My first impressions of the Pegasos II (review) - UPDATE!

[takemehomegrandma]

@ angrybrit

That's about what I plan to use my newly aquired Peg2 for too! :-)

I forgot to mention that there still are no driver for the gigabit ethernet in MorphOS (the latest updates has been bugfix updates). I have not yet tried Linux at Pegasos II at all, so I can not answer if it's supported there yet. Perhaps someone else can tell?

(It really *should* be there in Linux; isn't Linux what most OEM manufacturer's choose to support for their products? There should be Linux support from Marvell themselves ...?)

[Velcro_SP]

Jammin' comments, Granny! Makes me want a Peg2 all the more!

[angrybrit]

Also posted on ANN.lu

Does any of the 2 supported Linux distros (Debian and Gentoo) support the more recent Kernel, 2.6?

Also I would like to know if all Linux x86 console apps/services work on the PowerPC/Pegasus? (Any problem recompiling with endianess issues to know? Keep in mind that a server I need to replace would need uPnP NAT Translation services to the 3 XP clients. I want to replace my flaky D-Link Internet Gateway as well.)

  :-(

[Kent]

Excellent review!  I'd like to see a bit more comparison on the software and how compatible it is.  Keep them coming...

:pint:

[takemehomegrandma]

@ angrybrit

I am obviously not the best person to answer Linux questions, but ...

angrybrit wrote:
Also posted on ANN.lu

Does any of the 2 supported Linux distros (Debian and Gentoo) support the more recent Kernel, 2.6?

Mandrake 9.1 Bamboo and Yellow Dog are also supported (have a look at the image installer site) as well as the the Crux Linux PPC distro. Suse can also be installed.

About the kernel, this is from http://linux.pegasosppc.com (the official Linux for Pegasos site):

"The Pegasos uses a PowerPC kernel of the CHRP subarchitecure. As of 2.4.22, a small Pegasos specific patch is still needed, but work is underway for integration in the official kernels. Work on porting the pegasos patches to the 2.6.x kernel series is underway. "

I think the latest versions of the kernels usually appears here (2.4.25-2 is the latest): http://people.debian.org/~luther/.

Also I would like to know if all Linux x86 console apps/services work on the PowerPC/Pegasus? (Any problem recompiling with endianess issues to know? Keep in mind that a server I need to replace would need uPnP NAT Translation services to the 3 XP clients. I want to replace my flaky D-Link Internet Gateway as well.)

  :-(

I sure hope that all Linux PPC console apps/services available in the distros will work! :-)

[GGS]

Hi again :-)

> I just wanted to tell you all (and also to "BUMP" up this thread after the update) that I have two different kinds of Seagate Barracuda drives, and both are working absolutely perfect...

---

So, do i get you right if it seems you suggest us to supply Pegasos with Seagate harddrives forward :-)

Im smelling on it for a while. Seagate are with no doubt very good and silent drives.

As for Linux, as I also see you do write about, it works very fine on the Pegasos II, and also DRI is working if i got everything right, have not tried this myself yet.

But I believe Sven Luther and the other Linux-gurus... :-)

Greetings !
Gunne

[smithy]

Hi TMHG & GGS,

Thanks for the tip about the Seagate drive.  I'm also into "quiet" computing so I'll remember that!

@TMHG
Were you going to write about your experiences upgrading your first Peg2 to the new firmware version?

I also have a first-run Peg2, but because I'm still waiting for some bits for it (a cool tower case) I don't have it up and running yet, and so I'd like to hear about other people's experiences in upgrading.

[takemehomegrandma]

@ GGS

IMHO, Seagate Barracuda are great, especially if you want silence. And
many of us likes silence, so ... :-)

[takemehomegrandma]

@ smithy

I could write it right here, but unfortunately I have not yet seen any
firmware upgrades for the already released Peg2's (except that old
update that fixes the bug that renders the computer unbootable if you
uses the setenv command).

So my "old" Peg2 still has the old firmware ... :-(

[Damion]

Samsung is also manufacturing some killer drives these days,
I recently bought one, and am 'overall' more than satisfied.
It's probably not as quiet as the Barracudas during idle, but
they're definately faster...I'd say a solid middle ground between
the silence of "some" Barracudas, and the performance of a
WD/Hitatchi.

Article at StorageReview.com

Also, maybe of notable interest to some here, the Samsung uses a
Marvell hard disk controller...you can check that out here, and view
a picture of (most of) that chip "right here".

Piece,

-d

[Targhan]

Kent wrote:

I'd like to see a bit more comparison on the software and how compatible it is. Keep them coming...

There is just so many things to cover here, it's much easier to say what doesn't work than does.  While it would seem negative, it really wouldn't be.  Basically, most things that run on amithlon will run on morphos.  There are a few things that will run on one, but not the other.  Basically, if it doesn't hit the chipset, it'll run. :-)

With 1.4.2, I noticed a increase in speed in my favorite archive/unarchive utility (X-Arc).  Vapor isn't taking registrations on it any more :-( but I love it... (another topic entirely)

Some versions of CManager do not work, so if you get a peg, be careful about which version you get   My biggest complaint software has been OpenURL which didn't work under 1.4.1 (haven't tried under 1.4.2 yet).  

Some other stuff that works: Magellen (although it seems to have an annoying bug after closing), IBrowse, FinalWriter97, AmIRC, MD2, Yam, SimpleMail, amtelnet, voodoox, atc, amftp, imagefx, snoopdos, V, Miami, weather-experience, and a heap of other things :-D

[takemehomegrandma]

GGS wrote:
Hi again :-)

> I just wanted to tell you all (and also to "BUMP" up this thread after the update) that I have two different kinds of Seagate Barracuda drives, and both are working absolutely perfect...

---

So, do i get you right if it seems you suggest us to supply Pegasos with Seagate harddrives forward :-)

ATTENTION! ACHTUNG!

As I said, my "old" Peg2 was a G4, and my "new" Peg2 is a G3. My "old" Peg2 didn't work well with Seagate, but my "new" Peg2 did. Unfortunately, I wrongly assumed that this was becase the updated firmware, but now I have switched CPU cards (which worked fine :-)) so that the old G4 card is in my new, OF1.1 Peg2, and then I still have the cold-boot problem. It seems like the problem is more Seagate-related than it is OF-related. I have only been using seagate drives for my Pegasos computers, allways, and they have always worked fine with my previous (and latest) Pegasos computers. And they were all G3!

I am sorry about this error in my review and I hope that it hasn't caused anyone any trouble. It seems like the Seagates are a little bit slower in cold-start than other HDD's, but it can't be very much. IMO, this should be fairly easy to fix in a coming OF update, and I hope it *does* gets fixed, because the seagates are so QUIET! :-)

Again, sorry about this ...

[iamaboringperson]

1.4.2 is out now? I'll have to download that one! (of course, I still want 1.5

what are the main differenced BTW? (I only used 1.4.1 for the updated Radeon driver)

[takemehomegrandma]

@ iamaboringperson

It sure is! :-)

Please look a couple of posts up for the main differences (bugfixes),
or on other websites where news about it were posted last week ...