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THE most commonly answered questions

Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 10:30 am
by quotaholic
The following has been copied from Foxx's post in the FAQ section


Q: Can I boot from the Compact Flash Card?
A: Nope

Q: What operating systems will run?
A: Anything that supports an x86 CPU

Q: How fast is the CPU?
A: 400Mhz AMD Geode

Q: Can the CPU be upgraded?
A: No.

Q: How much RAM, and how fast?
A: 256MB, DDR 266Mhz.

Q: Can the RAM be upgraded?
A: Theoretically no, they are affixed to the motherboard and not designed to be removed without major surgery.

Q: How well does Windows XP / XP Embedded run?
A: Not very well, unless you do severe optimizations. Even then it is still sluggish.

Q: How well does Linux run?
A: That's a broad answer, it depends on the distribution, and specific tasks it will do. But in general, yes, and typically better than windows if its built and installed properly

Q: How about Ubuntu?
A: No, and you should think about suicide for even asking.

Q: Debian, Slackware, Puppy, DamnSmall Linux?
A: All good choices!

Q: Touchscreen support?
A: XP has full touchscreen support. Nimblex, Slackware, Debian, and Puppy linux have Penmount Touchscreen working, although you need to make sure its installed and running.

Q: Can I play videos in Windows CE?
A: Yes, to an extent. Do not expect xvid to work without codecs. Bitrate and quality will be pretty poor

Q: Can I play video on Win XP?
A: Yes, but its pretty crappy. I honestly dont think its worth it.

Q: Can I play videos under linux?
A: Eh' not really, its the same performance as XP.

Q: Can I play MP3s?
A: Yep! Even from Wifi!

Q: Is the Cisco Wifi card worth it?
A: Not really, unless you are hell bent on running Windows CE, otherwise buy a new card for much cheaper that has Windows/Linux support.

Q: What is so special about the FlashROM?
A: It is pretty much a custom sized compact flash card and header

Q: Can the FlashROM board be upgraded?
A: Yes it can! You can either buy an (expensive) upgrade, or fashion your own Compact Flash card adapter (more on this later)

Q: Can I hook up a Hard Drive?
A: Depends on the drive. The FlashROM board runs at 3.3 volts. An iPod IDE drive will work if you get the proper hookups. A laptop IDE drive runs at 5v, so you will need to steal power from the USB bus for it to work.

Q: What kind of connection do I need to hook up a CF or IDE drive?
A: The IDE connector is a half-height 44 pin laptop IDE connection. You will need to sand down one of the plastic connections on an IDE cable to fit, then devise a way to keep it attached (hotglue?) to the mainboard. Then hook the other end to a proper header bender board. More on this to come in later topics on the forums.

Q: Do you have any information about the bluetooth?
A: Sure do. Its a very good Bluecore 3 chipset. Compatible under Windows using the Microsoft Bluetooth stack, or WidComm. Under linux use the Blue-Z packages, available for near any distribution.

Q: Generally speaking, is this a worth while purchase?
A: If you enjoy software and hardware hacking embedded appliances, and trying to really push the limits of limited resources, then yes. If you cant take the time and challenge of learning the intimate details of a device and put together the software needed for your specific uses, then move on to something else.

Feel free to ask more questions. If anyone has a proper answer, please feel free. We need a good general FAQ about what the WebDT 366 can and cant do. Please leave this as Q & A style, no theory and hypothetical questions an answers. Keep it as direct as possible.

Hope this helped!