From harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au Thu Aug 28 13:16:09 2003 From: harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au (Harry McNally) Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2003 21:16:09 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] lilo password Message-ID: <20030828211609.68dd65fa.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> Hi Mark Well I'll first post the list with an obvious one for anyone who wants to tinker with the existing install (RH 6.2). The lilo password is 2stupid4me Waaay too cynical 4 me ;-) I zipped in and tweeked /etc/shadow to squash the root password and failed. It might be using md5sum bit I'm too keen to get the drive into another box and load debian so thats the end of RH 4 me :-) Bernard or Nick, what is the status with the video. I don't really need it but I'd be interested in whether you've got it running tidily now. cu Harry -- linux.conf.au 2004 The Australian Linux Technical Conference http://lca2004.linux.org.au/ 12-17 January 2004, Adelaide, South Australia Are you a computer angel? http://www.computerangels.org.au/ From cameron@patrick.wattle.id.au Thu Aug 28 22:54:55 2003 From: cameron@patrick.wattle.id.au (Cameron Patrick) Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 06:54:55 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] lilo password In-Reply-To: <20030828211609.68dd65fa.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> References: <20030828211609.68dd65fa.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> Message-ID: <20030828225455.GA21752@erdos.home> On Thu, Aug 28, 2003 at 09:16:09PM +0800, Harry McNally wrote: | Well I'll first post the list with an obvious one for anyone who wants to | tinker with the existing install (RH 6.2). Hmm. That install wouldn't even boot (hung half-way through) for me - at least on the two of my machines that I tested it on. | Bernard or Nick, what is the status with the video. I don't really need it | but I'd be interested in whether you've got it running tidily now. I'm neither :) but I did manage to get the video working fine using X on the framebuffer at 1024x768. It's a bit sluggish but better than nothing. XFree 3.3.6 crashes and burns, XFree 4.1 refuses to touch the card, and I haven't tried anything else yet. Cheers, Cameron. From bernard@blackham.com.au Thu Aug 28 23:44:48 2003 From: bernard@blackham.com.au (Bernard Blackham) Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 07:44:48 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] lilo password In-Reply-To: <20030828211609.68dd65fa.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> References: <20030828211609.68dd65fa.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> Message-ID: <20030828234448.GA17400@amidala> On Thu, Aug 28, 2003 at 09:16:09PM +0800, Harry McNally wrote: > Bernard or Nick, what is the status with the video. I don't really need it > but I'd be interested in whether you've got it running tidily now. I didn't end up getting any of the drivers to run. I've tried cyrix_drv from X 4.0, 4.2 and 4.3 and nsc_drv from 4.3. Haven't tried the X 3.3.6 one, but the webpages I read said it wasn't promising. I took Cameron's advice and used the VESA drivers... And now I have a (pseudo)netbooting x-terminal! =) The Etherboot image and its contents I'm uploading to http://dagobah.ucc.asn.au/wizard/xterm/ for anybody interested. You'll need to somehow get the Etherboot ROM code running. Currently it's just another partition on my HDD (with partition type 1), with boot1a.bin and rtl8139.lzrom cat'ed into it, and a menu item from grub that uses chainloader (hd0,3)+1 (it's in hda4). I couldn't figure out how to chainload it with LILO. Ultimately, we'd source some "DiskOnChip" flash chips which drop into the empty socket on the corner of the board and load the Etherboot code onto that. More later :) Bernard. -- Bernard Blackham bernard at blackham dot com dot au From cameron@patrick.wattle.id.au Fri Aug 29 02:46:40 2003 From: cameron@patrick.wattle.id.au (Cameron Patrick) Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 10:46:40 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] lilo password In-Reply-To: <20030828234448.GA17400@amidala> References: <20030828211609.68dd65fa.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <20030828234448.GA17400@amidala> Message-ID: <20030829024640.GB21752@erdos.home> On Fri, Aug 29, 2003 at 07:44:48AM +0800, Bernard Blackham wrote: | I took Cameron's advice and used the VESA drivers... And now I have | a (pseudo)netbooting x-terminal! =) Woohoo! :) Is there some way of attaching a PS2 mouse to these things? I have a couple lying around not being used, but the only USB mice I have at home are nice optical ones on 'real' computers. | You'll need to somehow get the Etherboot ROM code running. Currently | it's just another partition on my HDD (with partition type 1), with | boot1a.bin and rtl8139.lzrom cat'ed into it, and a menu item from | grub that uses chainloader (hd0,3)+1 (it's in hda4). I couldn't | figure out how to chainload it with LILO. I have it sitting on my /boot partition - rtl8139.zlilo as generated by rom-o-matic.net. I've put a copy up on http://cp.yi.org/cameron/wizard/ if you want it. (I've also put up a netboot image for the Woody installer which I used to get the machine going.) Then I have in my grub config something like: title Etherboot root (hd0,0) kernel /eb-5.2.0-rtl8139.zlilo Presumably lilo could be coaxed into using the same image with minimal worries - after all it's called "zlilo" ;-) (Above may be wrong - I'm at Murdoch ATM and while my Wizard is powered down and in Duncraig... Actually it looks like I'll need to invest in a network hub if I'm going to have it permanently networked - anyone know where a cheapo 4-port can be obtained for $epsilon ?) | Ultimately, we'd source some "DiskOnChip" flash chips which drop | into the empty socket on the corner of the board and load the | Etherboot code onto that. Sounds good. Erm, could you enlighten me as to what the heck a "DickOnChip" is? Another random thought: is it possible to put two laptop drives in one wizard? Not convinced that this would be very useful but is something to think about. Cheers, Cameron. From bernard@blackham.com.au Fri Aug 29 05:26:32 2003 From: bernard@blackham.com.au (Bernard Blackham) Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 13:26:32 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] lilo password In-Reply-To: <20030829024640.GB21752@erdos.home> References: <20030828211609.68dd65fa.