Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 15:56:29 -0700 (MST) From: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org> To: uhclem@nemesis.lonestar.org (Frank Durda IV) Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.org, uhclem@nemesis.lonestar.org Subject: Re: Watchdog timer Message-ID: <199602042256.PAA08359@phaeton.artisoft.com> In-Reply-To: <m0tjA3e-000CN8C@nemesis.lonestar.org> from "Frank Durda IV" at Feb 4, 96 01:25:00 pm
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> [14]Terry Lambert writes... > [14]** ISA MUST DIE. THIS IS NON-NEGOTIABLE. ** > > I have been reading the "build a watchdog timer board" thread with detached > interest, and I thought this statement was extremely funny, and made > me decide to respond. > > By going to PCI, you will ADD for a small-volume board (<1K units) > roughly $40 per board JUST for the PCI, both for fabrication, electronics > and mechanical packaging. Those PCI chipsets aren't cheap in low > volumes, and the packges they come in eliminate do-it-yourself > manufacturing. So let's all chip in $40 toward the death of PCI. 8-). I note that you assume small scale manufacturing in the PCI numbers, but: > If you go back to the original task of this "device", which was to somehow > monitor the lifesigns of a PC and if there are none for a certain > amount of time, RESET the machine, and perhaps if that doesn't work, > cycle power on the machine too, a board (even an external box) could be > built in small volumes (100 to 500 pieces) to do this job and sold for a > reasonable return for around $30US. ($50 for power cycling) You assume large scale manufacturing in the reset board numbers. ... I really find the idea of using the controller activity light as a timer reset mechanism *very* interesting. I also really, really like the idea of a card edge connector with (for instance) a phone jack externally and two cable and two replacement cables for the disk activity lights, and presumably, two connectors for the existing disk activity lights to connect to. I agree that you don't need an ISA slot for this type of thing. Actually, you should be able to use a riser socket, like the original 8086 "clocks" used and plug into the CPU slot or something else as a molded plastic part with a socket on top and a male counterpart on the bottom (my riser idea). > I can't believe anyone would want to waste a precious PCI slot on something > like this, but then I guess it depends on how much other stuff you are > willing to add (and pay for) on the board. I perfer a non-card method (yours or mine) for implementing the circuit anyway; I never seriously suggested a PCI card based soloution. I did suggest a potential direction for those people who have gone board design-happy, however. 8-). > buying audience for what is already a low-volume device, since a lot of new > machines only come with one or two PCI slots, and it seems we can demonstrate > that a lot of FreeBSD users (and potential buyers of this gadget) don't have > PCI slots at all or they are full. Actually, most machines are 3 slots, and that's because of line driver limitations in the early chips. There are many boards in Computer Shopper now that are 4 slot boards (and have been since October 1995). > I would even handle having the boards made, stuffed, and retailed since > I have channels for doing that. But I have to see a design that has > plenty of interest first, since past experience has shown me that only > 10% of the people who say they really want something actually buy it. I don't run any large service sites, which I see as your primary market. But I do know people who do run large service sites, and they would be interested in the tiny board with the reset button and disk activity light -- it would be damn cheap, and it would be applicable across a wide variety of hardware. The biggest win is that there is no real device driver work, so it's applicable to any OS: BSD, Linux, SCO, UbixWare, Solaris, etc.. If you could package it in such a way as to not have it "floating around" in the case, I think you have a winner. Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers.
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