Cheap machines ideal for Puppy

What works, and doesn't, for you. Be specific, and please include Puppy version.
Message
Author
User avatar
Aitch
Posts: 6518
Joined: Wed 04 Apr 2007, 15:57
Location: Chatham, Kent, UK

#31 Post by Aitch »

Hi Brandon
Just had a browse of your webpage, but I couldn't resist
"you shouldn't have came" HO HO :)
Back to the dead cows for you!!

Aitch

chicks
Posts: 65
Joined: Mon 22 Oct 2007, 18:20

#32 Post by chicks »

Well, I did get the $10 PC to boot FreeDOS, using the "File Copy" method here: http://www.pcengines.ch/freedos.htm

Whoopie...

Also tried the PCENGINES ALIX BUILD from here: http://www.imedialinux.com/

but it says the CPU doesn't have 1:31, whatever that means. This linux build is supposedly specially build for the Geode LX and GX.

I'll follow up on their forum.

User avatar
Brandon
Posts: 111
Joined: Sat 15 Dec 2007, 01:10
Location: New York
Contact:

#33 Post by Brandon »

Hi Brandon
Just had a browse of your webpage, but I couldn't resist
"you shouldn't have came" HO HO Smile
Back to the dead cows for you!!

Aitch
Fun Huh?
chicks:

I figured that it uses laptop IDE for the CF cards.I have a spare 30GB Hard Drive so from another PC I installed Puppy 3.01 and when I tried to boot grub didn't work, I install MS-DOS 6.22 and it booted fine. I also tried Windows 98, which wouldn't boot, I just got a blank screen.
"Develop for it? I'll piss on it." -Bill Gates on the NeXTcube

chicks
Posts: 65
Joined: Mon 22 Oct 2007, 18:20

#34 Post by chicks »

Well, I did finally get it to run Linux. An ancient, very small distro called MuLinux. Even got X running on it.

MuLinux is based on a very old kernel, and doesn't find the ethernet adapter, but it did find the PS/2 mouse, keyboard and sound card. Even uglier than the stock WinCE, though. Still booting into FreeDOS, then boot MuLinux from a batch file.

Just have to find a more modern distro that will run on this thing, one that looks a lot more like Puppy...

Sage
Posts: 5536
Joined: Tue 04 Oct 2005, 08:34
Location: GB

#35 Post by Sage »

Kolibri

User avatar
Aitch
Posts: 6518
Joined: Wed 04 Apr 2007, 15:57
Location: Chatham, Kent, UK

#36 Post by Aitch »

Nice one Sage

For those interested Kolibri is a floppy based EDIT: OS
written in assembly language, ideal for small systems

See 'how to' video here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep9SroXp ... re=related

Aitch

Edit: I stand corrected :)
Last edited by Aitch on Sun 02 Mar 2008, 20:24, edited 1 time in total.

klu9
Posts: 344
Joined: Wed 27 Jun 2007, 16:02

#37 Post by klu9 »

Aitch wrote:For those interested Kolibri is a floppy based linux
written in assembly language, ideal for small systems
It's not linux; it's a fork of MenuetOS, written from scratch and isn't unix or posix based.

http://www.menuetos.net/

PS for those interested, Kolibri forked off to focus on x86-32 bit CPUs, as the original MenuetOS developer decided to focus on 64-bit CPUs.

You can still get a 32-bit version of MenuetOS to try on an old machine too.
[size=75]- Remember: it's a [url=http://puppylinux.org/wikka/PuppyLinuxMainPage]wiki[/url]. You can contribute too! :D
- Puplet creators, see [url=http://puppylinux.org/wikka/DistributingYourPuplet]DistributingYourPuplet[/url][/size]

Sage
Posts: 5536
Joined: Tue 04 Oct 2005, 08:34
Location: GB

#38 Post by Sage »

Assembler has to be the way forward - ready-made market for embedded devices. Unless, of course, you're skilled in binary arithmetic......

ThinIsGreat
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed 05 Mar 2008, 00:09

#39 Post by ThinIsGreat »

chicks wrote:Well, I did get the $10 PC to boot FreeDOS, using the "File Copy" method here: http://www.pcengines.ch/freedos.htm

Whoopie...

