NTV-1000

[Marcel Welschbillig]

Bob,

Cheers for the reply, Im not good at programing/hacking so i have no 
real hope of achieving anything with the box but i would be realy 
greatfull if you would keep me posted on your progress. I recon this 
little device has much potential.

I work for an ISP/computer company and we were going to flog some of 
these boxes cheep to sell some internet connections but soon after 
setting it up i realised it had no Flash support and even worse no Java 
support so it makes them pretty useless as internet boxes. We have the 
option of buying them from a business that has huge amounts of stock but 
cant get rid of them.

If you want some we can definatly get them just let me know, i know our 
buy is $99 but my boss is pretty tight (i didnt say that) so he'll 
probably mark them up some.

Marcel


Bob Edwards wrote:

>> Marcel Welschbillig wrote:
>> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> Has anyone ever got Linux running on one of these NTV-1000 Internet boxes ??
>> 
>> The hardware is as follows..
>> 
>> 486DX4 100
>> 8Mb flash (72 pin SIMM)
>> 16Mb DRAM (72 pin SIMM)
>> * 10-Base-T ethernet *
>> Inbuilt modem
>> Serial port
>> PS2 ports
>> Parallel printer port
>> Infra-red remote keyboard
>> audio in/out
>> composite video in/out
>> S-Video in/out
>> VGA out
>> I can get these boxes for $99AU and if i could run a cut down version of
>> linux on them and use it as an internet gateway i would be stoked.
>> 
>> Any info would be great
>> 
>> Marcel
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> I have one netbooting. It can pull in the kernel etc. but gags at the point
> where the bootloader needs to determine how much RAM is available. The netboot
> code makes assumptions about what functionality the BIOS supports that just
> isn't valid in this case.
> 
> I haven't gotten onto working on it for a while. The two options are to
> continue hacking on the BIOS and add the missing functions (requires a long
> assemble; transfer to EEPROM programmer; erase and reprogram EEPROM; insert
> EEPROM into NTV-1000 - type cycle), or to hack on the netboot loader and
> hardwire the correct values in (probably a lot simpler - I think).
> 
> My strategy is to get Linux running across the network, get the display
> into 800 x 600 mode (supported in hardware etc.), run the SVGA version
> of the VNC viewer (no X required) and use it as a thin client terminal to
> another Linux box located elsewhere in the house, hooked to the TV, with
> the IR keyboard. Also, I want to have the MPG123 player running that can
> use RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol) so that I can get my server to
> stream MP3s to the NTV for playing onto my stereo.
> 
> I notice that you emphasise the 10 Mbit/sec Ethernet. One issue with the
> Ethernet is that NeonTech (the manufacturer) didn't add a MAC address to
> the Ethernet hardware - so it comes up as FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF (not good).
> My hacked BIOS ROM/Etherboot loaded detects this and allocates a more
> reasonable value. The intention here is to get Linux running, then use
> a Linux util to reflash the Ethernet controllers serial EEPROM with a
> better unique MAC address.
> 
> Hopefully I will have time to get it all going Real Soon Now (RSN).
> 
> I may be interested in buying one or two more - where are you getting
> them from?
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Bob Edwards.