Nslu2 Software
. Edit: My brand new Slug comes from factory with: 263.78, so it is already running at 266.
The Slug is marked with a sticker: Manufactured 05/2006. Maybe someone from Linksys has read this page:). Edit: Mine also comes from factory running at 266Mhz;) - Manufactured 05/2006. Edit by Bullfrog: Mine also comes from factory running at 266Mhz;) - Manufactured 05/2006 - R64 is also now no longer fitted next to flash chip near serial port which with R83 fitted and R81 missing - gives the undocumented code for 266Mhz. Edit by Charly: Mine also comes from factory running at 266Mhz;) - Manufactured 05/2006.
Edit by djeaux Got a new one three weeks ago (interestingly also through an Amazon reseller) and it was also underclocked, although it did have the V2.3R73 firmware. The case almost fell open. I used some surgical scissors to snip the resistor out.
All is running fine at 266MHz, confirmed with /proc/cpuinfo! Thanks to everyone for the help!Before:# cat /proc/cpuinfoProcessor: XScale-IXP425/IXC1100 rev 1 (v5b)BogoMIPS: 131.48Features: swp half thumb fastmult edspHardware: Intel IXDP425 Development PlatformRevision: 0000Serial: 000000#After:# cat /proc/cpuinfoProcessor: XScale-IXP425/IXC1100 rev 1 (v5b)BogoMIPS: 263.78Features: swp half thumb fastmult edspHardware: Intel IXDP425 Development PlatformRevision: 0000Serial: 000000#. Core-ClockinterfaceTime133Mhzwifi g196s133Mhzwire 10024s266Mhzwifi g90s266Mhzwire 10020Conclusion:Great!!!I couldn't figure out the nail trimmer method (maybe they mean scissor type trimmers?), so I warmed up the soldering iron. Running at 266.24 now.Total time was about 20 minutes, from powering down to powering up. This includes time looking for my soldering iron and waiting for the iron to warm up.Potential gotchas: Opening the case is tricky. Take your time and follow the instructions!.
Edit by pjackson Found out the NSLU2 I have had for a few years was underclocked, thanks to these fantastic directions and a standard razor blade was easily able to overclock to 263.78 and replace into case. Thank you!Warning: This is EXPERIMENTAL. Follow these instructions at your own risk!Warning: This WILL void your NSLU2's warranty!The NSLU2 as supplied from Linksys actually runs the IXP420 at half its rated clockspeed using an undocumented setting. You can fix the NSLU2 to run the IXP420 at the full 266MHz by removing a single SMD resistor which sets the IXP420 at a documented and recommended setting. Restoring the rated clockspeed only affects the XScale core inside the IXP420. The external interfaces will stay at their respective speeds. Edit by mxlyons I have a Keyspan US-19HS USB-to-serial adapter.
After making this modification, the serial interface no longer worked. I suspect the port speed is now incorrect. I need a 57600 bps port, and couldn't change the speed using 'stty' to a value that worked. I moved my installation to a second NSLU2 in original condition and it worked as before.
This seems odd, as I would think the adapter does its own timing and doesn't rely on CPU clock speed. I'll do some more research when I have time and update this comment.
Procedure #1You will need a pair of fingernail clippers and an anti-static wristband. I suggest you have an anti-static wristband to prevent possible static electricity frying the slug. I however have done this to over 20 slugs without one with no problems.
If you do not have an anti-static band, I suggest you touch something metal before you do this and do it in a room around 70 degrees and no carpet.Just open the case find the R83 resistor, grab it with the finger nail clippers, apply a little pressure and pull it straight off. It should come right off, usually in one piece.
If it doesn't come off in one piece, turn the unit upside down and shake it gently a bit to make sure it all comes off (or you can blow on it a little, just be sure not to spit on it).I recommend this over the procedure because its a lot easier. I've moved some of the success stories for this procedure up here.- After seeing Martin's post above, I realized that a simple, cheap 0.99c pair of small pharmacy-store nail clippers would do the trick in cleanly removing the resistor without cutting or with heavy force. Same idea as using a pair of pliers: carefully position the 'mouth' of the clipper perpedicular to the resistor and apply consistant pressure. A slight twist and the surface mouth resistor should come off quite happily. Tsang'- Just want to second Wei Tsang's recommendation about nail clippers. First thing I did with my slug, before I even plugged it in, was to crack open the case and clip off R83. It worked perfectly and was really easy to do.
