Hardware

I bought the Soekris 6501-50 case to install m0n0wall in it. I've been trying to create a Bootable USB to install m0n0wall in the mSATA HDD and I copied the img file using the dd command but the Soekris Boot says

No bootable media found !

I tried all the other image format the ISO, IMG but still no luck there.

Has anyone created a Bootable USB image of m0n0wall ? Can you please share it with me the procedure ?

I've used Windows (phpsysdiskwrite or something like that (link on the site) and dd inside Mac OS, and it always boots for me.
But do keep in mind the Soekris can be tricky with certain brands and models of USB sticks.

Verbatim, the low height models, work fine.

Agreed.  Try another stick.  Sometimes some systems just flat do not like some sticks.

I used the image that I had downloaded from the m0n0 website two days back and I tried the dd command on my Mac and it didn't work and in the recent email it was said that MD5 of some image file didn't match so I downloaded it again and did the DD command and now it's working fine.

I guess I didn't had the right image file.

Now I'm able to boot it but I don't see the option to write the file in the mSATA HDD.

I have an mSATA SSD coming in tomorrow myself. Will give it a go then as well.

Ok let me know how will you write the file to the mSATA HDD from the USB.

Will do. I will write down and screenshot what I can.

Didn't have the time last night, so just started and first looked at the img and iso files.
The Download page mentioned that only the ISO has the option to install to a HDD or SSD.

Since there is no ISO for serial console, or at least not mentioned that way, I doubt we can install to a hard drive using the ISO due to the lack of a videocard.

The Download page mentioned that only the ISO has the option to install to a HDD or SSD.

You are misinterpreting this. What it means is that once booted and running, the ISO version is capable of creating an install to a HDD or SSD.

It has always been possible to write the generic-pc-serial and generic-pc versions to HDD, SSD, or CF card, but you must use a third party tool to do do.

That is what I was thinking. Run from ISO but also have the ability to install to a drive.

Problem for with writing the generic-serial (in this particular case) to mSATA drive is the lack of a video card suitable for installation in the Soekris net6501.
I only have 16x slot type cards. Even the slowest model I have allaying around.

So sadly, I cant proceed from my end.

You are misunderstanding the process of creating m0n0wall images. They are not created on the hardware they are ultimately meant to run on.

Take the image file and the drive to another machine (Linux, Windows, or Mac) and use the appropriate tool and adapter to write the image to the drive. Then take the drive to the machine you want to run it on, boot it, and configure it there.

Even I was thinking of the same thing earlier, to connect the mSATA HDD with a adapter but since I don't have one so I thought if i could install it via the USB. But that didn't work I was only able to write the image file directly to the USB and run from there.

You don't really need anything more as m0n0wall runs from memory after boot anyway?

Yeah you are right on that but still I was looking for a way to write the m0n0wall in the mSATA HDD from the USB itself so that I don't have to connect the USB every time I'm booting the system.

Let's see i'll try something else if it works then I'll post it here ...

I always leave mine inserted. Need to anyway when I update the version or the config.