Taking Apart An Airport Extreme Base Station

Farley Mullet writes "As seen on MacSlash, here is a link to page documenting one man's dissection of an Airport Extreme Base Station. It's pretty neat to see what Apple crammed in there, including (gasp!) a chip from AMD!"

Comments

Airport - Laptop

[Richardsonke1]

It says that the main processor is a mini-PCI card. Does that mean that it could resonably be put in a computer without the base station? My Dell Inspirion 8200 uses a mini-PCI card for wireless, and if I could possibly find drivers for it, i.e. for use in linux, that would be so cool. Imagine upgrading your laptop to 54 Mbps yourself (with no PCI card sticking out the side).

Re:Airport - Laptop

[schappim]

I give it a week till there is linux on it... (it's already on the graphite version)

Re:Airport - Laptop

[schappim]

It's also quite interesting to note, that whilst Apple is courting Intel (CEO special guest @ Keynote), Apple is still using AMD in their base station!

Re:Airport - Laptop

[da_anarchist]

You wouldn't have to buy the entire Airport base station. Apple sells Mini-PCI Airport Extreme cards seperately for 99$ at the Apple store here. However, it is questionable whether there are any drivers for non-Mac systems.

Re:Airport - Laptop

[GreatOgre]

If you follow the article's link to AMD's website from the article, you see that the CPU supports Linux; so it shouldn't take long.

Questions that I have. On AMD's page, they say that power usage is given in mW for the chip at 333, 400, and 500 MHz are 400, 700, and 1.2. Do they mean 1.2 watts (and hence 1200 mW) or does it actually use 1.2 mW? (I know that it's 1.2 W, but I wish it was 1.2 mW!) More seriously though, why aren't we seeing these chips in more things, like say mini-ITX boards? Of course, I'm not a chip and board designer; so this could be senseless dribble.

Re:Airport - Laptop

[baitisj2]

Yes, they mean 1.2 watts.

I actually am working on an embedded project that uses the Alchemy AU1500 chip, as used in the AirPort. I can tell you that getting Linux running on this AirPort would be trivial. All you need to do is break out the EJTAG pins on the AU1500, and connect it to a Raven EJTAG adapter (works under Linux + GDB).

The next thing you'd need to figure out are the SDRAM and flash timings.

What I would really like to see: someone should get Linux running out of the connected RAM, and then extract the contents of the Flash chip. I'm really curious what OS the AirPort uses. If it's something we're familiar with, then it might be easy to reverse engineer the driver for the BroadCom peripheral. I would *LOVE* to see drivers for these BroadCom devices.

The AU1500 has excellent support and is a superb microcontroller; take at www.linux-mips.org . Integrated USB, Ethernet, serial, very fun! If someone wants to send me an AirPort, I'll put Linux on it ! :)

Re:Airport - Laptop

[Lennie]

Supposedly it runs vxWorks (I got a link to this site, in the same discussion: http://www-hft.ee.tu-berlin.de/~strauman/airport/a irport.html):

Important Note About the New Airport Base Station (AKA "Snow")

The new model of the Airport Base Station which features two Ethernet ports is a completely different device. Don't even dream about using etherboot and the linux port discussed here on that one.

* The old "graphite" station is an embedded i486-PC running an embedded BIOS and the KarlBridge software.
* The new "snow" station uses an embedded (860 series) PowerPC and it runs vxWorks. While it should certainly be possible to port Linux to that device, too, no efforts have been undertaken, however. I have previously run linux on the 860 - a neat device.
* This little utility helps extracting a zlib compressed part from a binary file by using brute force :-). You must not use it on the "snow" firmware binary, though, as this could violate the license.


The site discusses the use of the earlier version which uses a 486-chip, also AMD ? to run Linux on.

Here they go again

[Black Copter Control]

Slicing up an Apple just see what's inside.
Kinda seedy, if you ask me....

Re:Here they go again

[sTavvy]

and even funnier if they sliced open Steve Jobs and found an apple, and inside that apple, a worm, and inside that worm - steve ballmer..

why "gasp"?

[Drakon]

I thought it was common knowledge that AMD is in bed with apple...
the dogs fight together against the wolf (intel)

AFAIK there was a AMD embedded 486 in the original AirPort, and Apple is working with AMD on HyperX pci or some such, and so on and so forth

Two things

[nilepoc]

That huge heat sink leads me to a good idea of why the 12" pBook is so hot.