The resistor's small enough that it took me one or two tries to get the clippers to grab on, but once I'd found the proper angle (YMMV) it took one snip and that was it. Reassembled the case and the slug booted perfectly.acm.- Ditto to success with Nail Clippers. Resistor just ends up as dust.
Very quick and easy.mjed.-I used some metal tweezers, easy as pie. NSLU is, obiously, twice as fast. Why didn't I do this before? - morphine.- I also used a nail clipper.
The angle is not so obvious: I just got the jaws to make slight contact with the resistor and lightly twisted. Runs much smoother now.The Phil- Things went really wrong for me. Maybe because I forgot to touch 'something in metal' (feel really dumb about that: I OWN an anti-static wristband.). After I removed the resistor, the slug didn't boot up, and went to firmware upgrade mode. I tried re-flashing the debian installer, but verification failed, and at that point, I have not been able to put the slug in firmware upgrade mode again.
So now I know how to brick a Slug like you can brick a WRT. Anyway, my favourite retailer now has full speed Slugs, I'll just buy a new one.More success stories below on this page for this technique. Optional: To verify that your slug is now faster; from a telnet window, again cat /proc/cpuinfo You should see a value of around 266. Bogo still means 'Bogus', so don't worry if it's +/- 10!
This is actually the result of a delay loop calibration in the kernel, and certainly not the total perfomance story. But it will confirm that you made the change that you thought you did.- If you just cannot wait until the soldering iron heats up: Alternative method of removal of the resistor requires sharp box cutter or a scalpel. Position of the resistor on the board makes it easy to simply cut the resistor in half.
Resistor is fragile, it will shatter and pieces will fall out. Make sure pieces do not stick around on the board.
Andrei Volkov - I used a small cutter (looks like a wire cutter) that came with screw driver kit to shatter the R83. I found this to be a little safer than using a box cutter or exacto knife because there is less of a chance of damaging the PCB. With one snip, it was quickly and cleanly cut in two.
Lastly, I used one of those 'dust off' cans to clear the dust and fragments. Hsu- I have around. Zero soldering skills so I didn't want to accidentilly destroy anything else on the board. So I used a razor blade (the kinds you can get in those 50 packs). I picked at the solder joint on the left side, and eventually broke that whole joint.
Then just lifted the resistor up, and it snapped off. Fairly quick, took about. 10 minutes all togeather.Sharth- I sawed off R83 with an knife, and it worked perfectly. Be aware that increasing the clock frequency will also shorten (to about 0.8 seconds) the window within which RedBoot is open to a telnet connection, making it that much more difficult to gain access (see ).Ian- Cut with a standard cutter, After I go from 3.94mb/sec to 5,35mb/sec -overlordIf you're happy about overclocking your slug, you may want to send in a to the project.You might want to keep an eye on the temperature, especially if you're running the slug inside its casing. In my experience running outside the case, it keeps a comfortable temperature around 40°C.
YMMV!- The easiest way might be the 'solder ball trick'. Get a soldering iron (no more than 25W or you'll tear the tracks off the board) and melt a blob of solder onto the tip. Move it into position so that the blob is touching both ends of the resistor simultaneously. Wait for the resistor to stick to the solder, then just lift off the iron. Use some desolder wick to remove any solder left on the pads, check for shorts, then put the Slug back together again.
Beats trying to melt one side, then flip to the other before the solder cools down. It also pretty much removes the risk of destroying tracks on the board that the knife/boxcutter method carries.
Unless you decide to use a 100W solder gun instead of a 25W iron (or a temperature controlled iron set to about 330 Celsius).- I've done this with no cutting anything. Check the table, just added a new 10 K resistors (R81) on the empty slot (A22) (just below the red rectangle on the picture). Like this just, to remove it if I want to go back.
