marvell plug computer

Pete,

Will run that during lunch!

Also, new status:
Reinstalled my dockstar last night.
Then, first thing, installed webmin.
I let webmin install samba...VERY slick!
Finally, this morning, I plugged my "external" memory back in (a 32M thumbdrive that I don't care about).

During lunch, I plan to let webmin create all samba shares / users / etc. IF it works, I'll be darned happy!

The next step after this, is to create some raid partitions, and see if everything works out. Doesn't look like webmin has ZFS included in it's list...so maybe this debian doesn't have that at the moment. I'd really like to have it, as it has similar features as the "new" dynamic partitions which WHS (Windows Home Server) has. Albeit, I think it organizes things a bit better...so, I really want it!! But, I'll settle for RAID5 or so.

--Dan
 
Good news Dan and thanks for checking. Not sure on the raid partitioning. There is a mention of using Raid1 in the Dockstar advertisements.

Reading some stuff about running Samba and tranfer speeds with Dockstar. There are some tweaks to get better throughput
. I might utilize these tweaks with my PBO as I get very slow transfer rates with it. (3-5Mbs).


I did find a couple of issues with the Gb link on the Dockstar doing a couple of google searches. Nothing really specific but the fix is to tell the NIC card to use full duplex via a script at boot up time. Testing the script right now running it manually.
 
Pete,

Maybe the cable I have plugged in is not a good cable (it's just something i pulled out of a pile of old crimped cables).

mii-tool -w
18:18:52 eth0: negotiated 100baseTx-FD, link ok
Click to expand...


Apparently I'm not seeing any strange flickering...well, I'm in 100BT mode!

--Dan
 
I never noticed anything with the 100 FD connection in my home office. I have 4 network connections next to my desk and 2 are at 1Gb and 2 are at 100. Because of my hands off playing I just moved the Dockstar over to the "rack" in the basement and next to the new 24 port Gb switch. That's when I first noticed the bouncing of the connection. It was kind of random but could cause a problem. (say copying many files with a Raid 1 config and Samba running).

Tandem - I think my new PBO NMT has a Gb NIC in it but its configured to run only at 100Mb FD right now and don't know why.

What's odd is that it auto connected at 1Gb FD and the link would bounce some. Now telling the link to connect at 1Gb FD via a short script. It hasn't bounced at all this morning.

I believe you are also now at a point where you are just leaving the USB SD card in place and not really unplugging it any more eh?

Try moving it over to your Gb switch and watch it a bit.
 
it's always been on my GIG switch (it's the only thing in the house).

I think my cable might have a broken wire in it...as it's only registering at 100BT.

--Dan
 
Thanks Dan.

You can also check the speed of your USB memory by:

Code: 
apt-get install hdparm

and doing a:

Code: 
hdparm -tT /dev/sda

I like the keychain LCD hack - wonder if it would work with the 1-wire stuff I want to do?
 
This thread is making me miss one of my "old" favorite sites which I used to frequent about 10 years ago. Its kind of dead now but was very informative 10 years ago.

IOpener dot com
 
A bit of a tangent.

One day in the early 2000's when visiting my sister when she lived in Rochester Hills, MI dropped by a fellow LH dot org user who happened to live near my sister's house in MI. At the time many threads were related to converting a first gen network appliance to a small do all. One of the issues was the power supply and making the PS fit in a small case. I had called prior to my visit and the fellow LH dot org person said just stop by and bring the two appliance to have them retrofitted a bit. He lived about 5 minutes from my sisters house. It was an old large ranch style house on a couple of acres of undeveloped land. He happened to work for GM. His basement was a workshop and his home had Unix terminals in just about every room of the house. He had a "mock up" of the then year or similiar Corvette (just the front part) in his basement, small wind tunnel and the ability to shape or make any piece of metal for his "experiments". A little bit of this and that and he modified my network "appliance" in only a few minutes. He lived and breathed what he did (his wife and child were very patient with him). We sat and talked a bit that afternoon and I envied his environment and "perfect" job.
 
Waiting now for the 9097U for the Dockstar. I've left it online connected to the Gb switch and is been stable. Early on I had an issue of it bouncing a bit. Kind of fixed it by telling the NIC to go to 1000/FD even though it had already gone that way.
 
pete_c said:
Waiting now for the 9097U for the Dockstar. I've left it online connected to the Gb switch and is been stable. Early on I had an issue of it bouncing a bit. Kind of fixed it by telling the NIC to go to 1000/FD even though it had already gone that way.
Click to expand...

Pete,

What script did you use to "fix" that?

At some point, when I get time again, I'm going to have to finish up "catching" back up. Then I should be 100% with my Dockstar. I really like Webmin.

I've got Samba install, but not configured yet. Last night, before bed, I jumped on for a minute, and let webmin install mdstat (should be part of mdadm if I'm not mistaken). I need this for the RAID stuff (based on what I read...).

