eSeSIX WLVI03: Hardware 

• Hardware
• Firmware
• Linux

History

This is identified as an eSeSIX-WLVI03 on a label on the bottom along with a web address of www.thintune.com (which is no longer current). eSeSIX was a German company with a range of thin clients being marketed under the 'thintune' banner. eSeSIX was acquired by Neoware in 2005, and was acquired in turn by HP in 2007.

Specifications

There is close to zero information available on the web about this model.

The WLVI03 has a 32Mb Compact Flash adapter, 256MB of RAM and runs a version of Linux.

The basic specs are:

Processor
Type    Speed	VIA C3 300MHz
Memory
Flash    RAM	32Mb (max ?GB) 256MB (max 512MB?)
Video
Chip    Max resolution	CLE266 1280 x 1024 16-bit colour???
Ports
Network    USB    Serial    Parallel    PS/2	10/100 4 x USB1.1 2 1 Kybd & mouse
Power
Off    Running	7W ~20W
Dimensions
W x H x D	24cm x 4cm x 18cm

Processor

The Processor is described as a VIA C3. What Linux's cpuinfo reports is:

CPU family	:	6
model	:	7
model name	:	VIA Samuel 2
Stepping	:	3

I'd seen reports that the WLVI03 ran at 300MHz but I found mine was clocked at 200MHz. This prompted me to remove to heatsink to find out what was actually fitted. As you can see it is an Eden ESP 3000 which is a VIA Samuel 2 core and is rated at 300MHz. (66MHz bus and a 4.5 clock multiplier).

Power Supply

The eSeSIX-WLVI03 uses an external 12V supply which connects via a standard 5.5mm/2.1mm coaxial plug. The label on the base carries the words 12V, 1.7A max.

Expansion

The circuit board is identified as a TCM-3500 Rev2.1.6. Both the Flash memory and the RAM in the WLVI03 are easily replaceable. (Click on the photo for a larger image).

Flash:The flash is a Compact Flash card that's plugged into a Compact Flash socket on the motherboard. There is also a standard 44-pin IDE connector fitted to the board.

RAM: The board has a single 144-pin SODIMM socket for RAM (PC133). The fitted RAM is a Kingston module - KVR133X64SC3L/256.

CPU Clocking

There is a 2x4-pin header on the board (labelled SW) adjacent to the SODIMM. This looked like it might be equivalent to the DIP switch on the eSeSIX WLGX01. I tried out the various combinations using the two shorting connectors present and discovered the following behaviour:

Strapping Speed   Doesn't run 200MHz   300MHz       400MHz

Selecting 300MHz as opposed to 200MHz made very little difference to the overall power consumption of the unit - maybe ~1W.

PCI Devices

At the time I had the heatsink off I didn't remove the tape to see what the companion device was. Subsequently running lspci reveals:

00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8605 [ProSavage PM133]
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8605 [PM133 AGP]
00:07.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super South] (rev 40)
00:07.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:07.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 1a)
00:07.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 1a)
00:07.4 Bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super ACPI] (rev 40)
00:07.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
00:09.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: S3 Inc. 86C380 [ProSavageDDR K4M266] (rev 02)

...which implies its a CLE266