Linux on a THiiN Line SiteStak
Introduction:
The THiiN Line SiteStak was manufactured by Data General which was bought by EMC^2.
I don't know when the production was stopped but the latest news I found are from the year 1998.
The SiteStak was designed to be a easy of use web server running WindowsNT. The SiteStak came in two configurations, the TW-150: PPro 166MHz/64MB RAM/1x2GB HD/10,100 NIC and the TW-500: PPro 200MHz/128MB RAM/2x2GB HD/10,100 NIC
By the way, I was told that TW stands for Tom West the founder of the business unit that build the SideStak.
For more information check my THiiN Line mirror page a mirror from the original pages (I mirrored it from a other mirror ... was hard to find)
See my SiteStak modification page ... we did some hardware modifications...
Hardware:
Short hardware description (things not in the specs).
TW-500 (I only have this one):
SCSI: Adaptec AIC-7880P SCSI interface with two SCA connectors
NIC: DEC 21143-TC chip (10/100 Mbps) RJ45 connector
SERIAL PORTS: 2 serial ports over one chip (S9730AH - PC16552DV) both with RJ45 connector (see connector diagram)
RAM: two DIMM sockets (each with a 64 MB EDO ECC module)
Linux 2.4.18 kernel boot output (nice hardware infos)
Linux installation:
This is the tricky part which did cost me a lot of time.
It looks like the SiteStak only boots from a WindowsNT or a PRIMARY DOS Partition?! So basically you need a small DOS partition (and a DOS MBR) to boot
the system and from there you boot Linux with loadlin
Things you need:
a PC with a SCSI controller
a SCA to SCSI wide/narrow Adapter (depends on your SCSI system)
[recommended] a null modem cable with an RJ45 connector on one side (see connector diagram)
a set of MS-DOS boot disks (I used MS-DOS 6.22) should also work with Windoze
If you have a running system (with WindowsNT) make a hard drive image before doing anything described here! Because you will lose everything!
short description of the single steps:
- configure your install system in that way that the SCA disk (from the SiteStak) is disk #1
- boot the system using a MS-DOS/Windoze boot media (floppy / cd-rom)
- wipe the disk
- create a new primary DOS partition and install MS-DOS to it
- now reboot the system with your favorite Linux distribution install media (floppy / cd-rom / what ever)
- INSTALL Linux
- build a new kernel
- make the system bootable using loadlin.exe
- test boot the system
- put the disk back into the SiteStak
detailed description (with tips):
- actually you don't need a complete MS-DOS install just do "sys c:", "fdisk /mbr" and "edit autoexec.bat and config.sys"
- when configuring the new kernel make sure to add support for the AIC-7xxx SCSI chip and the DEC NIC chip also activate console on serial port
- check my kernel config Linux 2.4.18. I also build in the drivers for my SCSI controller and the LAN card in my install system
(other wise you can't boot the Linux installation on your install system!)
- put loadlin.exe and the kernel image on the DOS partition (I have everything in c:\linux) now add loadlin to the END of autoexec.bat
configuration tips:
loadlin
add: console=ttyS0,9600n8
to the loadlin parameter list, to get the console output on the first serial port
/etc/inittab
comment out all the virtual consoles
put in a console on the first serial port, example: T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 9600 vt100
this will enable you to login via a terminal program (if your network doesn't work, etc...)
v0.4 (c) Collin R. Mulliner 12.08.2003
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