Damn Small 'miniPC'

Forum: User Feedback
Topic: Damn Small 'miniPC'
started by: libretto

Posted by libretto on Jan. 23 2004,12:17

Hi all,

Just received my mini-itx motherboard (M10000) yesterday and this morning (upto 3am ;) ) managed to get DSL to run! The bits are strewn all over my desk (maybe a photo later?).

The CD picked up the special CPU but had a little problem with the sound, hopefully finding the correct modules should fix this. Also, managed swap the cd drive for the HD out of my laptop and of course the autoconfig worked

As a suggestion, could a small audio test file (eg Linus' test speech) be placed in the distro so that soundchips/cards can be tested? As if your only running a CD then theres no sound to play in the first place :S

Again Kudos to John and the Gang for a great distro. I hope to use this 'miniPC' as my backup/webserver/quiet surfing machine.

Posted by libretto on Jan. 23 2004,18:08

So wish I had a camera now! I'm writing this message via the miniPC as a thin client!

Ive had a search through the linitx.org forum and found out that to get the sound to work on my M10000 motherboard I need the kernel 2.4.21 (whilst DSL is 2.4.20). Is there an easy way to update the kernel?

or do I just need to load some audio drivers?

Posted by John on Jan. 24 2004,08:56

Hang tight libretto, things are in the works.

Posted by hasty on Jan. 24 2004,11:41

Woot Woot:)

Don't you ever sleep John?

Posted by libretto on Jan. 24 2004,21:39

Thanks very much John!

I now have a pic < Librettos MiniPC > (a bit grainy from a DVcam).

BTW, I have mentioned DSL in various places around my site. Please have a browse.

(NB: theres been a few problems with the server lately, so apologies if the links doesn't work)

Posted by captainpotato on Jan. 25 2004,01:37

John, I hope that this means at least a 2.4.22 kernel, as I am hanging out for a new one as well :) Check out my post, re: Nokia 5510 in the 'Other Help Topics' Forum (BTW - any idea why I have to use Lynx to post here? :) )

Thanks again for a great distribution.

Posted by guido on Jan. 25 2004,15:35

Hi Libretto,

Nice stuff !

I'm also intrested in this motherboard. Where do you buy it ?

73's
ON1BGC
Guido

Posted by libretto on Jan. 25 2004,17:49

Thanks Guido!

Bought it at < mini-itx.com >, also there may be some going cheap on ebay and even a few prebuilt systems.

If oyu have a look on the Via website, there should be a list of distributors more local to you.

For a really cool case check out < Hoojum.com >, sods law the day i buy the mini-itx board theres a nice cubit 3 system on ebay for the same price! oh well!

Hope this helps.

Of course if I can I'll link more photos of progress.

Cheers all :cool:

Posted by libretto on Feb. 03 2004,21:51

Ah finally got the cd-rw laptop drive today. Attached it and the DSL cdrw is working fine again

I'm posting on the board via a thinclient, again ;) Can't try the burning scripts yet, need a HDD or may get round to mounting a USB mem stick to free up the cdrw drive.

Speaking of mem sticks, stuck in my USB one and the automount picked up no problems.

Gotta love this distro! Keep up the good work guys! :;):

Posted by John on Feb. 05 2004,05:49

Libretto, show us some pics when you get it all together.

Posted by libretto on Feb. 05 2004,09:58

But of course John!

Just need to borrow someones digi camera or at least get the video camera to work on the composite video input on my TV card :;):

Once I get enough stuff, I'll most probably be adding a page to my website.

BTW: I did try try the TV out on the PC but the picture wasnt that good, I think that signal is only really useable for proper TVs.

Posted by Modrak on Feb. 08 2004,12:05

I test the sound cards with

Code Sample

# ls /dev > /dev/dsp

If I hear some sound it works :-)

Posted by libretto on Feb. 19 2004,04:18

Well now I can try the updated kernel and stuff in 0.6. Test results to follow... :cool:

Posted by libretto on Feb. 19 2004,05:13

Aha! The sound chipset is supported! Hurrah! I like the streaming mp3 stations pre loaded ;)

Thanks again to all involved. Now jsut need that HDD and I can get the case built!

Quick note, the netcardconfig script fromt he menu doesnt seem to work? I can run netcardconfig as root and itll work

and when i shutdown the netcardconfig i called earlier appears as the background

Oh well, just glad the sound works! :laugh:

And now theres a decent reason to inlcude a little mixer app :;):

Posted by John on Feb. 19 2004,07:53

There are a couple of minor bugs in 0.6, mostly menu related. We're on them...