Like this A21,A22 and A23 are set to 0. Charly- I couldn't managed to cut the resistor with a blade (perhaps mine was slightly blunt) so I used a pair or small embroidery scissors to get a grip on the resistor and pull it off.
End result was just the same.Ed-Complete idiot success. I had no idea really what I was doing and I somehow did it. Used the nail clipper method.-One more noob success. Sharp little blade of a Swiss Army Knife® and 3minutes time = turbo-slug!-3 minutes work, total success. Go Turboslug! Go!-Performance frustration success.
One evening when it went slow on me I just went and did it nailclipper style. Its a new slug on steroids. Why didnt I do this before?! Hardest part was opening the case.
The instructions were a bit vague.-Did it with very sharp nail scissors. I just cut R83 into two pieces. The slug works without problems, but you can hear a verry quiet sound at a verry high frequency. Almost not hearable for me. Can anyone exlpain to me, where this sound comes from?-I managed to get the resistor off using a nail clipper after some preliminary cutting of the solder using a utility knife. Everything seems to be running fine at 266. Opening the case without breaking the tabs was the hardest part.
I'm running (Etch). 2007-04-07.-I simply desoldered R83. Use one hand to hold it with an IC removal clip and the other to use the iron to melt the solder. Pull up on the end of the solder you melt and it'll pull free easily. Then just clean up the pads and you're set.
Noah-Removed with clippers. The component labeled '100' on the diagram gets in the way and makes it awkward. As the clippers mangled the resistor I appeared to be making an appalling mess. However, the resistor came away, the board looked okay, and the slug booted. It took about five minutes.
CS, Jan 2008-Got nail clippers but too hard to get good purchase. In the end a sharp pair of tweezers did the job.
Hardest part was making sure I did not break the clips when opening case. Slug seems to be running well. Humpda Aug 2008-my SO's nail clippers wouldn't work for me (I think a picture of the specific type of clippers is necessary). Used a swiss army knife. Same results, twice as many bogoMIPS. Can't believe it was so easy.
Sept 2008-New to NSLU2, I was able to perform this mod within about a minute or two, which included case removal and use of toenail clippers (simply because I don't know where the fingernail clippers are). A bit more tedius than others have described, but it still did the trick, grasping at 2 corners of the resistor, diagonally across from one another. NSLU2 is reading at 263.78 and is noticably faster! - purpleonyx, Sept. 18, 2008-Used the tweezers method and it worked great.
It seems much faster especially the running on it. Bit scary when you remove the resister but the result speaks for itself. Removed resistor on two boards with the very sharp corner of a brand new single edge razor blade (new blade for each board). Draw the razor blade with some downward pressure toward the outside edge of the circuit board at a point slightly left of center on the resistor. It takes some patience but after a number of cutting movements the resistor comes right out.UPDATE -Have removed resistor for a total of 5 (five) units now utilizing the razor blade method.
Some units are more stubborn than others. Unit #3 took about 15 minutes and 4 razor blades as they dulled, before resistor came out cleanly, unit #4 was extremely difficult and resistor just slowly disintegrated into a pile of dust after 30 very tedious minutes and six razor blades, unit #5 was EXTREMELY easy with very little pressure it just popped out totally clean after three swipes with the razor blade. Temperature and power considerationsThe slight increase in power consumption (see Power measurements below) is negligible. The increase in core temperature caused by this is also negligible. The maximum temperature measured by using IR thermometers on the IXP has been 52°C.
The maximum temperature of the IXP core power regulation circuitry has been 42°C. All power and temperature values have been well below the rated maximums given in the various datasheets and will comfortably support operation for extended periods of time with the case on and in a hot room.We are not overclocking the IXP420. It has been tested for operation at 266MHz by Intel and marked as so. There are no signs that the IXP420 used in the NSLU2 is anything other than a standard part.
All the markings and CPU IDs have been exactly as they should be.It is currently unknown why Linksys decided to halve the clockspeed using an undocumented setting but we have not found any reason to not reset it to 266MHz. At the time of this writing, there have been over 530 modified NSLU2's and each one has been operating under heavy load with no problems.The small change in power consumption can have some effect. For example, I can get it to boot with a Fujitsu 20GB (5V.55A), but can't get it to boot with a Samsung 40GB (5V 0.7A). (michaelebrown)I live in Denmark, have only 22C in my rooms.
