[SOLVED] Not Much of A CHALLENGE to the Linux community! lol

[woodsmoke]

I'm kinda the go to guy on Linux isin our fair burg and I was given a call by a computer store wherein I often stand to hold up the shelving.

They were brought a "Smart Book" that has an embedded Windows CE....talk about old!

They do not have the password for it, and have not been able to get into it in any way shape form or fashion.

There are usb ports. The thing does boot to the login screen.

So....it was literally given to me as a challenge to see if I could get IN to it, and either a) recover the password or to install a Linux on it....of course it would have to be a "USB stick" Linux....

So before I give my "best guess".....what says the community! Can we show the excellence of Linux stuff here?

I await your suggestions!!

woodsmoke

[wizard10000]

Re: A CHALLENGE to the Linux community! lol

Processor architecture will be a challenge - there is an Ubuntu build for ARM processors here (Maverick, not Natty)

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-net...10.10/release/

but without knowing a whole lot more about the CE device's architecture it's gonna be hard to tell whether Linux will work.

We're not even sure the device uses an ARM processor but if it's running WinCE you can be fairly certain an ia-32 Linux build will *not* work.

See here as well -

http://arm.com/community/software-enablement/linux.php

ps - I manage about 500 WinCE StrongARM devices but they're barcode scanners, not netbooks

edit: Apparently the devices have 266MHz ARM processors and 128mb of RAM while the Maverick build above requires 256mb. See this thread as well -

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1349626

[sithlord48]

Re: A CHALLENGE to the Linux community! lol

Windows CE works on i386 , arm and Mips so your first issue will be to id what kind of processor is in the machine. not to long ago a friend of mine got a tabet machine w/ CE preloaded (its a p3 based machine). the tricky part was it required a special (and expencive) pcmica based external CD drive to install an os. this was solved by removing the hard drive and installing PLOP as its boot loader, using another machine. plop is a very impressive loader too its main ability that will help here is it can boot usb from the loader so it will over come that stupid limitition if one is present on that device. Do u have some kind of model info on this device ?

edit: Quick note about plop becareful with it. it allows you todo some low level things to your hd(s)

[woodsmoke]

Re: A CHALLENGE to the Linux community! lol

Hi guys!
thanks for the info!

However, this thing is just ..well... almost not breakable into.

The password has to be entered at bootup, there are no keystrokes that will get one to bios etc. at all, it is either know the password or nothing.

So, I got the latest knoppix and put it on both a cd and a pen drive.

The big idea being that from cd Knoppix might be able to see the computer through a usb cable, nope, it doesn't even know it is there.

The USB Knoppix on the thing itself blinked and that was all, i was back at the login screen.

Basically, the information on the net says to try a hard reset, but that is for phones, but possibly for things like this netbook so I am trying that now.

However, when I got it, the battery was "dead" so that will probably not work, although there may have been some kind of residual charge.

So, an hour or so and I'll see.

thanks though.

woodsmoke

[woodsmoke]

Re: A CHALLENGE to the Linux community! lol

Hi
the hard reset of removing the battery for several hours didn't work either. So Microsith strikes again! lol L(

The problem is that it won't even make a good doorstop.

woodsmoke

[sithlord48]

Re: A CHALLENGE to the Linux community! lol

there is likey a cmos battery for that reason also if you look carefully you might find some copper pads you can bridge to reset the bios. my netbook has then located under the ram door hidden in a corner. perhaps this one will have them somewhere similar else they might behidden on the board. and you have yet the mention the model of the machine. so i can't look for anydocs related to it

[woodsmoke]

Re: A CHALLENGE to the Linux community! lol

sithlord! woah! right back to the copper circle that one scratched to un jumper for an extra floppy drive on the C-64!!!

I had not even THOUGHT of that!!! woah! I'll disassemble the bottom of the thing then.

As to a model, there literally is not one.

There is no text on the externality of the case at all.

It is a "Smartbook" when it boots but there is NO external branding anywhere on it, so it "might" literally be a test device.

Here is a picture of what "may" be the thing which has a brand name and has silver buttons, etc. this one is all black.

http://image.tradevv.com/2009/12/29/...smart-book.jpg

http://www.tradevv.com/chinasupplier...mart-book.html

The Gregman has a lot of strange stuff dropped off at the back of his shop from the beltways but this has to be a) the coolest little thing b) the strangest little thing.

Here is...."apparently" one...with Ubu on it!

The article, from 2009 said they were floating around and "eventually launch", but it is not exactly the same machine the power cord is on the side, this is on the back, and the touchpad is slightly to the left where this machine has the touchpad centered.

The article is that is an ARM machine...which would be way cool.

http://www.slashgear.com/wistron-n90...tbook-0345776/

thanks again
woodsmoke

[woodsmoke]

Re: A CHALLENGE to the Linux community! lol

LOL
Well thye CMOS batter was like none I have ever seen before it was about the size of the head of a "tack" maybe something like a little more than a quarter inch across. and it was hard soldered into the board!

No "jumpers" that I could find.

The reset button was on the bottom of the mobo with a little squeency pinhole not labled as such and, apparently, had been pushed so many times that the button itself didn't exist it was just a "hole". So, that might be the reason why it showed up where it did.

Possibly a first design that was not good. :P

thanks again!

woodsmoke

[woodsmoke]

No Identifying marks on the device, possibly test for new MS paradigm

It is of little concern to the community but I took the device back to the shop and we completely disassembled it.

