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If you come across a Nortel Baystack switch

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First post, by Rodoko

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As the title says, I rescued from the place where I learn my computer related stuff a Nortel Baystack Instant Internet 100-s 7 port switch and I opened up and it was SO filthy that I cleaned all up and I discovered that has an embedded PC so the thing was going to be fun to play with

Inside the bad boy we have a NII-100 embedded PC motherboard sporting a Cyrix MII @ 333 MHz, 140 MB of RAM (12 MB built-in and the rest is on the 128 MB memory module that I installed), no graphics but it has a VGA pinout and no PS/2 or USB ports, kinda similar to the first wireless router that LGR covered up in a video
Also, the machine has an 8 MB Sandisk CF card containing all the software needed to run the switch which is based in Datalight ROM-DOS so it starts up pretty quickly but you need to give it some time to make the connection

The complicated thing is to find the software it needs to be managed since part of Nortel was bought by Avaya in 2005 and they only have the manuals but no software and Googling around I found an updated version of the software that was meant for this thing's sucessor so... that was a nice thing to know

The name "Baystack" originated from Bay Networks, a company which specialized in networking applications like making hubs, switches and all those kinds of things and if you didn't know, the company was bought by Nortel in 1998 but a part of it ended in a company you guys might know and that is... Netgear!!

Netgear as you know makes all networking based stuff from routers to big-ass switches

Anyhoo, I'll end this post with some pics and as well, the manual and software for the switch

IMG-20190117-WA0069.jpg
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IMG-20190117-WA0069.jpg
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The insides of the beast (The Netgear card was removed and installed into my PII 400 system and if you wonder it was an FA311 10/100 one)
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Fair use/fair dealing exception
IMG-20190118-WA0017.jpg
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IMG-20190118-WA0017.jpg
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The thing with it's cover put on it with a Dell Inspiron 6400 on the top
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Fair use/fair dealing exception
IMG-20190119-WA0042.jpg
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IMG-20190119-WA0042.jpg
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Stacked up with my existing 3com switch
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Fair use/fair dealing exception

Attachments

  • Filename
    209374A.PDF
    File size
    2.69 MiB
    Downloads
    34 downloads
    File comment
    Manual for the switch
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
  • Filename
    IIC720.ZIP
    File size
    2.18 MiB
    Downloads
    31 downloads
    File comment
    Instant Internet Management Software version 7.20
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
Last edited by Rodoko on 2019-07-31, 03:21. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 2 of 5, by BinaryDemon

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Just 1 pci slot?

Check out DOSBox Distro:

https://sites.google.com/site/dosboxdistro/ [*]

a lightweight Linux distro (tinycore) which boots off a usb flash drive and goes straight to DOSBox.

Make your dos retrogaming experience portable!

Reply 3 of 5, by Rodoko

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chrismeyer6 wrote:

That's a nice piece of network gear you got there. How does it do with switching performance?

Well, is not that bad, the issue I have to deal with is the IP issue since unlike my 3com switch, this one assigns his own IP instead of using the one generated by the ICS option in Windows

The thing has an Ethernet port on the back (Eth2 according to the switch's OS) that is where my main laptop's ICS is connected and then on the front, the N°1 port is hooked up to my 3com switch or a computer

As configuring the switch is almost a pain, you screw it up and then you need to go to the DIP switches to reset everything to default and start again so, this switch works great, the issue I need to deal is with the switch not letting me to use the ICS's IP and preventing me from seeing my drives (The drives I share in every machine I have)

BinaryDemon wrote:

Just 1 pci slot?

Yes, this introduces you to the concept of embbeded computing what this means is the PCI slot can be used for a modem or a NIC, if you plug an USB based thing, the BIOS will not initialize it since it doesn't have any PS/2 ports on it

Reply 4 of 5, by BinaryDemon

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Yeah I thought it might be cool to convert these devices if they were cheap enough, but even if there was no effort made to prevent tampering there is just too much missing I/O in this case.

Check out DOSBox Distro:

https://sites.google.com/site/dosboxdistro/ [*]

a lightweight Linux distro (tinycore) which boots off a usb flash drive and goes straight to DOSBox.

Make your dos retrogaming experience portable!

Reply 5 of 5, by Rodoko

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Yes and has to do with the reason that it acts like a computer to manage via a Terminal app by the AUX (Serial) or via the manufacturer's software

Also this kind of thing is still going as of today with the newer switches, although they are web based instead of using a software to manage 'em

I'm not going to deny that I saw the front panel connectors on the computer side of the switch but there's no pinout for the keyboard or mouse connectors

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