Surfboard x86

What works, and doesn't, for you. Be specific, and please include Puppy version.
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ttuuxxx
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Surfboard x86

#1 Post by ttuuxxx »

Ok I just purchased a Surfboard, it cost around $174 USD or $196AUD, here's the specs
CPU Fanless Xcore86 1Ghz “Device on Chip
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Last edited by ttuuxxx on Thu 02 Sep 2010, 14:11, edited 1 time in total.
http://audio.online-convert.com/ <-- excellent site
http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/A-codecs/ <-- Codec Test Files
http://html5games.com/ <-- excellent HTML5 games :)

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Lobster
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#2 Post by Lobster »

Very nice Ttuuxxx.

I thought you were going sea surfing on a motherboard . . . pictures helped . . . :wink:

Is the silver tube a subwoofer?
Puppy Raspup 8.2Final 8)
Puppy Links Page http://www.smokey01.com/bruceb/puppy.html :D

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ttuuxxx
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#3 Post by ttuuxxx »

Lobster wrote:Very nice Ttuuxxx.

I thought you were going sea surfing on a motherboard . . . pictures helped . . . :wink:

Is the silver tube a subwoofer?
yes the silver tube is a subwoofer, That's why I bought the wii speakers, they had them OVERPRICED at Target, The regular price was $80 for 2 speakers and subwoofer , The sale price was $12 what a sale, so I figured there and then I just had to hack the power supply and I would have a nice set of small full range speakers at a small price, even if it didn't work it would only be $12 lost. hmmm I might go back and buy another set for the future :)
ttuuxxx
http://audio.online-convert.com/ <-- excellent site
http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/A-codecs/ <-- Codec Test Files
http://html5games.com/ <-- excellent HTML5 games :)

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jemimah
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#4 Post by jemimah »

Can I trouble you for an lsmod? To get a better idea of the hardware...

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ttuuxxx
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#5 Post by ttuuxxx »

jemimah wrote:Can I trouble you for an lsmod? To get a better idea of the hardware...
# lsmod
Module Size Used by
snd_pcm_oss 27699 0
snd_seq_dummy 903 0
snd_seq_oss 18053 0
snd_seq_midi_event 3480 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 30329 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 3605 3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_mixer_oss 10073 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_hda_codec_realtek 161575 1
snd_hda_intel 14910 3
snd_hda_codec 37389 2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_pcm 44779 4 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_page_alloc 4669 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd_timer 11284 3 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd 30666 14 snd_pcm_oss,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore 3143 1 snd
battery 7216 0
evdev 5392 0
serio_raw 2816 0
pcspkr 1151 0
fbcon 29409 0
bitblit 3674 1 fbcon
softcursor 829 1 bitblit
tileblit 1505 1 fbcon
font 6932 1 fbcon
r6040 7693 0
mii 2630 1 r6040
apm 9250 1
fuse 41743 0
aufs 114970 746
nls_iso8859_1 2937 3
nls_cp437 4465 3
usb_storage 29801 4
usbhid 17717 0
squashfs 15512 1
ohci_hcd 17156 0
ssb 29746 1 ohci_hcd
ehci_hcd 26356 0
usbcore 89595 5 usb_storage,usbhid,ohci_hcd,ehci_hcd
psmouse 43782 0
#


Hope that helps :)
ttuuxxx
http://audio.online-convert.com/ <-- excellent site
http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/A-codecs/ <-- Codec Test Files
http://html5games.com/ <-- excellent HTML5 games :)

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jemimah
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#6 Post by jemimah »

Do you know what the video card is?

You can get a netbook for that price with better hardware - but it can't touch .5watts. Of course if you add a monitor, .5 watts goes out the window.

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ttuuxxx
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#7 Post by ttuuxxx »

jemimah wrote:Do you know what the video card is?

