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Old firewall reborn as retro PC

Posted on January 18, 2022January 18, 2022 by William

We like projects where old equipment is given new life. [splashlast] has a 20-year-old commercial firewall, which is structured like a tank. He opened it, found a complete x86 embedded motherboard inside, and began to restore it and turn it into a retro game computer (see his weird and outdated YouTube channel video).
This commercial firewall and router box came from clavister, a small Swedish company, which was part of the S Series in the early 2000s. The motherboard appears to be a common motherboard used in other devices, powered by the via Eden ESP 4000 operating at 400 MHz. Eden series x86 processors are low-power chips for embedded applications. The graphics chip is the twister t of S3 graphics purchased by via in 2000. After replacing the electrolytic capacitor and making several cables, [splashlast] pops up in the PCI sound card and boots from the CF card to Windows 98 (we like the compact PCB vise he uses).

In two follow-up videos (here and here), he built a shell (the description on thingeverse) and tried several other operating systems. He can make a small core Linux distribution run with netsurf browser, but he can’t make windows 2000 or XP run. Back to Windows 98, he adjusted the drivers and settings, and finally had a respectable retro game computer. Next time you clean the trash, look at the gadgets in the pizza box – you may find similar gemstones.

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