PC Engines Alix3d2

[epoch1970]

This an AMD Geode LX800 machine, i586 class. Runs an off-the-mill debian lenny i386 install, with a custom built kernel to add built-in support for leds, crypto device, watchdog, intel wireless card. I opted to go without RTC battery and rely on uptime and NTP.
With 256MB Ram and running off a Microdrive I picked on a dead ipod mini (4GB, 200MB swap) this is a fairly good performer under the stress of SC's standard web interface.
While the CPU offers frequency modulation, either linux or the bios can't handle it. The watchdog device is convenient, and hardware crypto offloading is great if you wish to access the server over a VPN.
The linux via-rhine ethernet drivers implement polling, heavy networking doesn't slow the machine. Reusing a leftover Intel wifi card was an uneducated choice, it doesn't easily provide AP mode under linux. As a client it works well, and there is an rf-kill mode. I opted for a single -cheap- antenna.
USB-powered 2"5 500MB external HDD 5400rpm, HFS+ formatted (no journaling) to be pluggable on a mac. The USB link taxes the CPU a bit, this probably slows down database rescans (13000 songs in 1h30 if I remember right). This machine *cannot* boot from USB: internal CF card or PXE boot.
The 18V AC adapter, not shown, is about the size of an SBC/SBR adapter. Power consumption for the whole thing should be well under 10W, I can't measure it reliably.

The machine mainly runs SC7.2 (+plugins), netatalk (AFP server), an NTP server, avahi (zeroconf/bonjour services), dnsmasq, postfix (minimal), webmin, lighttpd/phpsysinfo, ssh and openvpn.

As there is no display/keyboard connectors and the machine does not boot from USB, the easiest install method is to bootstrap a system on the CF card from another machine with a CF-card reader, and also use that machine as a serial console to finalize the install until you get the network up (requires an RS-232 port or RS-232-to-USB adapter).
There is a 3d3 version with VGA+keyboard and an AMI Bios (offering usb boot ?) There is a 2d version which uses a larger PCB, has internal IDE, and fits in a flatter, wider case. In retrospect I think I should have used that form-factor: the USB ports are in the back.

[Mathiou]

Hello,
I also have a similar system using an AMD Geode processor:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=47388

I have a question regarding netatalk: how to make the server to automaticaly appear on your mac, in the Finder ?

I have installed netatalk and I can only access my shared drive using the Finder > Connect to server

[epoch1970]

Mathiou,

I knew of your project, it helped get me started...

I wrote this some time ago: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...ighlight=avahi

I think netatalk will try to dynamically register with avahi, so the static xml file I used on the machine to advertise the netatalk service may not be needed. Anyway since the machine is 24/7 this has little importance.

It looks like netatalk on debian lenny will still not properly authentify leopard (10.5) clients since the standard deb package omits linking with kerberos or another lib (for some theological reason).
I have used a i386 package I painfully compiled many months ago for another project, on this machine.
Hopefully I can find it again and send it to you, should you need it.
Or, maybe you want to try your luck and recompile a package with all the newest patches, including the extensions needed for TimeMachine ? -- That would be great.

Edit: I had to compile again netatalk from source for another debian project. For the record: the legal issue is with openssh, so a X.5 client will fail to browse shares served from the standard netatalk binary included in lenny (debian 5.0) In addition, the standard binary does not use zeroconf. Obviously mac-unfriendly. Rebuilding the package from source and enabling SSL and Zeroconf at compile time will make the debian netatalk package a good companion to an OS X.5 client machine. The TimeMachine patches are not included in the source package (netatalk 2.0.4), so I can't report any progress here. Hopefully they will be integrated in v 2.1.

[epoch1970]

A quick update as I recently installed an alix3d3 using the same OS I used in the initial machine.
Upgraded to SC 7.3.4, added Music IP, used a CF card instead of a microdrive.

I can't say much for the longevity of the CF (Sandisk extreme III 4Gb) running as a regular drive (ext2), but performance doesn't seem to be hurt compared to what I remember of the microdrive. I replaced the swap partition with a series of swap files by installing the 'swapspace' package. I expect this will help avoid burning cells in the CF too fast.

Music IP runs perfectly well, but the initial scan was extremely slow. Over 2700 songs the process took about 24 hours, that's less than 2 songs per minute. I have since moved or added albums one by one, and analyzing tens of songs takes a little time, but the difference doesn't seem so obvious with a regular PC.
In use, the MIP daemon behaves normal compared to a regular PC.