My 133 slug crash every time I do 'long' sessins (50Mb - 1Gb). If I cool it down with a little fan it nevver crash at all.
( )Another sucsess, using very small screwdriver to simply crush the resistor. Also made about 8 small holes in the top of the casing to allow a little more air though, just in case overheating becomes an issue - 17/2/2007). TechnicalThe XScale core in the IXP420 can be forced to operate at a lower speed than the factory set speed. This is done by a series of pull down resistors connected to the IXP expansion bus which are read at reset.
The expansion bus pins on the IXP420 are internally pulled up so default to 1. A 10K pull down resistor is used to set it to 0.The core speed can not be changed once started so it is a hardware only mod. The part on the current revision NSLU2s is a B0 stepping IXP420 rated for operation at 266MHz. A turbo-button alternative to removing R83:Rather than removing R83, I added a switch + 10K resistor in the pads for A22/R81 (see picture above, switch+resistor wires are soldered in the space below the red box).I positioned my turbo-button at the back of the slug, next to the Ethernet plug. The switch can change the speed of the slug from 133 to 266MHz and back.
This is great if you want some oomf for development but also need to test software at the original speed. Unlike a PC turbo-button, speed is set before switching on the device. Speed cannot be changed once the Slug is on.This is my own experience with a single device, take with a pinch salt: In terms of current consumption, I noticed that my slug hooked to a 2.5' 12GB Toshiba hard drive (USB powered) will not boot with the original 5V 2A power supply.
Linksys Nslu2 Software
It will boot fine however, with a 5V 2.5A power supply.Added by T I tried this with limited soldering skills. I used a piece of wire scavenged from network cable and soldered in a 1W 10k resistor. This took ages especially as the wires came off when putting the case back on. I liked the idea of dual speed in case of problems and did not want to damage the board removing the resistor as above with finger nail clippers which do seem to big.
Potential for overclock to 266MHzThe IXP420 is locked to a specific maximum frequency at the time of manufacture by Intel. There is no known way to override this frequency lock.One possible method is to change the 33MHz oscillator used in the NSLU2 for a higher frequency part. This will cause the IXP420 to run at a higher core speed and will also have the unfortunate outcome of increasing the PCI, expansion and SDRAM bus. L M B E N C H 2. 0 S U M M A R Y-Basic system parameters-Host OS Description Mhz-slug2 Linux 2.6.11. Armv5teb-linux-gnu 133slugracer Linux 2.6.12 armv5teb-linux-gnu 266Processor, Processes - times in microseconds - smaller is better-Host OS Mhz null null open selct sig sig fork exec shcall I/O stat clos TCP inst hndl proc proc proc-slug2 Linux 2.6.11.
133 2.09 4.29 40.1 47.7 261.1 7.72 22.2 4921 15.K 65.Kslugracer Linux 2.6.12 266 0.63 2.12 24.4 28.2 126.9 3.99 10.9 2504 8619 42.KContext switching - times in microseconds - smaller is better-Host OS 2p/0K 2p/16K 2p/64K 8p/16K 8p/64K 16p/16K 16p/64Kctxsw ctxsw ctxsw ctxsw ctxsw ctxsw ctxsw-slug2 Linux 2.6.11. 186.7 337.8 736.1 361.1 763.6 361.9 753.3slugracer Linux 2.6.12 126.3 253.4 584.8 272.4 600.3 266.7 593.2.Local.