You can get a netbook for that price with better hardware - but it can't touch .5watts. Of course if you add a monitor, .5 watts goes out the window.
That price was including the $42 dhl shipping, which was outrageous, I did opt for the tv-out extra feature and a North America to Australia $3 power converter plug. The thing is that it weighted less than my asrock superman keyboard that I had shipped from the USA for $20, plus it was 30% larger package. I think they need a new shipping carrier.
The developers forum is located at http://www.deviceonchip.com/index.php?o ... t&catid=18
thats where I have a puppy linux version thread, It should be the same video output as the edubook, Its still all new to me, I've only had it 24hrs or so right now. Funny thing is that it still post the battery on the taskbar, must be reminiscences of edubook, hmmm I could make a plugin UPS box in theory that could last 24hrs really cheap since it wouldn't power the monitor just keep the pc awake until the power comes back on, or moved to a new location with power.

I wish I knew what video driver it needs, it has a long lag right now.
I figure they should keep the sources for default drivers available to the general public.
ttuuxxx
http://audio.online-convert.com/ <-- excellent site
http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/A-codecs/ <-- Codec Test Files
http://html5games.com/ <-- excellent HTML5 games :)

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ttuuxxx
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#8 Post by ttuuxxx »

I think its this driver http://deviceonchip.com/index.php?optio ... ver-r0-0-9
but its getting late, I have to get up for work in 4 hrs.
I'll try again tomorrow, tonight was a good start.
ttuuxxx
http://audio.online-convert.com/ <-- excellent site
http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/A-codecs/ <-- Codec Test Files
http://html5games.com/ <-- excellent HTML5 games :)

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jemimah
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#9 Post by jemimah »

I think you'll need a kernel driver too, yes?

alas
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puppy 4.31 on the surfboard

#10 Post by alas »

Hi all, I am new to this forum and an enthusiast puppy fan. I have also ordered a surfboard, and I had the possibility to play with it and puppy linux 4.31 (gecko netbook edition). I would like to share my experience with you so far:

1. interesting features:

a. the keyboard is very light and compact, so I can imagine to use it on travel from home to the office almost like a netbook; it suits in my netbook travel case;

b. puppy 4.31 (gecko edubook edition) runs very well on the surfboard; sound (speakers out and mic) works out of the box, ethernet too.

c. hub supported, which extends the capabilities of the surfboard.

d. I keep the surfboard running during the last two days, and on the contrary to the gecko edubook, it does not become too hot, which is nice.

2. contra

a. wifi: I bought the surfboard with wifi built-in, which needs the driver rtl8188SU and the corresponding firmware; these are not in puppy 4.31; I tried to compile the driver using the archive provided by www.deviceonchip.com, but got a lot of issues... so I ended up using another usb dongle;

b. xorg: it needs the RDC driver (version 1.3) also provided on the web site of device on chip; the driver as just to be copied at /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/; after that, reboot X and configure xorg; though what is anoying to me: I can't get the 1366x768 resolution that my monitor needs, and I am stucked with a 1024x768 resolution...

I think that the wifi trouble can be solved with Lupu 5.1 as it has the driver and the firmware for the usb-wifi; but I don't know if it would behave nicer with X and the RDC driver.

After my contact with Michael Barnes from X86core, it seems that the surfboard behaves well with Quirky 008, but I did not test it.

So far, it is a very green and a efficient product, really happy to use it with puppy.

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ttuuxxx
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#11 Post by ttuuxxx »

Hi guys

I have a little SD2USB adapter, when I would run grub2dos to make the grub menu it would give it a pmedia=usbhd because the adapter was a usb, but that didn't work if I wanted to use just the sd card without the adapter in the surfboard, So I updated the script to make it ideflash each time :)
So once the menu is made just take the SD card out of the adapter and slide it into your sd slot
ttuuxxx
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http://audio.online-convert.com/ <-- excellent site
http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/A-codecs/ <-- Codec Test Files
http://html5games.com/ <-- excellent HTML5 games :)

alas
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flash ooops

#12 Post by alas »

unfortunately, the surfboard does not handle youtube video and flash better than the gecko edubook... that is not good, given the name of the device.

