Successfull installation of Meteohub on a HP T5700 Thin Clie
Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 1:08 am
Hello,
I managed to setup a meteohub server on a HP T5700 Thinclient. It is originally designed to run Windows XP Embbed, but it can make fair cheap and low end server. I get mine from my company for free, but Thin Clients can be found at very low prices (ebay for example).
Hardware :
CPU :Transmeta(tm) Crusoe(tm) Processor TM5800 @ 1GHz
RAM : 512MB (max., usually 256MB ).
Storage : 512 MB DOM (Disc On Module) on a 44 pin IDE
I/O :
4x USB 1.1 port
1 Ethernet
1 COM port
1 Parallel port
1 VGA
Sound Output
Mic. input
The BIOS can be setup to :
- boot after a power failure.
- boot without any keyboard or screen
Here is the steps I followed to achieve the installation:
hardware installation :
The HP T5700 has a IDE 44 pins connector on which is connected a flash memory module (DOM). The DOM is too small (512MB ) for Meteohub. I had to find another solution. The IDE connector can be used to connect a 2,5" hard drive or a Compactflash adapter for example.
I first searched for Compactflash based storage solution, to avoid moving parts and minimize power consumption. To get satisfying solution, it necessary to use a fixed (also called industrial) type of CF card. These cards are very expensive and hard to find.
I finally found a old laptop IDE hard drive of 40 GB which will do the job for nothing. The tricky thing was to find a 44 pins IDE cable. I found it at ebay from an English seller for about 5 euros including shipping to France : http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 0383593396
The small size of the box makes it difficult to install a hard drive internally. Googling about the T5700 I found this page http://www.mgraves.org/voip/2009/01/how ... p-t5700/2/ where I learned that there is a chassis expansion for it. The expansion makes it possible to attach the hard drive inside the box. It also comes with a PCI riser card. this will allow you to add a PCI card (a wireless card for example). I found this expansion at Amazon.fr http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B00022598Y for about 40 euros.
Software installation :
The reference documentation of Meteohub is here : http://www.meteohub.de/joomla/index.php ... &Itemid=29
Booting a Debian iso
I had hard times trying to make a bootable USB key with a Debian Etchnhalf 4.0.8 Netinstall. It did not manage to find a suitable boot.img for the iso image. I was getting messages about incompatibility between kernel version and the distro version in the iso file. I ended up by burning a CD and grabbing a USB-CD to load the system.
After that I followed the Meteohub setup guide. Once the setup script has done its jobs, I applied the latest meteohub update and the demo version became active.
Everything seems to work fine. I have to wait to go to the seaside where my weather station is to be sure everything is OK (and finally purchase my meteohub license).
I managed to setup a meteohub server on a HP T5700 Thinclient. It is originally designed to run Windows XP Embbed, but it can make fair cheap and low end server. I get mine from my company for free, but Thin Clients can be found at very low prices (ebay for example).
Hardware :
CPU :Transmeta(tm) Crusoe(tm) Processor TM5800 @ 1GHz
RAM : 512MB (max., usually 256MB ).
Storage : 512 MB DOM (Disc On Module) on a 44 pin IDE
I/O :
4x USB 1.1 port
1 Ethernet
1 COM port
1 Parallel port
1 VGA
Sound Output
Mic. input
The BIOS can be setup to :
- boot after a power failure.
- boot without any keyboard or screen
Here is the steps I followed to achieve the installation:
hardware installation :
The HP T5700 has a IDE 44 pins connector on which is connected a flash memory module (DOM). The DOM is too small (512MB ) for Meteohub. I had to find another solution. The IDE connector can be used to connect a 2,5" hard drive or a Compactflash adapter for example.
I first searched for Compactflash based storage solution, to avoid moving parts and minimize power consumption. To get satisfying solution, it necessary to use a fixed (also called industrial) type of CF card. These cards are very expensive and hard to find.
I finally found a old laptop IDE hard drive of 40 GB which will do the job for nothing. The tricky thing was to find a 44 pins IDE cable. I found it at ebay from an English seller for about 5 euros including shipping to France : http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 0383593396
The small size of the box makes it difficult to install a hard drive internally. Googling about the T5700 I found this page http://www.mgraves.org/voip/2009/01/how ... p-t5700/2/ where I learned that there is a chassis expansion for it. The expansion makes it possible to attach the hard drive inside the box. It also comes with a PCI riser card. this will allow you to add a PCI card (a wireless card for example). I found this expansion at Amazon.fr http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B00022598Y for about 40 euros.
Software installation :
The reference documentation of Meteohub is here : http://www.meteohub.de/joomla/index.php ... &Itemid=29
Booting a Debian iso
I had hard times trying to make a bootable USB key with a Debian Etchnhalf 4.0.8 Netinstall. It did not manage to find a suitable boot.img for the iso image. I was getting messages about incompatibility between kernel version and the distro version in the iso file. I ended up by burning a CD and grabbing a USB-CD to load the system.
After that I followed the Meteohub setup guide. Once the setup script has done its jobs, I applied the latest meteohub update and the demo version became active.
Everything seems to work fine. I have to wait to go to the seaside where my weather station is to be sure everything is OK (and finally purchase my meteohub license).