Coach Thrasher
HP XW9300 and Adaptec 2015S Linux Notes
I'm installing Linux on two machines for personal use and I've had a hell of a time getting the installer to identify the hardware.
The first box was a HP XW9300 machine, and I was applying a Fedora 8 installation via DVD. The problem was that the installer need a boot parameter to turn off ACPI, which was interfering with the hardware probe. This is done at the installer boot prompt with:
boot: linux pci=noacpi
The second box was a Supermicro 1u server (H8DAR-8 motherboard) with an Adaptec 2015S SCSI RAID host controller card, and I was applying CentOS 5.1 via DVD. I had configured the Adaptec to use RAID 10 for use as a database machine and CentOS 5.1 wasn't picking up the driver on probe. The solution was to boot into noprobe mode with:
boot: linux noprobe text
and then to specify the driver manually:
I2O Block driver (i2o_block)
I couldn't find this info anywhere, so hopefully it will help someone else.
Posted at 08:56AM Dec 10, 2007 by jason in Hardware |
WiiBot
Two engineers made a weekend project out of interfacing a Wii controller to 6 degree of freedom industrial robot. The results are Totally Awesome.
It appears that they've pre-programmed the robot's move sequences such that there's a "set" of possible arm movements. This is good because it makes the robot more predictable: if you drop the Wii controller, the sword doesn't cut you in half.
Projects like this make me wish I was still a mechanical engineer.
Posted at 11:39AM Feb 04, 2007 by jason in Hardware |
Linux installer on a Sun Netra X1
These are my notes on getting the Gentoo Linux boot CD to startup on a Sun Netra X1. It turns out that many of the online "how-to" posts didn't help because they were either full of errors, incomplete, or configured differently. I also discovered a bunch of commands that weren't required to install things, but did help with diagnosing problems encountered in the install.
Links that helped me figure this out are:
Nabble Netra X1
FreeBSD Netra device config
Installing Debian Linux on Sun Netra X1
Sun Netra X1 and Linux
Debian on Netra
Why install Gentoo on a Netra X1? To support small little apps that I write with a free OS like proxies, filters, logging, and batch reporting. I don't have any Solaris support access, and am only vaguely familiar with Solaris as it is. While I am familiar with the support channels for Gentoo.
The machine:
Background on this box: the Sun Netra X1 is a nice little SPARC machine that comes in different, similar, speeds. Mine is 400MHz, with 512MB of PC133 RAM. I'm replacing the original 20GB disk with a 250GB IDE disk. The case is 1U rack mountable and will hold 2 IDE drives, max.
The Netra X1 doesn't have a CDROM drive, so this is the challenge with any install. There are two ways to setup the OS: us a Sun network install (which requires setting up another machine as an OS server), or forcing a CDROM install by temporarily installing a CDROM drive. I chose the later.
Since there's no video card, the box must be accessed via the serial port. I went to Fry's and got a DB9-to-RJ45 connector ($2.50) and soldered it with this wiring pattern:
| DB9 | RJ45 |
|---|---|
| 1 (DCD) | NC |
| 2 (RX) | 3 (TX) |
| 3 (TX) | 6 (RX) |
| 4 (DTR) | 7 (DSR) |
| 5 (GND) | 4 and 5 (GND) |
| 6 (DSR) | 2 (DTR) |
| 7 (RTS) | 8 (CTS) |
| 8 (CTS) | 1 (RTS) |
| 9 (RI) | NC |
This serial connector connects to the LOM (Lights Out Management) RJ45 port on the Netra. The DB9 end can be plugged into a PC's serial port, or a USB-to-DB9 serial converter. The advantage of this setup is that you can string long serial cables with ethernet cables. It seems fairly non standard though.
I opened the Netra, used the secondary IDE cable to connect a DVD/CDROM drive with jumper set to "Master". The primary IDE cable is connected to my 250GB Maxtor IDE HD with the jumper also set to "Master". These two drives will hang out of the case until the installation is complete, and the DVD/CDROM can be removed and the case is closed.
With power connected to the Netra and the RJ45-to-DB9 connected to a laptop, everything gets powered on. The Gentoo boot CDROM (CD-R) is installed into the DVD/CDROM drive.
