This page contains guides for installing various software inside the AXIOM Beta that is not part of the AXIOM Beta firmware by default currently. It might find its way into the default firmware in the future though.

1 Installing a Webserver

Make sure the AXIOM Beta is connected to the internet and then on the commandline run:

Update mirrors database:

pacman -Syy

Install webserver:

pacman -S lighttpd php php-cgi

Start the webservice:

systemctl start lighttpd

Write any pending changes to the file system:


2 Configuring a Webserver

This follows the guide on the lighttpd archlinux wiki page:

mkdir /etc/lighttpd/conf.d/
nano /etc/lighttpd/conf.d/cgi.conf

... and place the following content in the file:

server.modules += ( "mod_cgi" )

                               ".php" => "/usr/bin/php-cgi" )

 index-file.names           += ( "",   "",
                               "index.rb",   "default.rb",
                               "index.erb",  "default.erb",
                               "",   "",
                               "index.php",  "default.php" )


cgi.fix_pathinfo = 1


include "conf.d/cgi.conf"

... create a new configuration file /etc/lighttpd/conf.d/fastcgi.conf


server.modules += ("mod_fastcgi")

# FCGI server
# ===========
# Configure a FastCGI server which handles PHP requests.
index-file.names += ("index.php")
fastcgi.server = ( 
    # Load-balance requests for this path...
    ".php" => (
        # server is just a label used in the logs to identify the server.
        "localhost" => ( 
            # breaks SCRIPT_FILENAME in a way that PHP can extract PATH_INFO
            # from it 
            "broken-scriptfilename" => "enable",
            "max-procs" => 4, # default value
            "bin-environment" => (
                "PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN" => "1" # default value

Make lighttpd use the new configuration file /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf

include "conf.d/fastcgi.conf"

restart lighttpd:

systemctl restart lighttpd

To test php create a file: /srv/http/index.php with content:


... and open this IP address of your AXIOM Beta in a browser, if you see the php info status page everything worked successfully.

3 Installing AXIOM Beta Web GUI software

Note this Web GUI software is outdated and should not be used anymore, new version is in development, keeping documentation for reference.

Download this repository:
  1. copy all files from the http directory of the repository to your AXIOM Beta /srv/http/ directory.
  2. copy all files from the beta-scripts directory of the repository to your AXIOM Beta /root/ directory.

Edit /etc/sudoers files:

under the line:

root ALL=(ALL) ALL

... add:


This allows the http user to do anything with the system so it can be considered a security vulnerability - but for development this should not be an issue, later on we will define the http priviledges more securely.

For testing sudoers:

sudo -u http sudo whoami

... if it returns "root" then you are all set.

This should provide you with a working web-based GUI.

Note: lighttpd does not start automatically when the AXIOM Beta boots, this still needs to be configured:

systemctl enable lighttpd

Warning: Opening any websites that read image sensor registers before initializing the image sensor ( will freeze/crash the camera.

4 Packet Manager Pacman

Update all package definitions and the database from the Internet:

pacman -Sy

Warning: Careful with upgrading existing packages. For example the Kernel used in the AXIOM Beta is custom developed - if you upgrade Arch Linux to the latest off the shelf Kernel you will BRICK your camera firmware.

Install lighttp webserver on the Beta:

pacman -S lighttpd

Install PHP on the Beta:

pacman -S php php-cgi

Follow these instructions:

Start the webserver:

systemctl start lighttpd