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <20030828234448.GA17400@amidala> <20030829024640.GB21752@erdos.home> Message-ID: <20030829052631.GA23834@amidala> On Fri, Aug 29, 2003 at 10:46:40AM +0800, Cameron Patrick wrote: > | I took Cameron's advice and used the VESA drivers... And now I have > | a (pseudo)netbooting x-terminal! =) > > Woohoo! :) > > Is there some way of attaching a PS2 mouse to these things? I have a > couple lying around not being used, but the only USB mice I have at home > are nice optical ones on 'real' computers. Presumably with a USB keyboard you could use a PS/2 mouse :) More seriously, I'm not sure that anything like a PS/2 double adapter exists, but I could well be wrong. > I have it sitting on my /boot partition - rtl8139.zlilo as generated by > rom-o-matic.net. I've put a copy up on http://cp.yi.org/cameron/wizard/ > if you want it. (I've also put up a netboot image for the Woody > installer which I used to get the machine going.) Oops, forgot about this too. > Presumably lilo could be coaxed into using the same image with minimal > worries - after all it's called "zlilo" ;-) Ahhh :) > | Ultimately, we'd source some "DiskOnChip" flash chips which drop > | into the empty socket on the corner of the board and load the > | Etherboot code onto that. > > Sounds good. Erm, could you enlighten me as to what the heck a > "DickOnChip" is? Not sure. It's mentioned in the manual. > Another random thought: is it possible to put two laptop drives in one > wizard? Not convinced that this would be very useful but is something > to think about. So far as I can tell, the Motherboard will support it, if you can find the right cable. Bernard. -- Bernard Blackham bernard at blackham dot com dot au From nick@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au Fri Aug 29 05:43:06 2003 From: nick@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au (Nick Bannon) Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 13:43:06 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] lilo password In-Reply-To: <20030829052631.GA23834@amidala> References: <20030828211609.68dd65fa.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <20030828234448.GA17400@amidala> <20030829024640.GB21752@erdos.home> <20030829052631.GA23834@amidala> Message-ID: <20030829054305.GS228761@morwong.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> On Fri, Aug 29, 2003 at 01:26:32PM +0800, Bernard Blackham wrote: [...] > Presumably with a USB keyboard you could use a PS/2 mouse :) > More seriously, I'm not sure that anything like a PS/2 double > adapter exists, but I could well be wrong. Yes, you can plug both a PS/2 mouse and keyboard into the same port with a "PS/2 Y adaptor". I bought one from Netway, I expect they'll get more in. They're available at any computer store. [...] > > Sounds good. Erm, could you enlighten me as to what the heck a > > "DickOnChip" is? > > Not sure. It's mentioned in the manual. It's a little SANDisk flash disk in a DIL form factor, pretty much IDE compatible, just like a CF card. They tend to be expensive per megabyte because they didn't take off the way CF did. > > Another random thought: is it possible to put two laptop drives in one > > wizard? Not convinced that this would be very useful but is something > > to think about. > > So far as I can tell, the Motherboard will support it, if you can > find the right cable. It will, and Netway is getting some in - they haven't arrived yet. Nick. -- Nick Bannon | "I made this letter longer than usual because nick-sig@rcpt.to | I lack the time to make it shorter." - Pascal From harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au Fri Aug 29 06:26:52 2003 From: harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au (Harry McNally) Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 14:26:52 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] lilo password In-Reply-To: <20030829054305.GS228761@morwong.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> References: <20030828211609.68dd65fa.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <20030828234448.GA17400@amidala> <20030829024640.GB21752@erdos.home> <20030829052631.GA23834@amidala> <20030829054305.GS228761@morwong.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> Message-ID: <20030829142652.6c1de063.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 13:43:06 +0800 Nick Bannon wrote: > On Fri, Aug 29, 2003 at 01:26:32PM +0800, Bernard Blackham wrote: > [...] > > Presumably with a USB keyboard you could use a PS/2 mouse :) > > More seriously, I'm not sure that anything like a PS/2 double > > adapter exists, but I could well be wrong. > > Yes, you can plug both a PS/2 mouse and keyboard into the same port > with a "PS/2 Y adaptor". I bought one from Netway, I expect they'll get > more in. They're available at any computer store. Another choice is using a serial port if you can spare it. There exists those DB9 to PS/2 adaptdofangles. The little Y's are not so cheap (true Nick?) and sort of sag in the PS/2 socket. > [...] > > > Sounds good. Erm, could you enlighten me as to what the heck a > > > "DickOnChip" is? > > > > Not sure. It's mentioned in the manual. > > It's a little SANDisk flash disk in a DIL form factor, pretty much IDE > compatible, just like a CF card. They tend to be expensive per megabyte > because they didn't take off the way CF did. I did not realise they looked like an IDE. There you go. I'll have to google for more info. Meantime, here is a picture (for what it's worth) .. http://www.controlled.com/pc104/news20030522192110.html and Linux notes .. http://www.linux-mtd.infradead.org/doc2000.html > > > Another random thought: is it possible to put two laptop drives in one > > > wizard? Not convinced that this would be very useful but is something > > > to think about. > > > > So far as I can tell, the Motherboard will support it, if you can > > find the right cable. > > It will, and Netway is getting some in - they haven't arrived yet. I deal with Clarke and Severn in the east for Harwin connectors. We could fabricate IDE and floppie (and other) cables if you wanted to. Praps demand will allow purchasing a few parts and fabricate more cheaply. cu Harry -- linux.conf.au 2004 The Australian Linux Technical Conference http://lca2004.linux.org.au/ 12-17 January 2004, Adelaide, South Australia Are you a computer angel? http://www.computerangels.org.au/ From nick@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au Fri Aug 29 06:56:01 2003 From: nick@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au (Nick Bannon) Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 14:56:01 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] lilo password In-Reply-To: <20030829142652.6c1de063.