possibly the smallest/cheapest OPENSTEP capable computer

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Title: possibly the smallest/cheapest OPENSTEP capable computer
Post by: mikeboss on December 15, 2011, 03:55:29 AM
much to my surprise i was able to get OPENSTEP up and running on this small embedded ALIX mainboard from pcengines (costs about 150 USD including the case) ->

http://pcengines.ch/alix1d.htm

the speed is perfectly usable, although there's NO networking, NO sound and NO Bus Master DMA on the EIDE bus. see it in action here ->

http://youtu.be/xxJaXObnFTw

regards,
michael
Title: possibly the smallest/cheapest OPENSTEP capable computer
Post by: Lewp1973 on December 15, 2011, 06:30:33 AM
This looks very nice. What graphics adapter are you using?
Title: possibly the smallest/cheapest OPENSTEP capable computer
Post by: mikeboss on December 15, 2011, 06:53:58 AM
the on-board graphics (built-in AMD Geode LX800) works with the VESA VBE driver. it runs at 1024x768, higher resolutions are possible.
Title: Re: possibly the smallest/cheapest OPENSTEP capable computer
Post by: cubist on December 15, 2011, 08:06:10 PM
Quote from: "mikeboss"much to my surprise i was able to get OPENSTEP up and running on this small embedded ALIX mainboard from pcengines (costs about 150 USD including the case)

Oh, cool!  I bought one of these with the intent of doing just this.  Glad to know it works!

Do you have any console/log information on the hardware that isn't supported by NS?
Title: possibly the smallest/cheapest OPENSTEP capable computer
Post by: oneNeXT on December 16, 2011, 04:05:34 PM
For the network, it seems to use VIA VT6105M chip (rhine III).

For audio, it seems to be the AMD CS5535 chip.
Title: possibly the smallest/cheapest OPENSTEP capable computer
Post by: mikeboss on December 27, 2011, 09:48:54 AM
nice: I bought me a DEC DE500-BA off of e*ay (the only NIC i could find that's supposed to run with 3.3V PCI and also has OPENSTEP drivers). IT WORKS! in fact, I am writing this post from my ALIX/OPENSTEP box using OmniWeb 3.0 :-D

regards,
michael
Title: Re: possibly the smallest/cheapest OPENSTEP capable computer
Post by: antonio66 on December 29, 2013, 03:10:28 AM
Quote from: "mikeboss"much to my surprise i was able to get OPENSTEP up and running on this small embedded ALIX mainboard from pcengines (costs about 150 USD including the case)
...

regards,
michael

Dear,
I know, thread is a bit outdated... but I would like to install OpenStep on a very similar ThinClient (Wyse SX0, AMD Geode, IDE). Maybe for use as a little webserver.
How do you install the system on it?

I was able to install Openstep 4.2 on a older ThinkPad 390 with floppies and CD, but this TP has no network to "export". So I've no idea howto make a boot-CD and or a "image" from a running system like one of a forum member does.

sorry for my english. Th

antonio
Title: possibly the smallest/cheapest OPENSTEP capable computer
Post by: mikeboss on December 29, 2013, 03:42:58 AM
I used a floppy drive connected to one of the USB ports to boot the installer.
Title: possibly the smallest/cheapest OPENSTEP capable computer
Post by: antonio66 on December 29, 2013, 06:48:25 AM
Does it really work over USB? But I suppose only the installdisk; driverdisk should not work without usb-support, or do I miss some info about install procedure? :shock:

Hm, what about starting over a usb-stick. Should this work, too?

maybe I try to "make" a 2,88 floppy image over vmware, first.

greats

antonio
Title: possibly the smallest/cheapest OPENSTEP capable computer
Post by: mikeboss on December 29, 2013, 08:55:29 AM
I guess the system BIOS is emulating a legacy FDD and thus, the installer will work like it would on an old PC with a real floppy controller. that's why the floppy containing drivers will work, too.

I doubt that you'll be able to boot from a USB stick.

to my best knowledge, there where no ED (2.88 MB) disks.
Title: possibly the smallest/cheapest OPENSTEP capable computer
Post by: antonio66 on December 30, 2013, 10:31:06 AM
Hi,

I've to take a look on BIOS of my Wyse SX0; I suppose there is FDD emulation, too.

I meant a 2,88 image to build a start CD, not a real disk. My problem ist that my openstep running laptop do not has any network or other possibilities to "extract" a image. I tried VirtualBox, but my Thinkpad has no PS2-mouse and a usb-mouse won't work with openstep... (or there is somewhere a misconfiguration)
Title: possibly the smallest/cheapest OPENSTEP capable computer
Post by: antonio66 on January 04, 2014, 05:00:17 AM
Hi,
so installing over USB-FDD worked for me, too. OPENSTEP 4.2 is running on a FUTRO S400.

Next prob: I've a DEC21140 10/100 ethernet-PCI-card. Normally it should work with OPENSTEP drivers, but I can't see it on network. IP-address, router, gateway were installed over SimpleNetworkStarter (as root). Same procedure with HostManager (local)...

Ethernetcard was working fine with BeOS, so it has no defect... Driver used is DEC21140 100MB/s (4.02).

What I'm doing wrong?  :?:
Title: possibly the smallest/cheapest OPENSTEP capable computer
Post by: itomato on January 21, 2014, 11:36:07 AM
You might need to alter the PCI ID in Configure.app.

This is an interesting read (http://www.reely.com/darren/xStep/internal_cards.html), and  this post  (http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1646)addresses it for a video card, but it's the same for any PCI card.
Title: possibly the smallest/cheapest OPENSTEP capable computer
Post by: antonio66 on January 22, 2014, 12:16:04 PM
Hej,

I suppose there ia another problem with this DEC cards, I read something about similar issues in another older thread in a bsd-forum.

I bought a 3COM card, it works now.

But I've difilculties in set up network; there are not the TCP/IP entries, but the other parts. I tried to setup this client in a "mixed network", like NEXTSTEP Network and System Administration Manual, I installed nsca-httpd, but I can't reach the pages from outside (another PC)... :?

Ping works...

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