After my emails to Michael Barnes, he told me that it should behave better with unbuntu 10.04 made for the surfboard. I can not imagine that it is true, I tried to tweak the bios in order to make it behave better with youtube video, but no go.

ok, i did not buy the surfboard in order to watch youtube video, nevertheless, not a good experience at this side.

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Re: flash ooops

#13 Post by ttuuxxx »

alas wrote:unfortunately, the surfboard does not handle youtube video and flash better than the gecko edubook... that is not good, given the name of the device.

After my emails to Michael Barnes, he told me that it should behave better with unbuntu 10.04 made for the surfboard. I can not imagine that it is true, I tried to tweak the bios in order to make it behave better with youtube video, but no go.

ok, i did not buy the surfboard in order to watch youtube video, nevertheless, not a good experience at this side.
hi alas

I'm thinking its a cpu architecture thing, sure its a 86 vortex cpu, but I have a feeling that its not as complete as a a normal 86x desktop cpu, Barry's version of the edubook puppy had a kernel patch, other puppies I've been trying like 4.0,4.3 etc have all run about the same, 4.0 was missing the networking for the lan, that just a compile away.
Plus I noticed the memory was running at 400 MHz, I don't think that's right since it suppose to be ddr2 which at a min should be 533MHz.
I think it might take 6 months to a year before we see youtube running at full speed. I'll look more into it this weekend. I have a feeling that Glibc, Gtk, xorg and the kernel might need to be compiled. First the patches would need to be found and applied.
ttuuxxx
http://audio.online-convert.com/ <-- excellent site
http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/A-codecs/ <-- Codec Test Files
http://html5games.com/ <-- excellent HTML5 games :)

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gjuhasz
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Re: flash ooops

#14 Post by gjuhasz »

ttuuxxx wrote: I think it might take 6 months to a year before we see youtube running at full speed.
Using a webm compatible browser, join the HTML5 beta first:

http://www.youtube.com/html5

then locate the video you want to see in youtube. There is a chance that you access the webm format this way.

I have a PII 400 MHz Toshiba Tecra 8000 laptop with Neomagic chipset and 256 MB RAM - far below the capabilities of the Surfboard.

Youtube videos have been jerky on this machine for a long time.
Tried V8/webm videos but they simply killed Seamonkey (SM 2.1a/b builds support webm).

Then I tried Wary 060. Installed Midori browser (pet from technosaurus, see http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=51971), with Pup-advert-blocker (see http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=59290).
Youtube videos played much better due to the lighweight browser.
But Midori 2.2 is not a webm-compatible browser.

Then I downloaded some webm videos to play them locally with mplayer. Surprisingly, it showed local webm files as a charm.

Then I simply renamed the downloaded x.webm files to x.mp4. I opened the renamed files with Midori, which recognized and played them using Wary's default mplayer plugin - no jerky effects. Wow!

Other browsers still crash. I am trying to tweek Midori to access and play webm files.

As far as I know, Midori supports webm videos from v0.2.4. Hopefully, the current Midori will be available as pet package soon.
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Webm video forced in Midori.
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cobyhoff
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APM

#15 Post by cobyhoff »

I don't have a surfboard, but I do have an Edubook, which I assume is very similar as far as the software sees the hardware. All the hardware has been functional out-of-the-box using Lupo 5.1. The only thing that hasn't (and still doesn't) worked is the limited implementation of Advanced Power Management (APM) that the Xcore86 module uses. The real-world manifestation of this is the inability to shut down the computer. (I really dislike holding the power button for 5 seconds after the OS has halted!) It sounds like you have been fighting different problems. Is there really a difference in the display drivers on the surfboard versus the Edubook? I had no problem using Xorg.

alas
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#16 Post by alas »

thanks everyone for the your posts.

Lupu 5.1: I did not try it on the surfboard, because I need wikidpad, and I did not find one to use with Lupu 5.1. If someone could point me to a solution for wikidpad, i shall then install lupu 5.1 on the surfboard and give a feedback here.

youtube: yes, I could use a lightweight browser, or even download flv files in order to watch them off line; I could use html5 youtube, or mobile youtube etc. But I wanted to address the general problem with flash contents, and it is not limited to youtube, but to every flash content on the net; given this, the surfboard does not get the job done with flash content, what makes browsing flash content online a very frustrating experience.