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> References: <20030828211609.68dd65fa.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <20030828234448.GA17400@amidala> <20030829024640.GB21752@erdos.home> <20030829052631.GA23834@amidala> <20030829054305.GS228761@morwong.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <20030829142652.6c1de063.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> Message-ID: <20030829065601.GT228761@morwong.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> On Fri, Aug 29, 2003 at 02:26:52PM +0800, Harry McNally wrote: > Another choice is using a serial port if you can spare it. There exists > those DB9 to PS/2 adaptdofangles. The little Y's are not so cheap > (true Nick?) and sort of sag in the PS/2 socket. http://www.ple.com.au/ PS2 SPLITTER ADAPTER $15 Not sure what I paid at Netway... Adaptors and cables and widgets can certainly add up, best to find somewhere decent to mail order from. ::-) This looks interesting: STOCK-CODE: WC7571 RRP: $19.95 Qty 1+ $19.95 Qty 4+ $17.70 Qty 10+ $15.70 USB to 2 x PS2 Lead Adaptor Plug your PS/2 compatible mouse and keyboard into one USB port of your PC or Notebook. * Approx 300mm long * USB 1.1 compatibility http://www1.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=WC7571 [DoC] > I did not realise they looked like an IDE. There you go. I'll have to Erm, well, I could be wrong on that, I've never had one. ::-) If it needs a special driver then it doesn't sound like it. A special filesystem (JFFS) is perfectly reasonable, though, if they don't do their own wear-levelling. [...] > I deal with Clarke and Severn in the east for Harwin connectors. We > could fabricate IDE and floppie (and other) cables if you wanted to. > Praps demand will allow purchasing a few parts and fabricate more cheaply. Sounds good. I just picked up Netway Wembley's last two (of forty) audio headers for $20 each, they'll get more in due course. Nick. -- Nick Bannon | "I made this letter longer than usual because nick-sig@rcpt.to | I lack the time to make it shorter." - Pascal From harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au Fri Aug 29 07:24:47 2003 From: harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au (Harry McNally) Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 15:24:47 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] Initial BIOS settings Message-ID: <20030829152447.410aca9b.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> Hi Did other peoples Wizards have the time set to 3 Jan 2000 initially? Two of mine did and I'm wondering if they restored default BIOS settings at some point. I thought the battery might be down but it was at 3 volts. cu Harry -- linux.conf.au 2004 The Australian Linux Technical Conference http://lca2004.linux.org.au/ 12-17 January 2004, Adelaide, South Australia Are you a computer angel? http://www.computerangels.org.au/ From matthias@ucc.asn.au Fri Aug 29 07:32:46 2003 From: matthias@ucc.asn.au (Matthias Liffers) Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 15:32:46 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] Initial BIOS settings In-Reply-To: <20030829152447.410aca9b.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> Message-ID: <20030829073146.48F90367B2E@asclepius.uwa.edu.au> > Did other peoples Wizards have the time set to 3 Jan 2000 initially? Yeah, mine had its BIOS reset. - Matthias From harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au Fri Aug 29 08:11:00 2003 From: harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au (Harry McNally) Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 16:11:00 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] Initial BIOS settings In-Reply-To: <20030829073146.48F90367B2E@asclepius.uwa.edu.au> References: <20030829152447.410aca9b.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <20030829073146.48F90367B2E@asclepius.uwa.edu.au> Message-ID: <20030829161100.78e09fe8.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 15:32:46 +0800 "Matthias Liffers" wrote: > > Did other peoples Wizards have the time set to 3 Jan 2000 initially? > > Yeah, mine had its BIOS reset. Spose we can't expect them to be ready to be firewall/server/gateway/AP/.. straight out of the $99 box. Wait .. mine wasn't even packed in a box! :) Harry -- linux.conf.au 2004 The Australian Linux Technical Conference http://lca2004.linux.org.au/ 12-17 January 2004, Adelaide, South Australia Are you a computer angel? http://www.computerangels.org.au/ From cameron@patrick.wattle.id.au Fri Aug 29 08:08:05 2003 From: cameron@patrick.wattle.id.au (Cameron Patrick) Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 16:08:05 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] Initial BIOS settings In-Reply-To: <20030829161100.78e09fe8.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> References: <20030829152447.410aca9b.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <20030829073146.48F90367B2E@asclepius.uwa.edu.au> <20030829161100.78e09fe8.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> Message-ID: <20030829080805.GC21752@erdos.home> On Fri, Aug 29, 2003 at 04:11:00PM +0800, Harry McNally wrote: | Spose we can't expect them to be ready to be firewall/server/gateway/AP/.. | straight out of the $99 box. Wait .. mine wasn't even packed in a box! :) My four were. :) And the fellow in the shop even set the time on the BIOS and booted to a LILO prompt to prove that they worked... Cameron. From mtearle@tearle.com Fri Aug 29 07:25:55 2003 From: mtearle@tearle.com (Mark Tearle) Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 15:25:55 +0800 (WST) Subject: [Wizard] lilo password In-Reply-To: <20030829065601.GT228761@morwong.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> References: <20030828211609.68dd65fa.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <20030828234448.GA17400@amidala> <20030829024640.GB21752@erdos.home> <20030829054305.GS228761@morwong.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <20030829142652.6c1de063.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <20030829065601.GT228761@morwong.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> Message-ID: On Fri, 29 Aug 2003, Nick Bannon wrote: > > I deal with Clarke and Severn in the east for Harwin connectors. We > > could fabricate IDE and floppie (and other) cables if you wanted to. > > Praps demand will allow purchasing a few parts and fabricate more cheaply. > > Sounds good. I just picked up Netway Wembley's last two (of forty) > audio headers for $20 each, they'll get more in due course. > > Nick. *pout* Did they mention when they might get some more in? On related notes, I'm planning on turning one into a Car MP3 player gizmo, has anybody put any thoughts into a suitable power supply? Yours Mark -- Mark Tearle - mark@tearle.com ** Perth IV 2004 - http://www.piv.aicsa.org.au/ "And above all the University must be a citadel for freedom - for intellectual, social, and moral freedom!" - John Curtin, 1932 From mtearle@tearle.com Fri Aug 29 07:27:14 2003 From: mtearle@tearle.com (Mark Tearle) Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 15:27:14 +0800 (WST) Subject: [Wizard] Initial BIOS settings In-Reply-To: <20030829152447.410aca9b.