BTW libretto, can you shoot me an email?

Posted by Modrak on Feb. 19 2004,16:32

Quote (libretto @ Feb. 19 2004,05:13)

Oh well, just glad the sound works! :laugh:

And now theres a decent reason to inlcude a little mixer app :;):

Do apt-get install wmix
and then do "echo "wmix &" >> /home/user/.xinitrc

Posted by old_lou on Feb. 19 2004,23:57

I am also trying to get a mini system up and about (for work) but cannot get the wireless side going as yet (Atmel AT76C503A chipset), was going to build one same as Libretto but got one complete with an (internal) usb wireless card already in the package but as yet cannot get DSL to see the card, its running on a 256m Compact Flash in the, supplied, onboard adaptor, looks good no noise (at all) from system fanless. Would make a lovely surfing box in a bookcase with a tft as its smaller than a4 book but thicker with a neat external psu you can hide. You have to start with the innards out of the box until you have the system on the flash (or a laptop hd) so you can run a cd unless you got a usb one. Ran it first with a copy of Lindows 4.5dev on a laptop hard drive. Theory being Lindows will find everything as its trying to please Windoze users, and it did recognized the card straight away, and a usb netgear MA111 stick. But no luck with DSL yet but think it will work as both distro's are Debian based. Can't help with sound as I do not need it.
Fin
Lou
< http://linitx.com/product_info.php?cPath=14&products_id=157 >

Posted by libretto on Feb. 20 2004,14:06

Im not sure how much the graphics stuff has been changed. But now when the machine is shutdown it appears that previous data in the display buffer is shown. This looks a bit strange, especially if the closing down text is running. I don't remeber this happening on earlier releases (used to go straight to black, ie command line).

Its no major biggy, just unexpected.

[Additional]
Managed to get the 'toram' option to work. It really shows what this OS can do, I mean listening to a music CD, browsing the net, accessing sambs shares and usb mem sticks, all without a hard drive. Truly amazing :cool:

Posted by chuck54 on Feb. 23 2004,03:55

What is the command for the 'toram' option? You give it to the boot=loader yes?

I just find i get 'no such kernel image' i think. Or something like that anyway.

Posted by chuck54 on Feb. 23 2004,04:10

Quote (libretto @ Feb. 05 2004,04:58)

BTW: I did try try the TV out on the PC but the picture wasnt that good, I think that signal is only really useable for proper TVs.

I had trouble with a pc - tv link a little while ago. Really iffy, colors spreading alot, like when you get a drip on a screen. It seemed to help to use a different AV channel. Though i dont know why. Or use black and white.

I can relate to the state of your desk. Everywhere i go seems to end up looking a bit like that. :;):

Posted by libretto on Feb. 24 2004,21:09

Well Chuck54, I now have a harddisk, so its looking a little neater and now I can think about building a case for the miniPC

And yes you need to pass the 'toram' option on the 'knoppix' boot loader (press F2 during boot up).

Cheers Modrak, tried wmix looks good!

Posted by Modrak on Feb. 25 2004,13:37

Quote (libretto @ Feb. 24 2004,21:09)

Cheers Modrak, tried wmix looks good!

Also has OSD :cool:

Posted by libretto on Feb. 25 2004,17:31

I noticed

EXTRA:

I tried doing an DSL only install on the HDD and for some reason, the USB mount thing isnt there anymore and the cdrom drive wouldn't play audio CDs? I will try reloading DSL, hope its nothing to do with the present state of the partitions

Posted by Modrak on Feb. 26 2004,08:56

Quote

the USB mount thing isnt there

It is but you must have usbstick connected when the green bar "Detecting you hardware" is running

Posted by libretto on Feb. 29 2004,19:55

Right update time again!

Heres another grainy pic of the 'slightly' updated < miniPC >, now sporting DSL 0.6.1, laptop HDD, extra NIC (being tested here) and dual monitors! Well using one for the main machine and the other for the miniPC/libretto. :cool:

Cheers for adding wmix, just what I was after. :;):

Posted by libretto on Mar. 31 2004,20:04

Sorry its being so long, had lots of interview for industrial placemetns for my degree.

I have now started building a case for my miniPC out of an old biscuit tin!

I'll take pictures when I can and link them from my website as before. Again thanks to all for the help and good work on DSL.

P.S.: Hows everyone elses mini-itx based machines going?

LATEST NEWS!:
I have managed to make the power supply emit smoke (despite it seeming to have enough insulation bettwen it and the case). SO I fear I may have blown up my miniPC!

