**** BEGIN LOGGING AT Sat Oct 01 02:59:56 2005
Oct 01 10:21:57 <pauld> has anyone here much experiance if increasing the moemory size of a Linksys NSLU2?
Oct 01 10:22:17 <NAiL> I haven't, but there's docs on the wiki
Oct 01 10:22:36 <pauld> I'm looking at the info on nslu2-linux - is that the wiki you mean?
Oct 01 10:22:41 <NAiL> yeah
Oct 01 10:23:00 <NAiL> I have followed a few discussions about it, so I have a general idea though ;)
Oct 01 10:23:00 <pauld> I'm clear on the hardware side - I'm just not sure what to do software wise
Oct 01 10:23:21 <NAiL> You need to either recompile redboot or replace it with apex
Oct 01 10:23:26 <NAiL> (or another bootloader)
Oct 01 10:23:36 <pauld> ok - I read about apex
Oct 01 10:23:46 <NAiL> I'm very happy with apex ;)
Oct 01 10:23:53 <NAiL> do you have jtag?
Oct 01 10:24:05 <pauld> right - that is my first task then - to read up on apex
Oct 01 10:24:16 <pauld> I have to admit - I don't know what jtag is!
Oct 01 10:24:25 <pauld> I just found this channel via a link on the wiki
Oct 01 10:24:47 <NAiL> jtag is a tool that enables you to write to flash even though your bootloader is screwed
Oct 01 10:25:02 <NAiL> ie, it's not very smart to flash your bootloader without jtag
Oct 01 10:25:19 <NAiL> because if it fails, you're SOL
Oct 01 10:25:44 <NAiL> do you have serial?
Oct 01 10:25:51 <pauld> nope :(
Oct 01 10:26:03 <NAiL> then I wouldn't even attempt it
Oct 01 10:26:08 <NAiL> serial is easy to get though
Oct 01 10:26:21 <NAiL> what country are you in?
Oct 01 10:26:25 <pauld> england
Oct 01 10:26:43 <NAiL> Shouldn't be much of a hassle to get a USB->serial cable there
Oct 01 10:26:55 <pauld> oh - yes, I think I can get one
Oct 01 10:27:02 <NAiL> cellphone cables work, since they use 3.3v which is what you need for the slug
Oct 01 10:27:08 <pauld> I thought there was some hardware mode to use serial
Oct 01 10:27:30 <NAiL> You'll have to solder on the header, but that's not hard compared to replacing the ram chips
Oct 01 10:28:08 <pauld> hmmm- I'm starting to think I am out of my depth here hacking about with this
Oct 01 10:28:13 <NAiL> hehe
Oct 01 10:28:22 <pauld> I've persuaded someone to do the moemory for me but I'm not sure about other stuff too
Oct 01 10:28:26 <NAiL> There's a howto on how to add the serial stuff on the wiki
Oct 01 10:28:43 <NAiL> lucky you... I have to do the memory myself :P
Oct 01 10:28:47 <pauld> I thought it was just a case of putting in the extra ram, modifying redboot and then doing something (not sure what) to openslug
Oct 01 10:29:09 <pauld> I'm a danger with a soldering iron - I doubt if I could do one pin, let alone 100!
Oct 01 10:29:15 <NAiL> IIRC, you have to recompile the kernel.. but I'm not entirely sure about that part
Oct 01 10:29:20 <NAiL> haha
Oct 01 10:29:43 <pauld> I'll need to check around for another nas with more memory as standard I think
Oct 01 10:30:08 <NAiL> ds101
Oct 01 10:30:16 <NAiL> Synology DiskStation DS101 ;)
Oct 01 10:30:23 <NAiL> or, Loft
Oct 01 10:30:26 <NAiL> both have 64MB
Oct 01 10:30:37 <NAiL> and both are ixp4xx
Oct 01 10:30:41 <NAiL> (ie, same as nslu2)
Oct 01 10:30:47 <pauld> need more than 64 I think - was thinking about 256
Oct 01 10:30:52 <NAiL> hmm
Oct 01 10:31:02 <NAiL> I'm not sure if 256 is possible
Oct 01 10:31:25 <pauld> 128 might do it - would need to check
Oct 01 10:31:41 <pauld> I need it to run slimserver with a lot of music files
Oct 01 10:31:46 <NAiL> Someone *has* done 128, and I think they got it to work
Oct 01 10:32:05 <pauld> it slows down too much on the 32mb slug with <10% of my collection
Oct 01 10:32:13 <NAiL> ouch
Oct 01 10:32:25 <NAiL> I've got no idea what the mem usage of slimserver is
Oct 01 10:32:55 <pauld> anything > about 8000 tracks starts to page on the slug
Oct 01 10:33:03 <pauld> about 26mb I think
Oct 01 10:33:45 <pauld> seesm to go up exponentially, the moe tracks I put in
Oct 01 10:33:48 <NAiL> so ~3k per track in other words
Oct 01 10:33:50 <NAiL> ouch
Oct 01 10:34:25 <pauld> I would like to use it to serve video too but that is proving too difficult as I need apache 2.1
Oct 01 10:34:48 <pauld> can't get 2.1 to work properly on unslung - will try on openslug now I've installed it
Oct 01 10:35:06 <pauld> I'm starting to think I need to go back to a pc to serve this stuff
Oct 01 10:35:21 <NAiL> hmm
Oct 01 10:35:24 <pauld> a nice quiet pentium-m booting from compact flash would do the job I think
Oct 01 10:35:35 <NAiL> mini-itx, perhaps?
