On 12/20/2018 01:00 PM, Carlo Pisani wrote:
several reasons; we also use a similar board for a NAS, but basically,
we like this board for the PCI bus, and for the JTAG
Okay.
we happen to have a BDI1000 JTAG ICE with a valid license for professional
debugging software for the PPC/405, so it's really nice for us
That sounds like a compelling reason to use board(s) compatible with the
software.
dunno. For us it's useful, and it's a need since we really need three
LCDs connected to two nodes through a KVM in both dual screens and
Xinerama setup (it depends on the context). These two PowerPC nodes
are also connected to a Routerboard (bought yesterday), thus the whole
system is able to bootstrap, well balanced on its load, able to load
its services and it's also independent of everything else on the lan.
Okay.
PowerPC boards are not able to bootstrap from a harddrive/pendrive
(the kernel's driver for the pATA chip is bugged and doesn't work,
the firmware is ... theoretically able to load a raw file from a
pATA device), they need to bootstrap from the lan, and the Routerboard is
able to provide a good tftpbootp server plus other services to accomplish
the task.
Intriguing.
What is the native OS, storage, and boot method for this board? It
sounds like you might be purposing it for your own desires with a close
but not perfect match.
We are also developing a RFID card to unlock/lock the machine (still
experimental, and we are going to use an old 68HC11 board for this ...
it's 80s technology)
Are you developing your own technology? Or are you re-using standard
technology that's been around for a while?
I think Sun (and others) had X terminals that had smart card slots in
them. This sounds functionally quite similar, just a few substitutions.
It's really a funny project made recycling old parts, and an old Apple
PowerMac chassis. We also really like manually making parts, without a
3D printer. If you look at parts for the PSU, they were manually made
by engraving the plastic! This is part of the fun :D
Fair enough.
anyway, I believe the system can be replicated with modern technology,
say ... two or three RPIs in a modern case made by a 3D printer.
*nod*
That in and of itself does not make what you're doing bad or a waste of
time.
IMHO if you're having fun (other than injuries), learning, reducing
ewaste by reusing things you have, well that all sounds good to me.
well, we have a job in avionics, where PPC boards are used. We bought
years ago a couple of boards from Newark and they were 1900 euro each,
plus fees and S/H (FeDex).
Wow. Based on the conversion that I just did, those weren't anywhere
near inexpensive.
Two years ago, I sold the last "codename eBony" (PowerPC460) couple of
boards to a company in China for a super discount (500 euro both/second
hand, instead of 1600 each/brand new). The DHT-boards that we are using
are derived from a similar expensive board. There was a company in 2001
who made them, but ... it's difficult to find one nowadays. We had 2
little DTH boards in stock, and we decided to use for a personal project
since they are definitively EOL once and forever and we don't want to
support them in 2019.
Sounds like salvage parts to play with to me.
Again, the RPI is the super cheap choice since it's easy to be found
(e.g. you can buy from RS, Mouser, et al), and it only costs around
30 euro.
*nod*
RPI is USB driven, not a problem, modern keyboards and mouses are USB,
our is PS/2 but there are USB-to-PS/2 adapter for 5-10 Euro; The RPI
is not VGA, it's HDMI, but yet again it's not a problem, there are VGA
adapters (HDMI to VGA) for the RPI and VGA modules for the expansion
port. This can be evaluated.
ACK
For a classic design (the 90s and 2000s design), we want to use VGA LCDs,
VGA KVM, and PCI_VGA video adapters.
Fair enough.
yup, we are alone. I have already posted on the Linux mail-list, still
no answer.
/Which/ Linux mailing list. There are *many*.
Not a problem, it simply requires more time.
:-)
I was sort of asking because part of me would like to build something
that looks like a DEC vt420 with a look alike (but physically smaller)
case with an LCD (?) display. I've thought about running a Pi and
running XTerm. But that's a pipe dream project for some other time.
--
Grant. . . .
unix || die
