Various nerdy projects

· 901 words · 5 minute read

I have so many projects going on that I should probably write them down somewhere to make sure I don’t forget what step I’m on with each one.

  • Frite XT. Someone tossed an original IBM PCXT case out at work here. I want to turn it into a ARM base PC Emulator box.
    • I’ve backed the La Frite board on Kickstarter, should arrive next year sometime.
    • La Frite has 2 USBs, desolder the connectors and run wires out to internal usb hubs.
    • Need to clean the case out and remove the boards that are there. The connectors are extremely corroded and most of the boards are probably useless. The CPU has been removed from the system.
    • Install a 3.5″ floppy. Need an adapter to USB. Use internal USB connector. 
    • Do the same for a 5.25″ floppy. This is tougher because the usb adapters for it are harder to find, and most are read only. Read only is probably fine.
    • The case has a full height 5.25″ hard drive. Planning to hollow this out, and put the Frite board inside.
    • Use Meanwell 12 and 5v supplies, rail mounted. 12v already owned, 5v would need to be bought.
    • Add 5v rail mount relays. one for 12 and one for 5v.
    • The big chunky switch on the side will instead switch 5v to the relays. The 2 meanwell supplies will always be powered up just so that it can supply 5v to this switch, should be very low standby current.
    • the other side of the switch will go to a digital input on the frite board.
    • The frite board will have an output going to the relays as well. When it turns on, it will turn this output on to keep the relays active. If the switch is turned off, the board will keep power running just long enough for a clean shutdown.
    • USB ports on the back, for most connectivity. Use the slot covers with ports.
    • Use 2 DIO pins for AT or PS/2 keyboards, Hopefully track down an original buckling spring AT plug keyboard.
    • Frite will boot to X, then run 2 programs. Dosbox emulating a 4.77mhz XT, and Ratpoison for the windowmanager. This means that it will look really similar to an XT because Ratpoison has no window decorations, but if someone knows how to use ratpoison, they could launch new terminals and use it like a linux computer.
  • Izuna Router. Maxe a new PFSense router for my house. Started out with parts I had laying around, adding some bits that are still needed.
    • Had Asus E350 motherboard on hand. MicroATX board that is half depth. The ethernet port is awful. Done.
    • Using an HP nic with Intel chip for both connections. Gigabit. Done.
    • Acrylic case, designed for wallmount. Low-profile PCIe slots. In process from a laser cutter
    • Habey 60w DC-DC power supply. I had this on hand. Done.
    • PNY 120gig SSD. Purchased for $30 from Bestbuy. Done.
    • Various screws and offsets. Ordered.
    • External 12v power supply. UpBright off amazon. Done.
    • Total power consumption: 21-30w.
  • Vyers Windows Gaming System. I currently don’t have a windows gaming system, since I’ve dismantled Emizel. Assemble a Ryzen 2200g computer.
    • Antec 150w MiniITX case. Done.
    • Asrock MiniITX Motherboard. Done.
    • AMD 2200g. Done.
    • Install all parts in system. Done.
    • 250gig Samsung (Done) or 250 gig m.2 hard drive. Decide if the samsung sata drive is enough.
    • Windows 10 copy. Need to purchase.
  • Usalia Upgrade. Need to get a X470 and a new video card, and eventually replace Vyers with a VM host with GPU passthrough.
    • Might not even bother with this, since Vyers will probably suffice, but it’s a long term goal.
    • Asrock Taichi x470.
    • Vega56 graphics card, or 1070? Haven’t decided, may be based on opportunity.
    • A 500gig m.2 drive?
  • Sicily Upgrade. Switch Sicily to a Ryzen based system, with ECC memory and add new SSDs as either L2ARC or WAL drives.
    • The motherboard would be from the Usalia upgrade, whenever that happens.
    • ECC memory would need to be purchased.
    • Case has 2 3.5″ external bays. Buy some 2.5″ ssd hotswap racks for them.
    • Possibly switch from a 3x3.5″ hard drive rack to a 5x3.5″ rack so I can fit 2 more platter disks in.
    • Might need more PCIe sata boards.
    • Maybe use Optane for either the WAL or L2ARC.
  • Majorita Colocation and Upgrades. When we move out of this office, I need a new home for Majorita. Also, they’ll be returning some of my servers and NAS systems, so I’ll have some better drives to install.
    • Would be a good idea to put the 4x4tb drives in before taking it to the colocation site.
    • Made contact with a colocation site for $75/mo.
    • It would be a good idea to buy a second system so that we have spares if the system ever goes down. $195-$280 to buy another nearly identical system, without the memory.
    • Epyc upgrade would be close to $2000. Would there ever be a case where I could justify that cost?
  • 130XE Repair. My 130XE, the first computer I ever owned, was discontinued because we couldn’t get it to work anymore, we bought another 130XE and later XEGS to replace it. I want to fix it.
    • Purchased a monitor to SVideo cable. Done.
    • Power supply from XEGS is still working and putting out the correct voltage. Done
    • Ordered 20 spare memory chips from china due to long lead times, just in case. They were cheap.
    • Ordered a SVideo to VGA adapter. Can’t find a SVideo capable screen anymore.
    • Removed the bios switch from the sysntem to simplify the troubleshooting. Will just use the existing atari dos rom.
    • Once I have the adapter here, I can start troubleshooting the system.