OS2 World Community Forum

OS/2, eCS & ArcaOS - Technical => Hardware => Topic started by: Ben Hjelt on September 16, 2022, 04:24:03 pm

Title: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Ben Hjelt on September 16, 2022, 04:24:03 pm
Got myself two more thin clients ;D

The first is the HP T5740, an Atom N280 based machine which was very easy to get running 100% with ACPI too. The only pitfall was choosing the right USB port (one on the back) for the ArcaOS installer drive unless you wanted the 'can't find ARCAINST.ISO' error message. A nice feature is the rather loud internal speaker for system sounds.

The second is the Dell/Wyse Z90D7 sporting an AMD G-T56N processor (not hyperthreaded?). Haven't had much luck with this one as it seems to be a UEFI machine (with CSM though), very limited BIOS options and buggy ACPI - even in linux as it won't soft power off! After disabling AHCI and P-states I start the ArcaOS install but the filesystem gets corrupted in phase 2...

Attached hw info from the HP.
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Martin Iturbide on September 16, 2022, 10:30:47 pm
Thanks Ben for sharing the details.

I had created this Wiki page for the HP Thin Cilent. https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/HP_T5740_Thin_Client (https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/HP_T5740_Thin_Client)

Regards
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Martin Iturbide on September 16, 2022, 10:59:07 pm
Hi Ben
The second is the Dell/Wyse Z90D7 sporting an AMD G-T56N processor (not hyperthreaded?). Haven't had much luck with this one as it seems to be a UEFI machine (with CSM though), very limited BIOS options and buggy ACPI - even in linux as it won't soft power off! After disabling AHCI and P-states I start the ArcaOS install but the filesystem gets corrupted in phase 2...

I was checking the specs of the Dell/Wyse Z90D7 .Do you think it can be related to the storage? Do you get to the installaton part where you select the HDD? Do you see the 16GB storage disk?

BTW, I also create a wiki page in case things improve. (https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/Dell_Wyse_Z90D7_Thin_Client)

Regards
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Ben Hjelt on September 17, 2022, 09:09:48 am
Do you think it can be related to the storage? Do you get to the installaton part where you select the HDD? Do you see the 16GB storage disk?
My Z90 unit came without any storage but there are two SATA slots within, unfortunately nothing shows up in AHCI mode but I'm able to start the installation in regular IDE mode.
I'll do more testing to finish Phase 2 of the install, dump the logs as the problems seem to be connected to ACPI / number of cores enabled / aggressive power management...
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Paul Smedley on September 17, 2022, 11:50:12 am
I've wondering if something like this https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002642282828.html would work. Would more than likely need AOS 5.1 foe UEFI support....
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Neil Waldhauer on September 17, 2022, 03:43:43 pm
I'm using this tiny computer. I don't care about DOS and WinOS2, but full screen sessions work well. NVMe with M2 drive makes this pretty fast, and there is space for a SATA drive, too. Sound is slightly better than other brands.

https://www.blondeguy.com/computer/garbopeep.html (https://www.blondeguy.com/computer/garbopeep.html)
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Ben Hjelt on September 17, 2022, 03:50:43 pm
Would more than likely need AOS 5.1 foe UEFI support....
That's Intel Gen11 from last year so most likely? Industrial and business machines tend to stick with regular BIOS, just look at Blonde Guy's example.
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Ben Hjelt on September 17, 2022, 08:32:55 pm
OK, after countless reboots, failed re-installs and hair pulling I had a broken desktop and could read some errors from pci.exe before locking up again and trashing the filesystem:

table entries 0 and 2 refer to the same Bus=0/Device=1
connectivity mismatches for link value 04
The ROM PCI IRQ routing table appears to be faulty

This is on the Z90 ???
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Dave Yeo on September 18, 2022, 01:34:01 am
I've wondering if something like this https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002642282828.html would work. Would more than likely need AOS 5.1 foe UEFI support....

