On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 22:47:21 -0400, Brian <bmcewen@comcast.net> wrote:
> As far as Qube 2's, did you find the the archive of the cobalt mailing
> list  at
> <http://mail-index.NetBSD.org/port-cobalt/>?

Yeah, been through a lot of it, but there isn't much about the i386
based stuff, but there reallly shouldn't be either. There isn't much
of anything on the i386 list either though.

> It has some nice info archived, especially around Aug 2003, there's an
> announcement from Dennis about a 1.6 Netbootable CD that will install
> 1.6.1 if you have the right PC hardware to hook up.  A 1.6.1 version is
> housed on the netbsd site:
> <ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/cobalt/restore-cd/1.6.1/>

Yep, seen that, it's really slick. 

> I got a Qube 2 Jan 2004 and like it very much; I have a few things I've
> been saving up to ask the list, sometime I'll get them organized and
> post them.  It will be late July before I have time though (listers,
> you're warned! <grin>).
> 
> I'm not sure where you are looking for pricing, but searching ebay
> completed items from all June auctions, Qube 2's seem to be going for
> $90-150, and Qube 3's for $250-400+.  There are a couple lowball
> auctions for each of these models, but if you look at the auction
> details, they didn't meet reserve so don't really count as sold for the
> price listed.

When you consider that the i386 based ones are faster, they normally
come with more memory, and they have built in scsi, that price
difference isn't too huge. But 64 bit risc is pretty cool. I can't see
spending much more than $150, but I just might. We'll see...

> I'm not sure about the Qube 3 or RAQ specific info re: NetBSD.  Also,
> google for the "gigaCube" for info on adding big HDs to Qube2, and
> getting a beefier external PS for cheap.  And for SCSI card info for
> the Qube 2, the QubeQuorner FAQ used to have specific card info, but is
> offline now.  Searching the internet archive for
> <http://weblogs.userland.com/qube/faq/> should turn it up though- it
> was the very last question in the FAQ.  I know the card models were
> posted here and should be in the list archive, in the last 4? months or
> so.

It's probably possible to run NetBSD on those, it's just not widely
discussed that I can find, which is why I asked it here. And I
requested that if any information is available, it might be nice to
post it on the port-cobalt page to deflect these emails.

I'm really hoping that most of the directions on booting and preparing
the Qube 2 would be similar for the later stuff, just compiled for a
different architecture. We'll see...

> Assuming the SCSI works OK in 1.6.1 and a Qube 2 (I've got a card but
> never tested fully) $100-150 for the box, and $10 for a old SCSI card,
> seems fine to me... and still cheaper than a Qube 3 by quite a bit.
> With added RAM, compiling on my Qube 2 is bearable, and it's pretty
> easy to saturate outbound cable modem connections anyway- more CPU
> speed wouldn't help in that regard, that's the cap I hit most
> (rationale for the Qube2 in my household is for sftpd).

I'm not HUGE on performance, but it can't be a dog either, this thing
actually needs to do a few jobs. I mainly want it to be stable and
quiet, and cheap is nice too.

I've had a few suggestions about mini-itx stuff, but the more I deal
with hobbyist PC related stuff the more I realize that a lot of it is
junk. I'm not sure that this i386 Cobalt stuff is any better, but it
can't be much worse either.

Anyway, sorry for the off topic discussion. Maybe possibly I'll get
either a Qube 2 or 3 and be able to contribute somehow.

Andy