**** BEGIN LOGGING AT Sun Mar 25 03:01:03 2007 Mar 25 04:01:54 . Mar 25 06:13:38 03bzhou * r5822 10optware/trunk/make/xterm.mk: xterm: 224 -> 225 Mar 25 12:09:37 03oleo * r5823 10optware/trunk/make/mediatomb.mk: mediatomb: add libuclibc++ depend Mar 25 12:15:15 03oleo * r5824 10optware/trunk/make/mediatomb.mk: mediatomb: fix previous libuclibc++ depend Mar 25 16:31:15 NAiL: I've been advised to increase the accuracy of kernel timers in order to get reliable VOIP operation on the slug: Mar 25 16:31:18 (12:27:19) RoyK: hillct: configure your kernel with 1000HZ ticks, not 100HZ Mar 25 16:31:18 (12:27:49) RoyK: or use 2.6.21 with dyntick and hrtimers :P Mar 25 16:31:18 (12:28:18) hillct: RoyK: thanks. I'm not sure how receptive the distro maintainers will be to that Mar 25 16:31:18 (12:28:24) hillct: but I'll check it out Mar 25 16:31:19 (12:28:53) RoyK: hillct: you need 1000Hz or dyntick to do good timing Mar 25 16:32:19 I don't know much about the timers setup. Is this something worth doing or would it be pointless based on hardware limitations? Mar 25 16:34:51 Does anyone know of anywhere someone has documented fitting an ir sensor inside the slug Mar 25 16:35:39 inside? Mar 25 16:36:06 I believe someone added an IR remote to a slug at one point using a USB IR dongle Mar 25 16:37:08 yes, i've got something buit at the moment with leads soldered onto a few places but just on a breadboard at the moment Mar 25 16:37:41 not in the case - guess i should document it a bit Mar 25 16:38:21 I'm not big on hardware mods Mar 25 16:38:44 I'd always go with utilizing existing interfaces wherever possible Mar 25 16:49:57 03bzhou * r5825 10optware/trunk/make/libtasn1.mk: libtasn1: 0.3.8 -> 0.3.9 Mar 25 16:52:08 I've gone with a little soldering and it works... just got to try and squeeze it into the case Mar 25 17:54:33 how much free space is inside the case? Mar 25 18:00:36 there really isn't a whole lot of available space inside the case Mar 25 18:01:06 I imagine you want to mount it to the inside of the bezel Mar 25 18:01:40 perhaps imediately below the top slanted faceplate below the disk LEDs Mar 25 18:02:24 yes plenty of room for it there - that shouldn't be a problem - just got to fiddle in a couple of resistors and a fet Mar 25 18:02:25 as I believe you could cut a hole only through the backing so as to take advantage of the transparent face Mar 25 18:03:07 that would take quite a bit of precision to get just right though Mar 25 18:03:57 just a big crude hole in the front is ok :) Mar 25 18:07:27 hillct: how much space is there for a small, flat PCB? Mar 25 18:08:25 dimensions? Mar 25 18:09:09 5cm * 1.5cm * 4mm Mar 25 18:09:32 if you can position it just below the optical tunnels for the front LEDs there's lots of space Mar 25 18:09:33 And another that's same l/w but 1cm high Mar 25 18:09:43 Ahh, great. Mar 25 18:10:08 thats just above the cpy Mar 25 18:10:11 there's a pic of the board on the TurboSlug page Mar 25 18:10:13 Planning on taking out one of the USB connectors, soldering directly to the flashdrive, then using the spare space for rs232 off the internal connector. Mar 25 18:10:20 Might or might not work. Mar 25 18:11:01 bofh: you don't need to take off an usb-connector, there's three internal ports available Mar 25 18:11:10 I'd just go with a USB -> RS232 dongle Mar 25 18:11:13 NAiL: I know. Mar 25 18:11:27 Taking off the usb connector to allow space for the serial connector, though. Mar 25 18:11:32 hillct: that's pointless. Mar 25 18:11:37 ? Mar 25 18:12:11 why? provides the same functionality without requiring hardware modification Mar 25 18:12:13 The main reason for adding an rs232 uart + internal port is for bootloader and kernel access, which is impossible using a usb/serial cable. Mar 25 18:12:27 ah Mar 25 18:12:51 Beyond bootloader/kernel access, rs232 is mostly useless? [local login? if getty is running, then most likely ifup also succeeded] Mar 25 18:12:55 -?