Intel Compute Stick (STCK1A8LFC) + Xubuntu 18.04.4

To avoid agonistic wifi settings, better install Xubuntu Desktop first.
Thanks to wifi drivers delivered with bionic, wifi works on installation.

Hardware

• Intel® Compute Stick STCK1A8LFC

Prerequisites

prepare installation media

• at least 2GB USB memory stick as installation media
• Xubuntu Desktop installation is preferred for better wifi device detection
• download xubuntu-18.04.4-desktop-amd64.iso (1534459904 bytes) and burn it to USB memory stick

equipments

• USB power supply (Type-A) and power cable (micro-B, packaged with STCK1A8LFC)
• HDMI extension cable (packaged with STCK1A8LFC)
• HDMI display
• wifi station/home router connected to internet
• USB HUB (Type-A) with at least 3 Type-A receptacles
  • Keyboard
  • Mouse
  • Installation media (as described above)
• at least 16GB microSD card as DUMMY system storage
  • Ubiquity (Ubuntu installer) refuses to proceed if only internal MMC exists
  • internal MMC is 8GB small, insufficient but still actually installable
  • better use this external microSD than internal MMC anyway

update BIOS (could be done later)

• visit Intel Site and search STCK1A8LFC
  • https://downloadcenter.intel.com/ja/product/86613/-Compute-Stick-STCK1A8LFC

BIOS settings

• press F2 during boot to enter BIOS setup
• check SecureBoot and Performance settings
• see Install Ubuntu Server 18.04.2 on Intel Compute Stick Guide

LAN

• see wifi MACs (marked on Compute Stick surface)
• permit wifi MACs on wifi station/home router per-SSID settings
• write down available SSID and WPA2 PSK

installation

• use English, do not change timezone nor keyboard mapping (set later)
  • avoiding unnecessary heuristic locale settings depending timezone
• do not connect to Internet during installation (connect later)
  • some gigs of free space remained for /var/cache/apt

Post-install

Cstate-related problems

bay trail SoC has broken sleep state. it hangs randomly. fundamentally, cooling failure.

sudo vi /etc/default/grub modify GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash intel_idle.max_cstate=1"

even after above, transition to sleep state seems still fatal. so,

sudo apt remove thermald

CUI/GUI

sudo systemctl set-default {multi-user,graphical}.target

inactivate unattended-upgrade

see and modify /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades as you like

wifi

edit /etc/netplan/01-network-manager-all.yaml and perform netplan generate netplan apply

# Let NetworkManager manage all devices on this system
network:
  version: 2
  wifis:
      wlan0:
          access-points:
              <ssid>:
                  password: <WPA2 PSK>
  renderer: NetworkManager

Japan-only settings (no Japanese packages required) as you like

timedatectl set-timezone Asia/Tokyo
localectl set-keymap jp

(optional) add your bread-and-butter packages

sudo apt install tree curl jq git apt-transport-https socat build-essential ssh xorgxrdp-hwe-18.04 xrdp

References

• Install Ubuntu Server 18.04.2 on Intel Compute Stick Guide
  • this author uses Ubuntu Server
• NetplanでWiFi設定
• Ubuntu 18.0.4 LTSでの無線LAN設定でつまづいた話
• Intel Compute Stick をサーバ化