Communication latencies in microseconds - smaller is better-Host OS 2p/0K Pipe AF UDP RPC/ TCP RPC/ TCPctxsw UNIX UDP TCP conn-slug2 Linux 2.6.11. 186.7 407.6 1148 833.3 2065slugracer Linux 2.6.12 126.3 238.4 503. 598.6 1482File & VM system latencies in microseconds - smaller is better-Host OS 0K File 10K File Mmap Prot PageCreate Delete Create Delete Latency Fault Fault-slug2 Linux 2.6.11. 1062.7 1356.9 3759.4 2008.0 1959.0 1.539 83.0slugracer Linux 2.6.12 499.3 771.0 1865.7 1075.3 1135.0 1.471 66.0.Local. Communication bandwidths in MB/s - bigger is better-Host OS Pipe AF TCP File Mmap Bcopy Bcopy Mem MemUNIX reread reread (libc) (hand) read write-slug2 Linux 2.6.11. 19.6 24.2 21.3 30.9 64.4 36.9 43.3 64.4 68.3slugracer Linux 2.6.12 26.6 26.8 24.4 38.3 97.1 44.5 50.6 97.1 79.0Memory latencies in nanoseconds - smaller is better(WARNING - may not be correct, check graphs)-Host OS Mhz L1 $ L2 $ Main mem Guesses-slug2 Linux 2.6.11. 133 22.5 242.7 252.5 No L2 cache?slugracer Linux 2.6.12 266 11.3 175.2 186.7 No L2 cache?
Core-ClockIdleRunningCurrentTemp133MHz8.1W8.6W1.72A42.0°C266MHz8.2W9.0W1.8A43.6°Cnote: These measurements were taken at the mains-side of the PSU and thus include the power-consumption (loss) of the PSU.Further note: Measuring the AC draw with a Kill-a-watt meter, a total draw of 5W including a laptop hardrive (Samsung MP0603H) was measured on a 266MHz slug, so this is a very different measurement. The Power factor was bad, so the VA draw (the apparent usage) was 9-11, but it's Watts you're billed on. More data points required! For explanation of VA, PF, etc., Google 'Power Factor' VA Watts.
The NSLU2 is sort of a NAS (network addressed storage) where you have to use your own drives. Great for backups and whatever, but it can do so much more. There is alternative firmware such as Openwrt that can be installed on it to allow it to act as a router, You can find other firmware that will even allow the unit to act as a PBX. Those are specially distributions. We wanted to go all the way and install a full Linux distribution on it.
Then the sky is the limit of what you can do with it. All of this only takes a few watts compared to the traditional server that uses hundreds of watts. True energy saving. The NSLU2 has been named the 'slug' for it's slow speed.
Despite that it can do so many wonderful things. Another shortcoming is that you will not be able to use a monitor out of the box to watch it. You will have to use another computer or terminal to access it. Ironically I had an old text based unix terminal to work with it. That terminal has gone to a better place. Have actually converted the NSLU2 to Linux before but returned it to the original firmware when it looked like it might fizzle out.
Fortunately the Arm processors (CPU) are now all the rage. I thought that I might see a zillion of the units on Ebay. Nope there were none. So that is a testament to how useful the unit is. Note: if you have any drives connected or that have been connected to your NSLU2, make sure you can access them from another computer before you even start thinking about doing this project.
If not you could lose valuable data!!!! Try this project at your own risk, as I will not be responsible for any or all issues.
Get a linux professional if you feel uncomfortable with this project. Actually we have it pretty easy as we are ready have one. I remember to do the Debian linux install and it took forever to get all the files to be set up. You get a short cut.
We need to mount the drive First create a mount point if you do not have one. Eddie@oedt01:$ sudo mkdir /media/usb Mount the drive's linux partition. Remember we set up the second partition for the os. Eddie@oedt01:$ sudo mount /dev/sdb2 /media/usb Change to the mounted partition eddie@oedt01:$ cd /media/usb eddie@oedt01:/media/usb$ Now let's expand the tar archive to install all the files. Note zjvf s/b xjvf $ sudo tar xjvf /base.tar.bz2 It will take a while. Then let's see the new partition file list $ ls eddie@oedt01:/media/usb$ ls bin dev home lost+found mnt proc sbin srv tmp var boot etc lib media opt root selinux sys usr eddie@oedt01:/media/usb$ Almost there!
Umount the drive and remove. You will need to install upslug2 for installing the firmware on your pc (or virtual machine). $ sudo apt-get install upslug2 change to the directory where you downloaded the firmware. $ cd Downloads Type in, but do not press enter yet! Eddie@oedt01:/Downloads$ sudo upslug2 -i sda2-2.6.32-5 Now you have to write the Debian firmware image to your NSLU2. You can do this with upslug2, a tool for Linux and Unix which can be used to write a firmware image to the NSLU2 via the network (the software is packaged for Debian). First, you have to put your NSLU2 in upgrade mode: Disconnect any disks and/or devices from the USB ports.
