On Fri, 1 Sep 2006 20:37:37 -0400, Gary G. Hendershot wrote: > >See if you can into the BIOS. Might have to download the docs on the thing >to figure out how. HP is pretty good about keeping docs on the web site for >legacy gear so you should be able to find these without too much trouble. > >Once in the BIOS, see if you can trick it into booting from a USB CDROM or >maybe even a USB external hard drive. I suspect you will be able to do >this. If you can boot from a CDROM, you might try booting "Ultimate BOOT >CD". This will get you a Linux or DRDOS command line. At the Linux command >line you should be able to get your hands on "fdisk" and "dd". If you get >that far, it should be pretty easy to do whatever you want with it. > >I suspect they treat the flash like either a DOM or using an IDE channel. >So the internal flash will probably be doing IDE hard drive emulation. It >should show up as a device when you run "fdisk -l". > >You might also crack the box and take a look at its internals. You might be >surprised to find it actually has an IDE interface that they just don't use. >This could open other interesting possibilities. If you cant get it to boot >from a USB CDROM, you should surely be able to get it to boot from a IDE >CRDOM assuming it has the interface on the board. > >I have never been inside one of these but have into similar. Often it's a >pretty generic mother board that they use in other configurations with an >IDE drive. In the thin client version they just turn it off in BIOS or via >jumpers. So its worth takeing a look. > >In a "worst case" scenario, I suppose I would go ahead and setup a PXE host >for the darn thing to boot off. Would setup my Astlinux as a PXE image and >then use the onboard FLASH as the Key Disk.
Yeah, I opened one up right away. Theres a small flash module and otherwise a normal, if small, motherboard. No IDE i/f that I can see but I Googled a tutorial on loading Damn Small Linux to one. The principle ought to be the same for Astlinux. The processor is made by VIA. Did they make chips for Transmeta? There's a whole series of thin clients from HP, some of which run Geodes, others Crusoe, still others Via CPUs. A body of ine came into a box of about 30 of these things that were due to be sent to Dell as part of a "recycling" project. We "rescued" them thinking that there's got to be some good applications for a fanless, diskless box like this. I hope to get BeyondTV Link 4.4 loaded to one and use it as a silent viewing cleint for my BeyondTV server (think Tivo) There is a PCI slot internally available. I'm thinking about putting a Wifi adapter into it and loading M0n0wall ino order to create a wireless router/AP. Of course, Astlinux is my first project. I wonder how it will compare to the Gumstix board that I have sitting around? Michael -- Michael Graves [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sr. Product Specialist www.pixelpower.com Pixel Power Inc. [EMAIL PROTECTED] o713-861-4005 o800-905-6412 c713-201-1262 fwd 54245 _______________________________________________ Astlinux-users mailing list [email protected] http://lists.kriscompanies.com/mailman/listinfo/astlinux-users Donations to support AstLinux are graciously accepted via PayPal to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
