IBM's Great Little Netvista
Netvista 8364
Small, Quite, Flexible and Cheap
(click to enlarge)
I first discovered the IBM Netvista:.
When I became interested in running a Linux based thin client to access my main desktop machine. I spent some time looking online for the software and hardware that I would need, and it was during this time that I came across the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP.org). After studying up, and installing LTSP on my Mandrake powered desktop machine, I started testing the installation and setup a couple of clients using some spare K6-2 PC's that I was letting my kids play with. They were using them as internet PCs and to play some lower end PC games.
As I learned and worked through getting those PCs working with LTSP, I began to wish that i had a true thin client to try, since there was really no advantage to using the PCs as Terminals. They still were large, noisy, and still had all of the failure prone hardware (hard disks, CD-ROMs and big power supplies). So I went in search of a more-or-less standard PC based thin client. I did the usual googling, and cruised the pages of eBay, but could not find a likely suspect. It had to be as close to a standard PC as possible, and it had to be cheap. I didn't want to spend my time trying to figure out some other architecture or struggle untold hours with modules and module parameters just trying to get it running.
It was about this time that I came across this FREE GEEK article posted on LTSP.org about using an IBM Netvista 8364-TUS (the token ring version) with LTSP. After spending some time studying that, it seemed that the only unusual thing they had to do to get it working was to disable the on board token ring interface, and add a regular PCI nic. Reading that article, I realized that the Netvista was a very likely subject for my experimentation. I decided to NOT use the token ring version even though they can usually be purchased for somewhat less than the ethernet version. I wanted the on board ethernet because I had plans to use a Netvista as a firewall at some point, and I wanted three firewall zones. The Netvista only has two PCI slots, and I didn't want to have to bother with finding a dual port nic that would work. This meant that I would need the version that has on board ethernet. So what I ended up with was the Netvista 8364 EUS also listed in some places as the Netvista n2800.
This model of Netvista is just the ticket. It is a nice standard X86 architecture lite PC. With two PC100 SDRAM slots, two PCI slots, passively cooled Pentium 266 MMX. They are also quite small, almost completely quite. If you're handy with tools and PCs you can even add an internal hard drive up to a standard 3.5" model courtesy of the 40 pin IDE connector on the motherboard. If you decide to go this direction you will have to locate a Molex 4305-400 connector, or adapt the individual pins to a standard hard drive power connector. The best part is that these Netvistas originally retailing for $899.00, can usually be found for less than $40.00 on eBay. While these nice little PCs are not very powerful by todays standards, they are easily up to the task of a thin client, or SMB / personal firewall.
Specs are listed in many places on the web, so I only put a short list together below. If you want more, heres an excellent site that covers the specs and layout in great detail, including the pin-out for the hard drive connector.
|
Specifications:.
|
|
I have since purchased two Netvistas for my personal use, and six more for work. I use one of mine for a firewall
for this web site, and the other to experiment with LTSP, Thinstation, and anything else that looks interesting.
At work we use them as a VPN gateway/firewall using m0n0wall.
In this series or articles, I will try to go through all of the steps and procedures needed to get a Netvista working for LTSP, Thinstation and
for use as a firewall using m0n0wall.
If you have your Netvista to a state where you can boot it from the compact flash card, you can just use the links
below to skip to the desired section. Otherwise, the next step is to set the bios to factory defaults and reset the password.
If you need to do this, just click on the "Next" button below.