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> References: <20030829152447.410aca9b.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> Message-ID: On Fri, 29 Aug 2003, Harry McNally wrote: > Subject: [Wizard] Initial BIOS settings > > Hi > > Did other peoples Wizards have the time set to 3 Jan 2000 initially? > > Two of mine did and I'm wondering if they restored default BIOS settings > at some point. I thought the battery might be down but it was at 3 volts. > Mine where unhappy initially; they needed to be reset to default BIOS settings first. Yours Mark -- Mark Tearle - mark@tearle.com ** Perth IV 2004 - http://www.piv.aicsa.org.au/ "And above all the University must be a citadel for freedom - for intellectual, social, and moral freedom!" - John Curtin, 1932 From harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au Fri Aug 29 09:02:14 2003 From: harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au (Harry McNally) Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 17:02:14 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] Initial BIOS settings In-Reply-To: <20030829080805.GC21752@erdos.home> References: <20030829152447.410aca9b.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <20030829073146.48F90367B2E@asclepius.uwa.edu.au> <20030829161100.78e09fe8.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <20030829080805.GC21752@erdos.home> Message-ID: <20030829170214.5ae66f90.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 16:08:05 +0800 Cameron Patrick wrote: > On Fri, Aug 29, 2003 at 04:11:00PM +0800, Harry McNally wrote: > > | Spose we can't expect them to be ready to be firewall/server/gateway/AP/.. > | straight out of the $99 box. Wait .. mine wasn't even packed in a box! :) > > My four were. :) And the fellow in the shop even set the time on the > BIOS and booted to a LILO prompt to prove that they worked... Crikey. I sheepishly admit that I haven't powered up two of mine yet. Better do it. So, are there UCC attenderers bringing a wizard or dozen tonight? Harry -- linux.conf.au 2004 The Australian Linux Technical Conference http://lca2004.linux.org.au/ 12-17 January 2004, Adelaide, South Australia Are you a computer angel? http://www.computerangels.org.au/ From michal@tartarus.uwa.edu.au Fri Aug 29 09:00:02 2003 From: michal@tartarus.uwa.edu.au (Michal Gornisiewicz) Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 17:00:02 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] lilo password In-Reply-To: References: <20030828211609.68dd65fa.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <20030828234448.GA17400@amidala> <20030829024640.GB21752@erdos.home> <20030829054305.GS228761@morwong.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <20030829142652.6c1de063.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <20030829065601.GT228761@morwong.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> Message-ID: <20030829090001.GA16719@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> On Fri, Aug 29, 2003 at 03:25:55PM +0800, Mark Tearle wrote: > On related notes, I'm planning on turning one into a Car MP3 player > gizmo, has anybody put any thoughts into a suitable power supply? See: http://jedin.ucc.asn.au/psu/ for a nice switching one. Obviously you only need the 5V part. You can get the ICs as samples from places. The hardest part is getting the 10uH inductors for it, but those you can just rip out of old AT/ATX psus. I have a P5-MMX running off that in my car, except I couldn't get hold of the transformer so I have a low drop voltage reg for the 12V & a diff setup for the -ve lines. Poke me sometime if you want a look. If you google for "car mp3 psu" or something you'll prolly find the site I got the stuff from. MG -- "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." -- Albert Einstein From bernard@blackham.com.au Fri Aug 29 11:21:31 2003 From: bernard@blackham.com.au (Bernard Blackham) Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 19:21:31 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] Initial BIOS settings In-Reply-To: <20030829170214.5ae66f90.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> References: <20030829152447.410aca9b.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <20030829073146.48F90367B2E@asclepius.uwa.edu.au> <20030829161100.78e09fe8.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <20030829080805.GC21752@erdos.home> <20030829170214.5ae66f90.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> Message-ID: <20030829112131.GB30800@amidala> On Fri, Aug 29, 2003 at 05:02:14PM +0800, Harry McNally wrote: > Crikey. I sheepishly admit that I haven't powered up two of mine yet. > Better do it. > > So, are there UCC attenderers bringing a wizard or dozen tonight? I'll probaby be there around 8:30pm-ish for a bit with mine. Bernard. -- Bernard Blackham bernard at blackham dot com dot au From fruchle@globaldial.com Sat Aug 30 05:51:31 2003 From: fruchle@globaldial.com (Mike Fineberg) Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 13:51:31 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] new to the list Message-ID: <200308301351310350.047677FF@mail.arach.net.au> greets all, I'm new to the list, so I've missed a bit of the initial flurry... Are there (m)any websites up with info on, or general info about: * drive connectors/adapters * PSUs (12v -> 5v) [I did see the one Michal posted - I'll have to see about cutting that one back] * has anyone done anything with DOS (ms or otherwise) with these? Any problems? (I was planning a dual boot DOS/Win98SE for mp3 playing / loading up more stuff) Regards, Michael "Früchlè" Fineberg From michal@ucc.asn.au Sat Aug 30 05:57:01 2003 From: michal@ucc.asn.au (Michal Gornisiewicz) Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 13:57:01 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] new to the list In-Reply-To: <200308301351310350.047677FF@mail.arach.net.au> References: <200308301351310350.047677FF@mail.arach.net.au> Message-ID: <20030830055701.GB17919@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> On Sat, Aug 30, 2003 at 01:51:31PM +0800, Mike Fineberg wrote: > greets all, I'm