OK, I installed Ubuntu 10.04 and pIIIcache and x86info gives following info:
sharedoc@sharedoc-laptop:/usr/src$ x86info -c -mhz
x86info v1.17. Dave Jones 2001-2005
Feedback to <davej@redhat.com>.
Found 1 CPU
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Found unknown cache descriptors: 1 2 3 4 8 12 130
Family: 6 Model: 8 Stepping: 3 Type: 0 Brand: 2
CPU Model: Pentium III-M (Coppermine) [cB0] Original OEM
Feature flags:
fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse
L1 Instruction cache:
Size: 16KB 4-way associative.
line size=32 bytes.
L1 Data cache:
Size: 16KB 4-way associative.
line size=32 bytes.
L2 unified cache:
Size: 256KB 8-way associative.
line size=32 bytes.
Instruction TLB: 4KB pages, 4-way associative, 32 entries
Instruction TLB: 4MB pages, fully associative, 2 entries
Found unknown cache descriptors: 1 2 3 4 8 12 130
Data TLB: 4KB pages, 4-way associative, 64 entries
Data TLB: 4MB pages, 4-way associative, 8 entries
600MHz processor (estimate).
I did not manage to get W Marcus Miller dsleep working to set get higher speed.
It seems that the make files are pointing to old 2.6 kernel files.
When i have more time I will look at the grub patch to enable higher speed.
Ubuntu 10.04 seems to support Huawei E220 3G modem which was a big relief. the modem needs to be
in the USB slot during boot, otherwise it is not detected.
Now I need to get the soundcard to work...
IBM Thinkpad 600E bios mod for processor update
Managed to get the processor at higher speed via Ubuntu grub-dual booting first to WinME where I use W Marcus Miller dsleep - dos utility and then exit WinME by exiting via restart and then select Ubuntu from grub boot menu. This way PIII stays in higher speed. It is a bit cumbersome. WinME takes some 1.6GB so I am looking now if I can do the same thing with a dual boot DOS/Ubuntu installation. DOS needs much less space than WinME.
sharedoc@sharedoc-laptop:~$ x86info -c -mhz
x86info v1.25. Dave Jones 2001-2009
Feedback to <davej@redhat.com>.
Found 1 CPU
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
EFamily: 0 EModel: 0 Family: 6 Model: 8 Stepping: 3
CPU Model: Pentium III/Pentium III-M (Coppermine) [cB0]
Type: 0 (Original OEM) Brand: 2 (Intel® Pentium® III processor)
Number of cores per physical package=1
Number of logical processors per socket=1
Number of logical processors per core=1
APIC ID: 0x0 Package: 0 Core: 0 SMT ID 0
Cache info
L1 Instruction cache: 16KB, 4-way associative. 32 byte line size.
L1 Data cache: 16KB, 4-way associative. 32 byte line size.
L2 cache: 256KB, 8-way associative. 32 byte line size.
TLB info
Instruction TLB: 4KB pages, 4-way associative, 32 entries
Instruction TLB: 4MB pages, fully associative, 2 entries
Data TLB: 4KB pages, 4-way associative, 64 entries
Data TLB: 4MB pages, 4-way associative, 8 entries
750MHz processor (estimate).
sharedoc@sharedoc-laptop:~$
sharedoc@sharedoc-laptop:~$ x86info -c -mhz
x86info v1.25. Dave Jones 2001-2009
Feedback to <davej@redhat.com>.
Found 1 CPU
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
EFamily: 0 EModel: 0 Family: 6 Model: 8 Stepping: 3
CPU Model: Pentium III/Pentium III-M (Coppermine) [cB0]
Type: 0 (Original OEM) Brand: 2 (Intel® Pentium® III processor)
Number of cores per physical package=1
Number of logical processors per socket=1
Number of logical processors per core=1
APIC ID: 0x0 Package: 0 Core: 0 SMT ID 0
Cache info
L1 Instruction cache: 16KB, 4-way associative. 32 byte line size.
L1 Data cache: 16KB, 4-way associative. 32 byte line size.