So, new plan is to try to create a samba share. I still have the 32MB thumbdrive plugged in. I should be able to get read / write access to that. If that works, I found my old 512 MB thumbdrive. (Strange thing is, the 512 is older then the 32MB). So, I am going to try to do a basic raid with that. My plan is, get the samba running. If that works, image the thumbdrive. Then, mess with RAID. If that works, get the HD spindown stuff working. If that works, re-image the OS thumbdrive and do whatever "good" steps it took to get to that point.

--Dan

P.S. was poking around ebay. Found some 4GB Crucial Thumbdrives for cheap. I put in for 3. 2 4GB, one 16GB. I put in no more then $6.01 for my bid. I got one of the 4GB thumbdrives. The second 4GB I lost for $6.51 (my cap, $6.01). I lost the 16GB after a few hours (it jumped over $20, and I lost interest). So, when I am done, I'm going to image the sandisk that I am using to the Crucial. Then I should have 2 sticks for my 3 boxes.

PPS. I realize that I need to "fix" the uboot before I get too far. Otherwise by the time I need to use the other dockstars, my thumbdrive OS might not be of any use, because the uBoot might change. So, I need to hack all 3 immediately (sounds like a good way to "break-in" the new thumbdrive).
 
Another interesting thing...if I have time (big IF), I just got an eVGA USB to VGA adapter. Maybe I should give ti a go...see what happens?

Probably not as this custom Debian is probably missing all the video stuff.

--Dan
 
Dan,

Just checked Dockstar. Still running fine.

There are hundreds of Debian applications available for install. You can do queries both via a command line prompt and the WebMin GUI. The Webmin GUI let's you do "splat" searches quickly.

For Samba; once you have the drive/directory mounted the rest is plug n play. You can test the USB mount by just removing and reinstalling the USB thumbdrive in "vivo" not having to reboot the Dockstar.

Yes I currently have the UBoot set up such that if I remove the 16Gb microSD then it boots up normal sans the Pogo piece of it (line is commented out). Once you get where you want with the boot dongle you can image it (DD) or even remove it and image it with a windows program. I guess with the prices dropping in memory I thought I got a decent deal on the 16Gb microSD. Years ago for the HTC the 4 and 6 Gb microSD's were over $50. I would basically load them up with music and videos for flying; it was much easier (but very small picture) than using the laptop or a portable DVD rom drive. I also used BT for the audio purchasing decent BT noise reduction headset(s).

Installed "mdadmin" via WebMin to have a look at it.

Code: 
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  rsync openbsd-inetd dpsyco-lib
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
Recommended packages:
  default-mta mail-transport-agent
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  mdadm
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 3 not upgraded.
Need to get 467 kB of archives.
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-kirkwood
W: mdadm: /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf defines no arrays.
W: mdadm: no arrays defined in configuration file.
Generating kernel u-boot image... done.
Creating backup of /boot/uImage.
Creating new /boot/uImage.
Generating initrd u-boot image... done.
Creating backup of /boot/uInitrd.
Creating new /boot/uInitrd.

I then removed it. It was uninvasive.

The script called 1000Mbs.sh is sitting in the /etc/init.d directory. I installed ethtool first. I still don't understand why I have to tell the NIC to go to 1000FD when it already is there to get it from doing the link/unlink thing.

Code: 
#!/bin/sh
ETHTOOL="/sbin/ethtool"
DEV="eth0"
SPEED="1000 duplex full"
case "$1" in
start)
echo -n "Setting eth0 speed 1000 duplex full...";
$ETHTOOL -s $DEV speed $SPEED;
echo " done.";;
stop)
;;
esac
exit 0

Good news on the "eVGA USB to VGA". I don't see any harm would happen should you try; might as well give it a go.

Doing a "test" run of Homeseer on the new Shuttle today with Windows 7. Thing is so quiet other than the lights its hard to tell its running. Noticed with Windows 7 and Vista before it; it appears that MS wants to "hide" the base OS tweaking features similiar to the Mac. Changes to the Windows7 OS involves more steps because of the added "checks and balances"; thus a bit more time consuming in the tweaking of it. (historically with the other Win7 boxes I never paid attention.)
 
Pete,

Were you able to get Samba up and running?

it is going to be the death of me! After letting Webmin install Samba, i then used it's configuration stuff to setup a mount, then a share.

It lets me configure everything, then looks like it's all set.

I then try to go there in a Windows machine. \\<dockstarIP\cdrive I get asked for username and password. I enter what I configured.

Finally, Windows will sit there for a bit, then pop an "unknown error" and ask me to contact my system administrator.

...I don't remember this being THIS difficult when I was working with Slackware or Mandrake oh so long ago...

Any ideas?

--Dan
 
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