Oct 01 10:35:45 <pauld> yes, I've looked at them - not cheap though
Oct 01 10:36:35 <NAiL> would a pentium-m be cheaper?
Oct 01 10:36:43 <NAiL> (and fanless?)
Oct 01 10:37:19 <pauld> some guy  on a web review ran a pentium-m without a fan (and also without a heatsink for a while!!!!)
Oct 01 10:37:23 <pauld> tom's hardware I think
Oct 01 10:37:33 <pauld> how cool is that - a cpu with no fan & heatsink :-)
Oct 01 10:37:38 <NAiL> The ds101g+ has 64mb ram, and space for two more chips... It might be possible to upgrade it to 128/256... But noone's tried this yet.
Oct 01 10:37:45 <NAiL> heh, that's sick :P
Oct 01 10:37:57 <NAiL> I remember the good times when the heatsinks weren't needed
Oct 01 10:39:03 <pauld> good point - life was so much simpler then
Oct 01 10:39:07 <NAiL> yeah
Oct 01 10:40:59 <pauld> hmmm - mini-itx isn't as expensive as it was the last time I looked - I might go down that route
Oct 01 10:41:18 <NAiL> the fanless ones are kinda attractive
Oct 01 10:42:02 <pauld> yes, they are
Oct 01 10:42:18 <pauld> I looked in to getting one as a media player to hook up to a tv about a year ago
Oct 01 10:42:34 <pauld> but I bought a networked video client instead and use a fileserver in another room
Oct 01 10:43:16 <NAiL> that works too ;)
Oct 01 10:43:58 <pauld> now I'm looking to keep the files (or at least a subset of them) on a nas and not have to keep the pc on 24x7
Oct 01 10:44:36 <pauld> sadly, with the slug, the subset is 10% of my audio collection and video files less than 1/2 hour
Oct 01 10:44:47 <pauld> due to memory for the audio and apache2.0 for the video
Oct 01 10:44:53 <pauld> so all is not quite how I planned
Oct 01 10:52:19 <pauld> NAiL: thank you for your help and advice - I have learned a lot today!
Oct 01 10:52:46 <NAiL> np
Oct 01 10:53:02 <pauld> I'll let you know how I get on
Oct 01 10:53:08 <NAiL> cool
Oct 01 15:08:45 <lennert> i wonder if you can do ethernet over serial ata
Oct 01 15:08:48 <lennert> or something like that
Oct 01 15:09:09 <lennert> the v2pro board has serial ata connectors
Oct 01 15:09:31 <lennert> so.. you can make the v2pro emulate a sata disk target, but there should be an easier way
Oct 01 15:09:53 <Tiersten> erm... why don't you just put a NIC into it?
Oct 01 15:10:06 <Tiersten> it's possible in theory but why is another thing...
Oct 01 15:11:18 <lennert> i can't put a nic into the v2pro board, can i?
Oct 01 15:11:30 <lennert> http://www.digilentinc.com/info/XUPV2P.cfm  that one i mean
Oct 01 15:11:40 <lennert> people do ethernet over scsi too :)
Oct 01 15:11:57 <lennert> the sata is really the only high-speed port on the board that i can easily interface with a pc
Oct 01 15:12:09 <Tiersten> The expansion connectors?
Oct 01 15:12:52 <lennert> what would i do with the expansion connectors? :)  the restriction is that i know nothing about electronics and can't solder worth shit.
Oct 01 15:13:56 <Tiersten> You wanted to do it via software on the host?
Oct 01 15:14:32 <Tiersten> As in plug that board into the PC SATA controller and then do ethernet over that link?
Oct 01 15:14:37 <lennert> if possible, to exchange packets between a linux pc and that board at a rate higher than 100mbps
Oct 01 15:14:42 <lennert> yeah
Oct 01 15:14:44 <lennert> any protocol, really
Oct 01 15:14:50 <lennert> as long as i don't have to emulate a disk
Oct 01 15:14:59 <lennert> (people do ip over scsi too ;)
Oct 01 15:15:21 <lennert> sorry if i'm unclear
Oct 01 15:15:58 <Tiersten> yeah.  I know about the various IP-over-SCSI projects
Oct 01 15:16:17 <Tiersten> You need multiple ethernet interfaces?
Oct 01 15:16:37 <lennert> one would be enough
Oct 01 15:16:57 <Tiersten> so umm... use the ethernet connector right below the SATA ones?