L2 cache: 256KB, 8-way associative. 32 byte line size.
TLB info
Instruction TLB: 4KB pages, 4-way associative, 32 entries
Instruction TLB: 4MB pages, fully associative, 2 entries
Data TLB: 4KB pages, 4-way associative, 64 entries
Data TLB: 4MB pages, 4-way associative, 8 entries
750MHz processor (estimate).
sharedoc@sharedoc-laptop:~$
Installed Windows XP. Feels clearly faster than Ubuntu. Installed DeepSleep with W Marcus Miller's utility. L2 works by Powerleap utility. Also Huawei 3G USB modem works. Remaining problems are (1) lack of free USB ports (2) low graphical performance in showing Youtube videos.
Is Adobe's flashplayer the best Firefox viewing plugin for 600E?
Is Adobe's flashplayer the best Firefox viewing plugin for 600E?
Updated 600E XP installation with Service Pack 3. XP takes about 8GB on harddisk. Since I have only 10GB hardisk, I plan to use USB-memory stick to extend disk memory.
Thinkpad 600E USB support only USB1.1-level. I wonder is it is upto the motherboard hardware cotroller Intel 82371EB which support only USB1.0 speeds upto 12Mbit/s. It would be nice if thetre was a USB2.0 speeds 480Mbit/s available. Propably the easiest way is to buy PCMCIA-USB converter which is cheap.
Thinkpad 600E USB support only USB1.1-level. I wonder is it is upto the motherboard hardware cotroller Intel 82371EB which support only USB1.0 speeds upto 12Mbit/s. It would be nice if thetre was a USB2.0 speeds 480Mbit/s available. Propably the easiest way is to buy PCMCIA-USB converter which is cheap.
dump the harddisk and buy an IDE->CF adapter and a compactflash card. CF cards do behave like normal IDE harddisks. the compactflash cards support UDMA (and so do all modern ide->cf adapters). since the CF interface is nothing else than IDE there's no bus signal conversion chip necessary. To the extend you'll have full IDE-speed even with older hardware (like your laptop) given you're using a decent CF card (SanDisk, Lexar)
i btw. doubt that you would be able to boot from the USB stick in a PCMCIA (which would be Cardbus really) USB2.0 adapter.
i btw. doubt that you would be able to boot from the USB stick in a PCMCIA (which would be Cardbus really) USB2.0 adapter.
Found out that an old Thinkpad 600E is fit for running home network server jobs. It is small size, fits in closets, does not produce much noise nor heat. It has battery to run several hours without mains power supply.
Managed to build a 3 computer Microsoft MSHOME home network with
(1) Thinkpad 600E PIII 450MHz @300MHz 66MHz FSB, 256MB RAM, 7.5G hard IDE harddisk) internet connection server + backup server
- Windows XP SP2, Norman security suite
- USB 1 to 4 hub
- Huawei E220 USB 3G wireless modem
- Devolo USB network adapter for powerline LAN 14Mbit/s
- Buffalo 600G USB-harddisk
(2) Thinkpad 600E PIII 700@750MHz 108MHz FSB, 568MB RAM 10G IDE harddisk, web browsing and email laptop
- Windows XP SP3, Norman security suite (can run also Ubuntu 10.04 booted from DVD)
- Devolo USB network adaptor for powerline communication
(3) Macbook Air @ dual core 1.6G, 80G for all general purpose home use.
- Windows XP SP3, Norman security suite
- Devolo USB network adaptor for powerline communication
Laptops (2) and (3) can be positioned anywhere where there is powerline socket available.
Now next challenge is to lower the power consumption of server (1) because it is running continuosly. I already dropped the FSB to 66MHz by inserting a 1kohm pulldown resistor to IMI577 clock chip pin 25.
Possibilities of further reducing the power consumption is to lower the Vcore of the processor. This can be done bychanging some of the Vcore setting resistors on the processor card.
I am also studying to replace XP with Ubuntu 10.04 Linux and boot it from CD/DVD and not to have IDE harddisk in the system at all, i.e. run the server with physical RAM and with a USB memory stick. It seems that 600E cannot boot from USB, so booting has to be done from CD/DVD.
