I bought a new-in-box RaQ4r for nostalgia. Well, that and I need a cheap out of box solution for hosting some projects.

After talking with Zeffie this morning I decided to ditch my 550 upgrade, skip any Strongbolt or BlueOnyx stuff and go with his updated restore ISO.

My problem lies in that my Linksys 10/100t NIC is hosed, the new one wont be in for 5 days and I need to get this OS installed and working before then.

I know back in the day my NOC engineer used to do restores on my 550s with a USB stick. Is this possible with the RaQ4r or is the USB support just too pooey?

Why not just use a crossover cable?

C0op3r

Crossover cable still requires a NIC card that is compatible with the kernel. Not to sound offensive, but I haven't had a card that was compatible with their list for years. ;)

I re-installed my Linksys 10/100t NIC and it literally blew up. Actually fried itself. lol I'm sure a misplaced dust ball was the culprit, still though. The ISO is very specific with which NIC cards it supports. There's a list of about 7, and even the 3COMs will fail depending on the version.

http: //p.osting.it/en/come-aggiornare-un-server-cobalt-raq-via-vmware/ will allow a virtual machine to mount it however I'm not willing to risk a 3 day old RaQ4r... I was writing packages for these things when I was 20... I love them more than... well... I wont say my woman... but damn near it ;) God 10 years sure did fly by.

To be completely honest, I'm almost certain I can't use a USB solution for this... I never remembered it being that easy to fix a blown HD on a RaQ4i/r. I was just hoping someone had found a work around in the last 12 or so years.

I remember installing Linux on a briefcase (not laptop) computer using 2 speaker wires and a serial port, will they accept serial connections?

I just can't find any info anymore. And as I remember, the manual was pretty much useless (how can you pay for support if you can get the answer at home?) ;)

Well since you are apparently reading this this forum pretty actively and want to get the machine working, I will do all I can to help.

First I am not sure why you do not want to upgrade to the 550 software, I have been running it on 4 different machines (originally a Raq4i and a RaQ4Cache) and more recently two Raq550's with full upgrades Pentium 3 1.4Ghz 2gig SDRAM and (2) 80Gig HDs in RAID Ø. It works great and is a lot more supported and secure then the older and only supported by one source RaQ4 software.

I like you had a RaQ back in the day and really enjoyed it (mine was a Cobalt Qube2), and I have since got back into the RaQ's as a bit of nostalgia and hobby. Now having (2) mentioned above RaQ550's (one is a complete mirror of the other for backup purposes).

Another advantage to going with the Newer Software is more NIC cards are support in the later releases, I think its only something like six cards in the original and at least double that in the later software, plus pretty much any Intel based card will work on the later software.

I personally use an OLD Dell ultra portable that has a supported Intel NIC chip in it and serial connection, its an old P3 computer but works great for upgrading Cobalts.

I am sure that you can find a supported NIC for less then 6.00$ on eBay or at the local computer store as junk. There was/is a list of the support cards when you start up the restore CD, did you look at that yet?

c0op3r.com to see my Cobalt's and a web page running on one.

c0op3r

Yeah, thanks for the concise response Coop. Love the name by the way.

Yeah I bought a new support NIC but it wont be avail for awhile. The main reason I'm avoiding the 550 upgrade due to problems I've had with previous installs back in the day. Besides, I like Zeffie. He's a good guy, and the purchase helps him out.

I still had the Linksys card I used to use 10 years ago, but it blew itself out. I found one on Ebay for 3 dollars, and it will be in here 5 days. I'm just very impatient, my brain works very fast and I need to unload this info into code before I freak out. lol

I was just hoping for an easy bypass. I appreciate your help, and tell you what if you can sell me in a PM to take the 550 OS instead of Zeffie's 4r w/updates I'll jump on that train. He just convinced me, based on what I know and being an oldschool Cobalter.

I am all about supporting anyone who still uses and supports the Cobalt they are really cool machines, I love my two 550's hence the reason they are here and fully upgraded, I am only running a couple of sites on it but like I said its really for fun/hobby.

Do you have AOL AIM I am on now if you want to talk more. Use the little icon on the right top of any of my messages.

c0op3r