Sure a good price
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Paul Smedley on September 18, 2022, 09:18:19 am
I've wondering if something like this https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002642282828.html would work. Would more than likely need AOS 5.1 foe UEFI support....

Sure a good price

Just ordered - a have a suitable M2242 SSD spare, so got the one without an SSD for $A240 delivered.

It would be nice if it was powered by USB-C, but oh well.

Cheers,

Paul
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Ben Hjelt on September 18, 2022, 10:38:27 am
Martin,
attaching hw info for the Z90D7 and some findings:
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Martin Iturbide on September 18, 2022, 07:32:23 pm
Hi Ben

Thanks for sharing those report files, I will be updating the Z90D7 wiki page.

Some question so see if I understood correctly.
- 1) If you turn off the ACPI on the ArcaOS pre-boot menu, it allows you to install ArcaOS 5.0.7, Right? Or is it some change on the Z90D7 Bios?
- 2) The Z90D7 has a UEFI or normal BIOS?
- 3) Is Audio also working with UniAud?
- 4) Does your model came with wifi or not?

I checked some similar Wyze machines on YouTube and it seems to have an additional port inside. I'm not sure if that is M.2 or a MiniPCI for wifi? I'm attaching a picture to see if it is the same model.

Regards
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Ben Hjelt on September 18, 2022, 08:33:21 pm
Quote
1) If you turn off the ACPI on the ArcaOS pre-boot menu, it allows you to install ArcaOS 5.0.7, Right? Or is it some change on the Z90D7 Bios?
Pre-boot, yes. (There is no such option in the bios) I had to disable ACPI to even install ArcaOS.

Quote
2) The Z90D7 has a UEFI or normal BIOS?
UEFI for sure. (It defaults to it on hybrid linux distros) Has very flaky BIOS/VGA emulation, you get a black screen 50/50 on Air-boot.

Quote
3) Is Audio also working with UniAud?
No, it might with ACPI enabled though.

Quote
4) Does your model came with wifi or not?
No, that's what the empty mPCIe socket is for.

Quote
I checked some similar Wyze machines on YouTube and it seems to have an additional port inside. I'm not sure if that is M.2 or a MiniPCI for wifi? I'm attaching a picture to see if it is the same model.
Not quite. Here's an overview of my model: https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/wyse/z/z90d7/ (https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/wyse/z/z90d7/)
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Martin Iturbide on September 18, 2022, 09:35:46 pm
Thanks Ben

I created this page on the WIki: https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/Dell_Wyse_Z90D7_Thin_Client

Since you tell me this machine has UEFI, it might be interesting to test this out once ArcaOS 5.1 comes out.

Regards
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Ben Hjelt on September 20, 2022, 11:30:02 am
Since you tell me this machine has UEFI, it might be interesting to test this out once ArcaOS 5.1 comes out.
The default UEFI mode on it is much more stable than the BIOS emulation that may give you a black screen. It reminds me of Apple's Boot Camp that enabled a mediocre dual boot, limiting you to 32bit Windows XP/7 on a 64bit machine :(
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Paul Smedley on October 16, 2022, 08:21:15 am
Hey Guys,


I've wondering if something like this https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002642282828.html would work. Would more than likely need AOS 5.1 foe UEFI support....

Sure a good price

Just ordered - a have a suitable M2242 SSD spare, so got the one without an SSD for $A240 delivered.

It would be nice if it was powered by USB-C, but oh well.

OK this arrived last week, and I finally got time to test it. Turns out the 2242 SSD I had wasn't compatible, so I had to order another which arrived today.

Installation of AOS 5.1 latest beta is underway (this has UEFI only) - major issue for now is that the NIC is not supported. It's an I225-V that uses the igc driver on FreeBSD. This driver has not yet been ported to AOS :(

A 'testlog generic' from the AOS Installer is attached. For now, I'm going to create a 5gb transfer partition to transfer files via linux to allow updates to things like Uniaud.

