Important Info
- Reports indicate that some lusers have now received units with blobs of
goo (probably epoxy)
over the BIOS chip and an updated BIOS. More information will be posted shortly.
Click here for many pictures of the modified
unit. There
has also been a report from a trustworthy luser on the mailing list that
if allowed to dial into Netpliance, the i-Opener's custom software will update itself
with a number of ominous changes. Finally, more information on the EEPROM programmable (ahem) BIOS chip here.
- D. Nesting writes on the mailing list:
In case you don't know, the i-opener is able to update its OS and software
automatically (assuming you let it dial up to Netpliance).
I left my unit on for the better part of the day, in the root shell,
and at some point it dialed up, presumably updated itself, and quietly
rebooted.
/etc/passwd is no longer writable (:w! no longer is able to write). Other
changes have been made, but I can't tell if this was due to an account "reset"
or if these things are actually changed with the new "release". I had assumed
that they'd gotten my credit card information when I purchased my device, and
that's how I was able to use the Netpliance ISP on my i-opener these past
couple of weeks, but after the update was completed today I had an e-mail
waiting saying that they didn't have my information on file and needed me to
call. This can't be a coincidence.
The odd thing is that the timestamps for all of the files haven't changed
(except /app/patch.version: "reboot3"), so I'm not 100% certain an
OS/application upgrade was performed. The only indication I have is that
/etc/passwd is most definitely no longer writable on my device (even if I
change perms).
You can still copy /etc/passwd to another name, edit the new file,
and then unlink /etc/passwd and rename the new file in its place.
Fortunately I'm a fast typer and was able to implement the /app/ztest
trick in the 10 seconds or so I had before the main menu loads up.
I most certainly won't be letting it dial up to Netpliance anymore.
That gave me quite a scare.
Don't just rush out and buy any old 2.5 inch hard drive! Lusers are reporting
difficulty with fitting 12.5mm drives inside the unit, so 17.5mm drives are probably
right out. You'll have to mount them on the outside, most likely (doh).
March 18, the EFNet IRC channel was taken over. Go to irc.openprojects.net and join
#I-Opener-Linux.
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Networking Tidbits
- Keep in mind a 2.3 kernel will be needed for USB support in Linux
- USB Ethernet support, check www.linux-usb.org
- Adapters supposedly supported by linux:
Dlink 650TX; SMC 2202; Melco LU-ATX;
Billionton(?) USB100; LinkSys USB100TX (this is commonly used). All available at
buy.com
- [D. Becker] Linksys USB100TX drivers at www.scyld.com known to
work with Linux kernel 2.2.12
- NetBSD supposedly supports nearly all USB Ethernet adapters on the market.
- [J. Hamilton] Page about the ADMTek Pegasus chip used in many USB->10/100 adapters
can be found here. Now, who wants to
write drivers ;-)
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BIOS Hacking
- The BIOS is an SST 39SF020-90-4C-NH, a common 2Mbit EEPROM chip. AWDFLASH 6.31
supports this chip. Specs here.
Flash software source code examples here.
- There is apparently some interest in hacking the BIOS to change the logo
that is displayed at boot. Some info can be found in the Specific Hacks section.
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Audio Fun
- The Yamaha YMF715 is supported by the ALSA project (high quality, improved free
replacements to the OSS sound drivers). Click here.
NEW step-by-step instructions to installing the ALSA drivers, thanks to C. Carrier!
Click here.
- Audio out connection will involve soldering. One would think that earphone
out would be connected to the speaker wires, and line out would be connected to preamp,
but details are very sketchy.
- [CoYoTe99] The 2 watt audio amp (LM4835MT) pin 10 is Right-In, pin 12 is Left-In and the
chip contains volume control circuitry etc.
- [CoYoTe99] The audio amp IC supports thermal shutdown, bass boost and bridgeable, and has a floating ground. Also,
input levels (audio signal) are +/-.3volts.
- I have heard that 'line out' voltage is 1-1.5 volts.
I had an idea of using a transistor
on each side from some power source on the board (maybe IDE power) to boost the .3v if necessary,
I am sure this is a bit simplistic so if anybody who is better with electronics wants to let me
know please do!
- [J. Hamilton] A link to a datasheet on the Yamaha sound chip: Click Here for PDF.
- [B. Shoemaker] Quick info on Yamaha chip pins and an idea for audio out (more are being worked on if
you can stand to wait):
This is from the Yamaha datasheet linked above. Here are the pins of interest:
82 -
81 - |
Left Mixed Analog Output
Right Mixed Analog Output
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84 -
83 - |
Left Aux 1 Input
Right Aux 1 Input
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94 -
93 - |
Left Aux 2 Input
Right Aux 2 Input
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86 -
85 - |
Left Line Input
Right Line Input
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| 92 - |
Mic Input
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59 -
58 - |
Volume Up Active Low - ground it to make it work
Volume Down (same as above)
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49 -
50 - |
MIDI RX
MIDI TX
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| 10 to 3 |
Game Port
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"Just solder a piece of 30AWG wire to the pin(s) on the chip and solder the
other end to an RCA jack. (Radio Shack sells "wire wrapping" wire that works
VERY well.)
BTW, I'm not sure about the output levels. According to the Yamaha
literature, the Line Output should be 2V p-p. This is way more than
enough signal level for any piece of consumer audio equipment."
- USB audio out, supported by Windoze98 and BeOs: Click Here
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Flash Disk
CPU Upgrades
- System uses a standard Socket 7 configuration
- Socket appears to be single voltage and does not directly support dual-voltage
CPUs
- There is a lot of speculation going around about voltage adapters for dual-plane CPUs
(I believe that plug into the socket), but as of yet I haven't seen hard info.
- Modification and/or removal of some resistors is necessary to change voltages when
installing various CPUs, so far the only specific info I have found is for a P166MMX,
linked to here
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IDE Tips
- Of course, don't try a hard drive bigger than 12.5mm.
- One person got a 3-disc CD changer AND an IDE hard drive on his i-Opener, apparently
the SanDisk gets bumped off the chain by the intelligent controller when there is more
than one other device present. See his mirrored site here (just
pics for now). I will have full instructions posted here shortly; in his setup, the
hard drive is slave, but with proper LILO fun, it works swimmingly.
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