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Where to build Armbian in the cloud?


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I have machines available at work, but I loose quite a big amount of time fighting with proxy issues.
I also have VM available with proxy almost correctly configured (some protocols/ports don't work, like for adding gpg key), but the disks aren't big enough.
At home, I have network without any proxy, but it's not that good...
So, I was wondering if I could try and build Armbian on the cloud... for free.
I tried several websites like google cloud and other services offering Docker, but I haven't found any with enough disk space.

Quote

tar: gcc-linaro-7.2.1-2017.11-x86_64_arm-eabi/lib: Cannot mkdir: No space left on devicetar: gcc-linaro-7.2.1-2017.11-x86_64_arm-eabi/lib/libmpfr.a: Cannot open: No such file or directorytar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors[ o.k. ] Download complete[ warn ] Low free space left [ 0 GiB ]Press <Ctrl-C> to abort compilation, <Enter> to ignore and continue


Is anyone of you building in the cloud?

Thanks.

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15 minutes ago, gounthar said:

It's a nightmare to get Docker to work on my work Windows machine because of security constraints.


Why don't you use full virtualization then? Virtualbox for example?

 

16 minutes ago, gounthar said:

I will have to buy a NUC for home or something like that in order to build it.


Just remember that this will be slow :) Get rather some used, Intel I7 4790K, pre/previous generation gaming PC without a dedicated graphics card. It will be way more bang.

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Thanks a lot for the advice @Igor. I already managed to build some of the images with VirtualBox, but as some of them don't build on my system, I thought this was linked to my use of VirtualBox. I'm using Docker on Linux machines which are stuck behind a corporate proxy, and who don't have much disk space.
And as I have lots of security constraints on my Windows machine, some ports close after some time, so it's difficult to get a full build without being always next to the machine to check its state. :blink:

This week-end, I'm trying to build for the OrangePi One Plus, but I'm spending too much time finding a clean build environment instead of working for Armbian. :(

I'll see if I can find something with an I7.

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41 minutes ago, TonyMac32 said:

I use an i7-3770 for the job.

 

doesn't need to be an i7.. :P i5-2500k, 8GB DDR3 ram and a decent SSD (samsung evo).. besides the SSD, this system is around 6-7 years old and builds images in 10-20mins (depending on 'cachelevel'). Even on my 5 years old i5 notebook (i5-3317U with 4gb ram) I'm able to build an image in 20-30min. Both machines work obviously with native ubuntu without doker etc. (not recommended)

 

Edit: the first build on my shitty notebook will take a way longer... probably 2 hours.. 

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Ah, a XEON would be nice. my machine won't boot an nvme directly so I have a spinner for the system, I put the ccache local on the ssd.  16 GB DDR3.

 

I also have a setup on a cheap $300 ASUS laptop, i3 and spinning disk.  It is slow, but works if I'm wanting time away form my in-laws. :lol::ph34r:

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I sometimes use the cloud for building armbian.  To make it a little easier I have an ansible role that sets up my build environment. keys, git repos, vim tweaks, and an rsync endpoint to easily pull images home.    You definitely wouldn't want to leave it up 24/7, but its great to spin up for a weekend of intense hacking.    The first run is the slowest just because all the tool chains have to download.   Filling you Apt cache is less important in the cloud because the mirrors are so fast.

 

The free instances wont cut it, and you definitely need additional space.   Its usually easiest to just put your GIT checkout and build environment on a dedicated volume.   At a minimum your build/cache directory needs a lot of disk.  That's where toolchains, source, root filesystem images go.

 

A few other thoughts:

 

  • Use at least a quad core VM
    • core count is typically more impactful than clockspeed, with the execption of the qemu-arm sessions where emulation is happening
  • You don't need much RAM.   2-4 Gigs i sufficient even on 8 cores
  • Use the market priced instances rather than standard on-demand
  • Run armbian builder from a fork an save your work.   You could randomly lose your node due to the ephemeral nature of above.

 

 

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On 7/8/2018 at 1:24 PM, TonyMac32 said:

Ah, a XEON would be nice. my machine won't boot an nvme directly so I have a spinner for the system, I put the ccache local on the ssd.  16 GB DDR3.

 

I also have a setup on a cheap $300 ASUS laptop, i3 and spinning disk.  It is slow, but works if I'm wanting time away form my in-laws. :lol::ph34r:

 

 

Okay couldn't resist sharing my insanity.   My goto build server is my frankendell, which was pretty much motivated for building armbian stuff.

 

A while back I noticed that dell enterprise desktop motherboards on ebay were really cheap.  That inspired me to google to see what older optiplex models had i7s.    So I started cobblin together a stupid server made from a dell desktop motherboard, an i7-2600, some fancy gamer ram from a co-worker, a 1U server case, a dual port nic, and an nvidia quadro card.    Then I cut the case down to size with an angle grinder, put it on a comm shelf that conveniently screwed into some 1x4's i hung from my rafters.   For extra credit, the bios is set to always power-on, and I spliced a Sonoff Basic into a powercord so that I can control from HomeAssistant.

 

My build VM is actually running on NFS storage over 2x1GB LACP.   IO's been good enough to keep me happy.

 

I ended up buying real dell fans and a the front panel nonsense because it so hard to make the bios not freak out.   Generally I advise just getting a whole optiplex 790/990 from ebay and spare yourself the excitement.

frankendell.jpg

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