* Mar 25 18:13:07 the other people I've spoken to about RS232 interfaces want to use it for managing HA controllers Mar 25 18:13:24 There's also adding an MCP for instant power-on on-plug-in Mar 25 18:13:24 after boot Mar 25 18:13:36 ah Mar 25 18:13:40 Why is the linksys power circuitry so complex anyway? Mar 25 18:13:54 When you apply power, the CPU is supposed to turn on. Not wait for you to hit power. Mar 25 18:14:14 I imagine they thought it would preserve drive integrity not to have them spin up imediately after a power outage Mar 25 18:14:30 ...the drives are external anyway. Mar 25 18:14:44 So that wouldn't matter. Mar 25 18:14:49 I'm just stunned it isn't a controllable option within the firmware Mar 25 18:15:15 or at least acessible to the firmware Mar 25 18:15:17 I'm personally stunned they have to use an RS-Flipflop in the poweron circuitry. Mar 25 18:15:33 Soekris has it done right, but it's boring x86, not ARM7 :P Mar 25 18:17:03 incidently, I have my slug-based PBX fully operational Mar 25 18:17:28 handles faxes, voice calls, voicemail conference bridges Mar 25 18:17:31 Mine's mainly for ARM dev as well as a stratum-2 ntp server. Mar 25 18:18:06 I might see if I could also cram in a small GPS unit [4cm*6cm*6mm] and attach it to the internal RX-only serial port. Mar 25 18:18:15 By then I'll probably need a new case, haha. Mar 25 18:19:00 I guess the thing could be considered portable. Under what circumstances would you use an embedded GPS device in a slug? Mar 25 18:19:46 to serve as the stationary reference for use with differential GPS? Mar 25 18:20:06 hillct: stratum-1 NTP servers get data from an external source Mar 25 18:20:14 ah Mar 25 18:20:16 GPS clocks are atomic and reliable to several nanoseconds. Mar 25 18:20:26 cool Mar 25 18:20:46 Stratum-1 is the base NTP server, stratum-2 gets data from str-1, str-3 get it from str-2, and so on and so forth. Mar 25 18:20:58 yeah. I remember Mar 25 18:21:10 just didn't think it through Mar 25 18:22:05 and the damn slug is reliable as hell. Mar 25 18:22:27 Got a year uptime on it, would have 2 years by now if it wasn't for a power outage Mar 25 22:09:41 Mar 25 22:24:53 03bzhou * r5826 10optware/trunk/make/sqlite.mk: sqlite: 3.3.12 -> 3.3.13 Mar 25 23:32:59 hillct: I'll look at 2044 tomorrow Mar 25 23:46:46 NAiL: no rush. Only minor changes Mar 26 00:23:19 Cool, the MAX3232 serial adapter I made works doing the conversion for both my slugs serial ports at the same time. One slug uses an old 4-pin cdrom audio cable to supply power/ground/tx/rx to the chip and the other slug uses a 4-pin adapter (with the power/ground pins not connected) to supply tx/rx to the chip. Mar 26 00:23:31 It is ugly but works great. Mar 26 00:26:59 my slug is dead :( - a little too much soldering and something somwhwere went wrong Mar 26 00:33:36 callum: can you telnetintoredboot/serial console? Mar 26 00:37:44 no power light Mar 26 00:38:47 bofh: can't see where i messed up but i guess that was the risk Mar 26 00:40:07 callum: did you take out your multimeter at least :) ? Mar 26 00:41:02 sure did there is 5.5v unregulated where there should be Mar 26 00:45:10 callum: what were you trying to solder? Mar 26 00:46:49 joshin: had an ir sensor already wired up and working outside the box Mar 26 00:47:15 was removing it and putting in a more compact circut that would go inside Mar 26 00:47:15 Oh, neat. Mar 26 00:48:12 so it is more anoying since it was all working Mar 26 00:48:38 new one on the way from amazon anyway :) Mar 26 00:48:43 :) Mar 26 00:48:56 got a spare case to play with making a hole for the ir sensor Mar 26 00:50:03 and you have the money for a new slug? Mar 26 00:51:01 credit card does right now Mar 26 00:55:03 I'm constantly amazed at the number of slugs available on ebay Mar 26 00:57:46 Slugs are fairly cheap for what they are. Mar 26 00:59:03 $60 + shipping is *not* cheap. Mar 26 00:59:14 Keep in mind I have almost no money :P Mar 26 00:59:59 you still have to be careful when hacking it Mar 26 01:08:18 considering