MSTI PDX-1000 1 GHz Vortex86DX Linux thin client PC
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- Ever wondered what a first-generation, non-MMX Pentium would be like running at 1 GHz? That's basically what the Vortex86DX CPU in this MSTI PDX-1000 thin client is.
More info: www.dmp.com.tw/...
as far as I know the Linux kernel is always packaged in a compressed image to avoid corruption
The timing on this upload is amazing. About two weeks ago I started to shoot a video about a bunch of thin clients. I have yet to finish it. One of them has the predecessor to this system's CPU: an SiS 550, itself based on the short lived Rise mP6 CPU.
XGI's Volari graphics are an evolution of the Trident Microsystems graphics cores, and just like their predecessors, *slow* is the operative word. Even 2D graphics on these things are painful and I'd hate to even think about 3D operations. It's interesting that they bothered with outboard graphics, the SiS and later DM&P Vortex CPUs *have* integrated graphics hardware. Maybe they felt the outboard chip was better supported in Linux?
That PS/2 port may be carrying both keyboard and mouse signals.
Someone has a few similar systems on eBay and I almost bought one. A power supply wasn't included, so I passed it by.
The graphics chip is separate because the Vortex86 is used in some embedded devices which are "headless" and use a serial console for I/O.
The only SiS hardware I remember using was the SiS 6326 Graphics card with 4 MB of video buffer... man... I miss that card.
Might make a nice FreeDOS machine. You could load it up with games on the CF.
It looks like a good doorstop to me.
Eh, it'd be good maybe for a quick dumb terminal desktop setup and other low CPU applications.
Or, running Windows 2000.
Soundblaster compatibility could be an issue.
What instantly struck me, is that the same company also produces the 86Duino, which is a really nice little Arduino compatible board with the same, albeit, IIRC 5 times slower, processor and 128 MB of RAM.
It runs FreeDOS by default, but can also be programmed "bare-metal" or with Linux.
Wow, that's actually a really neat little computer. Depending on hardware support, this would be cool for running Windows 98, or something like CDebian. Plan on doing anything with it in the future?
I'm not sure how well that 10 watt power supply would do in normal use, though... half of it's capacity is already consumed by USB devices!
"Uncompressing Linux" is a normal phrase seen in many Linux distributions upon booting. I think it just means it's loading the kernel into memory.
When the linux kernel is compiled, you end with a file called vmlinux which is the actually kernel. You can then opt to compress that file with gzip or bzip2 to make it smaller, usually renamed to vmlinuz. That's why the bootloader says "uncompressing linux", it's not only loading the kernel into RAM, it's also decompressing it on the fly.
Yep that "stupid Unix thing": This is mainly because case sensitivity filename processing has always been a bit simpler to implement and much more efficient, through avoiding case normalization for comparisons. Case insensitivity mainly benefits user-friendliness. However, If you are not dealing with human input, it's more efficient to not worry about filenames of the same name, with different case. Additionally, case insensitivity can be incredibly more difficult to deal with for filenames of other languages and character sets.
Case-sensitive file names make perfect sense if you're a programmer, where even one mistyped character can make your program not run correctly. But most people aren't programmers and don't think like them. It would only take a few extra lines of code to implement case-insensitive file names in a UNIX-based operating system -- such as what Mac OS X has done. Even NTFS in Windows is actually case-sensitive but the way the user interface handles it is not.
A few? Then you're not into Unicode. It requires a huge lookup table if you want correct i18n. Also, some languages does not have the concept of upper/lower case.
@@milasudril i18n? Then you are not familiar with English language. I am totally amazed how dare you tried to type unicode filenames in text mode command console.
@@vwestlifeit's you versus 50 years of history
@@jamesmillerjoyou can do that actually
I came across some of that very dense foam stuff on a laptop's heat sink. To me it feels more like rubber. It's quite satisfying to play with.
theComputerGuy96 That's what she said!
elucidate dammit! 16hrs late
that green crumbly foam for flowers is also satisfying af
A bread baking tutorial is a must now.
