| Author |
Topic |
|
Da Penguin
Senior Member
USA
1094 Posts |
 Posted - 23 Dec 2003 : 12:39:52
Hello all! I just recently got this UBER cool server mediacube thing made by ncube, that i won on ebay. I have yet to get pictures up, but this 82lbs beast is awesome.
If you want to take a look at it, here is the ebay url:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3064687466&category=11209&rd=1It is quite awesome, and I really only wanted the case, but I am now thinking aboot running linux or summat on it. However, I cannot find ANY documentation on anything about this machine. I am still googling furiously, but some of you are quite good at this as well. So if you are all feeling like sneaking away from overly annoying family...  But yes, this will be my last post and/or thread this year more than likely, hope everyone has a great holiday! ~The Penguin **| Want free 68kmla email? Drop me a line |**
| Captain, Intelligence Operations / Space Cowboy |
| "The choice has been made, but now you must understand it" | |
Sludgedragon
Starting Member
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 24 Dec 2003 : 07:56:30
I don't Google but I do Sherlock. I found these, which will be of limited use.http://www.products.datamation.com/clients_servers/video/936893669.html http://www.hoise.com/primeur/99/articles/monthly/AE-PR-10-99-36.html Maybe somebody will find more by going at it sideways. ;-) I have too much clutter. I have too much clutter. I have too much clutter. I have too much... |
Da Penguin
Senior Member
USA
1094 Posts |
Posted - 24 Dec 2003 : 11:09:58
Cool, thanks for the help.I grabbed some pictures, http://mind.torpedobird.com/images/ncube/ncube.html This thing is ending up being pretty cool, from just my own exploration.
This is what I have learned so far: -Dual 800 watt power supplies, redundant, and dual blower units to keep the whole thing cooled, as well as the 12 80 pin drive bays
-The fibre copper hard drive connections (8 of em) have 512 of dedicated memory, which is cool. Also got a gigabit fibre network card in this thing too 
-The thing only has ONE "regular" (non networking related) port on it, and that is an rs232 serial port, no monitor, keyboard, etc....sorta This leads me to think I will have to install linux remotely and terminal over the serial cable, wheeeee!!!
-The board has TONS of diagnostic connections all over it when I removed it. With the presence of an ATX connector right on the mobo, I am assuming it is for running the motherboard by itself, outside the case, which is cool All in all its going to be interesting, but not bad for a $10 investment (minus the $37 shipping, ugh) ~The Penguin **| Want free 68kmla email? Drop me a line |**
| Captain, Intelligence Operations / Space Cowboy |
| "The choice has been made, but now you must understand it" | |
cory5412
68KMLA Comrade-in-Arms
USA
4679 Posts |
Posted - 24 Dec 2003 : 18:36:50
P2-400 MHz it looks like it'd make a great server  Add twelve huge hard drives, and mount it on a rack, and it'll be uber cool I bet it'll run most regular X86 nix distros, but I'm not sure Official 68k videographer
Official MLA TourGuide
Editor of the MLAgazine
"I'm just a normal computer geek who somehow landed a social life" |
The Lightning Stalker
Full Member
USA
747 Posts |
Posted - 24 Dec 2003 : 18:50:50
Man, what a BEAST! Looks like you got some SERIOUS server hardware there. Did it come with a moving dolly? The nCUBE home page: http://www.ncube.com The Lightning Stalker Performa 631CD, 7.5.5
LC III Mail Server
Q610
Q650 6400/180 40/1.6G/512k L2/enet/video-in/TV
7600/120 '604/233, 80/1.2G & 4G, 9.2.2
Beige G3/266 ATX Tower Lady Smith Apples:
Apple IIc 5.25"
2 Apple IIe Edited by - The Lightning Stalker on 24 Dec 2003 18:54:59 |
The Lightning Stalker
Full Member
USA
747 Posts |
Posted - 24 Dec 2003 : 19:22:44
For video, all you would have to do would probably be to drop in a video card into one of those PCI slots. My god! It has 64-bit PCI slots! I just hope it doesn't need some kind of custom OS being that it may have non standard architecture. In that case, you would be out of luck, because nCUBE will probably charge through the nose for services. Sometimes when you aquire something _THIS_ exotic, you may run into a custom architecture. Looks like it was originally to be some kind of streaming video server. You may also have trouble finding sleds for it. |
Da Penguin
Senior Member
USA
1094 Posts |
Posted - 24 Dec 2003 : 21:22:54
Yeah, its definitely a home grown board, but I think it is still "standard" enough. Nothing overly proprietary (like 37pin ram or something).It was made for Video On Demand solutions, like macworld streaming. The 8 port copper fibre thing was to interface with other ncubes, hence the 512 buffer on it. the ncube site, sadly, has very little on it. I'm guessing even support would cost alot. From what I can gather though, it seems to have been running a linux or unix flavour, with custom software running in that environment. So hopefully I can use it just fine. I haven't seen any sleds, but oh well. There are two ATA buses on board, Ill just get long cables or something temporarily. There are three 64pit pci slots, one has the fibre network card in it. Once my friend with PeeCees has some time, he will let me borrow his machines and/or parts to see if we can get a linux installed on this bad boy. Thanks for all the help, this thing is FUN! ~The Penguin **| Want free 68kmla email? Drop me a line |**
| Captain, Intelligence Operations / Space Cowboy |
| "The choice has been made, but now you must understand it" | |
Da Penguin
Senior Member
USA
1094 Posts |
Posted - 24 Dec 2003 : 21:50:11
Ok, I figured out that it runs, in the typical environment, something called "Transit Operating System" which looks very, and acts very, similar to Unix, from what I have read. I can't find much more info on transit itself, most of the searches I have done bring up mass transit things, heh.I plan on getting some higher-res and better lighting pictures of the motherboard, to get a layout sense of everything. ~The Penguin (10 minutes until christmas!) **| Want free 68kmla email? Drop me a line |**
| Captain, Intelligence Operations / Space Cowboy |
| "The choice has been made, but now you must understand it" | |
|
MediaCube 4: I need google scouts!
68k of the Week: kastegir's PowerBook 180.