what they can do, they are priced well. I wouldn't pay much more than $50 including shipping off ebay though Mar 26 01:08:39 Got my last one for $51.95 Mar 26 01:44:20 bofh: $60 + shipping is dirt cheap. Sorry that you don't have any $ but when you look at dev boards with fewer features for $400, your hopefully temporary state of poverty is irrelevant. Mar 26 01:58:25 how. That's pretty harsh Mar 26 02:03:05 Relatively, $60 is cheaper than $400 and many ARM dev boards are overpriced [and especially the m68k mvme systems... anyone know of any cheap m68k boards with rs232 and ethernet], but still, frying a slug is a pretty significant monetary loss. Mar 26 02:03:36 As for "temporary state of poverty", it's called "being a college student" Mar 26 02:08:11 * mwester-laptop wouldn't pay more than $60 for a slug, just because there's no need to and he's cheap. Mar 26 02:10:13 bofh: Not everyone on IRC is a high school or college student Mar 26 02:10:25 * joshin agrees with mwester-laptop Mar 26 02:11:02 true Mar 26 02:11:19 yes, but joshin, you can't expect everyone to go "oh, I just fried a slug, time to buy a new one". Mar 26 02:11:28 bofh: whatever you do, don't make the mistake I made. I spent more time in college, working, than I did studying Mar 26 02:11:48 managed to make a decent living at the expense of classes Mar 26 02:11:55 Actually sometimes it's not a bad thing at all. I'm actually interested in a dead slug. Mar 26 02:11:57 bofh: When did I say such a thing? Mar 26 02:12:21 swhich wasn't a cost effective way to spend $20,000/year Mar 26 02:12:51 So if someone (in the US) just fried one, depending on the nature of the damage I might be willing to purchase same for a few bucks. Mar 26 02:12:55 hillct: meh, I'm the complete opposite. Mar 26 02:13:03 mwester-laptop: well, it might be useful for one thing. Mar 26 02:13:16 See if I could find a way to connect a wire from a CPU addressing line to the flash Mar 26 02:13:20 hillct: I never quite finished college. Ended up 2 units short. Luckily for me, it looks like I'll never need that piece of paper. Mar 26 02:13:43 You know, the one that linksys was too stupid to connect that limits you to 16MBytes internal flash? Mar 26 02:13:55 I obtained a dead one for JTAG experimenting; for a few dollars I didn't have to risk a running one. Mar 26 02:13:59 joshin: a buddy of mine did the same thing. It's worth spending the time to get the two credits and get it done Mar 26 02:14:13 you never know when the piece of paper will come in handy Mar 26 02:14:28 I'd be interested in another one to see if I can have any success in swapping chips Mar 26 02:14:33 for me, it's more about the education than paper. Mar 26 02:14:39 A "frankenslug" so to speak Mar 26 02:14:45 hillct: Not really. I'm 35 and only have to work part-time. I survived the DotCom Boom and Bust and escaped alright. Mar 26 02:15:30 joshin: similar here Mar 26 02:15:33 * joshin used to run Operations for Hotmail.com and then MSN Messenger, Passport, Member Directory and so on... Mar 26 02:15:49 hillct: cool! Mar 26 02:16:00 wow. not at that level Mar 26 02:17:03 I just bought a car in November 1997 and got a better deal than I expected. I had to park the excess cash somewhere so I picked AMZN Mar 26 02:17:08 I assembled the first Hotmail server (Ultra Sparc clone) and when I left was responsible for 6000 computers, 80 people, and a whole lotta bandwidth. :) I just couldn't take MSFT's internal politics anymore. Mar 26 02:17:26 I bet Mar 26 02:17:26 And being forced to move to W2K without the full help of the Windows team was just too much. Mar 26 02:18:22 we could all see that was a disaster from theoutside. It must have been absolutely horific from the inside Mar 26 02:19:51 so I got lucky, then was at Nortel Networks from 1998 to 2003 Mar 26 02:20:04 which is when things started to fall apart Mar 26 02:21:30 well, things were already falling apart at that point... Mar 26 02:21:32 Actually, it ended up being ok but