new to the list, so I've missed a bit of the initial flurry... > > Are there (m)any websites up with info on, or general info about: > * drive connectors/adapters > * PSUs (12v -> 5v) [I did see the one Michal posted - I'll have to see about cutting that one back] > * has anyone done anything with DOS (ms or otherwise) with these? Any problems? (I was planning a dual boot DOS/Win98SE for mp3 playing / loading up more stuff) > Why the hell would you run dos/windows for mp3 playing? MG -- "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." -- Albert Einstein From fruchle@globaldial.com Sat Aug 30 06:09:40 2003 From: fruchle@globaldial.com (Mike Fineberg) Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 14:09:40 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] new to the list In-Reply-To: <20030830055701.GB17919@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> References: <200308301351310350.047677FF@mail.arach.net.au> <20030830055701.GB17919@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> Message-ID: <200308301409400987.04871864@mail.arach.net.au> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 30/08/2003 at 1:57 PM Michal Gornisiewicz wrote: >On Sat, Aug 30, 2003 at 01:51:31PM +0800, Mike Fineberg wrote: >> greets all, I'm new to the list, so I've missed a bit of the initial >flurry... >> >> Are there (m)any websites up with info on, or general info about: >> * drive connectors/adapters >> * PSUs (12v -> 5v) [I did see the one Michal posted - I'll have to see >about cutting that one back] >> * has anyone done anything with DOS (ms or otherwise) with these? Any >problems? (I was planning a dual boot DOS/Win98SE for mp3 playing / >loading up more stuff) >> > >Why the hell would you run dos/windows for mp3 playing? Easy - no start up time. no shut down time. no disk checking. That's what you need for a car mp3 player... It's not a matter of it being a 'good' OS, it's a matter of a fast, very, very small OS. Windows was simply for 'back at base' stuff, since it's easier (thought I might eventually go with 100% DOS). - Michael ps. no need to double send to me. From cameron@patrick.wattle.id.au Sat Aug 30 06:20:22 2003 From: cameron@patrick.wattle.id.au (Cameron Patrick) Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 14:20:22 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] new to the list In-Reply-To: <200308301409400987.04871864@mail.arach.net.au> References: <200308301351310350.047677FF@mail.arach.net.au> <20030830055701.GB17919@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <200308301409400987.04871864@mail.arach.net.au> Message-ID: <20030830062022.GA2798@erdos.home> On Sat, Aug 30, 2003 at 02:09:40PM +0800, Mike Fineberg wrote: | Easy - no start up time. no shut down time. no disk checking. That's | what you need for a car mp3 player... It's not a matter of it being a | 'good' OS, it's a matter of a fast, very, very small OS. A cut-down Linux system (running no extraneous rubbish) with a read-only filesystem has the same advantages, plus then you don't have to deal with DOS. On the other hand, I am told Windows ME runs well on the things, so presumably Win98 does too. I also have a copy of the Windows drivers for the Wizards that I can put on-line if you didn't get given a CD. CP. From michal@ucc.asn.au Sat Aug 30 06:22:01 2003 From: michal@ucc.asn.au (Michal Gornisiewicz) Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 14:22:01 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] new to the list In-Reply-To: <200308301409400987.04871864@mail.arach.net.au> References: <200308301351310350.047677FF@mail.arach.net.au> <20030830055701.GB17919@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <200308301409400987.04871864@mail.arach.net.au> Message-ID: <20030830062201.GC17919@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> On Sat, Aug 30, 2003 at 02:09:40PM +0800, Mike Fineberg wrote: > Easy - no start up time. no shut down time. no disk checking. That's what you need for a car mp3 player... It's not a matter of it being a 'good' OS, it's a matter of a fast, very, very small OS. A nice small debian system will fulfill all those requirements. I run debian on my car mp3 player & POST takes most of the booting time, not linux itself booting. (From memory it's about 20sec for post & 10sec for linux). To really get no startup time you'd need something like linuxBIOS. Run a journalised fs and/or mount partitions ro & there is no shutdown time. Just pull the plug. This also results in no disk checking. MG -- "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." -- Albert Einstein From bernard@blackham.com.au Sat Aug 30 06:24:24 2003 From: bernard@blackham.com.au (Bernard Blackham) Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 14:24:24 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] new to the list In-Reply-To: <200308301409400987.04871864@mail.arach.net.au> References: <200308301351310350.047677FF@mail.arach.net.au> <20030830055701.GB17919@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <200308301409400987.04871864@mail.arach.net.au> Message-ID: <20030830062424.GA9623@amidala> On Sat, Aug 30, 2003 at 02:09:40PM +0800, Mike Fineberg wrote: > >> Are there (m)any websites up with info on, or general info about: > >> * drive connectors/adapters > >> * PSUs (12v -> 5v) [I did see the one Michal posted - I'll have to see > >about cutting that one back] The best source at the moment is the archives of the list (URL in the headers of this email hopefully) - Nick & Harry are in the process of sourcing various bits. I suppose we should make a webpage of the progress of these. Any volunteers? :) > >> * has anyone done anything with DOS (ms or otherwise) with these? Any > >problems? (I was planning a dual boot DOS/Win98SE for mp3 playing / > >loading up more stuff) I was nearly going to, in order to flash to BIOS, but decided I didn't need it. It wouldn't be too hard I'd imagine. > >Why the hell would you run dos/windows for mp3 playing? > > Easy - no start up time. no shut down time. no disk checking. > That's what you need for a car mp3 player... It's not a matter of > it being a 'good' OS, it's a matter of a fast, very, very small > OS. If you're stripping it down that much, you can get Linux to boot on them in about 25 seconds (I just timed it): - 16 of those seconds are the BIOS which you can't do all that much about even in DOS - 6 seconds loading a stripped down kernel (which I'll post somewhere soon) - your MP3 playing program, whatever. I've got an xterminal image up that basically loads the kernel, brings up networking and starts X. Nothing else. It's a race against DOS, but you'll also get native