Oct 01 15:17:12 <lennert> that's 100mbps only
Oct 01 15:18:18 <Tiersten> you want gigE?
Oct 01 15:19:09 <lennert> if you know of any board that has that (apart from the endace ones), that'd be nice
Oct 01 15:19:24 <Tiersten> whats your intended project?
Oct 01 15:21:15 <lennert> i'd like to have a go at implementing some of the stuff i've implemented on the ixp2000 on an fpga instead
Oct 01 15:21:56 <Tiersten> Oh?  What have you done?
Oct 01 15:22:50 <lennert> DoS filtering, string searching, pattern matching
Oct 01 15:22:54 <lennert> that kind of stuff
Oct 01 15:28:07 <Tiersten> Ah okay.  Go write a Linux driver for it :)
Oct 01 15:28:30 <lennert> for the ixp2000?  already done.
Oct 01 15:28:39 <lennert> it's going upstream after 2.6.14, hopefully
Oct 01 15:28:55 <lennert> are you familiar with the ixp2000?
Oct 01 15:28:57 <Tiersten> No.  I mean your IP-over-SATA thing :)
Oct 01 15:29:02 <lennert> oh, right
Oct 01 15:29:25 <lennert> ethernet-over-sata then
Oct 01 15:29:34 <lennert> or just some way of sending crap over sata
Oct 01 15:29:40 <lennert> but there must be something like that already..
Oct 01 15:29:57 <Tiersten> A better solution would be to interface it via PCI-Express
Oct 01 15:30:04 <Tiersten> Why must there be something like that already?
Oct 01 15:30:25 <lennert> i'm sure that other people want to send crap over sata too
Oct 01 15:30:40 <lennert> they're doing it with infiniband also, things like hypertransport over infiniband
Oct 01 15:31:28 <lennert> Tiersten: if you know of any fpga board with {pci express,pci,ethernet} that's affordable, please shout :)
Oct 01 15:31:42 <lennert> Tiersten: all the eval boards i've seen are like a gazillion dollars
Oct 01 15:31:59 <Tiersten> hypertransport over infiniband?  that's a little strange to say the least
Oct 01 15:32:07 <lennert> strange, yeah
Oct 01 15:32:16 <Tiersten> they're basically competing standards though
Oct 01 15:32:29 <lennert> harald welte was talking about that incessantly at the last fosdem
Oct 01 15:32:46 <lennert> hypertransport is short-range, isn't it?
Oct 01 15:32:56 <Tiersten> Yeah
Oct 01 15:32:58 <lennert> between the opteron and the pci-x tunnel and stuff
Oct 01 15:33:05 <Tiersten> It's not just for that
Oct 01 15:33:13 <Tiersten> It's usually within a device however
Oct 01 15:33:15 <lennert> yeah i know
Oct 01 15:33:30 <lennert> hmm, why'd you use it within a device?
Oct 01 15:33:48 <Tiersten> A router for example
Oct 01 15:34:37 <lennert> i don't quite see that?
Oct 01 15:35:14 <lennert> anyway
Oct 01 15:35:20 <lennert> harald welte is the guy to ask
Oct 01 15:35:30 <Tiersten> You need a very high speed bus?
Oct 01 15:35:33 <lennert> he thought it was better than sliced bread
Oct 01 15:35:46 <Tiersten> Oh.  You meant hypertransport over infiniband?
Oct 01 15:35:54 <Tiersten> Thought you were asking about hypertransport itself
Oct 01 15:36:18 <lennert> i think i'm confused now :)
Oct 01 15:36:32 <Tiersten> NEvermind :)
Oct 01 15:36:33 <lennert> "I don't quite understand why you'd use hypertransport in a router but that might just be because of ignorance."
Oct 01 15:36:57 <lennert> "I would love an FPGA dev board with pci/pci-e/ethernet to play with, I have no direct need for such a board though."
Oct 01 15:37:15 <Tiersten> What is wrong with using hypertransport in a router?  It's high speed and you need that in a router if you want to handle multiple interfaces at full speed
Oct 01 15:37:24 <Tiersten> Better than designing it all yourself anyway...
Oct 01 15:38:16 <lennert> the PHY will either speak spi-3 if it's 2.5gb/s-ish, or spi-4.2 if it's 10gb/s-ish
Oct 01 15:38:23 <lennert> i don't know of any hypertransport PHYs
Oct 01 15:38:40 <lennert> switch fabrics mostly use CSIX
Oct 01 15:38:59 <lennert> i'm sure it has its place, i just never heard it being used in routers
Oct 01 15:39:26 <Tiersten> It was mentioned several times in the hypertransport marketing material
Oct 01 15:39:42 <lennert> there's this hypertransport alliance isn't there?  i'll have a look there.
Oct 01 15:39:46 <Tiersten> yeah
Oct 01 15:39:50 <Tiersten> hypertransport.org
**** ENDING LOGGING AT Sun Oct 02 02:59:56 2005