Tips and tricks for Debian on the QNAP TS-409

Here are some tips and tricks about running Debian on the QNAP TS-409.

Installing a new kernel

The kernel in Debian stable is 2.6.26 which is missing some important features. A newer kernel (currently based on 2.6.32) is available in the Debian Orion repository. The advantages of this kernel are more features and better speed. The disadvantage of this kernel is that it is not supported by the Debian Security team, so security updates will lag behind. If you care about security (e.g. because your QNAP is connected to the Internet), stay with 2.6.26 from Debian stable. If you care about speed and not so much about security (e.g. because your QNAP is in an internal, private network), I suggest you upgrade to the newer kernel.

If you want to upgrade, make a backup of your flash first and copy the backup to another machine:

cat /dev/mtdblock1 /dev/mtdblock2 /dev/mtdblock3 > qnapimg.bin

Then edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list and add the following line:

deb http://people.debian.org/~tbm/orion lenny main

Load the key used to sign this repository so that apt can verify it:

gpg --keyserver pgp.earth.li --recv-keys 68FD549F
gpg --export -a 68FD549F | apt-key add -

Now you can install the new kernel:

apt-get update
apt-get install linux-image-2.6-orion5x
flash-kernel

When you reboot, your QNAP device will run the new kernel.

Controlling the fan

Debian currently doesn't have automatic support for the fan. While there is a tool that can control the fan, it won't automatically set its speeds according to the temperature. If you want to manually control the fan, do this:

qcontrol -d &
qcontrol fanspeed # To see all valid speed settings
qcontrol fanspeed medium
kill %1
rm /var/run/qcontrol.sock