That's a really nice thin client. I'd probably solder on both the COM ports and then probably turn it into a dualboot DOS 6.2(2) and Windows 95B gaming PC. DOS 6.2(2) should be able to detect that CF card and maybe the SD card reader too, so it'd be pretty sweet. Great video as always. :)
My usual stance toward OS choice is 'to each their own', but filename case sensitivity seems like a pretty trivial point. I feel as though it's something one internalizes and does automatically without even think about it after using it for a short while, particularly if you know the magic of tab-completion. This seems especially true in today's age where only more advanced/adventurous users are going to be using a terminal/command prompt instead of the GUI.
If you think that's bad, the Apple Lisa allowed multiple files in the same folder to have *exactly* the same name, including the same capitalization! I'm glad they changed that idea by the time they came out with the Macintosh.
@@vwestlife Haha, wow; that's definitely some craziness right there! Glad they changed it too. How did you 'recover' the files after you did such a thing?
It is explained in this article: www.macworld.com/article/2026544/the-little-known-apple-lisa-five-quirks-and-oddities.html
Once your in single user mode just run the command 'mount -o remount,rw /' (without the tics of course) to get the filesystem into read/write mode.
Now I want to see a 486 running above 1GHz
UP NEXT: A COMMODORE 64 PROCESSOR CLOCKED AT 5 GHTZ. CAN IT HOLD 120 FRAMES PER SECOND WHEN PLAYING THE LEMMINGS? HOW ABOUT IN ARMA 3?
That machine would run Windows 98 and be quite capable as a portable retro gaming rig. Or put OS/2 on it and have a handy portable conversation piece for introducing people to OS/2. Nice find.
what about drivers?
"Maybe they made it out of BBISHOPPCM's bread." That got me laughing! I thought that video of his was just hilarious... A bread pencil holder.
That bread could easily solve the low-cost housing problem.
+BBISHOPPCM's World Perfect solution to biodegradable building materials!
BBISHOPPCM's World crystal Pepsi!
cicccbn kn jkbkbnn. b
You messed up the foam on the corner of the gpu :(
I'm sure it will be okay.
Raspberry will do these days ;P
Anyways, we're still searching for a solution at work to display our Info-Screens without actually having a full Windows PC hanging there but RDP just won't cut it. Videos start to stutter a lot sadly.
That's because you need a heatsink (case). So do I. Until then, my raspberry is literally fired.
thealternativeJ I should make custom Rube Goldberg style coolers for Raspis
Get a pi model 3, and install it into a case with a heatsink, silver thermal compound, some vent holes, and a fan.
You always seem to come up with the coolest stuff, enjoyed watching that!
Oh god, that shade towards BBishop. that was savage.
This would likely run XP Embedded. I have a couple different industrial machines similar to this. You usually buy them pre-configured from the manufacturer. The one you have looks like a kiosk computer. They don't need much in processing or memory because they are meant to do a simple task. In this case, maybe to browse to a product page or a company inner network site. The computers I have were designed to control industrial machinery. They simply run an interface between control boards. They don't need much computing power but use an XP Embedded, some of the older ones even used Windows 98. The machines do not go online, they simply connect directly to the control panels out on the floor. Even if they did go online, the software is locked to read only, so no changes are made that can't be reset by rebooting the machine.
I would say that this PC is not meant to be used as a standalone device rather than terminal client to run PC in a server and providing input and output modules. For that reason processor can be outdated and device itself is cool and quiet. Mostly used for Cashier operations or in a public libraries etc.
Tarmo Aavola That's what thin client means
Terminals were used to be a cheaper and more economical means to use virtual PC-s running on a server and those cheap boxes were the front end. Basicly same thing nowadays would be those Chrome PC-s/laptops where everything You do is kept in a cloud and You use just that hardware to access and modify your files. So it was better for system administrators to keep everything up and running and secured rather than visit all the PC-s in company and do a maintenance.
still plenty of thin clients around nowadays to, my work brings me into many customer service call centers and its all they use. Thin client logs them into the environment of the specific client the agent in question is calling for and of they go.
This should get the FS in read-write mode so the password could be changed: mount -o rw,remount /
then type passwd
came to say this. mount -a might also work if it has an accurate fstab
If there's no /proc/mounts file, that's not gonna work. You'll need to specify the disk partition, which in this case is /dev/hdc1
I have two obscure thin clients, running AMD Geode LX800 @ 500mHz, I used to run Linux with FTP and SAMBA, for a little NAS with three 500Gb hard disks over USB. Worked like a charm, only limiting factor was the 10/100mb ethernet port.
