Fifty dollar sheevaplug

**chunkyks** · 04-21-2010, 12:54 PM

Well, it's not quite a sheevaplug, but it's close. It's actually a pogoplug, and it's fifty bucks:
Seagate DockStar

It only has 128M ram instead of 512, but other than that it's no less functional than a regular sheevaplug. It's trivial to start messing with:
OpenPogo Installing Base Package [USB]

The other benefits of this for this forum are four built in USB ports [counting the "dock" type mini usb port], and the power is 12V. You'll still need a regulator, of course, but you won't have to crack the thing open just to replace the PSU.

Gary (-;

**chunkyks** · 04-23-2010, 11:40 PM

OK, so after much futzing, I've found at least one major major issue with the device; it lacks a hardware clock. When it powers up, it thinks it's the unix epoch every time.

Of course, that's fine for seagate since it's meant to be connected to the internet all the time and it runs ntp. Not so fine for an unconnected car :-/

Gary (-;

**acansado** · 09-29-2010, 12:20 PM

Originally Posted by chunkyks

OK, so after much futzing, I've found at least one major major issue with the device; it lacks a hardware clock. When it powers up, it thinks it's the unix epoch every time.

Of course, that's fine for seagate since it's meant to be connected to the internet all the time and it runs ntp. Not so fine for an unconnected car :-/

Gary (-;

Have you considered using the GPS to synchronize Dockstar's clock upon startup?
I've googled a bit and found this: http://www.punknix.com/node/116

Hope it helps!

Regards,
Antonio

PS: I've been going through your work on OBD2 and I really appreciated it ;-) Nice work. I'll probably get my own install soon.

**chunkyks** · 09-29-2010, 02:03 PM

Yes, I did actually. The problem with that is that the time servers that do it [chrony's the best for talking to gpsd, after much experimenting] all take a long time to sync to the point they're willing to change the time.

In the end, I actually added "gpstime" to the gps table and a tripid to the obd and gps tables. That way the schema's safe to use in the face of erroneous localtime responses, and the "actual" time is available in the gps table. Since I was touching the schema, I took the opportunity to add speed and heading, as reported by gps, to the gps table too.

And then I fried my dockstar, so now I'm trying to decide between buying a beagleboard xm, an igepv2, a guruplug server plus, or something else.

Gary (-;

**acansado** · 09-30-2010, 06:30 PM

oh...... too bad it takes too long...

About you Dockstar, may I ask how did you fry it? I was planning buying one and connecting it through a 12V regulator directly using a LM7812 1A just in case it can't handle the car's 13.8V.

I was quite interested in the Guruplug but I've seen too many people complaining about overheating. Moreover, the newest revision, which "solves" this has a very noisy fan inside

Check http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/news.aspx and http://plugcomputer.org/plugforum/in...p?topic=1735.0

Regards.