DBE60
From ThinCan
The DBE60 retained the NSC Geode SC2200 used in the ThinCan Classic, repackaged into an affordable flat box form factor.
Artec has still some DBE60 ThinCans in stock (DiskOnChip versions DBE60 and DBE60-1, without CF connector, EtherBoot BIOS flashed into DoC), that can be obtained for 100EEK / 6.39€ (+ VAT + shipping). Minimal quantity 2pcs per order. Contact us for details.
Contents |
Specification
| CPU | NSC Geode™ SC2200 @ 266MHz |
| Mass Storage | 16MB (DBE60) or 32MB (DBE60-1) 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.
Booting the DBE60
Like the ThinCan Classic, the DBE60 boots off the DOC media using Clara, a proprietary bootloader designed by Artec. There are existing BIOS binaries for booting DBE 60:
- from network using Etherboot
- Linux from local DoC chip
Coreboot v3 could be easily ported to this model, using an earlier Coreboot v1 port to the similar SC1200 platform, as a starting point.
Etherboot
Most DBE60 models are shipped with an old version of Etherboot as the payload. User should prepare the tftp-bootable NBI image using WrapLinux or mknbi tools.
Artec has built BIOS images for both bootstrapping DBE60 from dongle and for installing etherboot BIOS into DBE60 DoC ROM. The Etherboot BIOS images can be downloaded from [3]
To install Etherboot BIOS into DBE60 DoC ROM, use M-Systems' doc-tools [4]:
dformat -win:c800 -ipl:iplfile.bin -bdkf0:biosfile.bin -bdkn0:CLRA -y
WrapLinux
WrapLinux can be downloaded from [5].
Use WrapLinux to package newer than 2.6.22 kernels; mknbi does not work!
MKNBI
It can be downloaded from here. Newer kernels and mknbi do not work anymore. Use WrapLinux!
An example of netboot image creation for an USB rootfs:
mkelf-linux /path/to/bzImage --rootdir=/dev/sda1 --append="rootdelay=10" >dbe60.ether.nb
CompactFlash
The ThinCan Classic and some DBE60 models instead have Clara installed on a small boot ROM, which then loads the OS payload from an IDE CompactFlash.
On these models, DMA access must be disabled in the IDE driver to prevent disk errors. This is generally done by passing an option to the ide_core kernel module, either as a cmdline argument "ide=nodma" (if the sc1200 IDE driver is compiled inside the kernel) or by creating a file called e.g. /etc/modprobe.d/ide_core_sc1200.conf with the following content (if the sc1200 IDE driver is compiled as a module):
options ide_core options="ide=nodma"
Serial console
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