networking and remote access - you could enable you SSH or FTP server (an extra second or three) and copy files on, etc etc etc. I too ask why DOS? To use more than 640KB of memory, HIMEM.SYS generally takes a few seconds to kick itself about. And it's just that much less powerful. My opinion only. Feel free to pick at it, please :) Regards, Bernard. -- Bernard Blackham bernard at blackham dot com dot au From fruchle@globaldial.com Sat Aug 30 07:08:30 2003 From: fruchle@globaldial.com (Mike Fineberg) Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 15:08:30 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] new to the list In-Reply-To: <20030830062424.GA9623@amidala> References: <200308301351310350.047677FF@mail.arach.net.au> <20030830055701.GB17919@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <200308301409400987.04871864@mail.arach.net.au> <20030830062424.GA9623@amidala> Message-ID: <200308301508300422.04BCF33F@mail.arach.net.au> I'll start off with how much I hate PC vs. *nix vs. Mac discussions. They've been done to death for the past 20 years... I know most of you are PLUGs, but you're not helping :-> Let's stick to PSU and adapters. Speaking of which - I was going to avoid the extra $20 for the audio header cables and simply make my own - where can I find the pin-outs? I have the PDFs, but I can't seem to find the information. Regards, Michael *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 30/08/2003 at 2:24 PM Bernard Blackham wrote: >> >Why the hell would you run dos/windows for mp3 playing? >> >> Easy - no start up time. no shut down time. no disk checking. >> That's what you need for a car mp3 player... It's not a matter of >> it being a 'good' OS, it's a matter of a fast, very, very small >> OS. > >If you're stripping it down that much, you can get Linux to boot on >them in about 25 seconds (I just timed it): > > - 16 of those seconds are the BIOS which you can't do all that much > about even in DOS > - 6 seconds loading a stripped down kernel (which I'll post > somewhere soon) > - your MP3 playing program, whatever. > >I've got an xterminal image up that basically loads the kernel, >brings up networking and starts X. Nothing else. > >It's a race against DOS, but you'll also get native networking and >remote access - you could enable you SSH or FTP server (an extra >second or three) and copy files on, etc etc etc. > >I too ask why DOS? To use more than 640KB of memory, HIMEM.SYS >generally takes a few seconds to kick itself about. And it's just >that much less powerful. > >My opinion only. Feel free to pick at it, please :) > >Regards, > >Bernard. > >-- > Bernard Blackham > bernard at blackham dot com dot au > >_______________________________________________ >Wizard mailing list >Wizard@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au >http://lists.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/wizard From bernard@blackham.com.au Sat Aug 30 07:14:38 2003 From: bernard@blackham.com.au (Bernard Blackham) Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 15:14:38 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] new to the list In-Reply-To: <200308301508300422.04BCF33F@mail.arach.net.au> References: <200308301351310350.047677FF@mail.arach.net.au> <20030830055701.GB17919@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <200308301409400987.04871864@mail.arach.net.au> <20030830062424.GA9623@amidala> <200308301508300422.04BCF33F@mail.arach.net.au> Message-ID: <20030830071438.GA11365@amidala> On Sat, Aug 30, 2003 at 03:08:30PM +0800, Mike Fineberg wrote: > I'll start off with how much I hate PC vs. *nix vs. Mac > discussions. They've been done to death for the past 20 years... Nobody's going to stop you :) I'm actually more curious about how it'd come together under DOS, so I'd be intrigued to see the final result. > Let's stick to PSU and adapters. > > Speaking of which - I was going to avoid the extra $20 for the > audio header cables and simply make my own - where can I find the > pin-outs? I have the PDFs, but I can't seem to find the > information. This PDF from Cameron: http://cp.yi.org/cameron/wizard/wafer-5820.pdf has the pinout on page 17 or so. HTH, Bernard. -- Bernard Blackham bernard at blackham dot com dot au From harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au Sat Aug 30 07:30:11 2003 From: harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au (Harry McNally) Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 15:30:11 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] new to the list In-Reply-To: <20030830071438.GA11365@amidala> References: <200308301351310350.047677FF@mail.arach.net.au> <20030830055701.GB17919@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <200308301409400987.04871864@mail.arach.net.au> <20030830062424.GA9623@amidala> <200308301508300422.04BCF33F@mail.arach.net.au> <20030830071438.GA11365@amidala> Message-ID: <20030830153011.42ed2453.harrymc@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 15:14:38 +0800 Bernard Blackham wrote: > On Sat, Aug 30, 2003 at 03:08:30PM +0800, Mike Fineberg wrote: > > I'll start off with how much I hate PC vs. *nix vs. Mac > > discussions. They've been done to death for the past 20 years... > > Nobody's going to stop you :) > I'm actually more curious about how it'd come together under DOS, so > I'd be intrigued to see the final result. .. and there is always FreeDOS http://www.freedos.org/ From cameron@patrick.wattle.id.au Sat Aug 30 07:33:10 2003 From: cameron@patrick.wattle.id.au (Cameron Patrick) Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 15:33:10 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] new to the list In-Reply-To: <200308301505300063.04BA32B7@mail.arach.net.au> References: <20030830062022.GA2798@erdos.home> <200308301505300063.04BA32B7@mail.arach.net.au> Message-ID: <20030830073310.GB2798@erdos.home> (I'm sending this to the list 'cos this may be of interest to others.) On Sat, Aug 30, 2003 at 03:05:30PM +0800, Mike Fineberg wrote: | But I LIKE dealing with DOS - it has a pleasant simplicity to it... | And when all you need is a command line to run an MP3 player... | *shrug* Short version: I don't need nor want to deal with linux for | this project. [maybe for another one..] Fair enough. I've had sod-all experience with DOS in the last few years and am glad of it, being much more familiar with Linux. It sounds like for you, the reverse is true - and I'm not going to try to stop you from using DOS :) | I was told the same thing (Win98/Me run fine). I -didn't- get given a | CD, although I did ask... I've nabbed some stuff from their | (Advantech's) website, but I would be most appreciative if you could | put