Raspberry Pi 4 - 8GB
bootloader: 940f978d Mar 19 2020
board: mode 6
According to Tom's Hardware, I'm going to need to update the boot loader to the June 15, 2020 version in order to support a USB boot. Several guides suggest that you might need an externally powered hub if your USB drive takes a lot of power (e.g. spinning rust).
So, some possible goals at least initially for the new machine.
- No SD card, not at least in the long run.
- Run as a Github runner for a private repo? See GitHub Actions Runner.
- Keep the machine at Workantile.
- Set in up on my Tailscale network so I can get to Workantile from home.
- Get enough of a keyboard and mouse and screen so that I can use it as a Workantile desktop.
I think I will need an SD card just long enough to bootstrap this, so plan to scavenge one from a lightly used machine or get a new card ordered. (And thus an old Debian Jessie install on a Pi 3 got upcycled.)
The tutorial I think I will follow for this is from Jeff Geerling, I'm booting my Raspberry Pi 4 from a USB SSD from June 2020. There's about $60 in parts that I don't have yet, but what I do have is a USB3 flash drive. Jeff warns that the flash drive will be slow but the point of this exercise right now is to see if it can work at all!