Not so familiar with Linux i need to study how to set up a Microsoft compatible home network sharing Internet connection. Already have Ubuntu working on the client side TP600E (2) but the server (1) seems much more complicated to set up. Have to study how to set up Samba to support MSHOME network in Ubuntu...
Managed to build a 3 computer Microsoft MSHOME home network with
(1) Thinkpad 600E PIII 450MHz @300MHz 66MHz FSB, 256MB RAM, 7.5G hard IDE harddisk) internet connection server + backup server
- Windows XP SP2, Norman security suite
- USB 1 to 4 hub
- Huawei E220 USB 3G wireless modem
- Devolo USB network adapter for powerline LAN 14Mbit/s
- Buffalo 600G USB-harddisk
(2) Thinkpad 600E PIII 700@750MHz 108MHz FSB, 568MB RAM 10G IDE harddisk, web browsing and email laptop
- Windows XP SP3, Norman security suite (can run also Ubuntu 10.04 booted from DVD)
- Devolo USB network adaptor for powerline communication
(3) Macbook Air @ dual core 1.6G, 80G for all general purpose home use.
- Windows XP SP3, Norman security suite
- Devolo USB network adaptor for powerline communication
Laptops (2) and (3) can be positioned anywhere where there is powerline socket available.
Now next challenge is to lower the power consumption of server (1) because it is running continuosly. I already dropped the FSB to 66MHz by inserting a 1kohm pulldown resistor to IMI577 clock chip pin 25.
Possibilities of further reducing the power consumption is to lower the Vcore of the processor. This can be done bychanging some of the Vcore setting resistors on the processor card.
I am also studying to replace XP with Ubuntu 10.04 Linux and boot it from CD/DVD and not to have IDE harddisk in the system at all, i.e. run the server with physical RAM and with a USB memory stick. It seems that 600E cannot boot from USB, so booting has to be done from CD/DVD.
Not so familiar with Linux i need to study how to set up a Microsoft compatible home network sharing Internet connection. Already have Ubuntu working on the client side TP600E (2) but the server (1) seems much more complicated to set up. Have to study how to set up Samba to support MSHOME network in Ubuntu...
setting up samba in utbuntu is very easy. just head over to the ubuntu user support forum. there's a nice step-by-step howto 
you could also fiddle with the vcore chip on the mainboard that evaluates the processor VID pins. at least that's how i tend to reduce the vcore on any mainboard. there you can even lower the Vcore below the regualtor's specified lowest voltage by feeding back some voltage (ex. via pull-up to Vcc) to the error correction pin. this involves soldering just one resistor, leaving the rest of the hardware untouched. it can be reverted quickly even without a visible trace.
you could also fiddle with the vcore chip on the mainboard that evaluates the processor VID pins. at least that's how i tend to reduce the vcore on any mainboard. there you can even lower the Vcore below the regualtor's specified lowest voltage by feeding back some voltage (ex. via pull-up to Vcc) to the error correction pin. this involves soldering just one resistor, leaving the rest of the hardware untouched. it can be reverted quickly even without a visible trace.
If you email me include [WIMSBIOS] in the subject.
I managed to get basic functionality of CD/DVD-booted Ubuntu-based Thinkpad 600E home network server working:
i.e. sharing internet connection in my home network.
The trick was to install dnsmasq-base package
sudo apttude install dnsmasq-base
and allow sharing of network connection
system -> preferences -> Network connections -> eth0 -> edit -> IPV4 -> shared to other users
i.e. sharing internet connection in my home network.
The trick was to install dnsmasq-base package
sudo apttude install dnsmasq-base
and allow sharing of network connection
system -> preferences -> Network connections -> eth0 -> edit -> IPV4 -> shared to other users
Lowering Vcore was quite easy job. Processor voltage is controlled by ADP3420 chip on the backside of the MMC2 processor module. Vcore is controlled by resitors R92/R93 (VID4)
R5/R6 (VID3)
R15/R16 (VID2)
R3/R4 /VID1)
Coding of Vcore voltage can be found in document http://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet- ... P3421.html
For my Pentium III 450 Mhz (100MHz FSB) the original Vcore setting was Vcore = 1.60V.
