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Front End only using Compaq Armada E500 laptop
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Author:  aovermy [ Sat Jul 10, 2004 3:05 am ]
Post subject:  Front End only using Compaq Armada E500 laptop
This is a front end only. It's composed of a broken Compaq Armada E500 with an external 17" monitor connected via the VGA port on the E500, and an external PS/2 Minikeyboard with a PCMCIA D-Link 690TXD 10/100 Ethernet card.

Hotplug dealt quite nicely with the PCMCIA ethernet card once I installed it in slot 1, didn't seem to like slot 2, seamlessly loading the 8139too module for it.

The only tricky part was getting DRI and xv entensions working for the mach64 (ATI Mobility Rage). WIthout them, I had extraordinarily bad performance with dropped frames etc. Running top I could see I had +95% CPU. I got the binary (cause I'm too lazy to futz with Mesa etc) & source from

http://www.retinalburn.net/linux/dri_xv.html#patch

With this, I get around 60-65% CPU and no jittery picture or sound. I've now got a pretty neat front end from a broken laptop (cracked top part, disfunctional mini-pci ethernet) and stuff I had lying around. Pretty good for the hot season when my upstairs (where my backend is located) is too hot to be habitable.
Author:  aovermy [ Mon Jul 12, 2004 9:44 am ]
Post subject: 
A Bonus! I got the IRDA port working for remote control usage using lirc_sir.
Fortunately the Armada's used a SMC IR v 2.0 which is supported by lirc_sir.

This involved loading the smc-ircc to see what io_addr & irq it was using.
then updating the lirc file in /etc/modutils to say the following:

alias char-major-61 lirc_sir
options lirc_sir io=0x3f8 irq=3

commenting out all the lines in the /etc/modutils/irda file, I also removed serial from my /etc/modules file. Then I ran install-i686-l to pick up lirc support and rebooted.

I'm using a cheap 3 in 1 (OneforAll) univ remote. Set the DVD device to be a TV/DVD, used irrecord to make a conf file.

It works from a good 1.5m distance.
Author:  scsikid [ Mon Dec 13, 2004 1:52 am ]
Post subject: 
hahha funny enough im doing the exact same thing as you. my e500 was dropped and the hinge broke from the base to the lcd. so im using the base for a myth box. wicked to know about the irda, i was gonna use an external usb one i had lying around till i figured out how to get the irda port to work with it, thankfully you just told me how to do it in your post! heheh :)

just got one quick question, how did you get tv out working. i plug in an rca to the side, but when x loads it is scrambled. i know its just in XF86Config. ill probably figure it out before you reply to this, but thanks for the irda tip. and post the portion of your XF86Config that makes this thing work with tv out. ohh wait, actually i think you said you were using a monitor no tv right?
Author:  aovermy [ Mon Dec 13, 2004 11:10 am ]
Post subject: 
yep, just a monitor, no TV.

However, it looks like this card is now supported by the gatos project (http://gatos.sourceforge.net/) project now, so you might find some hints over there.

Good luck. I've found it to be a handy use for a futon-squeezed laptop.

Amy
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