For server applications, is Ubuntu server better than Raspbian on rpi 4?

[helpme]

I was wondering whether Ubuntu server 20.04 would be a better choice than raspbian if one were running server applications on Raspberry pi 4.

Anyone tried Ubuntu server on raspberry pi 4? How was the experience? What problems did you encounter? Slow speed? Is raspbian better?

[kerry_s]

any rpi os, can do the job, it's just a matter of preference.
for ubuntu you need ethernet/lan & gui stuff kinda sucks, so best if you intend headless/ no gui.

for mine i've gone with dietpi os.

[helpme]

any rpi os, can do the job, it's just a matter of preference.
for ubuntu you need ethernet/lan & gui stuff kinda sucks, so best if you intend headless/ no gui.

for mine i've gone with dietpi os.

Can Rpi Wifi work in Ubuntu? This is a concern.
I believe most rpi applications are headless since Rpi is essentially best suited as embedded device.

[kerry_s]

any rpi os, can do the job, it's just a matter of preference.
for ubuntu you need ethernet/lan & gui stuff kinda sucks, so best if you intend headless/ no gui.

for mine i've gone with dietpi os.

Can Rpi Wifi work in Ubuntu? This is a concern.
I believe most rpi applications are headless since Rpi is essentially best suited as embedded device.

yes it works, if you do it just right, which is not easy.

[ejolson]

I was wondering whether Ubuntu server 20.04 would be a better choice than raspbian if one were running server applications on Raspberry pi 4.

Anyone tried Ubuntu server on raspberry pi 4? How was the experience? What problems did you encounter? Slow speed? Is raspbian better?

I installed Focal Fossa on a Pi 3B+ last week. The installation was simple, just download the image, copy it to the card and it works. After seeing how long it took to log in because Ubuntu has to check whether updates are available in the repository each time, I remembered why I didn't like Ubuntu. Then it crashed and so I deleted it. Before I deleted it, I noticed that vcgencmd seemed missing. Does anyone know where vcgencmd is on Ubuntu server?

[kerry_s]

Does anyone know where vcgencmd is on Ubuntu server?

it's in the same place raspi-config is, on raspberry pi os.

[ranrinc]

I was wondering whether Ubuntu server 20.04 would be a better choice than raspbian if one were running server applications on Raspberry pi 4.

Anyone tried Ubuntu server on raspberry pi 4? How was the experience? What problems did you encounter? Slow speed? Is raspbian better?

I installed Focal Fossa on a Pi 3B+ last week. The installation was simple, just download the image, copy it to the card and it works. After seeing how long it took to log in because Ubuntu has to check whether updates are available in the repository each time, I remembered why I didn't like Ubuntu. Then it crashed and so I deleted it. Before I deleted it, I noticed that vcgencmd seemed missing. Does anyone know where vcgencmd is on Ubuntu server?

The reason we install ubuntu because its now supported for RPI and its 64bit instead of 32bit. Furthermore it have more apps etc compare to raspiOS. However the downside is that all the raspiOS specific to RPI software will not run on ubuntu (vcgencmd) and also booting via SSD without microSD also will not work on ubuntu.

[helpme]

I was wondering whether Ubuntu server 20.04 would be a better choice than raspbian if one were running server applications on Raspberry pi 4.

Anyone tried Ubuntu server on raspberry pi 4? How was the experience? What problems did you encounter? Slow speed? Is raspbian better?

I installed Focal Fossa on a Pi 3B+ last week. The installation was simple, just download the image, copy it to the card and it works. After seeing how long it took to log in because Ubuntu has to check whether updates are available in the repository each time, I remembered why I didn't like Ubuntu. Then it crashed and so I deleted it. Before I deleted it, I noticed that vcgencmd seemed missing. Does anyone know where vcgencmd is on Ubuntu server?

The reason we install ubuntu because its now supported for RPI and its 64bit instead of 32bit. Furthermore it have more apps etc compare to raspiOS. However the downside is that all the raspiOS specific to RPI software will not run on ubuntu (vcgencmd) and also booting via SSD without microSD also will not work on ubuntu.

May I ask what do you mean by booting via SSD? Do you mean attach a SSD at USB port and Rpi 4 can boot up? I didn't know that can be done with Raspbian.

[helpme]

Seems like booting from SSD can be done

https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/boo ... y-pi-4-usb

[waveform80]

I was wondering whether Ubuntu server 20.04 would be a better choice than raspbian if one were running server applications on Raspberry pi 4.

Anyone tried Ubuntu server on raspberry pi 4? How was the experience? What problems did you encounter? Slow speed? Is raspbian better?

I installed Focal Fossa on a Pi 3B+ last week. The installation was simple, just download the image, copy it to the card and it works. After seeing how long it took to log in because Ubuntu has to check whether updates are available in the repository each time, I remembered why I didn't like Ubuntu. Then it crashed and so I deleted it. Before I deleted it, I noticed that vcgencmd seemed missing. Does anyone know where vcgencmd is on Ubuntu server?

It's part of the raspberrypi-userland package which is currently awaiting review for inclusion in groovy (and then back-porting to focal); see LP: #1883111 for further details. This package also includes the vcmailbox, dtoverlay, dtmerge, raspivid, raspistill, raspiyuv, and raspividyuv utilities.

One utility which will notably be missing compared to Raspbian is vcdbg as unfortunately that isn't open-source (currently it's only provided as a pre-compiled dynamically linked binary in the raspberrypi/firmware repo) so I don't have the option of including that. This also appears to be the situation in the new 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS however, so I'm hopeful that some alternative may be provided at some point.

[waveform80]

Seems like booting from SSD can be done

https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/boo ... y-pi-4-usb

Sadly we can't support pure USB MSD boot at this time on Ubuntu; the u-boot portion of our boot process is incompatible with it (on all models; on the Pi 4 specifically it currently lacks drivers for the VL805 but on all models the MSD support appears broken despite USB HID drivers operating correctly).

I'm working on a modification of the boot process for future revisions to enable this but there's currently no time estimate and the possibility of back-porting it to focal is doubtful (the transition is likely to be too complex to reliably support).

[jsciamms]

Seems like booting from SSD can be done

https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/boo ... y-pi-4-usb

Sadly we can't support pure USB MSD boot at this time on Ubuntu; the u-boot portion of our boot process is incompatible with it (on all models; on the Pi 4 specifically it currently lacks drivers for the VL805 but on all models the MSD support appears broken despite USB HID drivers operating correctly).

I'm working on a modification of the boot process for future revisions to enable this but there's currently no time estimate and the possibility of back-porting it to focal is doubtful (the transition is likely to be too complex to reliably support).

There is a workaround. Just having apt decompress the kernel whenever there is an update, and manually decompressing the kernel on the initial boot allows Ubuntu to be booted directly from usb. See my earlier post.
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