Based on my experiments Pentium 450@300 Mhz (66MHz FSB) was able run stabile at the lowest possible setting of Vcore = 0.93V.
Lowering of VIO voltage is also possible. Vio = 3.3V and it is pretty much standard on all PC's and laptops.
I lowered VIO to 3.12V. This can be done at the chip Maxim Max 1632 (on the backside of mainboard). For that you need to lift pin 3 off the PCB and connect the pin via 10kohm resistor to +end of capacitor near R595 on the backside of mainboard; and from Max1632 pin 3 resistor (33kohm) to GND.
I also tried even lower VIO but the processor did not boot at VIO = 2.86V. This was the one I could test with my limited stock of resistors available.
Benefit of lowering VIO is to further reduce power consumption.
Rough calculation of power consumption of the processor is (300* 0.95 * 0.95) / (450 *1.60 * 1.60) = 23.5% of the original processor
Rough calculation of the power consumption of the mainboard (66*3.12*3.12) / (100*3.3*3.3) = 59% of the original mainboard
R5/R6 (VID3)
R15/R16 (VID2)
R3/R4 /VID1)
Coding of Vcore voltage can be found in document http://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet- ... P3421.html
For my Pentium III 450 Mhz (100MHz FSB) the original Vcore setting was Vcore = 1.60V.
Based on my experiments Pentium 450@300 Mhz (66MHz FSB) was able run stabile at the lowest possible setting of Vcore = 0.93V.
Lowering of VIO voltage is also possible. Vio = 3.3V and it is pretty much standard on all PC's and laptops.
I lowered VIO to 3.12V. This can be done at the chip Maxim Max 1632 (on the backside of mainboard). For that you need to lift pin 3 off the PCB and connect the pin via 10kohm resistor to +end of capacitor near R595 on the backside of mainboard; and from Max1632 pin 3 resistor (33kohm) to GND.
I also tried even lower VIO but the processor did not boot at VIO = 2.86V. This was the one I could test with my limited stock of resistors available.
Benefit of lowering VIO is to further reduce power consumption.
Rough calculation of power consumption of the processor is (300* 0.95 * 0.95) / (450 *1.60 * 1.60) = 23.5% of the original processor
Rough calculation of the power consumption of the mainboard (66*3.12*3.12) / (100*3.3*3.3) = 59% of the original mainboard
I swithed back to XP in the home server use because booting Ubuntu from CD/DVD takes 2 hours and I had to do it several times
because dnsmasq-base installation does not seem to work reliably. I suspect that 256M is not sufficient memory for diskless Ubuntu.
I will install Ubuntu on disk and study reliability problem in more detail when I have more time.
I measured power consumption (during heavy internet traffic) from the 220V mains including TP600E 450@300 (running XP) , Huawei and Devolo modems
(display black): 8W.
I measured also my other TP600E 700@750Mhz (running XP) alone (display on) and heavy internet traffic: 14W.
Next steps:
I read from IBM Travelstar harddisk spec that harddisk takes about 2W avarage when in use. 2W is 25% of the 8W. Now I need to eliminate as much as possible
harddisk accesses so that harddisk would stay in standby and thus reduce power use.
I started from XP swap file but it turned out that I cannot eliminate swap file because Norman virus control crashes if I run only on physical memory of 256M. I also need to stop some XP background service processes that the server does not need.
An alternative to minimising harddisk use would be to use the IDE / CF adapter and 4GB CF module. I am seriously considering it now. This would consume power way less than a hard disk.
BTW: After I lowered VIO to 3.12V recently bought PCMCIA card for 4 USB 2.0 ports stopped working on the server TP600E. Luckily I don't need the this PCMCIA card because I managed to find the hidden second USB port of the TP600E and got it working. The hidden USB can be found in the docking station port, see the following links that discuss TP770 model. I can now confirm that the same instructions work for 600E.
