Other Help Topics :: DSL on IBM thin client?



Can you get to the BIOS?

At boot (the manual says to hit ESC)

Try to get in the BIOS and look around...perhaps you can tell it to either do a boot from localhost, 127.0.0.1, or tell it to boot from the CFDISK

Brian
AwPhuch
Brian,

Yes I can get to the bios, but there is no actual referance to booting directly from CF, so they may just be saying it a differant way. I'm curios though, how does this loopback thing work, would I need to install to the CF a special way or just standard Frugal install? I need to round up a USB keyboard so I can play with it again, I barrowed one from a friend last time. I will pick one up today and get into the bios on the Netvista then post back the choices.
Well, I picked up a USB keyboard today and tried differant ways to boot this thing, but still cannot seem to figure out how. There is a bazillon ways (that's a lot), to get this thing to boot across a network. Can anyone explain how the loopback address works? Maybe that's the key. I would love to use this as my Shoutcast music server.
This is the sum total of my knowledge on the IBM 2800 series NetVista Model 8364-TUS thin clients:

Series Netvista N2800e
Model 8364-TUS


Processor: Pentium MMX 266
Bus Speed: 66 MHz
Video: S3 Trio 4MB
Sound: Crystal CS423x

External Connectors:

rear:

2 USB 1.1
2 serial RS232
1 parallel
1 VGA
1 PS/2 mouse
1 keyboard
1 RJ45 16/4
1 ISO line cord connector
1 hardware power switch
front:

1 stereo headphone jack
1 microphone jack
1 soft power switch

Internal connectors:

1 disk drive power connnector - takes a Molex 4305-400 connector; not sure of pin out
1 wake on LAN
2 PCI
1 aux audio in  
1 CF slot - becomes ide0 (/dev/hda) if CF is installed
1 IDE channel - for a hard drive; if the CF is installed, it will be be ide1 (/dev/hdb);
  if no CF is installed, 2 IDE devices may be connected
1 VIP connector  
1 PASSWOD OVRD jumper
1 BOOTBLK jumper

List of IBM thin client publications
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/netcom/html/pub.htm

2800 manual in English (pdf)
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/netcom/pdfs/qb3a9y00.pdf

http://www.freegeekmichiana.org/netvista.html

Mother Board Connectors
The one labeled BOOTBLK allows you to recover the bootblock image (bios) (see Appendix D. Recovering the boot block image in the 2800 reference manual), the PASSWOD OVRD resets the bios and allows access to the thin client setup utility. Both of these should be in the position furthest away from the front panel. The WAKE connector I believe is wake on modem or lan. There is also a connector for aux audio in (from a cd drive maybe). The VIP Connector (Video Input Port) is for things like TV tuners, HDTV (high definition TV) cards, etc. VIP is an industry standard connector port. The 4 pin connector near the ide connector is power for a hard drive (not sure of the pinout but the mating connector is a Molex 43025-0400)



To Reset the password and BIOS
1. Turn off and unplug the 2800, network too
2. Move the jumper on the jumper block closest to the power switch on the
front labeled PASSWOD OVRD, or something close, to the position closest to the front panel
3. Plug it and start the system wait about 20 sec and shutdown
4. Unplug the system and move the jumper back.
5. Boot the system with the network unplugged. When the system cannot
connect to the network select Workspace on Demand from the choices offered. The system should leave
you in the BIOS setup, if not, reboot and press F2 when prompted for the BIOS Setup.


To Set The BIOS to boot from the CF

I have used the following to set the BIOS parameters:
1. Reset BIOS defaults
2. Change the following:
a. Devices and I/O -> Network Setup -> Network Support = Disabled
(if you are using the onboard NIC)
b. Start Options -> Startup Sequence -> Primary Startup Sequence =>
First Startup Device = Hard Disk 0
c. Start Options -> Firmware Selection = Workspace on Demand
(very important, otherwise the 2800 will not attempt to boot from
the CF
d. Start Options -> Power-On Self Test = Quick
(Optional - speeds boot time but skips some memory testing)
e. Advanced Setup -> PCI Control -> Network Adapters = Enabled
3. Save Settings (Will also reboot system)



Pengel
I've done it.  I've hacked this thing a while ago while on a quest of building my own cheap Linux firewall.  I developed my own tiny Linux distro I called COST (Cheap-Off-The-Shelf) Linux.  I've hacked several tin clients and the Netvista N2200 was probably the most challenging.

Besides the Token ring and Ethernet version, the N2200 comes in a Linux and Windows version.  The difference is the IBM's proprietary BIOS.  If you have the Windows version, you can convert it by re-flashing the BIOS.

Once you have the Linux booting BIOS, you'll need to configure it to boot from the CF if network failed.  Then let it boot.  When the network failed, it'll look for a kernel with a file named kernel.2x00 on your disk's first partition i.e. /dev/hda1.  That's the secret!  Another secret is that this is not your ordinary kernel that runs on your desktop, which is a compressed kernel.  The N2200 only boots from an uncompressed kernel (probably does not have the uncompress utility in the BIOS).  It should be the vmlinux file under your kernel source directory.  All you have to do is copy it to your CF and rename it kernel.2x00.

Once the system boots your kernel, you practically have control over it.  How you run your system from here on is up to you.  For my COST Linux, I had to some plumbing to create a file system in RAM, chroot, etc. in order to have an embedded OS running in memory.  If you'd like to know more about COST, I hope I can publish it soon.

I have a couple of these at home.  Got them from ebay for $10 and $25 respectively.  One is my home Linux FW (which I can ssh into) and the other backs it up.  Very nice system.
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