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In the first part of this Instructable Located here http://www.instructables.com/id/Computer-for-RE-Systems-Part-1-of-2-Hardware/ , I added all of the hardware that I wanted to get a good desktop system.
Now for the software, but before the software, we have to add yet more Hardware.
We need to attach a CD drive to load an OS, This terminal does support USB booting, but it only has USB 1.1 so it would be slower, I would rather hook up a CD drive.
Now for the software, but before the software, we have to add yet more Hardware.
We need to attach a CD drive to load an OS, This terminal does support USB booting, but it only has USB 1.1 so it would be slower, I would rather hook up a CD drive.
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Signing UpStep 1Adding the CD Drive
I used a DVD drive, but a regular CD drive would work as well.
I came across a little problem as well, there was only one power connector that would work on the CD drive and that was being used by the hard drive, I could have just spliced and other connector one, but I did not want to risk overloading the power supply.
I ended up using an external power brick for the CD drive, i found out that even tho the CD drive is getting power, it will not turn on while the IDE cable is plugged into the mainboard. It turns on and off with the mainboard which is great news.
The CD drive is only temporary, once the OS is loaded it will be removed.
I came across a little problem as well, there was only one power connector that would work on the CD drive and that was being used by the hard drive, I could have just spliced and other connector one, but I did not want to risk overloading the power supply.
I ended up using an external power brick for the CD drive, i found out that even tho the CD drive is getting power, it will not turn on while the IDE cable is plugged into the mainboard. It turns on and off with the mainboard which is great news.
The CD drive is only temporary, once the OS is loaded it will be removed.
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Aside from that, it's a wonderful unit. I put in a dual CF/IDE adapter, and in one slot I have a 1GB CF card with Debian, and in the other slot a 4GB MicroDrive for data. I left in the 32MB SSD, too. With a mouse and keyboard the whole thing runs off a 1.4A power supply. It's definitely a 'green' computer. This machine is quite a find.
On my ancient iPAQs (circa 2000), XP Pro runs a bit faster thanW2K on the 1GHz P3 CPU with 512Meg RAM (and Win7 runs faster than XP/2K).
If the MB ran XP Pro decently at all, I'd be interested in runningit, as I only use the WinTerms for coupon printing, so XP would beabout the heaviest stress they'd get, except when Java fired up for someof the coupon printers drivers.
Of the 6 I got in my Ebay lot, one never would boot with a HD installed. Another started having problems after a while. Looking at all 6, 3 of them had some 1000uF 6.3V caps near the CPU that were bulging. I happened to have some 1000uF 16V, so I replaced all 4 in the 2 worst ones, then used the good ones pulled from those in the third, all 3 run fine now.
So if you have some of these, and they are flaky - seem to "overheat" and restart, check the 4 1000uF caps near the CPU, if the tops are bulging even the slightest bit, replace them.
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