Also tried the PCENGINES ALIX BUILD from here: http://www.imedialinux.com/

but it says the CPU doesn't have 1:31, whatever that means. This linux build is supposedly specially build for the Geode LX and GX.

I'll follow up on their forum.
Do you have it working with 128M or 256M PC100/PC133?

Sage
Posts: 5536
Joined: Tue 04 Oct 2005, 08:34
Location: GB

#40 Post by Sage »

If you can get any machine Linux booted you can load a NIC manually and enter the settings ditto. In the alternative, all such machines will respond to a proper DUN modem. Getting connected is the most basic function that *nixes address. Only one man tried to evade the raw technology and then there were Winmodems......

User avatar
Aitch
Posts: 6518
Joined: Wed 04 Apr 2007, 15:57
Location: Chatham, Kent, UK

Geode linux install

#41 Post by Aitch »

Brandon, Chicks

Hi guys,

My research on thin clients led me to a couple of articles/threads for geode based linux installs, which might help those interested in the $10 box

http://thunderlord.net.pl/evo/

http://www.larwe.com/technical/geode_linux.html

Neither is particularly new, but the compaq link looks eminently modifiable for any linux, including puppy

As I understand it, the compaq T20 & the wintern were the same motherboard/processor combination, though the support chips may have been different

I'm interested in something similar, as I want to put together a low power system on 12v supply, so this sort of box is a good starter

I'd be interested to hear how you, or anyone else, get on
On another thread, I think Raffy got puppy running on something like this

:)
Aitch

User avatar
prit1
Posts: 542
Joined: Fri 04 Jan 2008, 00:10
Location: Los Angeles

Re: Compaq IPAQ 500 Celeron $25 USD shipped...

#42 Post by prit1 »

mechmike wrote:http://www.accurateit.com/details.asp?iid=1255

$25 USD Shipped in the US...

Manufacturer's product description
Compaq refers to its latest product, the iPAQ, as an Internet device, implying that its primary purpose is to access the Web. Such a product is typically meant for consumers. The Compaq iPAQ is in fact a fully functional corporate PC - albeit an unusual one. Smaller than most mini-towers and irregular in shape, the iPAQ has no bus slots, and its lone external drive bay does not accept desktop drives. Rather, it accepts the hot-swappable drives typically used in Compaq's Armada notebooks. This uniquely designed product is ideal for corporate network environments and for employees who primarily use their PC for mainstream office productivity applications and corporate Internet/intranet access.
I purchased this PC. Could not install a Armada CDROM drive into this. Instead I booted and installed Xubuntu through the PXE boot facility of this machine.

And then I modified the grub and copied all required puppy files (frugal install). Now I am able to work on Puppy in this machine. I can play ripped DVD movies smoothly, only youtube did not play as smoothly.

It is responsive. Much much better than Xubuntu. Only for Seamonkey, it takes like 10-15 seconds to load. Other applications load in less than 3-5 seconds.

A very good machine for this price.

Total money I had to spend: $40 = $25 for the box + $15 for a 19 inch Monitor.

GREAT Machine !!

Prit

ThinIsGreat
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed 05 Mar 2008, 00:09

Re: Compaq IPAQ 500 Celeron $25 USD shipped...

#43 Post by ThinIsGreat »

How about this machine, 1Ghz, 256M/256M, HP / Compaq Thin Client T5000 Model T5700? Is this worth to try Seamonkey?
prit1 wrote:
mechmike wrote:http://www.accurateit.com/details.asp?iid=1255

$25 USD Shipped in the US...

Manufacturer's product description
Compaq refers to its latest product, the iPAQ, as an Internet device, implying that its primary purpose is to access the Web. Such a product is typically meant for consumers. The Compaq iPAQ is in fact a fully functional corporate PC - albeit an unusual one. Smaller than most mini-towers and irregular in shape, the iPAQ has no bus slots, and its lone external drive bay does not accept desktop drives. Rather, it accepts the hot-swappable drives typically used in Compaq's Armada notebooks. This uniquely designed product is ideal for corporate network environments and for employees who primarily use their PC for mainstream office productivity applications and corporate Internet/intranet access.
I purchased this PC. Could not install a Armada CDROM drive into this. Instead I booted and installed Xubuntu through the PXE boot facility of this machine.