VWestLife: Best UA-camr Alive!
I actually really like this little guy. It seems very robust and well constructed for an unbranded Thin Client. In fact I looked it up on eBay but there's nothing listed in relation to this, unfortunately.
DMP Electronics eBox 3300A. You’re welcome.
USB install of POSready or one of the older Win9x variants incoming? FLP even?
From single user mode, you would need to use the command `mount -o remount,rw /' to make the filesystem read/write
If you never figured it out, that SD card goes to a Ricoh MFD printer. I had a bunch, couldn't use them for another reason, although they were only around 8-16MB
The Vortex86 SoC family is based on the Rise MP6 from Rise Technology back in 1998. SiS licenced the technology from Rise to make their own SoC back in the day, the SiS 550, which saw use in a few embedded applications. I guess they're at it again with the Vortex86.
VIA did the same thing with their C3 line of CPUs, which are basically die shrunk Cyrix 6x86MX chips running at really high clock rates.
Both the Vortex86 and C3 aren't terribly useful in modern OSes due to lack of support for certain extensions to the x86 instruction set made in the late 90s and early 2000s. The FPUs are also very slow, being on par with a fast 486. They're still good for embedded use though, which is their niche.
Just so you know X-Windows does not work from single user mode. In some distros'single user mode' will always mount the drive in read-only.(as a security thing).
What do you plan to do wit the computer now? It would make a good freedos machine(as others have said.)
it was used in high school computer classes for clients and library file system using linux red hat iso.
I work in dining services for a university. Wer use newer versions of these for our dining points tracking computers and for our break room PCs.
I love your siig mini touch :P Hands down the best keyboard i've owned
It looks like it would make a great server
Myronaz yeah lol
True DAT (Digital Audio Tape (also sorry I just like being punny sometimes)).
I think the master/slave switch is because compactflash is basically ide and sets if the ide connector is master and compactflashslave and vice versa
I had a industrial embedded vortex86 that I used on the retro bench, as a computer it was meh, but since it was made to go into a robot it had like 9 com ports on it, which was really handy
It looks like this is an eBox-3350MX compact embedded system.
For those wondering, the monitor is an early LCD, not a CRT.
The SD card seems to have nothing to do with it, I don't think it's SD I think it's one of those SD addon cards like LGR showed in his pocket PC but I am sure you have figured this out by now.
Damn, seeing syschk brings a lot of memories flooding back.
Interesting device. If you google "aleutia mini pc" you'll get similar devices in the image search. The name stuck in my head. These little mini PC's (not even a hint of the term "thinclient") were a popular item on the net a couple of years ago. If you keep digging, I'm sure you'll find more and more similar or exact same devices, just marketed under different brand-names.
That monitor you're using in this video, the Philips 150S, is interesting as well. I have a Dell 1501FP monitor, that was given to me once, and although it has some subtle differences I could swear the OEM for that one is Philips by looking at the design and the way the error/warning messages appear on it. You don't happen to know if dell ever used Philips as an OEM by any chance, do you? Just curious.
I doubt anyone will see this comment since it's on a 6 year old video, but just in case, I think that PC is part of DMP Electronics' eBox 3300 line. I just ordered a cheap one off eBay to turn into a DOS gaming PC (maybe a handheld). TheRasteri goes over a few of the different variants in his video "Mini DOS Gaming PC Part 2"
Hope this helps anyone who was thinking of tracking one down.
9:27 Looks like it's greyscale on purpose, because that moving gradient is so smooth!
Ahhhh, a DMP eBox 3300A. I’ve been tearing my hair out at one of these for months. 😂 these are used in the UK for background music a lot of the time . A few companies here use the newer models for it.
The form factor with the bolt pattern to me says it may could also be used as a digital signage box. Sort of like if you go to a Dennys or Wendy's they have the LCD TVs that are playing video clips and giving you news and weather, or the signs at the mall that give you information about the stores.
You could run XPe (XP embedded) on this unit. Not much use with fixed memory. Could run it as a dedicated machine for Skype or a Ham Radio Program called Echolink. Have a HP ThinClient with limited memory set up for Echolink and it runs great.
use TAB for autcompletion, sir!
