The Fujitsu Siemens S400 is one of the larger thin clients around. It's neatly packaged
but is at the upper end of the power consumption stakes. I guess this is why it carries
the warning label shown here. The top of the unit does get hot while in use.
A user manual I have was created in August 2007.
The basic specs for the S400 are:
Processor Type
SpeedAMD NX1500
1GHzMemory Flash
RAM512MB CF
256MB/512MB (max 1GB?)Video Chip
Max resolutionSiS741CX
32 bit colors, 1600 x 1200 / 85 HzPorts Network
USB
Serial
Parallel
PS/210/100/1000
4 x USB2.0
1
1
Kybd & mousePower Power
Plug
Off
Idle
Running12V 4.2A (Label)
4-pin
0W
24W
29WDimensions H x W x D (mm) 246 x 48 x 177
My S400 came with Windows XPe. It was also fitted with a Matrox F7003-0301 video card. This is a 32MB PCI video card with both VGA and DVI outputs.
The S400 is fitted with SiS 963L / SiS 741CX chipset:
The SiS741CX chipset supports the AMD Geode NX processor family, DDR266 front side bus, as well as high-speed DDR333 DRAM. Furthermore, the SiS741CX chipset incorporates SiS's revolutionary HyperStreaming Technology, which provides multiple divided pipelines for data, allows data to be sent concurrently, and separates data for easier memory retrieval, resulting in a remarkable reduction in latency versus traditional chipsets.
SiS964 / SiS963L will be coupled with SiS741CX as the south bridge chipset, which integrates with Serial ATA high-speed transfer interface. The SiS964 / SiS963L supports Dual-Channel parallel ATA, 8 built-in USB2.0 ports, full 5.1 channel surround sound, V.90 modem and Ethernet network.
The S400 uses an external power supply. The one that came with the S400 was manufactured by Linearity and provides 12V at 5A. The power connector is one of those 4-pin types similar to that used by the Neoware CA2.
The power supply connector (DP-003-R) is not one that's readily available on the high street. However, when I first encountered it, an on-line search found me a UK supplier - Toby Electronics - for those who want to fit the right connector to an existing power supply. (Search for "DP Valcon 7.5 Amp Cable Mount Power Plugs")
As you can see from the label the connections on the plug are:
Pin 1&2 : +12V Pin 3&4 : GND
The S400 is fitted with an AMD NX1500 clocked at 1GHz.
The Linux cpuinfo reports:
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD cpu family : 6 model : 8 model name : AMD Athlon(tm) Processor stepping : 1 flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse syscall mp mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow
The CPU is socketed so there is an opportunity for the more adventurous to try alternative CPUs. The Geode NX processors use Socket A and so various Athlon processors may work. (Others have experimented with the HP t5720 which also use the same CPU).
00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 741/741GX/M741 Host (rev 03) 00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SG86C202 00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS963 [MuTIOL Media IO] (rev 25) 00:02.1 SMBus: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS961/2/3 SMBus controller 00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE] 00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS7012 AC'97 Sound Controller (rev a0) 00:03.0 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f) 00:03.1 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f) 00:03.2 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller 00:09.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8169 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 10) 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 661/741/760 PCI/AGP or 662/761Gx PCIE VGA Display Adapter
This is fairly straight forward, but you'll need a torx screwdriver.
First remove the two screws that hold on the front cover. The front cover can then be gently slid forward. I found it to be a snug fit and it needed a bit of gentle encouragement to move.
Next remove the two screws on the rear that hold on the top cover. This can then be removed, but the problem here is that there are two slightly sticky pads on the top of the CPU heat sink, and one on the Northbridge chip's heatsink. These make contact with the case. They are obviously there to help dissipate the heat. Once again it's a case of applying some gentle pressure and waiting for the metal case to come free from them.
You'll find that there is an internal microswitch fitted to the backpanel which will operate if the cover is removed.
Click on the photograph to get a more detailed view of the circuit board.
CPU: As mentioned above this is a Socket A processor and could be replaced by an alternative.
Flash: The board is fitted with an Compact Flash socket so increasing the size of the flash is easy. There is also a 40-pin IDE socket. I haven't yet experimented with that. (But see this link.)
In August 2020 I heard from Andrzej. Armed with a range of SD cards he used a CF-to-SD-Card adapter and a IDE-40-to-SD-Card adapter to check out the S400. He found:
I would note that we do have the extra variable here of the adapters which may (or may not) be playing a part. Checking I found I had a spare 16GB CF card. This was recognised as 16GB by the BIOS (Rev 4.00.0Q). The IDE limit is a known issue of old BIOSs (circa turn-of-the-century). The ATA spec at the time used a maximum of 28 bits for addressing attached drives thus limiting them to ~137GB.
RAM: The board has a single SODIMM socket for DDR memory. Mine came fitted with a 256MB Samsung part - M470L3224HU0-CB3. This is PC2700S CL2.5 part. A Samsung 512MB part - M470L6524BT0-CB3 also worked. I have no 1GB DDR part to try.
The S400 datasheet does mention that, with the XPe version, the memory supported is "256, 512, (1GB only via CUZ)". I have no idea what CUZ means. A datasheet for the S400 mentions DDR333 as the RAM specification.
USB: There are two USB 2.0 sockets on the front and two on the rear.
There is also an onboard 10-pin connector - J5 - that is used to connect an optional smartcard reader but the pinout is non-standard (see below).
PCI: There is a PCI socket. My S400 came with a small right-angle riser card and a Matrox video card.
Note: Having found an issue with the S200 and S300 I checked the voltages present on the S400 PCI connector. As I suspected the +12V supply is present (after all the S400 is running from a 12V PSU) but there is no -12V supply present on the bus. If you're planning to add a PCI card you need to check exactly what supplies the PCI card requires. An obvious 'doesn't work' candidate here would be a serial card as the line drivers on these are usually connected to + and - supplies.
If you do need the -12V supply you could add it using one of the small and cheap 'buck' step-up converters mentioned in the S200 entry.
Proprietary: There is another connector adjacent to the PCI socket and parallel to the rear panel. The manual says "You can fit a module (e.g. WLAN module or DVI module) in the installation slot."
Jumpers: There are various jumpers on the board but I haven't attempted to track down what they all do.
J1 sits between the Compact Flash card socket and the IDE interface.
Tom emailed me to say that it should be closed/shorted (default) to make the CF card
the primary master IDE device. As you would expect, if open the CF card becomes the
slave device. Obviously anything connected to the IDE interface needs to configured
as slave or master as appropriate.
J2 sits next to the CF card close to the battery.
J3 sits next to the SODIMM socket.
J4 is a white socket close to J5. It would appear to be something to provide
power as I measure +5V on the pin closest to the Compact Flash card.
J5 offers two more USB ports but for some strange reason is not pinned out in the usual manner. Normally pin 9 is missing (as a key) and pin 10 is not connected. In this instance pins 7 and 8 are missing and the 'ground' connection they usually provide has been moved on to pins 9 and 10.
J6 is the large connector for an additional accessory.
In May 2023 Thomas pointed out that J6 was used by an SiS-based
graphics board with a DVI output.
I also found a dual LAN card.
J8 is near the battery and looks as though it might be a 'Clear CMOS' jumper.