The laptop is using Windows 2000, which ships with HyperTerminal, and will talk to the LOM over the RJ45-to-DB9 interface. Run Start/Programs/Accessories/Communications/HyperTerminal to start it up. It may ask for a phone number, just click "Cancel", it will warn you about dialing a number, but that's not needed, so click "Yes" to cancel. Let it choose an icon, give the connection a name, and then cancel the auto-dial again. Configure the "Connect To" dialog to use the "COM1" port, or whatever you have the DB9 connected to. Set the port to 9600/8/N/1/Hardware.
At this point, you should have HyperTerminal up with a LOM prompt that looks like this: lom>. If not, try power-cycling the Netra.
Enter the LOM commands:
lom>shutdown
lom>break
System in standby
lom>
If you are powered up and the Netra is trying to net-boot, you'll need to drop to the LOM propt by typing #. (don't forget the period "."), then type poweroff to shut down and drop to the LOM prompt.
LOM event: +0h0m13s host power onSun Netra X1 (UltraSPARC-IIe 400MHz), No Keyboard
OpenBoot 4.0, 512 MB memory installed, Serial #50652816.
Ethernet address 0:3:ba:4:e6:90, Host ID: 8304e690.Boot device: net File and args:
Timeout waiting for ARP/RARP packet
Timeout waiting for ARP/RARP packet
Timeout waiting for ARP/RARP packet
Timeout waiting for ARP/RARP packet
Timeout waiting for ARP/RARP packet
#.lom>poweroff
lom>break
System in standby
lom>
At this point, we're ready to boot into the CDROM, but we need to know what it's address is. The alias of "cdrom" didn't work for me because it pointed to the wrong IDE address. To find the correct CDROM address the shell needs to drop into OpenBoot. Follow these commands:
Enter the LOM commands:
lom>poweron
LOM event: +0h0m13s host power onSun Netra X1 (UltraSPARC-IIe 400MHz), No Keyboard
OpenBoot 4.0, 512 MB memory installed, Serial #50652816.
Ethernet address 0:3:ba:4:e6:90, Host ID: 8304e690.Boot device: net File and args:
Timeout waiting for ARP/RARP packet
Timeout waiting for ARP/RARP packet
Timeout waiting for ARP/RARP packet
Timeout waiting for ARP/RARP packet
Timeout waiting for ARP/RARP packet
#.lom>reset -x
LOM event: +0h1m37s host abort
Watchdog Reset
Externally Initiated Reset
ok
Now the prompt should read "ok". Try typing probe-ide to see the connected IDE devices and verify where they live.
ok probe-ide
Device 0 ( Primary Master )
ATA Model: Maxtor 6B250R0Device 1 ( Primary Slave )
Not PresentDevice 2 ( Secondary Master )
Removable ATAPI Model: HITACHI DVD-ROM GD-7500Device 3 ( Secondary Slave )
Not Presentok
There are two IDE channels, devices 0 and 1 are on channel 0 and devices 2 and 3 are on channel 1. Now let's query the actual address of these devices:
ok devalias
disk /pci@1f,0/ide@d/disk@0,0
rtc /pci@1f,0/isa@7/rtc@0,70
usb /pci@1f,0/usb@a
flash /pci@1f,0/isa@7/flashprom@1f,0
lom /pci@1f,0/isa@7/SUNW,lomh@0,8010
i2c-nvram /pci@1f,0/pmu@3/i2c@0,0/i2c-nvram@0,aa
net1 /pci@1f,0/ethernet@5
dload1 /pci@1f,0/ethernet@5:,
dload /pci@1f,0/ethernet@c:,
net0 /pci@1f,0/ethernet@c
net /pci@1f,0/ethernet@c
cdrom /pci@1f,0/ide@d/cdrom@3,0:f
disk3 /pci@1f,0/ide@d/disk@3,0
disk2 /pci@1f,0/ide@d/disk@2,0
disk1 /pci@1f,0/ide@d/disk@1,0
disk0 /pci@1f,0/ide@d/disk@0,0
ide /pci@1f,0/ide@d
floppy /pci@1f,0/isa@7/dma/floppy
ttyb /pci@1f,0/isa@7/serial@0,2e8
ttya /pci@1f,0/isa@7/serial@0,3f8
ok