I love the bread joke
That conductive heat material looks like what some optical drives used to cool their chips.
The PC I use today is a lot like this, but with a much better hardware configuration of course. It was also 170 bucks, which is nice.
Looks similar to the WYSE terminals we used to use when the company I work for switched to a virtual office. We don't use them anymore but it's very similar.
Hey VWestlife, please make 2nd part - installing XP on this device. We need to know if it runs Crysis!
Also, 3:59 :))))
Looks like it can attach to the back of a monitor using its VESA mount, useful for keeping the desk clear of computers, though given it's basically a really fast 1990s Pentium, it is a tad limited for sure...
Totally useable for an easy application!
Would make a cool pi case.for.sure...
Wait that backup battery is for AmiBIOS? Or it's just a CMOS?
Both.
@VWestlife To mount it as read-write:
mount -o remount,rw /dev/hdc1 /
When you're done and ready to reboot, do:
mount -o remount,ro /dev/hdc1 /
I just saw this being sold on ebay, the sd card did come with it and the thin client was for ricoh print release appliance for there mfp printer/copier
That actually that is a standard power connector. It's also 86 so you could install dos
What's the power connector called? Be useful to know in case one ever has to buy a new power supply.
Hp uses them on access points, sonic wall too external hard disk enclosures with the need for 12 and 5 volt dc often have them.. mouser sells the ends. Just put the required voltage at the correct pins.
3 pin 'power' mini din to be correct, as you can get normal 4 pin mini dins, and also 4 pin 'power' mini dins, an old laptop i have uses the 4 pin power type, and i 'think' you can get 'non power' 3 pin mini din, but not sure...
have also seen some older lcd tvs that have external psus use them
I love how you ruin the foam at 3:46
Why the hell did they clone a pentium 1 and crank it all the way to 1 Ghz?
That SD card is for the Java/VM browser extension on a Ricoh/Lanier copier to give an advanced touch panel machine browser capability/extend functionality. For OLD machines, nothing current. It's useless, can be formatted.
I know I'm sort of late with my comment, but the power plug looks suspiciously like the one that is used by receipt printers among various brands including Epson.
So if the PSU is 24V, you can probably use a printer one instead.
Check the polarity first, of course ;-)
Unbelievable that a tiny computer can be that old. It looks like a modern roku type device.
You do realize you can have 2 files named readme.txt and README.txt because capital and lower case letters are different characters. That's why it's case sensitive.
Yes, I realize and hate that. So stupid and confusing to the user.
They'd have to make a fundamental change to the file system to not have it case sensitive. Plus it is user friendly (if that's even possible with command line these days) when you have features like tab auto-complete that will actually fix your capitalization. The only reason it doesn't do it in Windows is because MS made the filesystem case insensitive. (I double checked, NTFS is not case sensitive) At this point that is just nitpicking.
Syphist Prime No they wouldn't. Both Windows and Mac OS have case sensitive file systems but handle it in a case-insensitive way through the user interface. NTFS *is* case sensitive but the Windows UI doesn't allow the user to create multiple files with the same name and ignores capitalization when accessing files.
Syphist Prime Yes, and that's why Linux is so bad for most people. It's based on ancient 1960s UNIX anachronisms. toastytech.com/guis/macvspc.html And the bugs I've encountered have all been reported. Most of the bugs I reported in Ubuntu 16.04 were fixed in 16.04.1.
AFAIK from your closed one sided YT vids you were a hater of Linux based OS and here's the most retarded funny laughing matter of this year is "Most of the bugs I reported in Ubuntu 16.04 were fixed in 16.04.1." Really?!!
How is this with modern OSes like ArcaOS, ReactOS, AROS and its varieties, OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, 9Front, and NetBSD?
This, with a second Ethernet adapter via USB, would make a nice, low powered router.
@VWestlife BTW, if you wanna autocomplete a file name, hit tab. If it stops halfway, hit tab twice and it'll show you the possibilities.
ide to sata?