I will try to get another (normal) power supply to see if I haven't fried the motherboard as well!

If the whole PC is fried then DSL will have to be moved to my old PII 400 MHZ system. (wish I had splashed out another +�100 on a new case)

Posted by Del on April 01 2004,03:43

Quote (libretto @ Mar. 31 2004,07:04)

P.S.: Hows everyone elses mini-itx based machines going?

Well, since you asked... Slowly. Still trying to come up with an actual use for the darned thing. So far, all I can come up with is to make a little file server for my home network.

Still tossing around case ideas. I'm half leaning towards something like < this >. The problem is (in the movie) that thing is over six feet tall, so it'd kind of be wrong for me to make a little bitty desktop one...

I've also learned (not to very much surprise) that the M10k sucks for Folding At Home. Slower than the 400MHz K6-2 it replaced...

Posted by libretto on April 01 2004,14:03

PHEW! It was just the power supply that suffered damage. I have appeared to knock out the +5V power rail. So it may be repairable, otherwise the miniPC still lives!

It did make me think that I should have spent �120 on a proper case (:S)

Not sure what folding is (no doubt you let me know), but I find the M10k fast enough for everything else I want to do with it. Anyhow, I was thinking of making a small file server with it as well. May even have it as an media player for the hifi:;):

If you do your own case, make sure you have enough insulation to the bottom of all boards!

Posted by Del on April 04 2004,00:25

Check out < http://folding.stanford.edu/ > for more information on Folding. Kinda like SETI@Home only researching stuff for humans

Glad things are okay and your miniPC survived.

Posted by Del on April 04 2004,00:30

rotten timeouts and double posting. Sorry y'all

Posted by gekkokid on April 04 2004,12:22

Quote (Del @ April 01 2004,03:43)

Still trying to come up with an actual use for the darned thing. So far, all I can come up with is to make a little file server for my home network.

what about a web server, i plan to connect my old laptop to the web and leave it in my draw sharing latest southpark episodes

i have a dynamic ip address but know i can find or write my own ip address updater, so it is linked to a domain name of some kind

or a router and network file server thats if ur poor like me and cant afford a decent router

Posted by Del on April 05 2004,04:53

Quote (gekkokid @ April 03 2004,23:22)

what about a web server, i plan to connect my old laptop to the web and leave it in my draw sharing latest southpark episodes

I had those thoughts, but... My big machine (an XP2200) is already the local web server, and I've already got a router/switch that I'm happy with (it works great, and cost me $20 at Circuit City!).

I truly had no use for this thing, I just bought it cause it was little and cute and my wife said I could

The current plan is indeed to make a local file server. It'll mostly just hold about 6Gb of MP3's and assorted backups of important stuff. I may offload local webserver duties to it, but I'm used to editing my PHP locally and having instant updates (though NFS would solve that). It's also a pretty slow little proc, 999MHz Via proc seems to equate to a ~500MHz AMD K6-2 (which is depressing as hell).

Still, it's a fun little machine. My biggest problem now (since I've decided on what it's function will be) is what kind of case to build to put it in...

Posted by libretto on April 21 2004,17:28

The miniPC lives! :cool:

Managed to replace the fried part (with some botched surface mount soldering)), and now I'm posting this message using the toram option. I like the updates to 0.6.3, haven't played tetris in ages :;):

Shouldn't be playing with it too much now, need to work on exams

but once theyre out of the way i can do a decent case and sort out a dcent use for it! (games server perhaps?):D

Posted by Grim on April 21 2004,21:35

Quote (gekkokid @ April 04 2004,06:22)

< No-ip >
< DynDNS >

Posted by woverin on April 22 2004,12:33

Do u know where to get cheap mini-itx mb in USA ?

Posted by AwPhuch on April 23 2004,15:48

< RIGHT HERE >

Hope this helps

Brian
AwPhuch

Posted by libretto on April 27 2004,23:08

Theres always ebay as well, you may be lucky! (There were a few floating about ebayUK a few weeks ago) Good luck finding one! Although now theyve got to 'Nano-itx' only 12cm square!

So a nice small linux distro on a nice small PC :;):

have a look at www.mini-itx.com

Posted by libretto on May 02 2004,16:51

I've finally done it, I've splashed out on a new case < http://www.mini-itx.com/reviews/3688/ >

Cant wait till after my exams, so that I can set it up properly and play around with it as a web/file/games servers under linux :cool:

The case comes with a power supply, luckily the now 'spare' one goes well with my ham radio gear :laugh:

P.S.: Don't worry John I'll post pictures when its up and running. � :;):