The "disk0" through "disk3" corresponds to IDE channel 0 master, and "disk3" corresponds to IDE channel 1 slave. Also note that the "cdrom" alias is different, and appears to point to disk3, with the ":f" appended to the end. The CDROM should actually be disk2, so we can now take note from disk2's address and the cdrom's address to create a new address for booting: /pci@1f,0/ide@d/cdrom@2,0:f. The command must be entered twice because it will time out with "Fast Data Access MMU Miss" on the first run because the CDROM hasn't spun up. Boot the Gentoo installation CD:
ok boot /pci@1f,0/ide@d/cdrom@2,0:f
Boot device: /pci@1f,0/ide@d/cdrom@2,0:f File and args:
Fast Data Access MMU Miss
ok boot /pci@1f,0/ide@d/cdrom@2,0:fLOM event: +0h20m33s host reset
Resetting ...Sun Netra X1 (UltraSPARC-IIe 400MHz), No Keyboard
OpenBoot 4.0, 512 MB memory installed, Serial #50652816.
Ethernet address 0:3:ba:4:e6:90, Host ID: 8304e690.Executing last command: boot /pci@1f,0/ide@d/cdrom@2,0:f
Boot device: /pci@1f,0/ide@d/cdrom@2,0:f File and args:
SILO Version 1.4.13
\----------------------------------------------------
Welcome to the Gentoo/Linux SPARC64 InstallCD 2006.1
----------------------------------------------------boot:
That's it, this is the Gentoo boot prompt. Gentoo installation can now begin. Many other OSs could be installed the same way.
Posted at 01:18PM Jan 19, 2007 by jason in Hardware |
Finished XA-300 Installation
Finally, I'm done with the XA-300 install. I didn't have any space in my glove box, so I mounted it below the passenger seat. I get an unusual number of search hits from Google and MSN for the XA-300, so I figured I'd post some pics for people:
I mounted a piece of wood as a base, to the floorboard with drywall screws (it's painted black in the pics). They sit flush with the board, and the screwtips are covered with black RTV so they don't scratch anything. The XA-300 is mounted to this board with velcro, so I can move it around for whatever reason. The important thing is that it works, and there's no more fiddling with half-working FM transmitters.
The passenger seat has been re-installed to the mounts. You can't see the XA-300 unless you look under the seat. All of the wires are hidden. It was easy to remove the passenger seat... the hard part of this whole installation was routing the wires under the center console from the Sony head unit. I also installed a 400 watt 120 volt inverter for charging cox-boxes and laptops from the road. The inverter is screw-mounted to the wood base.
The car you see is my 1990 Toyota Celica All Trac Turbo. Only ~2500 were sold in the US from 90-93... so it's pretty rare. This makes screwing up the car a royal pain in the ass since parts aren't available for it. I had to be extra careful when taking apart the dashboard... but that's ok, I'm one of those people that cuts through the "warranty void if seal is broken" stickers.
Now I'm ready for the drive to the Championship regatta at Lake Natoma this weekend. Audiobooks and podcasts, here I come.
Posted at 04:02PM May 18, 2006 by jason in Hardware | Comments[3]
Putty Knife Rowing Lights
Here are some pictures of the putty-knife lights that we made for our shells. I was painting my living room last year and noticed these 6 inch putty knives for spackling for sale at about $1.50 at Home Depot. We needed better boat lights. So, I bolted a bicycle light to the putty knife and stuck it in the number-clip. It worked great!
After the season was over, our rigger: Timothy Hodgson, went thinking about this design. He added the second bicycle light so we had fore-aft lighting. He choose bike lights that had side and forward facing LEDs. He had to trim the putty knife a little to allow the lights to bolt on without tilting upwards on the curved putty-knife. He also found a source for clear/white LED lights and made a stern version for the rear.