And then I modified the grub and copied all required puppy files (frugal install). Now I am able to work on Puppy in this machine. I can play ripped DVD movies smoothly, only youtube did not play as smoothly.

It is responsive. Much much better than Xubuntu. Only for Seamonkey, it takes like 10-15 seconds to load. Other applications load in less than 3-5 seconds.

A very good machine for this price.

Total money I had to spend: $40 = $25 for the box + $15 for a 19 inch Monitor.

GREAT Machine !!

Prit

georgepds
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat 03 Dec 2005, 19:36

#44 Post by georgepds »

Rank puppie newbie here. I purchased the machine below and was able to load puppy onto the supplied 4 gB hard drive. Because the machine cannot boot from cd rom , I removed the hard drive and put it into another machine that could. I loaded live puppy onto the hard drive (using the default puppy installer), and then put the drive back into the compaq... it booted right up

Connected to the internet without problem.. Kudos to the puppy team


--g

http://www.accurateit.com/details.asp?iid=1255
$25 USD Shipped in the US...


User avatar
Lobster
Official Crustacean
Posts: 15522
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 06:06
Location: Paradox Realm
Contact:

#46 Post by Lobster »

Another option is the emerging mini laptops - here is a roundup
http://www.liliputing.com/2008/04/over- ... ex_24.html

and here are some frugal PC builder resources . . .
http://tinyurl.com/66d5c6
Puppy Raspup 8.2Final 8)
Puppy Links Page http://www.smokey01.com/bruceb/puppy.html :D

mechmike
Posts: 100
Joined: Tue 29 Nov 2005, 16:43
Location: Pelham, AL
Contact:

#47 Post by mechmike »

Lobster, that FreeGeek link (the second one) is great!

Bookmarked, and going on my blog...

User avatar
prehistoric
Posts: 1744
Joined: Tue 23 Oct 2007, 17:34

Re: Compaq IPAQ 500 Celeron $25 USD shipped...

#48 Post by prehistoric »

mechmike wrote:http://www.accurateit.com/details.asp?iid=1255

$25 USD Shipped in the US...
Well, I couldn't resist another chance to play with a cheap computer I don't really need. So, I ordered one, got it on schedule, and it seems to be DOA. The case fits loosely, so I believe someone opened it up to reset the BIOS password.

@mechmike,

I don't see a keylock. Did you find any evidence of case or security interlocks which would prevent the power supply from even running its fan?

@Lobster,

Second the motion on that link. Great!

User avatar
Aitch
Posts: 6518
Joined: Wed 04 Apr 2007, 15:57
Location: Chatham, Kent, UK

#49 Post by Aitch »

Hi Chris667

What an amazingly uninformative website Viglen have!!
I've tried everywhere, but could not find any specs for this little £99++ box!
What processor/speed?
Does it run on an internal laptop psu, or external 12v transformer unit?
What memory is installed/upgradeable to?
Even the downloadable pdf didn't tell me anything


Shame

Aitch
Edit
Please post how you get on with installing Puppy onto it
And especially whether the bios has a bootable usb/Ext CD setting

User avatar
chris667
Posts: 31
Joined: Tue 01 Apr 2008, 13:41

#50 Post by chris667 »

It's terrible isn't it? I haven't looked at it tonight, the weather was nice. I've just installed puppy onto a USB flash drive, which I will use to install to the Viglen. The BIOS setup allows you to choose it as a boot option, and recognises a USB keyboard (have you ever tried to get into the bios setup of a new dell? :twisted: )
I only had a brief look at the machine, after a short, brief struggle with Xubuntu I had to switch the machine off and make myself a cup of tea. It has a 40GB hard disk.
Will look at it properly with puppy tomorrow though, watch this space. 8)

Post Reply