DBE60
From ThinCan
The DBE60 retained the NSC Geode SC2200 used in the ThinCan Classic, repackaged into an affordable flat box form factor.
Contents |
Specification
| CPU | NSC Geode™ SC2200 @ 266MHz |
| Mass Storage | 16MB or 32MB M-Systems DiskOnChip™ Millennium Plus |
| Memory | 64 MB 64bit SDRAM |
| Network Controller | NSC DP83816 Fast Ethernet |
| Video Resolution | up to 1024x768 |
| Audio | AC97 rev 2.0 compliant |
| Approximate Dimensions | 145mm x 95mm x 32mm |
| Approximate Weight | 380g (without Power Supply) |
| External Power Supply | 9V to 16V DC |
| Power Consumption | approximately 5W |
| Operating Temperature | 5°C to 40°C |
Variants
- DBE60: 64 MB SDRAM, 16 MB M-Systems DiskOnChip flash.
- DBE60-1: 64 MB SDRAM, 32 MB M-Systems DiskOnChip flash.
- Production models sold under the trademark ThinCan SE booted entirely from the DoC media, which was used as a normal HDD containing both the bootloader and payload.
- Production models sold under the trademark ThinCan XSE instead had a 256kb boot ROM at U4 to load the OS from CompactFlash media present on the optional CF socket.
Driving the DBE60
- The DBE60 is covered by GX1 and SCx200 Linux kernel modules and by the "nsc" X.org driver module.
- The Realtek RTL8139 network controller is covered by Linux kernel modules 8139cp and 8139too.
- The NSC DP83816 network controller is covered by Linux kernel module natsemi.
- Only Linux kernels up to version 2.6.22.19 are known to work. Later versions are not known to successfully boot.
Booting the DBE60
Like the ThinCan Classic, the DBE60 boots off the DOC media using Clara, a proprietary bootloader designed by Artec.
- Coreboot v3 could be easily ported to this model, using an earlier Coreboot v1 port to the similar SC1200 platform, as a starting point.
Most models are shipped with an old version of Etherboot as the payload. To prepare an Linux image that boots, the last release of mknbi can be used. It can be downloaded from here. An example of netboot image creation for an USB rootfs:
mkelf-linux /path/to/bzImage --rootdir=/dev/sda1 --append="rootdelay=10" >dbe60.ether.nb
Certain versions of mkelfImage should work as well. Exact testing is being conducted soon. The version used by Edubuntu to prepare the ELF version of the netboot image is anticipated to work, but recent versions of it prepare a too new kernel (newer than 2.6.22), that does not work on DBE60 anymore.
LPC Dongle on DBE60 HOWTO
- Developing firmware for the DBE60 requires an Artec Programmable LPC Dongle with FPGA revision 01 or later.
- The dongle must be modified as follows.
Firmware debugging HOWTO
The DBE60 offers a serial console, for firmware debugging purposes, on internal connector J2 (TTL signal level). Pin 1 is rightmost, square pad (all others are round pads).
1: VCC - 3V power
2: RXD
3: TXD - data from DBE60
4: RTS
5: CTS
6: GND - common ground
