Vessel Technology

All things tech!

Hello to the Little Red Daemon

By Dermot Tynan • March 30, 2013

After much tweaking and hacking with configuration files and kernel build options, I finally have a FreeBSD 8.3-RELEASE kernel and install running on a Wrap board. Technically, it's NanoBSD, which is a scaled-down FreeBSD install, which boots from Compact Flash. The WRAP board is the PC Engines forerunner to the ALIX. When National Semiconductor and AMD stopped making Geode chips, the guys at PC Engines had to stop making their very popular WRAP board. I still have a few of them tucked away, for emergencies such as this.

A Modular Approach

By Dermot Tynan • March 28, 2022

I originally planned to build a lot of the electrical systems inside the hull, and mount the control electronics on a platform which would connect to the various systems. I quickly learnt that this wasn't going to survive contact with the Real World. I needed something more modular, something more watertight.