Power off the NSLU2 Press and hold the reset button (accessible through the small hole on the back just above the power input). Press and release the power button to power on the NSLU2. Wait for 10 seconds watching the ready/status LED.
After 10 seconds it will change from amber to red (on older NSLU2) or dark orange (on newer machines). Immediately release the reset button. The NSLU2 ready/status LED will flash alternately dark orange and green (there is a 1 second delay before the first green). The NSLU2 is now in upgrade mode. Connect your hard drive immediately when upslug2 is done and then your device will reboot. The first time you boot, the system will probably check your drives. Please wait patiently until this is over.
When the drive check is done, your NSLU2 will reboot again and directly boot into your new Debian system. The system includes support for the Intel IXP4xx network chip (including the proprietary microcode that is required for operation) and will try to obtain an IP address via DHCP on eth0. SSH is installed and remote root logins are allowed. The password is root. Eddie@oedt01:/.ssh$ ssh root@192.168.1.120 root@192.168.1.120's password: Linux oesrvr3 2.6.32-5-ixp4xx #1 Mon Oct 3 12:19:10 UTC 2011 armv5tel The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software; the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the individual files in /usr/share/doc/./copyright. Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by applicable law.
Last login: Wed Jul 11 17: from oedt01.homelinux.com foobar:#. Since the file system is from another computer, you will need to do some cleanup. Change the root password # passwd root You want to add at least one user as it is not good to be logged in as the administrator (aka root) for security purposes. # adduser username You need to recreate the system ssh key so it will be your own.
# rm /etc/ssh/sshhost. # dpkg-reconfigure openssh-server You need to update where software to be installed is from. # vim /etc/apt/sources.list old: deb squeeze main deb squeeze/updates main new: deb squeeze main deb squeeze/updates main Get the correct time as the NSLU2 does not have a clock. (for the first time, you'll probably have to setup the clock manually using the date command). # ntpdate pool.ntp.org Update the system software: (this will take a while) # apt-get update # apt-get upgrade # apt-get dist-upgrade Correct the time zone: # dpkg-reconfigure tzdata Correct the locale: # dpkg-reconfigure locales Use your own host name # vim /etc/hosts (use your own new name.
Oldname: foobar new name: oesrvr3 # vim /etc/hosts Again change the old name to the new name same as the previous step. Once you have cranked up the NSLU2 and logged in, you will want to add a couple of pieces of software. $ sudo apt-get install build-essential boa screen Build-essential is the C compiler to generate the programs we will use. Boa is a lightweight Web server that supports cgi that we need for part two.
Screen allows us to detach from the unit when an install will take a while. For more information: C See K&R Boa: $ man boa Screen $ man screen Do not forget to update your router to include the nslu2. Stay tuned for part 2!! Note: for troubleshooting. Till we get to the home automation part, let use use your new server for music repository for your networked entertainment devices. We like daap compatible devices. Firefly aka mt-daapd is a favorite program of ours.
It actually has two versions as the program was forked or two separate developers started working on it. The newer version is more powerful, but the older version has a web interface. Eddie@oesrvr3:/$ sudo apt-cache search mt-daapd forked-daapd - media server with support for RSP, DAAP, DACP and AirTunes mt-daapd - iTunes-compatible DAAP server Install the software. Eddie@oesrvr3:/$ sudo apt-get install mt-daapd Edit the configuration file source directory and the passwords. (it is self explanatory). Eddie@oesrvr3:/$ sudo vim /etc/mt-daapd.conf Copy your music to the directory.
$ sudo cp srcdir/. destdir/. Then you may want to restart it to reflect changes. Eddie@oesrvr3:/$ sudo service mt-daapd restart Go to your music player and have fun. We use Rhythmbox, but any daap compatible device or a unit that has itunes should work.
Note: Song names are faked so that the instructable sounds more interesting. Was going to wait for the second instructable, but you can use it now.