Cheers,

Paul

Edit: added a post install 'testlog generic' and 'testlog uniaud' - audio isn't detected, I'll investigate that when time permits.
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Paul Smedley on October 16, 2022, 11:11:06 am
As mentioned, the AOS uniaud32.sys doesn't work with this hardware,  so I tried replacing uniaud32.sys with my latest build.

Unfortunately for reasons unknown to me right now, the boot stopped with:
ERROR: Initialization failed.
pci_register_driver: query device found fb 8086:4dc8 class=40300
checking bt878
OSS32_Initialize: FAILEDUnable to attach 32-bit driver
...
and a 'Press ENTER to continue...' that I can't get past as I'm using a
USB keyboard - which I guess isn't recognised yet....

Now I need to work out why my build of  uniaud32 isn't finding the hardware....
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Martin Iturbide on October 16, 2022, 02:46:18 pm
Hi Paul

Thanks for sharing the info. I created this page about your "ZX01 Mini PC Intel N5105 (https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/ZX01_Mini_PC_Intel_N5105)"

I have some questions.
- It has no NVMe support, right? I guess the M.2 port is just SATA.
- Are you using Panorama for the video, right?
- It has two HDMI ports. Does one works and the other don't? Or both display the same image?
- Have you tested the SD Slot card. Does it work? Is it the Intel Jasper Lake SCS1: eMMC Controller 8086:4DC4 ? I don't know anything about it, neither how to start testing it.

Thanks Paul for trying it out.

Regards
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Paul Smedley on October 17, 2022, 10:04:59 am
Hi Martin!

1) No idea re NVMe vs M.2 - the SSD I used was https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0876KJ8CV
2) Yes, panorama
3) Will try the 2nd HDMI port when I get a chance
4) No I haven't tried the SD slot yet.

re: my builds of uniaud32 - I rem'd out uniaud16.sys and the system booted - alsa.log attached.

The pertinent lines seems to be:
 
Code: [Select]
Initializing rbtree cache

No i915 binding for Intel HDMI/DP codec

Destroying rbtree cache

Unable to bind the codec - err = -19

Cannot probe codecs, giving up

Off to look for 'No i915 binding for Intel HDMI/DP codec' in the uniaud32 source :)

Cheers,

Paul
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Paul Smedley on October 17, 2022, 11:11:24 am
Re: 3) the second HDMI port gives a blank screen.

Made some progress towards resolving the i915 error message, found a related source file that want being built, but it's still not working. Need to stare at the code a bit longer to see why :)
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Paul Smedley on October 22, 2022, 06:56:15 am
hmm... HDMI may be a bridge too far right now...

from: https://askubuntu.com/questions/694677/snd-hda-intel-0000001f-3-failed-to-add-i915-component-master-19

Code: [Select]
n order to support sound output over HDMI, video drivers for Linux register an "audio component" for the sound card driver (in my case Intel HD Audio a.k.a. snd_hda_intel) to connect to. Once this connection is made, the sound hardware can produce an audio stream for the GPU to multiplex onto the HDMI cable.
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Paul Smedley on October 22, 2022, 10:56:04 am
Interesting... I was wondering what was driving the headphone socket on the front of this PC.... looks like it's USB Audio... testlog shows:
  Port 6: Device 0573:1573 (Audio)-(Class 1)(Audio)-(Class 1)(HID) FS Zoran Co. Personal Media Division (Nog

I wonder if it will work with the usbaudio driver?
Title: Re: Affordable Mini PCs
Post by: Paul Smedley on October 29, 2022, 01:24:19 am
Interesting... I was wondering what was driving the headphone socket on the front of this PC.... looks like it's USB Audio... testlog shows:
  Port 6: Device 0573:1573 (Audio)-(Class 1)(Audio)-(Class 1)(HID) FS Zoran Co. Personal Media Division (Nog

I wonder if it will work with the usbaudio driver?

Update: Audio works with a test version of updated USB drivers from AN, in combination with Lars's latest usbaudio drivers :)