Unoffical empeg BBS

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#354768 - 11/09/2012 12:29 It's been a long, long time.
Nick Barnes
new poster

Registered: 11/09/2012
Posts: 4
Hello all.

It's been a while.

So long, in fact, that I can't remember what e-mail address or username I last used to access this forum.

Must be eight or nine years?

Anyway, the point? Ah yes. Well, I was having a clear out and stumbled across the old Empeg (Serial 080000299). It boots OK and starts playing where it left off in 2004. Looks like the hard drive may be starting to die though:
Quote:
hda: status timeout: status=0x80
hda: drive not ready for command
hda: read_intr: status=0x59
hda: read_intr: error=0x04
hda: read_intr: status=0x59
hda: read_intr: error=0x04
hda: read_intr: status=0x59
hda: read_intr: error=0x04
hda: read_intr: status=0x59
hda: read_intr: error=0x04
ide0: reset: success
hda: lost interrupt
Not a problem, I've still got a few drives sat around somewhere.

Anyway. The questions:

1) Is it worth going through the hassle of fitting this and an amp to a car, or is there now an equivalent (UI/features) all-in-one unit made by somebody else I should fit?

2) If it is worth it, does anybody know of an easy way to replace the HDD with some form of solid-state storage?

Cheers,

Nick (with lots of nice memories of the Golf cabbie the Empeg was last fitted in)

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#354773 - 11/09/2012 13:28 Re: It's been a long, long time. [Re: Nick Barnes]
drakino
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
Peter recently linked to this PATA/IDE SSD which would work fine in an empeg : http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007IXORCO

Another route is to use CompactFlash cards, and a CF to IDE converter. Some converters even match the dimensions for the existing hard drives, making for a quick and easy mounting job.

For pure music, the empeg is still one of the best options. If you have a mix of podcasts, most people here have just gone down the route of playing those off a mobile device. The empeg could still be fitted, and use of the aux port would allow a mobile device to be used. If you want to get fancy, adding a Bluetooth A2DP receiver to the aux port would allow the mobile device to play wirelessly to the empeg AUX port.

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#354775 - 11/09/2012 14:19 Re: It's been a long, long time. [Re: drakino]
Nick Barnes
new poster

Registered: 11/09/2012
Posts: 4
Originally Posted By: drakino
Another route is to use CompactFlash cards, and a CF to IDE converter.
Good thinking. Ordered.
Quote:
The empeg could still be fitted, and use of the aux port would allow a mobile device to be used. If you want to get fancy, adding a Bluetooth A2DP receiver to the aux port would allow the mobile device to play wirelessly to the empeg AUX port.
Hmm. So, this has got me thinking. I'm already going to be putting a Raspberry Pi in the car to display and log GPS co-ordinates/speed. If I can add a Bluetooth dongle to that and stream A2DP via that... Hmm. Mind you, if I throw in a Routerboard as well I could get the podcasts directly onto the Empeg through a wireless link. Then I'd need to install a leisure battery (which I am going to have to do for the winch I'm about to install anyway)....

I get the feeling this project is going to creep somewhat.

Nick.

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#355035 - 20/09/2012 15:31 Re: It's been a long, long time. [Re: Nick Barnes]
Nick Barnes
new poster

Registered: 11/09/2012
Posts: 4
HELP (please)

After sticking a CF card on, I get the following during boot:
Quote:
hda: , 30535MB w/1kB Cache, CHS=62041/16/63
empeg-flash driver initialized
smc chip id/revision 0x3349
smc9194.c:v0.12 03/06/96 by Erik Stahlman ([email protected])

SMC9194: SMC91C94(r:9) at 0x4008000 IRQ:7 INTF:TP MEM:6144b MAC 00:02:d7:10:01:2b
Partition check:
hda: [PTBL] [3892/255/63] hda1 < hda5 hda6 > hda2 hda3 hda4
RAMDISK: ext2 filesystem found at block 0
RAMDISK: Loading 320 blocks [1 disk] into ram disk... done.
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
empeg-pump v0.03 (19980601)
Press Ctrl-A to enter pump...VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.
change_root: old root has d_count=1
Trying to unmount old root ... okay
Freeing unused kernel memory: 4k initDrive(s) appear to be already built. Skipping.
Press return to continue anyway - anything else to start a shell.
show_message("Fixed temp.sensor")
Fixed temp.sensor, status=0xc0
and then.... nothing. The screen displays "Fixed temp.sensor" as expected, but nothing else happens. If I press any key, the hard drive is re-partitioned and formatted again - several hours later I'm back at square one again.

Anybody got any ideas?

Cheers,

N.

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#355037 - 20/09/2012 18:24 Re: It's been a long, long time. [Re: Nick Barnes]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31563
Loc: Seattle, WA
The player flash RAM contains a builder image.
The player flash RAM is trying to format/partition the disk for you.
It's saying that the disk already has data on it and is prompting you to press Enter to continue anyway. (Third line from bottom).
Make sure you're following these instructions carefully.
_________________________
Tony Fabris

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#355045 - 21/09/2012 09:43 Re: It's been a long, long time. [Re: tfabris]
mlord
carpal tunnel

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14472
Loc: Canada
The confusing point being, once you've done this part (formatting the drive), the next step is to install a player image in place of the builder image (using the same method).

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#355077 - 23/09/2012 18:26 Re: It's been a long, long time. [Re: mlord]
Nick Barnes
new poster

Registered: 11/09/2012
Posts: 4


Very many thanks for all you help. I was obviously following the wrong instructions - it all works perfectly now - 32GB CF card works like a charm.

Blimey, I'd forgotten just how slow syncing is though!

Found the cage in the depths of the garage. It was ripped from the old car by the breaker (I wrote the car off smashing into the side of a lorry who pulled onto a roundabout without looking), so some of the labels have gone. Does somebody have a wiring diagram handy? Ah well, never mind, with Google and some trial-and-error I'll work it out.

Next question, though, is does anybody know where I can get new lenses? I have a red one, but want a blue one for the car it's going in.

Cheers,

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