So last week I picked from a boot sale, an HP HSTNC-004-TC thin client computer. Only £1.00 So just wondering what to do with it, since it works! It has an on-board 128mb DOM drive, 4 USB ports, ethernet, ps/2 mouse & k/board, VGA & DVI, and 1gb RAM (laptop type). I mangaed to install to a pen drive and change the OS to Windows thin, downloaded from HP's site. The original wouldn't boot? It will run small Linux distro's direct from a pen drive, even ran one that does emulators Googling for more info it seems that you can attach an IDE hard disk instead of the DOM, and boot from it. An IDE 2.5" 44pin cable, as found in Amiga A600's & A1200's is needed for this. You can also, if your soldering is good enough, wire up SATA, as the contacts are there but no port. I will try and get some pictures up of the mobo tomorrow. So what do you guys think would be a good use for this unit?
Could make for a small and simple network server. You could connect an external HDD to USB and host files over the network.
Can't be bothered to look up the exact specs of that device tbh, but you'd be surprised how fast those devices stop making sense as (always-on) servers, when looking at the power consumption compared to newer ones like e.g. a RasPi. But for one buck it might still work out, at least for a year or two, so why not... Or maybe make it a living room "set top box" (Wikipedia, streaming, word processing) if your TV takes VGA input.
My TV has VGA, and HDMI, so I'm thinking a DVI to HDMI would be the best picture I'm wondering, could I install XBMC/KODI on it? But would I need to install a linux host first?
I have a old tower running FreeNAS that does this, it has a VIA Ezra processor that only needs a heatsink, no fan. Plently of space for about 4 hard disks, and I could run in an array. I should do that really? The HP would take up less space but the drives would need to be external, so would really take more space than the FreeNAS tower
Try OpenELEC, it's self-contained. If you also want to install some emulators, though, a "properly" installed Linux might be easier in the long run.
Just tried OpenELEC from a USB stick, it starts up ok then I get "Error in mount_flash: mount_common: Could not mount could not mount LABEL=OPENELEC Starting debugging shell... type exit to quit sh: can't access tty: job control turned off" Typing exit brings up more text and error messages? I'm no expert with linux, so can anyone shed light on these errors
HP HSTNC-004-TC motherboard. Dimensions of the mobo are 18cm (7") x 20cm (8") approx What is port in the middle near the CMOS battery?
re: error message - the google oracle points towards this: http://openelec.tv/forum/64-installation/72396-mount-common-could-not-mount-label-openelec those header pins could be anything, really. isp, unused front panel connector, some serial port... can't even make out what it says next to them in the photo - cnt3? ch13?
Ok update time... Puppy_arcade seems to work quite will from a pen drive. I connected an IDE DVD drive via USB. I have had the Aros Icaros Desktop working from disc, I tried to save it to the DOM drive but there wasn't enough space left on the 128mb It won't let me format the drive, HP must have protected it somehow? I've ordered a 44pin IDE cable, so I'll try that instead of the DOM, with a 40gb 2.5" drive I have here. Icaros looks pretty good, a port of AmigaDOS for x86, for anyone who doesn't know It'll be quite a nice little Amiga emulator if I can get it to work fully. Link to Icaros Desktop http://vmwaros.blogspot.co.uk/
Well, yeah. The "D" in DVI stands for Digital; it'll either look perfect or will have major faults/won't work at all. The "CN13" header by the battery is 11 pin not 13, but the motherboard manual makes no reference to it so I doubt it's anything particularly useful - if it was something like extra USB ports they'd be talking it up in there.
[GALLERY=media, 305]2015-08-18 15.10.23 by Nidge posted Aug 18, 2015 at 3:17 PM[/GALLERY] A better picture of the port. I admit there does look to be only 11 pins on the earlier photo But there are definitely 13, 1 row of 7, 1 row of 6. I tried the jumper in every position, even off altogether, but it didn't make a difference? I think it may be master/slave?
How good are you at soldering? You can get small m.2 drives for dirt cheap, solder one directly too the SATA pads on the mobo. That header is likely either a serial header OR most likely some sort of TPM header as this is a machine intended for terminal use
My soldering isn't too bad, my eyesight is worse lol I got the IDE cable yesterday and I've hooked up a 20gb hard drive. Did the install and I now have Icaros desktop at boot up So a mini Amiga emulator I will post some photos tomorrow of the computer starting and running. Off to have another play now, still can't get the sound to work atm?
True, but you'll know if you're using the analogue part because you'll have a VGA adapter on the end of it.
