Raspberry Pi 3B+ | Webserver and NAS

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Hey Everybody,

 

So I got quite bored in the past week and decided to set up my own 24/7 server. I bought a Raspberry Pi model 3B+ and plan to use it by running Ubuntu Server. It turns out I have no idea how to actually install it... Can anyone help me out? 

I'm aware that RPIs are not powerful at all but I'm assuming it'll be fine for hosting some HTML or CSS pages on my domain. That is the main objective. I do plan on booting it using an SSD (WD Green 120gb) using a SATA to USB converter I've bought and waiting to ship. The NAS part of it isn't that important but if I could do it for my home network, I guess I will. 

 

I just don't know how to install Ubuntu Server...

 

Thanks in Advance.

[AskTJ]

All Linux (well, most) operating systems are free. Just download a .ISO file from the page, get a 8GB USB and download a tool called "UNetBootin".

 

You can burn the .ISO file onto the USB with this tool, and be able to boot from the USB onto the Pi. Make sure you have an SD card to use as storage and for your OS.

 

The Raspberry Pi 3 doesn't have USB 3.0 support, so you will be limited to 480 MegaBits per second, or around 40 - 60 MegaBytes per second, so using a USB 3.0 adapter wont give any improvement.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

2 minutes ago, AskTJ said:

All Linux (well, most) operating systems are free. Just download a .ISO file from the page, get a 8GB USB and download a tool called "UNetBootin".

 

You can burn the .ISO file onto the USB with this tool, and be able to boot from the USB onto the Pi. Make sure you have an SD card to use as storage and for your OS.

 

The Raspberry Pi 3 doesn't have USB 3.0 support, so you will be limited to 480 MegaBits per second, or around 40 - 60 MegaBytes per second, so using a USB 3.0 adapter wont give any improvement.

If I wanted to install Ubuntu, which version should I download and try? I believe there are issues with loading the stock version as the RPI runs on ARM architecture. Also I think it's different to Raspberry Pi Model 3B's as they run ARMv7 and mine runs ARMv8.

[WereCatf]

15 minutes ago, TheOneWhoKnocks said:

I bought a Raspberry Pi model 3B+ and plan to use it by running Ubuntu Server. It turns out I have no idea how to actually install it... Can anyone help me out?

It doesn't look like Ubuntu Server is available for the RPi in the first place.

 

5 minutes ago, AskTJ said:

The Raspberry Pi 3 doesn't have USB 3.0 support, so you will be limited to 480 MegaBits per second, or around 40 - 60 MegaBytes per second, so using a USB 3.0 adapter wont give any improvement.

Not even that, it's closer to 25MB/s due to the overhead. Also, the Ethernet-connection also uses the same USB-connection, so that's going to slow things down even further. It'd be better to use 802.11AC for network-connection on the RPi 3b+

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

2 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

It doesn't look like Ubuntu Server is available for the RPi in the first place.

 

Not even that, it's closer to 25MB/s due to the overhead. Also, the Ethernet-connection also uses the same USB-connection, so that's going to slow things down even further. It'd be better to use 802.11AC for network-connection on the RPi 3b+

What about Ubuntu Desktop? Or is there no difference?

Yeah I'll test what connection works better when the time comes!

[WereCatf]

2 minutes ago, TheOneWhoKnocks said:

What about Ubuntu Desktop? Or is there no difference?

Yeah I'll test what connection works better when the time comes!

You could use one of the images listed at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/RaspberryPi but, personally, I think it'd be easier to just go with Raspbian and uninstall any extra stuff you don't need than hassling around with setting up Ubuntu.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

1 minute ago, WereCatf said:

You could use one of the images listed at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/RaspberryPi but, personally, I think it'd be easier to just go with Raspbian and uninstall any extra stuff you don't need than hassling around with setting up Ubuntu.

I've worked with Ubuntu Server before so I wanted to use it. Oh well... What disadvantages am I looking at if I use Raspbian?

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, TheOneWhoKnocks said:

I've worked with Ubuntu Server before so I wanted to use it. Oh well... What disadvantages am I looking at if I use Raspbian?

Nothing, really. It's Debian, so the package-selection and the tools aren't identical, but they are close enough so as not to really matter. Most instructions available for Ubuntu work fine for Debian, too, and vice versa.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

1 minute ago, WereCatf said:

Nothing, really. It's Debian, so the package-selection and the tools aren't identical, but they are close enough so as not to really matter. Most instructions available for Ubuntu work fine for Debian, too, and vice versa.

I'm going to be running it headless (without peripherals or a monitor?). Briefly, how do I go about uninstalling the unnecessary stuff? (Desktop and other software?) 

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, TheOneWhoKnocks said:

I'm going to be running it headless (without peripherals or a monitor?). Briefly, how do I go about uninstalling the unnecessary stuff? (Desktop and other software?) 

I can't remember all the unnecessary cruft that's installed by default, but something along the lines of the following should get rid of most of it:

sudo apt -y remove desktop-base openbox lightdm xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core gnome-desktop3-data gsettings-desktop-schemas desktop-file-utils
sudo apt -y autoremove

On the other hand, they use a couple of hundred megabytes of space. You could just disable the desktop and boot into plain CLI with either raspi-config or "sudo systemctl disable lightdm"

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

3 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

I can't remember all the unnecessary cruft that's installed by default, but something along the lines of the following should get rid of most of it:

sudo apt -y remove desktop-base openbox lightdm xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core gnome-desktop3-data gsettings-desktop-schemas desktop-file-utils
sudo apt -y autoremove

On the other hand, they use a couple of hundred megabytes of space. You could just disable the desktop and boot into plain CLI with either raspi-config or "sudo systemctl disable lightdm"

Thanks for your help mate. I'll be back after I load up Raspbian...

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Thanks for the help. Got it running properly on Raspbian Lite. Just reading to get everything else set up!