I bought an inexpensive Single-Board Computer (SBC) a year ago
for use as a network appliance. The Advantech PCM-4823L has a
footprint equivalent to a 3.5" harddisk. It has an AMD DX5-133 CPU,
VIA 82C496G chipset, no video, NE-2000 compatible 10-baseT port,
and an Award BIOS loaded into 128K flash chip, plus DOC socket
and expansion via PC-104 bus.
This is a decent board for low-cost embedded applications. The
version without onboard video retails for only USD 230!
Here the problem: No support for console redirection during POST
and BIOS setup! So in order to setup the BIOS for a headless SBC,
one must install a PC-104 video module or use a PC-104-to-ISA
bus adapter along with an ISA video card (this was my solution).
I tried valiantly to get console redirection support from Advantech,
but they are pretty clueless and can't understand why someone
would want console redirection to serial port as a standard BIOS
feature for a headless SBC designed for embedded applications!
Any information you can provide on the suitability of LinuxBIOS
for this motherboard would be greatly appreciated. I would gladly
lend a hand (testing and/or possibly provide a loaner board) for
getting LinuxBIOS working for the PCM-4823L.
Sincerely,
Mark Bickel
Engineer
Ericsson Inc.
North Texas Linux Users Group (NTLUG)
http://ntlug.org/about.html