it online! (more stuff is good :-) I've put it at http://cp.yi.org/cameron/wizard/ along with the other stuff. (There's the PDF that Bernard pointed you at, a gzip'ed binary "g2-lf-11.gz" that is apparently a Linux graphics driver, some etherboot-related stuff and some photos.) There: now everything I got on the CD is online! :-) Cameron. From cameron@patrick.wattle.id.au Sat Aug 30 08:25:58 2003 From: cameron@patrick.wattle.id.au (Cameron Patrick) Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 16:25:58 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] new to the list In-Reply-To: <20030830071438.GA11365@amidala> References: <200308301351310350.047677FF@mail.arach.net.au> <20030830055701.GB17919@ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au> <200308301409400987.04871864@mail.arach.net.au> <20030830062424.GA9623@amidala> <200308301508300422.04BCF33F@mail.arach.net.au> <20030830071438.GA11365@amidala> Message-ID: <20030830082558.GC2798@erdos.home> On Sat, Aug 30, 2003 at 03:14:38PM +0800, Bernard Blackham wrote: | On Sat, Aug 30, 2003 at 03:08:30PM +0800, Mike Fineberg wrote: | > I'll start off with how much I hate PC vs. *nix vs. Mac | > discussions. They've been done to death for the past 20 years... | | Nobody's going to stop you :) | I'm actually more curious about how it'd come together under DOS, so | I'd be intrigued to see the final result. One potential pitfall is the sound "card" which is almost but not quite SB16 compatible. (It requires special drivers to work under Windows and Linux; since AFAIK DOS doesn't have any kind of standard sound system it depends on how happy your MP3 player app is.) I was a bit concerned about how fast the CPU was for this kind of system, so I did some comparisons. The numbers: Decoding a file with a playing time of 14:18. Comparing my desktop vs the wizard: File type Athlon 2600 Wizard (233MHz) - FLAC (89 mb) 0:06 3:44 - Vorbis (8.3 mb) 0:08 10:30 - MP3 (11 mb) 0:09 6:11 Even allowing some overhead for network or disk IO and writing stuff to the sound card, it should work. Interestingly Vorbis was marginally faster to decode on the Athlon and a heck of a lot slower on the Wizard; presumably this means that they're lousy at floating point. Cameron. From davidb-8631@rcpt.to Sat Aug 30 11:00:31 2003 From: davidb-8631@rcpt.to (David Basden) Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 19:00:31 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] New kernel Message-ID: <20030830110031.GC4154@discordia.rcpt.to> Hi guys, Adrian has kindly let me borrow one of his Wizards for a couple of weeks, so I spent most of this arvo getting it installed. I've made a tarball of a bare bones debian image, and a kernel that is setup for the Wizard. They are at http://davidb.ucc.asn.au/wizard/ Run the specific kernel. 2.4-bf was showing 49 bogomips. This kernel on the same wizard is running at 463 bogomips. Yes, that's almost an order of magnitude. There are a quick couple of things you will want to do to the tar image: - Edit lilo.conf to make sure that it is pointing towards the correct target. It's writing to /dev/sda at the moment because of a USB caddy I was using - Edit /etc/fstab to set the mount points correctly, and to set from ext2 to whatever filesystems you are running - Run lilo HTH, David From bernard@blackham.com.au Sat Aug 30 12:32:32 2003 From: bernard@blackham.com.au (Bernard Blackham) Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 20:32:32 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] Thin client rambles Message-ID: <20030830123232.GF17741@amidala> Well my laptop now feeds the TV while my family watches DVDs, so I couldn't use it's screen or keyboard. So I decided to seriously use the netboot'd xterm on the wizard. Some things I've noticed: - Running gdm with XDMCP, the magic cookies for authorization seem to be magically handled by gdm. AIUI, the X server starts up with no access controls, until the display manager invents a cookie, applies it to the X server, and hands it to the user who logged in. So hopefully this addresses the security concerns. - It's a pretty responsive xterminal. Running Mozilla & XMMS with no troubles at all (okay, a slight lag on the screen refreshes, but easily bearable). The Alt key doesn't work - suspect the abundance of warnings about XKB on startup :) - Fonts need help - I have 2 fonts in the X server itself, so some things cry out for help. Mind you, mozilla, KDE & GTK2 applications are happily using their own fonts, oblivious to the X server. GTK+1 apps revert to the one "fixed" font on it. In more serious use, a font server would really be required somewhere on the network. - Sound server. If there were any way to put compression into ESoundD, then it'd be ideal, otherwise it really noticeably lag's the X session. Esd deals with sampling rates, authentication, network transparency, and program transparency (using an LD_PRELOAD wrapper any audio program will be routed through esd). I could hack up the source code to esd to incorporate compression, but if anybody has any better suggestions, I'm all ears :) Also, re the X server - I've tried all of the X drivers and versions I can get my hands on for the chipset, and none of the specialised ones work. The VESA driver works adequately, but accelerated would be nicer. Rumour had it the fbdev driver was fine too, but even slower. Probably some source code tinkering required. :( I'll also get to trying David's kernel and see if it makes any noticeable difference as an xterm. :) Regards, Bernard. -- Bernard Blackham bernard at blackham dot com dot au From cameron@patrick.wattle.id.au Sat Aug 30 14:11:00 2003 From: cameron@patrick.wattle.id.au (Cameron Patrick) Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 22:11:00 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] Thin client rambles In-Reply-To: <20030830123232.GF17741@amidala> References: <20030830123232.GF17741@amidala> Message-ID: <20030830141100.GD12950@erdos.home> On Sat, Aug 30, 2003 at 08:32:32PM +0800, Bernard Blackham wrote: | - It's a pretty responsive xterminal. Running Mozilla & XMMS with | no troubles at all (okay, a slight lag on the screen refreshes, | but easily bearable). The Alt key doesn't work - suspect the | abundance of warnings about XKB on startup :) Probably missing some files. I'm testing one of mine as an xterm at the moment, and the alt key works fine - but it's running on a full blown Debian system by typing "X -dpi 96 -query 10.0.1.2" at the command line. The 1024x768@60Hz is really getting to me - on a 19" monitor it's close to intolerable :( OTOH it'd probably be really nice on a little LCD monitor where the refresh rate is