Since we only need "lights" on the boats, we're not worried about green/red colors for starboard/port. Raw visibility is more important. Generally we get at least 2000m of excellent visibility (measured by our race course). The visibility range is important because it lets other coaches know that we're coming, and since we try to be courteous with not waking each other, we can all plan ahead to not wake other crews.
The nice thing about using bicycle lights is that they are designed for a little water. They can get splashed and rained on without a problem - the rubber seals around the lenses keep water out. The bolting hardware is also fairly environment proof. It's not as good as stainless, or nylon (as the ARCNAV light uses), but it's good enough. They use two AA batteries for power, and last about 3 months without needing new batteries. They can be set to flash, or run steady (we like steady in the morning, less we get headaches!). When using these on a bow-loader 4+, the coxswains like to turn the stern-facing light off so they aren't blinded by its brightness.
The bow light has two bicycle lights with 5 red LEDs each. 2 LEDs on each light face sideways, and 3 LEDs face forwards.
Stern lights use white LEDs and a clear lens. They are REALLY bright, and not to be stared at. The lens provides 180 degrees of stern visibility. We glued standard number clips to the stern decks to hold the lights.
The total cost for these parts is about $15.00. The putty knife is $1.50, and each red bike light is ~$5.00, white lights are ~$12.00. A knife and drill are required to "hack" the putty knife for drilling the mounting hole for the bike-light hardware, and making a notch (as seen on the stern light) for the lights to sit flat on the putty blade. Batteries required: 2xAA. It takes about 5 minutes to assemble one of these with all of the parts handy.
Posted at 09:41AM May 04, 2006 by jason in Hardware | Comments[0]
Sony Unilink to iPod Hookup
It's regatta season and that means long hours on the road driving to events. It's been frustrating ever since I started using an iPod to listen to audio books because I have no way of hooking my iPod up to my Sony WXC570 car stereo.
After researching available solutions to getting audio from my video iPod into my car stereo, I finally found the "easy" solution: use a Sony XA-300 Unilink based audio selector to choose the AUX audio input. With this gadget, I can hook the iPod up to that AUX input. This has several drawbacks though: there's no hookup to charge the iPod, and I need three wires for this system: RCA cables and Unilink cable that run from the head unit to the XA-300, and a mini-stereo plug to RCA cable to connect the iPod to the XA-300.... and if I want to keep the iPod charged, I'd need an additional wire run from a cigarette plug to the iPod. That's a pain, but the FM-radio based iPod solutions (iTrip) completely failed to do the job.
I ran across something really cool WRT the Sony Unilink setup though: there's a SF project called GNUnilink that has hacked the interface with a PIC microcontroller. I've got all the hardware to program PICs, and I've got a few chips laying around, so if I'm going to go through the trouble of taking my dash apart, I might as well try to add a PC-serial control as well. The hardware setup is quite simple, check it out:
There's also a discussion forum regarding Unilink hacking here: Unilink Discussion Board. Note: this is a hacker site, and not approved by Sony. Be careful not to kill your head unit!
Updated: The finished XA-300 to iPod photos are up.
Posted at 09:23AM Apr 10, 2006 by jason in Hardware | Comments[2]
Motorola Talkabout Plugs Are Longer
I'm trying to get the Motorola T5920 Talkabouts and the digital recorder to play nicely together, and I had a nice wiring harness all set up, but I suddenly realized that the Motorola 2.5mm socket requires a longer than normal 2.5mm stereo plug. Without the long plug, the Talkabout's audio connections aren't properly engaged and the plug could slip out if bumped. Doh. I can't find an immediate source for these things, so I've cut the NK-wiring harness to scavenge the long plug for this setup. The wiring harness was designed to work with the Talkabout anyway - I'm just not using it as designed. Motorola, if you're listening, I don't like non-standard equipment!
Here are the plug length differences:
Posted at 10:26AM Feb 20, 2006 by jason in Hardware | Comments[0]
NK Gives Some Input
I sent a note to NK asking for ideas of how to connect the microphone and radio to the coxbox amplifier, while preventing the radio from overpower the system. The query bounced around at NK and was answered by Paul Nielsen himself, who confirmed an R-C setup was used to limit the signal from the radios. He also recommended that I not use BNC/F adaptor connectors. I totally agree and will have to look into a local source for BNC crimp-on, or twist-on connections.
