Get one pre-installed or do it yourself
We’ve put together some ready-to-go images of open-source operating systems for the APU, ALIX, net5501 and net6501.
Choose between:
for your servers.
You can have an operating system pre-installed when you order one of our standalone boxes or a rack mount server, or when you buy any Compact Flash or SD card.
Or you can download one and install it yourself.
If you would like to suggest improvements to these images, or other images you would find useful, please send us an email.
Get it installed for you
We’ll install your software of choice for free when you buy one of our standalone servers or a rack mount server (including a Compact Flash or SD card).
You can also add one to any CF or SD card purchase for only $10.
Just select the operating system you want from the product options, and your order will arrive with the image pre-installed on the CF card, so you can just plug it in and go.
Let us install your custom image
If what you’re looking for isn’t here, we can also build custom images.
Or, if you have your own image already built, or your own proprietary software, we’re also happy to pre-install it for you, so your units arrive ready-to-go out of the box.
We’ve had experience so far with Mikrotik RouterOS, PUBLICip, Ubuntu Linux, EMBCop, Askozia PBX, and we’re willing to give anything a go!
Do it yourself
You can write these images to a Compact Flash or SD card yourself, using dd (BSD/Linux) or Physdiskwrite (Windows).
If you don’t have them already, you’ll need a CF or SD card and a CF/SD card reader (or a CF to IDE adapter).
Note: All of the above images were created and tested on SanDisk cards, unless otherwise specified.
A note on image sizes
For best results, use the same CF card size
These images have been built on particular size Compact Flash cards.
Flashing an image onto a CF card of the same size will generally give you the best results, making the most of the available space and ensuring that the image will boot.
If you use a CF card that is smaller than the image, it will most likely refuse to boot.
If you use a CF card that is larger than the image size, you will end up with inaccessible space (unless you know how to repartition the card).
There’s no harm in using a larger CF card if that’s all you can get your hands on. You just might have some wasted space.
Voyage gives you access to space for extra files
Although the Voyage Linux image file is 2GB in size, the operating system files take up less than 150MB.
Voyage Linux allows you to use this leftover space for storing additional files.
Note: If you buy a server or CF card from us with Voyage Linux pre-installed, we can install it onto any size CF card for you, giving you access to even more storage space.
m0nowall and pfSense can’t use extra space
monowall and pfSense® don’t allow you to save files to the CF card, so there’s no point using a bigger card than you need to fit the image (unless you plan to configure the card for multiboot operation).
Although the images will fit onto any CF card bigger than the image size, the rest of the space on the CF card will be inaccessible to the operating system.
So there’s no harm in using a bigger card, just some wasted space.
You might also want to check out this table that explains which compact flash card sizes to use for each image.
If in doubt, please ask us.
Other software
There are lots of great open-source operating systems that you can use on the APU, ALIX, net5501, net6501 and fitPC’s.
We’ve listed a selection of this amazingly useful software to give you even more options.
We’re not the experts
We supply these files purely for your convenience and can’t make any promises about their suitability for your project.
We can’t provide technical support for these images, because we’re not experts in these operating systems, and don’t want to pretend that we are.
If you’re unsure, please get technical advice from a suitably qualified expert before proceeding.
Note: These images are not endorsed by the creators and maintainers of m0n0wall, pfSense® or Voyage Linux.