At this point you can really only access the NSLU2 only from the command line. Now you will be able to access the NSLU2 with a more powerful interface than the original web page. So now you need to get the Webmin software. $ wget lets go to a directory where the install will be out of the home directory.
$ cd /opt You want to expand the archive to a usable form. Eddie@oesrvr3:/opt$ tar xzvf /src/webmin-1.590.tar.gz Change into the working webmin directory just created. $ cd webmin-1.590 Run the install program eddie@oesrvr3:/opt/webmin-1.590$ sudo./setup.sh This will take a while and you may have to answer some questions. I think we just used all the default.
Linksys Nslu2 Software Download
To access the page, go to system with a web browser and point the url:10000 to the NSLU2. Now you can show off you little unit. Luckily, the Debian installation has the drivers for the typical usb to serial cable. We will be using an old Palm IIIxe as our terminal, but any old handhelp, regular computer, or even an old unix terminal with rs232 port should work. I am also assuming you know how to connect all the cabling.
For the palm, you need to go to and download ptelnet.zip. After extracting the file, you will need to get it to your palm. Assuming you have already installed software such as jpilot to sync data with your palm and that works, you will need to install one more piece of software on your computer. $ unzip ptelnet.zip $ sudo apt-get install pilot-xfer Then you can use pilot-xfer to transfter the ptelnet to your palm. Your pc may use another port besides /dev/ttyUSB0 so use what ever jpilot uses. $ sudo pilot-xfer -p /dev/ttyUSB0 -i ptelnet.prc On your palm, You will want to set up ptelnet to use a serial connection instead of telnet. Of course all the port settings should be the same on both devices.
To test the connection, on the NSLU2 from the pc using ssh to get into the NSLU2, use: $ sudo /sbin/getty -h -L ttyUSB0 9600 vt100 If you get an error you may need to also (and the run the getty command again): $ sudo chmod 666 /dev/ttyUSB0 On your palm, click on the ptelnet and make sure the on box is hi-lighted, If everthing is setup right, a login prompt should appear on your Palm. You can login and do your thing. No more need for the ssh session from the pc.
(after you have modified inittab) To make the serial port login permanent: You need to edit /etc/inittab $ sudo vim /etc/inittab Insert into /etc/inittab before the line starting with 'l3:3:wait.' T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -h -L ttyUSB0 9600 vt100 Save your edit and exit vim.
Now you can use any rs232 device at 9600 baud to access your NSLU2. Note: if there are no ports left for the usb-serial cable, you will need a usb hub to connect all the devices.
A hub that has it's own power source will work best as not to overtax the NSLU2. If you use an rs232 device, you may also need a null modem cable or adapter to connect to the NSLU2. Note 2: You could easily use this same method with the Raspberry Pi running Debian. Note: replaced the Palm III with an HP Jornada 620lx. Much better now. $ sudo apt-get digitemp Once inststalled You can use $ sudo digitempDS9097u -s /dev/ttyUSB0 -w 'Now, to read the temperatures.
You'll want the package, which is pre-packaged in Debian and probably most other Linux distributions. Once it's installed, you'll need to know what program to use. Several are available for different DS masters, but in the LinkUSBi's case, you'll want digitempDS9097U. To begin, verify the bus is working correctly by walking it:# digitempDS9097U -w -s /dev/ttyUSB0DigiTemp v3.5.0 Copyright 1996-2007 by Brian C. LaneGNU Public License v2.0 - off all DS2409 Couplers.Devices on the Main LAN28D14F: DS18B20 Temperature Sensor28E9393C020000C3: DS18B20 Temperature Sensor010EBED512000046: DS2401/DS1990A Serial Number iButtonThis shows the two DS18B20 temperature sensors (T-Sense probes), as well as the DS2401 embedded in my LinkUSBi.
(The DS2401 literally does nothing but return a serial number. Still, as mentioned before it's useful to have to verify the bus is working correctly even if no other devices are plugged into it.)Next you'll want to create a config file. I chose to store it in /etc/digitemp.conf.# digitempDS9097U -i -c /etc/digitemp.conf -s /dev/ttyUSB0DigiTemp v3.5.0 Copyright 1996-2007 by Brian C.