the panel PC:

• Using your disk imaging tool and the Alpine iso file, create a bootable Alpine image.
• Format the other USB stick FAT32 and copy the Nova install files on to it.
• Power on your PC and use the keyboard to enter the Bios setup mode.
• Configure the Bios to boot from USB, insert both USB memory sticks, and reboot.
• Your screen will show a logon prompt: Logon as root with no password.
• Run setup-alpine and answer the prompts, using defaults for most options.
• When asked for a password for root, you can use password as it will not be retained.
• Be sure to configure networking for at least one interface so your can reach the Internet.
• When you are asked to whether to create an another use, press Ctrl+C to abort the setup.

Installing Nova

To install Nova on the panel PC:

• Run mkdir -p /mnt/usb to create a mount point for the second USB stick.
• Run mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/usb to mount the USB stick into your filing system.
• Run cd /mnt/usb to change directory to the second USB stick’s contents.
• Run ./restore.sh to restore the complete Alpine image to your device.
• When the script has finished, remove the USB sticks and run reboot.
• The device will reboot and start Nova.

Next Steps

Refer to the articles on:

• Finding Devices on the Network;
• First Time Log On;
• Avoiding Certificate Errors; and
• Licensing Your Installation.

Your Alpine installation will have users of root and user, both with password of password.

You should SSH into the device and change these passwords before deploying to production.