Frank Biller at NK was a great resource and was very interested in how I was using this coxbox system. He said they were interested in working with people that came up with better mousetraps, and that they were interested in working with people that had new ideas like this, to create products from them. So for the hundreds of people out there that have said "I've got an idea for a better rowing widget": you should explore working with NK to get your idea patented, and sold. They've got the infrastructure to do that.
Posted at 08:15AM Feb 08, 2006 by jason in Hardware | Comments[0]
Rigger Dynamic Loading Platform
I was browsing photos of the Rowing Rigger Design project and found that many of them were never published. Some from the Rigger Dynamic Loading Platform are pretty neat. Check them out!
Posted at 09:03PM Feb 01, 2006 by jason in Hardware | Comments[0]
Waterproof Cox Box Recording and Radio Comm
Palo Alto Rowing Club has purchased two NK "Cox-Box Radio/Audio Recording Adapters" for use by our crews. I wanted to improve the setup by allowing the use of both a radio, and a digital recorder, in a waterproof box.
The adapters that we've been using are found on the NK website here: NK Radio Adapter
I've started creating a prototype, but I need to know what the RC values are in the filter embedded in the NK recording adapter. I specifically like to know what kind of RC filter to build into my waterproof box per the details below. I assume it would have the same values as found in the NK Recording Adapter.
I may be wrong in that NK is not using an RC filter, but the website indicates that the device prevents DC current with a capacitor, and reduces the volume of the radio with a resistor - so in technical terms, it sounds like they're using a high-pass RC filter.
One of the problems I have with the NK Recording Adapter is that the recording/playback electronics are not water resistant, and I'm very concerned that they will get splashed by the salt water that we row in, thereby ruining the electronics. That's why I'm using the Pelican (waterproof) box, and why I can't use the NK Recording Adapter's circuit - as there is no BNC connector in the box.
I'm including a few pictures of what I've built so far for clarification. Note that I have tested the whole configuration using the digital recorder and the radio simultaneously, and it works great. The caveat with that setup is that the radio is exposed to water damage. I'm trying to prevent that by using the pelican box. Please let me know what you think about this idea!
Figure 1: This is how we started using the NK Recording Adapter. The problem with this setup is that our radio is not protected from splashing water. If we row in the rain, or have rough water, it will ruin the radio. (Note: that the cable in this image has been cut for my modifications, but it was not cut when used as designed.)
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Figure 2: The digital recorder has been mounted inside a Pelican waterproof box. This allows me to record the coxswain's verbal commands through a practice, and to use the audio as training material for other coxswains later. A BNC panel-mount connector has been mounted in the lid, and an audio plug (3.5mm) has been soldered inside the box to allow connection to the "mic" side of the recorder. I used digital-tv coaxial cable and "F" connectors with BNC adapters to create a custom extension cord from the Cox Box to the Pelican box.
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Figure 3: This is a view of the inside of the Pelican box, with the panel-mount BNC clearly visible.
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Figure 4: Here's a view of the outside of the Pelican box. The coax cable's F connector, and BNC adapter are clearly visible here. The other end of the coax cable has the same connectors. (Note: I don't have a crimp tool for BNC, but I do have a crimp tool for F connectors. I like the BNC design, so that's why I'm using so many connectors.)
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Figure 5: This view gives the desired configuration. Both the radio, and the digital recorder, will be wired inside the Pelican box to waterproof them. You can see that the radio has a 2.5mm jack and a cut wire attached - this is the cut end of the NK Recording Adapter. The BNC end of the NK Recording Adapter is not used because there is no BNC connection inside the Pelican box. The wires need to be soldered to the inside of the Pelican box's BNC connection, with the RC filter circuit, such that the radio does not feed too much power into the circuit. This illustrates why I need the RC values of the NK Recording Adapter's filter.
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Figure 6: This is a view of the radio, and digital recorder inside the Pelican box. This will allow recording, and radio communication, with the crew at the same time.
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Posted at 01:47PM Feb 01, 2006 by jason in Hardware | Comments[2]