no longer an issue and 1024x768 is somewhat more than 72dpi. BTW have you looked into LTSP? (http://www.ltsp.org/) It's really simple to set up and means that you don't have to screw around with setting up initrds and X servers residing thereupon yourself. | - Fonts need help - I have 2 fonts in the X server itself, so some | things cry out for help. Mind you, mozilla, KDE & GTK2 | applications are happily using their own fonts, oblivious to the | X server. GTK+1 apps revert to the one "fixed" font on it. In | more serious use, a font server would really be required | somewhere on the network. If your terminal server runs debian, it's just a matter of commenting out "no-listen = tcp" in /etc/X11/fs/config and /etc/init.d/xfs restart | - Sound server. If there were any way to put compression into | ESoundD, then it'd be ideal, otherwise it really noticeably lag's | the X session. Not convinced. Compression takes CPU time, and sound doesn't compress too well - even specialised codecs like FLAC generally only achieve 50% compression. Given that CD quality sound is ~1.5 mbit/sec, I'm surprised that you're seeing much lag at all on a 100 mbit network. Another hint - if you're running XMMS, turn of its visualisation and smooth scrolling, they suck network bandwidth like anything. | Esd deals with sampling rates, authentication, | network transparency, and program transparency (using an | LD_PRELOAD wrapper any audio program will be routed through esd). ESD also sucks badly. However I have yet to see a decent alternative :( | Also, re the X server - I've tried all of the X drivers and versions | I can get my hands on for the chipset, and none of the specialised | ones work. The VESA driver works adequately, but accelerated would | be nicer. Rumour had it the fbdev driver was fine too, but even | slower. Probably some source code tinkering required. :( Your rumour re. fbdev matches my experience. BTW I had to comment out the 'Option "DPMS"' line in the XF86Config-4 that dexconf created or KDE would crash and burn while "initialising peripherals". Hope that helps someone else :) I had a look into the random gzipped binary that was on the driver CD in case it was of any use at all - the chap at Netway seemed to think that it was, and that the wizard could do 1024x768x24 with it. However while it is apparently an ELF executable, it didn't want to run ("No such file or directory" !?), and ldd didn't want to look at it either. Hopefully someone with greater knowledge than I can explain what this means. (cameroo@merlin ~) file g2-lf-11 g2-lf-11: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), not stripped (cameron@merlin ~) ./g2-lf-11 bash: ./g2-lf-11: No such file or directory Looking at the output of "strings g2-lf-11" seems to imply that it is linked to libc.so.5 which could explain why my wizard wouldn't run it. In particular it looks like XF86_SVGA 3.3 from Jun 1997 (!) I may experiment with running it on a (libc5-based) copy of Slackware 3.x which I have lying around, but even if that works, there _must_ be a better way. Cheers, Cameron. From matthias@ucc.asn.au Sun Aug 31 02:04:40 2003 From: matthias@ucc.asn.au (Matthias Liffers) Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2003 10:04:40 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] New kernel In-Reply-To: <20030830110031.GC4154@discordia.rcpt.to> Message-ID: <20030831020357.5B824367286@asclepius.uwa.edu.au> > Run the specific kernel. 2.4-bf was showing 49 bogomips. This > kernel on the same wizard is running at 463 bogomips. Yes, > that's almost an order of magnitude. How did you test the speed? I want to test the difference between the kernel that Bernard compiled, and the one that you compiled. What did you compile into the kernel, by the way? - Matthias From bernard@blackham.com.au Sun Aug 31 02:56:33 2003 From: bernard@blackham.com.au (Bernard Blackham) Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2003 10:56:33 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] New kernel In-Reply-To: <20030831020357.5B824367286@asclepius.uwa.edu.au> References: <20030830110031.GC4154@discordia.rcpt.to> <20030831020357.5B824367286@asclepius.uwa.edu.au> Message-ID: <20030831025633.GA6482@amidala> On Sun, Aug 31, 2003 at 10:04:40AM +0800, Matthias Liffers wrote: > > Run the specific kernel. 2.4-bf was showing 49 bogomips. This > > kernel on the same wizard is running at 463 bogomips. Yes, > > that's almost an order of magnitude. > > How did you test the speed? Type grep Bogo /var/log/dmesg The kernel calculates this on boot. I only just noticed, my kernel is pretty close to David's - currently at 467 BogoMIPS - as close as matters really. Mark - how many was the 386 kernel on yours getting? Bernard. -- Bernard Blackham bernard at blackham dot com dot au From denglish@westnet.com.au Sun Aug 31 05:12:37 2003 From: denglish@westnet.com.au (David English) Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2003 13:12:37 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] New kernel Message-ID: <3F5183C5.5050508@westnet.com.au> Just worth pointing out that whilst I get 49 bogomips calculated with the bf24 (2.4.18) kernel, and 459 bogomips with a stock 2.6.0-test4 kernel, the bf24 kernel reports almost half as much cpu usage for running the same compiles of ogg123 and mpg123, and whilst this cpu usage is not necessarily accurate, the speed of other concurrent tasks suggests it is pretty well true. The mistaken bogomips seems to have little, if anything to do with the actual performance. The only thing I did find that made a massive difference performance wise was setting the ram divisor from 4 to 3 in the bios, cas2 makes less of a difference but seems stable enough on the system I'm using atm (lasted the kernel compile, etc.) I'm recompiling 2.6 with 486 optimisations to see if that fixes the performance problems, though obviously this is not particularly useful. - Dave From denglish@westnet.com.au Sun Aug 31 05:36:51 2003 From: denglish@westnet.com.au (David English) Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2003 13:36:51 +0800 Subject: [Wizard] Thin client rambles Message-ID: <3F518973.9040101@westnet.com.au> With regards that X binary, for debian users "apt-get install libc5" and you can run it, it's the svga server from June 1997 for a 3.3 release of X which lists mediagx as a supported chipset. A quick hop around xfree86.org and it becomes apparent the X4 server is known to be highly unreliable, the 3.3.4 and beyond servers are known to crash, and the support docs for both tell you to use X 3.3.1 for best results. I'm assuming therefore this is the X 3.3.1 server, for use with X 3.3.x setups. - Dave