I like this nice small box pc. Linux is fine if it is set up with everything I need. I hate putzing around with Linux to get something working. But it is does email, UA-cam and web browser and play video files I know many people in their 60’s on up that would like a small computer like this. I just don’t see any Linux os really ready for mass usage. Every version of Linux needs a tweaking here and there. I can get through it I just don’t care too.
This is a DMP eBox... Also the reason why you get a read-only filesystem error is that you probably missed a "rw" parameter for your kernel - or "ro" was specified.
I was wondering if it's possible to run Windows 98 on it but it seems like these machines lacks a sound driver for it... A shame.
How possible would it be to run MS-DOS or Windows on that computer? Could it possibly be used as an MS-DOS gaming machine of some sort?
In most UNIX shells, pressing "tab" while you started typing autocompletes it... Wish DOS had that!
Dell WYSE Clients are good.
You seem like you know a lot of things about old tech, i found an old polaroid impulse af camera at my grandparents attic. It's in top shape and it's only been used to take no more than 15 pictures. I have the original box and manual with it and it looks intact. How much money do you think i could get if i sold it now, or should i keep it? Would people even be interested in buying it?
I suggest you ask on Polaroid-related channels and forums. There are people who are really into vintage Polaroid cameras and could answer your question.
I saw a video on this on UA-cam a long time ago! Nice!
what do you do for work
Interesting little machine 😀. Well Puppy Linux is still around. The ram would need to be upgraded at least to 512 or 1 gig I think to be useful as a modern operating system. Tiny Core Linux may work well on it 😀. Or FreeDOS or MSDOS. From one Jersey Boy to another I hope it works well now for whatever you have on it currently 😀.
Did you try to remount the Linux filesystem in read-write mode? It takes a single command:
mount -o remount,rw /
Somehow I just love the look of this machine. And hey, it has Puppy on it.
Yes it's a very attractive little thing.
I'm not familiar with this tech but it'd be very interesting if there were a way to access the bus.
In a way, that CPU is similar to the older Atom CPUs that were common during the netbook craze. The first Atoms were also basically turbocharged P5 cores. Of course Atom, with 512K of L2, up to 2.13GHz of clock speed, hyper threading, and MMX-SSSE3 instructions were far more capable than the Vortex86.
According to my understanding it is a advance Rise mP6
The system recognises a difference in uppercase against lowercase ... boohooo... cry cry ...
More like "bitch bitch moan moan".
Kek
Does this client or the similar ebox-3300a have an integrated audio chip? Can run win98 or dos games with audio?
for me it was a print manager. used in a kiosk for accepting prints to the copper i still have it i was going to use it for home automation but still have not found any OS for it. i need somthing i can network into it with
When you boot it in single-user mode you'll need to unmount the file system & remount it as read-write in order to change anything. Command for Redhat is something like mount -o remount,rw but I don't know if it is the same for Puppy Linux, never used that.
I remember watching a video on this exact thing many years ago.
I have same 1ghz box with 256mb RAM :) paid 20€
If the case is in good condition then it's already worth the 20 Euro. Usually ITX cases are expensive as shit (as are ITX motherboards) - killing all benefits from the energy saving.
Lothar Scholz itx cases aren't expensive?
its not itx it has own design and uses 5V 6A voltage
Can't you use tab key when in the terminal after typing R and then it autocompletes README.txt? This really makes life easier.
[9:24] In the BIOS, F2 will do "Change Color " (at least it does for me - eBox-2300SX and eBOX_4300).
I have a serious penchant for thin clients and micro computers, they are so cute ^_^
You should use Nano to read files instead
Adam7868 or vim
if both are missing one can dd the file to tty
To remount the filesystem read/write, so that you can change your password:
mount / -o rw,remount
Have fun!
you can remount partition with read write mode. and ur x window didnt work because it was in single user mode
very interesting device! have you ever found out about its select purpose?
would be a good machine for windows 95 or 98
LOL puppy linux, awesome. I want one of these little boxes, haven't used puppy in a long time.
I'd like to know what was on that "Browser Unit Type E" card.
What keyboard are you using??? i like then sound of it and it makes me want one. Where can i get one?
SIIG MiniTouch.
Do you ever plan to format the thin client's built-in disk on module and install Windows on it?
Not Windows, but DOS.
can it run Windows 10?
No.
What company do you work for anyways?