I control this machine with iPeng. iPeng does some caching and cover processing when connected for the first time to the server, and listening to music during this period is difficult (rebuffering on FLAC files.) The rest of the time, the platform reacts just normal.

I did not upgrade the netatalk package as the external USB drive I use is only 80GB, but given prior experience (I have used an unofficial 2.0.5 build from the Debian maintainer at http:// debian.jones.dk/pkg/) I am certain the netatalk packages in testing or unstable will provide a fine TimeCapsule backup service if you want that.

[ermiller76]

Epoch,

Do you have a copy of the CF card files that I can try to load on my ALIX 3d3? I would love to try and set this up, I have the board just laying around and this seems like a good use for it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know this post was ages ago, just checking. Thanks in advance.

[epoch1970]

Fact is,
I do have a 4.1GB disk image of the original setup
I'm not sure it would boot on another 4GB CF card, but you could still loop-mount the image and copy stuff to a properly formatted CF if needed. I think this is what I did when I reloaded the system to a 2d3 with swapspace removed (cf. above message). Yes, that was a 2d3 and not a 3d3 with VGA, but I don't think this should change anything.

Caveats:
I remember the included Netatalk server is too old to offer TimeMachine service; and the included SC must be 7.2.1 or something!
-> There is a little chance you'll need upgrading the OS if you want to use SBS 7.6 or 7.7, which is probably a good idea (to get rid of mysql). There is a big chance you'll need to upgrade the whole OS if you want to pull a newer and better version of Netatalk.
If you update the debian system, I strongly advise against going with the new grub2 loader and the concurrent boot system. Keep it sequential and reliable, and use grub-legacy, as it is called now.
I think leds, perhaps watchdog were not working unless built in the kernel. By now, I expect loading the right modules on top of a standard kernel will work. Rebuilding a custom kernel is not too hard, in any case.

You may need to adapt the config file I added to /etc/udev.d/ which traps the USB drive under the same device name all the time (like /dev/usbmusic, never like /dev/sdb, or sdc or ….) and mounts it. With your own USB drive, with another OS version, there is a chance the USB drive will not identify the same, and udev will not catch. That's an easy change once you know what to look for.
-> udev traps and mounts the drive, I think I remember my code is dependent on the fact the drive will have one single or no partitions at all and an HFS filesystem. If you need to mount the 3rd partition on an MS-FAT drive, you'll need to adapt slightly.

The custom admin click-o-rama I added for my technically challenged brother is written in french.
-> If you read the custom commands launched by webmin you'll easily figure out what said buttons do. The rest of the applications will localize to english easy. The OS uses no locale I think.

The system will be ready to start an openvpn VPN session to a special maintenance network I keep here…
-> I'll ask you to kindly remove the client key/cert pair and edit the config file, 'cause I'm not going to maintain your machine! (and I won't bother revoke and issue a new cert to my brother
Don't worry the system does not "phone home". It is user-activated.

The machine is configured as a server: the watchdog is activated and the machine will restart itself is things go wrong (no ping, too much load…)
-> You may want to disable it if the Award BIOS does not stand for it or if you prefer a more laid-back behavior.
-> I'll ask you to change the admin email address that is mapped to root (via Gmail). Otherwise this system mail will mix with messages sent by my brother's machine...

The system loads some firmware/config related to the evil Intel wifi card I shipped the machine with.
->You'll want to get rid of/configure that. The machine is also configured to use either wifi or wire based on network throughput (using debian package iproute2), and I think you may want to keep that.

The machine blinks its leds to give some feeble hints on what's going on. Especially: "can I unplug the machine now?"
-> Maybe you'll need to adapt this to the 3 leds (?) used by your 3d3 (was still working when moved to 2d3.) Or get rid of it if you're using a screen.


Now. If you're still game, I can try and push the image to an internet server, along with an itsy-bitsy user doc in english (passwords and stuff). Let me know, preferably via PM (I do visit the forums but an email reminder is good too.)

[nirrozero]

not sure where else to sell mine
I have a alix3d2 with two EMP-8602S mini-PCI type III B High-Power card supporting dual-band (2.4GHz & 5GHz)
and a 1GB CF card by sandisk
with 3 high gain antennas and one standard antenna
all within a nice enclosure