APM: I don't care much about switching the surfboard or the edubook by pressing the on/off button, but indeed, it is one issue that i did not expect while buying the devices, and which is not solved (exception: the unofficial release 4.32 with the kernel patch).

xorg: using puppy linux 4.31 (gecko edubook edition), i can get xorg up and running with the rdc driver; but as my resolution won't be catched up, it does not behave correctly; after one hour using the surfboard, I get a little light-grey square stuck at my mouse pointer, and I have to reboot X in order to get rid of it; so, I switched back to xvesa... Here too, I should try lupu 5.1 to see if it solves the problem.

alas
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lupu 5.11

#17 Post by alas »

so, I have tried lupu 5.11 on the surfboard.

as expected, the built-in wifi works out of the box, as sound.

but no success with X. I tried all the rdc drivers provided by deviceonchip.com, to no go.

I can use the xvesa server, but this does not make any difference with what I have by now using puppy linux 4.31. I can't get a resolution at 1366x768, and I am stuck at 1024x768

cobyhoff
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APM

#18 Post by cobyhoff »

Regarding the grey box around the cursor, I too experience that aberration. Any time I click on something that brings up a context menu, it invokes that grey box that will not go away. The behavior remains consistent in the various versions of Puppy that I have tried. (4.3.1, 4.3.2, 5.1.1). I suppose that means that X isn't actually working flawlessly as I previously implied. :)

I sympathize about the lack of a correct display resolution. I really dislike skewed aspect ratios and pixel mismatch dithering. Drives me nuts.

I'm surprised, though, that the Surfboard should behave any differently in X than the Edubook. Is it just the grey box that is the problem, or does it not work at all? Does it work if you try to run it at 800x600 or 1024x768? When I tried Puppy 4.3.1, it wouldn't work at the Edubook's 1024x600 resolution, but would work at 800x600 or 1024x768. Again, I can't stand stretched aspect ratios, and 1024x768 actually cut off the bottom 168 pixels of the screen.

I'm sorry my posts don't actually have solutions. I do want to contribute to a solution, if I am able.

alas
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#19 Post by alas »

hi, thanks for your post. Ah, you know, solutions.... say, we are just doing it for the sake of it, important thing is to stimulate our brain on this.

Xorg.: as you have pointed it out, yes, I did believe that the surfboard would behave like the edubook. But this is not true. With the surfboard and Lupu 5.11 for example, I can not get another resolution working, like 1024x768. Ok, it seems that the rdc drivers for the edubook provided by deviceonchip.com did not match the version of the xorg-server in Lupu 5.11.

With puppy 4.31 (edubook edition), I am using the xvesa-server because I can't get the 1366x768 resolution with xorg, and get the grey square with xorg (not with xvesa). BUT: with the edubook, no problem the get the right resolution with xorg. Also, I have seen that the rdc driver displays different choices in xorgwizard on the gecko edubook, than on the surfboard. Typically, on the edubook i get choices beginning with h... something. On the surfboard, I have the usual resolutions shown as 1024x768 OK for card, OK for monitor.

So I suspect that some features are slightly different on the surfboard in comparison to the gecko edubook.

A this point, I think that one has two solution:

- compile a lot of things anew for the surfboard;
- wait for an improvement coming from the team at deviceonchip.

Anyway, I am too much busy at the moment to compile things, so I shall wait for new improvements coming from device on chip.

Alas

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Difference between Surfboard and Edubook

#20 Post by cobyhoff »

The difference just occurred to me. The internal display in the Edubook is a digital connection. (LVDS or FPD-Link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FPD-Link.) That communicates both ways from the monitor to the graphics chipset. I assume your Surfboard is connected to your monitor via VGA (15pin DSUB).

It makes perfect sense to me that the same graphics chipset and drivers might behave completely different on an analog VGA connection than it does on a digital LVDS connection. Unfortunately, this does nothing to resolve the problem, just puts my mind at ease to have an explanation.

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