Aside from some miscellaneous numbers there are absolutely no, none, nada zip, identifying characters anywhere on the machine.

the only "characters" were buried under the glued down and sealed down screen behind it on the inside plastic.

They were the letters A-2 which were HAND scratched in the plastic.

Now this is not something that was put there by an "owner" because the whole screen panel was sealed with screws and glue, we had to rip it apart.

So..... the salient points:

a) no identifying characters on the device at all except for A-2
b) a soldered on cmos battery which was not like what i have ever seen before.
c) the reset button which was almost invisible beneath a hole that was not even the diameter of a pin and the reset button had been pushed so much that it was not a button it was a "hole" and non functional.
d) an ARM processor
e) and embedded junk OS that did not allow in any way the ability to boot from usb etc, absolutely no access to the bios.

Given that there seems to be a LATER model that has an Ubuntu on it, (to which I linked above).

One does not get to the situation where MS wants to:
a) go to an ARM processor
b) integrate "some" of the Win8 versions into the hardware itself
c) does not "invite" overseas mobo manufacturers to "the big show" and seems to be giving first bite of the apple to HP etc.

without doing groundwork YEARS ago...

This thing could have been a test bed for "a device" be it a laptop or a netbook or a tablet, which does not allow the user to have access to the bios in any way shape or form and in which the hardware is tied to the OS.

And, since the U.S. and Europe are not politically correct GREEN, and since ARM is now as fast as the hardware and has low power consumption.

This would be the best of all worlds for the U.S. manufacturers and Microsith.

Now, given that cell phones can be "jail broken" then I would assume that this kind of device could also be so broken. However, the jail breaking is moot in terms of the mass market. Why would the average or even above average user go to the trouble to jail break a device that is so cheap that that "free" doesn't matter.

I dunno, it may be that some user went to all the trouble to remove all identifying characteristics and then somehow scratched two letters inside a presealed screen and then rebuilt the whole thing so that it looked almost unused.... it might be that....don't know.

But, this is just one more reason why I think that the paradigm shift of Unity and Gnome3 are possibly the best thing that Linux could be doing right now......and btw I detest BOTH of them.

woodsmoke

[woodsmoke]

Re: A CHALLENGE to the Linux community! lol

Well, two developments about "the thing".

a) the guy who actually owns the shop told me that it was left "anonymously" outside the shop, he is in the shop only randomly.

Sooooo conspiracy theory there.... possibly.

b) Another fellow in the shop(there are quite a few employees) says that these kinds of things were ubuquitous a few years ago when the market was just breaking open and that there were a lot of completely unbranded "knock-offs" like it, although he said that he has not seen one, that were available. He said that, supposedly, there would be "at the most" a sticker on it, which was easily removed so....

possibly end of...conspiracy theory....

As to the odball CMOS battery, he did some checking around and said that, as far as he could find out, that they did, often/sometimes/hedidn'tknowforsure, have this little oddball little cmos battery and that they were often soldered in place and not removeable...

Sooooooo I guess that the above conspiracy theory was, indeed a conspiracy theory, but I still can't help but wonder why it was that the thing was made the way it was... hmmm

if a mod wishes to remove this conspiracy thread for obvious reasons please do so with my blessing!

woodsmoke

[oshunluvr]

Re: A CHALLENGE to the Linux community! lol

IMO woodsmoke, your slightly dis-jointed ramblings are the source of great entertainment - at least for me! No mod would DARE delete your posts!

[Snowhog]

Re: A CHALLENGE to the Linux community! lol

Yeah, the 'ol woodsmoker lightens the mood her in KFN. 'course, with all the rum-n-cokes he professes to be embibing, it's likely that the light he sheds are the flames from the ignited Bacardi 151!

[woodsmoke]

Re: A CHALLENGE to the Linux community! lol

lol
thank ya, thank ya, thank ya verrah much!



Although I don't think that the compliments are much deserved!

woodsmoke

[GreyGeek]

Re: A CHALLENGE to the Linux community! lol

Yeah, the 'ol woodsmoker lightens the mood her in KFN. 'course, with all the rum-n-cokes he professes to be embibing, it's likely that the light he sheds are the flames from the ignited Bacardi 151!

Hence the nickname, "FireBreath"?

[GreyGeek]

Re: A CHALLENGE to the Linux community! lol

....
Sooooooo I guess that the above conspiracy theory was, indeed a conspiracy theory, but I still can't help but wonder why it was that the thing was made the way it was... hmmm
....

How about this as a conspiracy theory: Microsoft is planning to make sure that future PC releases by the OEMs contain Win8 in BIOS, so that no Linux distro can be dual booted on them or make a Linux distro the sole OS.

And, after reviewing this "leaked" preview of Win8 one is stunned to see that its desktop is almost a mirror image of KDE 4.5.3 or higher. It looks and acts essentially the same. They even brag about the button on the panel that "clears the desktop", as if that were something new. That video looks like a KDE4 desktop with the panel on the bottom, the system tray on its right side, a dashboard at the top, and app icons on the desktop proper. I suspect that they are also doing something that the KDE dev crew can't afford to do -- spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on "IP" patents on every aspect of that desktop in order to sue KDE out of existence, since prior art is a joke to the USTPO.