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/3963 ... modrp5.jpg
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 862#262862
because dnsmasq-base installation does not seem to work reliably. I suspect that 256M is not sufficient memory for diskless Ubuntu.
I will install Ubuntu on disk and study reliability problem in more detail when I have more time.
I measured power consumption (during heavy internet traffic) from the 220V mains including TP600E 450@300 (running XP) , Huawei and Devolo modems
(display black): 8W.
I measured also my other TP600E 700@750Mhz (running XP) alone (display on) and heavy internet traffic: 14W.
Next steps:
I read from IBM Travelstar harddisk spec that harddisk takes about 2W avarage when in use. 2W is 25% of the 8W. Now I need to eliminate as much as possible
harddisk accesses so that harddisk would stay in standby and thus reduce power use.
I started from XP swap file but it turned out that I cannot eliminate swap file because Norman virus control crashes if I run only on physical memory of 256M. I also need to stop some XP background service processes that the server does not need.
An alternative to minimising harddisk use would be to use the IDE / CF adapter and 4GB CF module. I am seriously considering it now. This would consume power way less than a hard disk.
BTW: After I lowered VIO to 3.12V recently bought PCMCIA card for 4 USB 2.0 ports stopped working on the server TP600E. Luckily I don't need the this PCMCIA card because I managed to find the hidden second USB port of the TP600E and got it working. The hidden USB can be found in the docking station port, see the following links that discuss TP770 model. I can now confirm that the same instructions work for 600E.
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/3963 ... modrp5.jpg
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 862#262862
I managed to lower the Vcore further down to 0.90V. The trick is to connect a pull-down resistor from Vcore voltage regulator ADP3020 pin 26 to GND. To drop Vcore from 0.93 to 0.90 a 14.7kohm pull-down was found by trials (10k and 4.7k in series).
I did trials as low as 0.88 but this booted but was not totally stabile. Maybe 0.89 would be stabile but I opted to have some safety margin and went to 0.90. Difference between 0.93 to 0.90 may seem small but in practise the reduction of processor power drain is 0.90 * 0.90 / 0.93 * 0.93 = 94,7% -> reduction of 5.3%.
I managed to to get hold of an old 12G IDE2.5 disk IBM Travelstar for free. These PATA disks are getting harder and harder to find nowadays as they are considered junk and thrown away.
12GB is sufficient for a dual boot XP / Ubuntu. This allows me to make power usage measurements both for XP and Ubuntu implementation of the home server.
I did trials as low as 0.88 but this booted but was not totally stabile. Maybe 0.89 would be stabile but I opted to have some safety margin and went to 0.90. Difference between 0.93 to 0.90 may seem small but in practise the reduction of processor power drain is 0.90 * 0.90 / 0.93 * 0.93 = 94,7% -> reduction of 5.3%.
I managed to to get hold of an old 12G IDE2.5 disk IBM Travelstar for free. These PATA disks are getting harder and harder to find nowadays as they are considered junk and thrown away.
12GB is sufficient for a dual boot XP / Ubuntu. This allows me to make power usage measurements both for XP and Ubuntu implementation of the home server.
Installed Ubuntu 10.04LTS on harddisk to the TP600 server laptop PIII 450 MHz @ 300MHz Vcore 0,90V Vio=3.12V.
Initial measurement of power consumption under heavy Internet traffic: 8W. This is the same as server running on XP. Ubuntu has no virus scanning software running.
I have to monitor disk activity over couple of hours to see how much disk is on standby. It may be that the standby characteristics are dominating because most of the time server is just idle.
Also I have to monitor 24h how reliable Ubuntu is when it is booted from disk and has a swap file.
Initial measurement of power consumption under heavy Internet traffic: 8W. This is the same as server running on XP. Ubuntu has no virus scanning software running.
I have to monitor disk activity over couple of hours to see how much disk is on standby. It may be that the standby characteristics are dominating because most of the time server is just idle.
Also I have to monitor 24h how reliable Ubuntu is when it is booted from disk and has a swap file.