If you've never ventured outside of x86 land you're missing some real treats. Over the past few years I've cobbled together enough parts to make 2 Sun Microsystems computers, one a Sun Sparcstation 5, the other a Sun Ultra 2. Why are these ancient systems cool? (The Sparc 5 is 110MHz and the Ultra 2 is 200MHz) They're cool because some of the things you can do with them that you can't do with a x86 without using external software. For example: STOP + A key will bring up a prompt where you can do all kinds of cool things, such as probe all SCSI devices, check RAM to see if it's okay. You can of course do these things using software on x86, but on my Sun boxes it's built into the instructions on the system itself. I don't need to run an operating system to diagnose problems on the box -- pretty cool.
The other thing that's cool is 64-bit. Yes, my 200MHz Ultra 2 is a 64-bit box. It can hold 1GB of RAM, and it's dual processor capable. Not bad for a $20CDN ebay purchase. (I spent more buying the keyboard and mouse for it).
If you've never ventured out of x86 land, I strongly recommend you try it... just for the pleasure of trying something outside the norm.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
AOpen AX6BC motherboard and Linux
Last Friday I was working with some volunteers at The Working Centre. My plan was to show how easy it was to install Ubuntu Linux. Much to my dismay I ended up doing a "Bill Gates," because the AOpen wouldn't even get to the Ubuntu install startup. I did a little checking, and found a site that seemed to imply the BIOS might be flaky. We tried a few machines, and all except one had the same result. One machine I did manage to install Ubuntu on.
As it turns out, the problem was indeed the BIOS. AOpen motherboards with the model AOpen AX6BC version R2.10, dated 1998, seem to have an issue with operating systems other than Microsoft Windows. I checked the AOpen web site, but there was no mention of Linux issues. I found a newer BIOS for the AX6BC, version R2.59. As per AOpen's instructions I booted to a command prompt, and ran the BIOS update from floppy.
The BIOS update seemed to go perfect. When I rebooted there was a CMOS checksum error. At first I thought I'd go into the BIOS and see if there was somewhere to change the checksum. I skimmed the BIOS very quickly - no go. As it turns out, all I had to do was press F1 to Continue. The next reboot the CMOS error was gone.
As it turns out, the problem was indeed the BIOS. AOpen motherboards with the model AOpen AX6BC version R2.10, dated 1998, seem to have an issue with operating systems other than Microsoft Windows. I checked the AOpen web site, but there was no mention of Linux issues. I found a newer BIOS for the AX6BC, version R2.59. As per AOpen's instructions I booted to a command prompt, and ran the BIOS update from floppy.
The BIOS update seemed to go perfect. When I rebooted there was a CMOS checksum error. At first I thought I'd go into the BIOS and see if there was somewhere to change the checksum. I skimmed the BIOS very quickly - no go. As it turns out, all I had to do was press F1 to Continue. The next reboot the CMOS error was gone.
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