took many months more than it should have. There was less downtime due to the change than I expected. My "take this job and shove it" letter to my VP and to the Windows VP caused quite a ruckus and the Windows team helped. Mar 26 02:21:49 Yeah, I was surprised that Nortel survived at all. Mar 26 02:22:15 Everyone upgraded their infrastructure for Y2K that the lull after was a disaster for all the infrastructure producers. Mar 26 02:22:48 Well the federal government would have bailed Nortel out if things got that bad. They were close for a while Mar 26 02:23:23 Nortel wasn't fully into the networking business at that point Mar 26 02:23:26 US or CA? Mar 26 02:23:34 US Mar 26 02:23:36 I thought Nortel was Canadian. Mar 26 02:23:45 they ad just bought Bay networks Mar 26 02:23:52 Nortel is canadian Mar 26 02:24:10 but they have enough US federal contracts that they can't afford to have it go under Mar 26 02:24:31 Glad we didn't have to find out. :) Mar 26 02:24:49 lots of cold war era fallout-safe phone systems in places like NORAD Mar 26 02:25:19 So what are you doing now? Mar 26 02:25:50 kicking back Mar 26 02:25:55 some IT consulting Mar 26 02:26:11 running a tiny niche hosting company Mar 26 02:26:23 Same here along with raising kids. Mar 26 02:26:33 (Not the hosting part) Mar 26 02:27:34 I've already had a few existing customers asking about OpenPBX so I'm going to have to find a reliable ITX platform Mar 26 02:28:15 My PBX is running on a slug now Mar 26 02:28:30 but I can't honestly see deploying that to a client Mar 26 02:28:54 if for no other reason than it's branded improperly Mar 26 02:29:13 and can only handle 4 lines Mar 26 02:29:25 but it makes for a fun toy Mar 26 02:29:50 it's amazing though Mar 26 02:30:25 I had no interest in VOIP but decided I needed to make better use of this webcam I had lying around Mar 26 02:30:59 that evolved into deploying a PBX on the slug, then I had a client ask me what I was doing in my spare time Mar 26 02:32:05 and suddenly I'm adding a VOIP solutions business (if one VOIP client counts) Mar 26 02:32:30 but it's a start, and it's fun... Mar 26 02:38:46 hillct: what do you mean by "can only handle 4 lines"? Mar 26 02:39:08 memory and timing issues Mar 26 02:39:15 not really ... Mar 26 02:39:26 well, I haven't tried more than 4 lines Mar 26 02:39:27 if you don't do transcoding, it can handle more Mar 26 02:39:36 but it's an estimate Mar 26 02:39:47 I'm not doing any transcoding Mar 26 02:40:03 still, I wouldn't deploy a slug based PBX to a customer Mar 26 02:40:04 with two calls, my CPU is used @ 5% Mar 26 02:40:14 I gotta find a nice looking ITX box Mar 26 02:40:28 if they have anly a few lines ... it should work Mar 26 02:40:49 I have around 20 subscribers on mine Mar 26 02:40:59 I was basing that statement on what the guys over at #openpbx were estimating Mar 26 02:41:02 inside and outside the NAT Mar 26 02:41:03 cool Mar 26 02:41:15 no transcoding Mar 26 02:41:20 lot's of features Mar 26 02:41:29 it's asterisk 1.4 Mar 26 02:41:34 optware on openslug Mar 26 02:42:16 no time to port it properly to openslug ... :( Mar 26 02:42:32 but it works like a charm Mar 26 02:42:44 my entire house is runing on it Mar 26 02:44:34 you may want to try the OpenPBX packages. The config files are currently almost 100% portable Mar 26 02:45:17 the only issur at the moment is chan_fax.so should be removed Mar 26 02:45:27 I was thinking ... Mar 26 02:45:32 and is remved in the rev2 packages Mar 26 02:45:37 right now I'm busy with openser Mar 26 02:45:46 I have three slugs Mar 26 02:46:02 running 2 asterisk 1.4 and one openser and two rtpproxy Mar 26 02:46:18 it's my home lab :-) Mar 26 02:47:36 I want to test conference with openpbx ... Mar 26 02:49:14 openPBX replaces meetme with an app called NConference Mar 26 02:49:21 it's quite elegant Mar 26 02:49:32 I saw that Mar 26 02:49:44 it's in my pipe ... Mar 26 02:50:01 if I could buy some time :p **** ENDING LOGGING AT Mon Mar 26 02:59:57 2007