Installing AllStarLink on a Dell Wyse 3040

You may also want to install Clonezilla on a second USB thumb drive. This is only needed if the 3040 won’t boot after installing ASL on it.

4 – Configure your installation setup

Required: a screen, a keyboard, and a mouse.

For the installation process, you can connect your existing computer monitor, keyboard, and mouse to the 3040. However, I prefer to use a separate 7-inch screen, keyboard, and mouse. I do that so I can quickly search for information using my desktop computer.

The 3040 has two Display Port monitor ports on the back. The HDMI monitor cable you probably have on hand won’t fit. An easy solution is to purchase an inexpensive DP-to-HDMI adapter.

5 – Modify the BIOS settings before installing ASL

Got your 3040 connected to a screen, keyboard, and mouse? Ready to plug in the power and push the power button? Go ahead and start it up, then press the F1 to enter the BIOS configuration utility. I press the F1 button over and over — tap tap tap tap tap — until the BIOS screen appears.

These are the things I set in the BIOS:

1. General

   1. System Information — make sure you have 2 Gbs of RAM.

   2. Boot Sequence — disable all (uncheck all). You may need to unlock this screen. The default admin password is Fireport.

   3. Date/Time — set to your local time. If you find that the system does not keep time, you’ll need to replace the BIOS battery.

2. System Configuration

   1. UEFI Network Stack — check the box

   2. Integrated NIC — enabled

   3. USB Configuration — make sure all ports, front and rear, are enabled

   4. Audio — I check the box

3. Security

   1. Admin Password — I remove the admin password, which requires the BIOS password. The default password is Fireport.

   2. UEFI Capsule Firmware Update — check the box

   3. CPU XD Support — check the box

4. Secure Boot

   1. Secure Boot Enable — check the disabled box

5. Performance

   1. Intel SpeedStep — check the box

   2. C-State Control — check the box

   3. Limit CPUID Value — uncheck the box

   4. Intel TurboBoost — check the box

6. Power Management

   1. AC Recovery — select Power Off

   2. Auto On Time — disabled

   3. USB Wake Support — uncheck the box

   4. Wake on LAN — disabled

7. POST Behavior

   1. Fastboot — thorough

8. Virtualization Support

   1. Virtualization — check the box

9. Wireless

   1. Wireless Device Enable — uncheck the box

Then click the Apply button and check the box for “Save as Custom User Settings.”

6 – Install ASL to the 3040 thin client

The Beginner’s Guide covers how to download and burn an image to your thumb drive. Essentially, you download the image, burn it to your thumb drive, then boot the 3040 from the thumb drive. I note that USB 2.0 drives seem to work better (sometimes!) than newer thumb drives. Your mileage may vary.

To boot from the thumb drive, reboot the 3040 device and press the F12 key over and over until you see a screen that lets you choose what device to boot from. Select your thumb drive and press Enter.

For more, I refer you to the Beginner’s Guide at https://wiki.allstarlink.org/wiki/Beginners_Guide.

7 – Boot to the new system

OK, you’ve made it through all the steps so far, and with a sense of excitement (or perhaps foreboding), you restart the device. You may see it boot right into a blue Debian linux screen. If so, just wait because it will finish booting in a few moments.

But you might get this dreaded screen:

David Gleason NR9V provides a solution:

Once the install finishes to the 3040 internal flash, it won’t boot, but you can then boot from a UEFI clonezilla USB, select the “Local operating system (if available)” boot option and then the Debian OS option, and then do the following:

sudo mkdir /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT
sudo cp /boot/efi/EFI/debian/shimx64.efi /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI

Then remove the USB drive and power cycle the PC. It will then boot fine, and the rest of the AllStar setup process is then the same as on an RPi. Refer to the AllStarLink.org Install Guide to complete the node configuration and properly provision it on the AllStarLink Web Portal.

Other notes:

• On the 3040 device, you may need to hold the power button for several seconds. Wait a few moments and press it again to power up the device. To select the thumb drive as the drive to boot from, press the F12 key over and over immediately after pressing the power button. Don’t stop until you see the choice to select a boot drive or the installation screen for ASL appears.

• Here’s another wrinkle that I’ve encountered: a message that says the device is missing firmware. “The missing firmware files are: rtl_nic/rt18168h-2.fw” You can find that at https://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=contents&keywords=/lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8125b-2.fw However, it’s easier to skip this and later run this command: “sudo apt-get install firmware-realtek firmware-misc-nonfree”

• If the BIOS is locked in your 3040, try the default admin password. What is it? Fireport

To upgrade ASL

Find instructions at https://github.com/AllStarLink/ASL-Asterisk

David Gleasan NR9V also writes:

I would also ignore the “Install the ASL Repo” steps on the ASL github “Prerequisites”.  If an update causes ASL to revert to an older version I can think of no other cause. And of course that would happen anytime you did any OS updates, not just when updating/installing AllScan.  If you already did the above steps you should be able to undo them, eg.

# see if asl repo is in apt sources, remove if so
cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/allstar.list
rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/allstar.list
# same as above but for file in "Alternative" instructions
cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/allstarlink.list
rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/allstarlink.list

Debian should then no longer try to do update ASL (from their repo which hasn’t been updated in 2 years) when doing OS updates.

Additional packages you may wish to install

Additional packages I like to install include:

• xrdp for remote desktop protocol (sudo apt install xrdp) — I use RDP to manage my 3040 devices on my local network from my Windows computer (look for Remote Desktop Connection in Windows)/

• MATE desktop (sudo tasksel) … a lot goes on so this takes a while to complete. You don’t need this if you aren’t going to run a desktop interface on your 3040.

  • Note that if the installation of MATE via tasksel fails, it is rather cumbersome to repair the problem. I’ve had this happen a few times. Now, I use apt to install MATE: https://vitux.com/debian_mate_desktop/

  • After installing MATE desktop and rebooting, I take a look at disk usage and at the system monitor. Both can be found in the MATE menu under Applications —> System Tools.

• wicd for network management (sudo apt install wicd) — but note that while it runs nicely on Debian 10 (and that’s what the ASL image is on) it is not available for Debian 11.

• i7z for occasionally checking processor temperatures (sudo apt install i7z).

• rdiff-backup to help keep backups of ASL files (sudo apt install rdiff-backup).

• AllScan for managing my favorites. Find it at: https://github.com/davidgsd/AllScan#readme

• Upgrade Supermon if you wish, but if you are going to use AllScan and also the ASL Menu in the Debian 10 ISO, there is little need for Supermon. Find instructions in this thread: https://groups.io/g/Supermon/topic/welcome2/83794098

  • Also, you may need to reset the password in the supermon directory. While still in the /var/www/html/supermon directory, delete the “.htpasswd” file.

  • Next, you will type or copy/paste this into the terminal:

    htpasswd -cB .htpasswd admin

  • It will then ask you to put in a password. Input whatever password you want there.

Wifi adapters are a bit challenging. If necessary determine the Linux kernel with sudo uname -r. Many devices only work with newer Linux kernels. This one works with the Debian 10 ASL image but I see that it is no longer available: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003MTTJOY/

There is a newer version of that device that is available and it does work with the Debian 10 ISO: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08F2ZNC6J

And that’s the installation process. Configuring ASL on the device is a different topic altogether. I hope this long article helps walk you through installing ASL on a computing device like the Dell Wyse 3040 thin client!