And the AMD chips have been in the previous base stations as well. (or so I was told, when I posted this comment on macslash) But it does kind of clear up a great deal of speculation on what Apple and AMD were up to.

I posted this comment on macslash as an AC

Gasp!

[cscx]

AMD makes microcontrollers and all SORTS of different ICs. Gasp!

Also Texas Instruments doesn't just make calculators, either...

Re:Gasp!

[jdreed1024]

Also Texas Instruments doesn't just make calculators, either..

Sure. They also make the Speak N Spell, which, when combined with an umbrella, a circular saw blade, and a phonograph, allow you to send exta-terrestrial messages. Yeesh. Didn't anyone see E.T.? :-)

Re:Gasp!

[cscx]

Also, when combined with a Slinky and a box of Grape Nuts can make a StrongBad Robot.

The most important question...

[MavEtJu]

That's all folks! Despite the tinkering, the ABS still functions normally.

How many screws did you have left over at the end?

Re:The most important question...

[WegianWarrior]

How many screws did you have left over at the end?

That reminds me of an old axinom over at the maintanence hangar where I work: "The most importent piece of the aircraft is the one you forgot to put back."

Having said that, I would say that I liked the article a lot - taking stuff apart to see whats inside is just my kind of thing.

Re:The most important question...

[mlush]

How many screws did you have left over at the end?

1. Build computer out of solid gold
2. take it to bits
3. reassemble
4. melt down screws left over
5. repeat steps 2-4
6. profit!

Ster number one in voiding warranties

[sandbagger]

Publish on a web site that you are voiding their warranty by cracking their product open.

Thanks, though.

New Airport Base Station Icon

[TPIRman]

Does Airport really merit its own icon? I fear that we may be DILUTING the value of Slashdot subject icons! SLASHDOT EDITORS, REPENT!

Oh wait, who cares? Looks pretty nifty.

WiFi & AMD

[LamerX]

I just took apart my Mac LC & LCII. The both had AMD chips in them, not the processor, but some other chip was labeled with an AMD logo on it.

Also, for more WiFi info, these are some good links...

http://melbourne.wireless.org.au/wiki/?Apple

http://www.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/WirelessLin ks

http://www.gulker.com/2002/10/10.html

I believe that most wireless access points are just PCMCIA wireless cards with some extra software and hardware controlling it, that's why prices of these are coming down so much.

Re:strange bedfellows

[benntop]

Actually from my recollection it is quite the other way around. AMD started out making a myriad of devices and then shifted focus to the desktop processor industry.

In other terms, they were running around town at night but lately they have settled down. Bully for them, I dig it.

Re:Base station

[mlyle]

The Apple Airport base stations seem to just work, unlike my experience with Dlink and Linksys products.

A comparable box is the Linksys WRT54G; looking through reviews, people have had lots of problems. You can get it for $120-130 compared to $190-$200 for the Airport; and the Linksys doesn't have a USB port for printer sharing.

A $60-$80 premium to have a solution which is dependable is well worth it for me.

Lied to

[iamatlas]

We've all been lied to. All these years apple has been telling us their products "just work" and here we find actual components- complicated components!- and in a simple device!

I don't know what's physically inside their full computer systems, but now for me they are filled only with lies.

Nice dissection there

[General Sherman]

Nice to see what's inside those. I was kind of expecting to see just a standard WiFi card in there, in the original base station, exactly like the one he had pictured for comparison, it was actually just a Lucent PCMCIA card. Apple likes to use the least weird parts, a nice break from the proprieatary RAM that they used to use. Maybe this explains what those talks with AMD were as well, just discussing AE design? Most likely. Maybe some HyperTransport in there, but definitely nothing about x86. I hope this little science experiment showed that to you crazies.

AMD Chip != i86

[Nova Express]

There's nothing particularly interesting or shocking about having an AMD chip in the Airport. Also, it's not any kind of i86 chip at all: "The CPU is a AMD Au1500 series RISC-based processor. It is based on the MIPS architecture." Moreover, it has a date of 2000 and "Made in Taiwan" on the chip itself, so what we have here is fairly old technology cranked out by a Taiwanese fab (UMC would be my guess). And absolutely no proof for the "Apple is moving to AMD" rumor. Nothing to see here, folks, move along, move along...

Re:strange bedfellows

[binaryDigit]

AMD is the slut of microprocessor companies. They're making small deals left right and center, because that's the only way they have to dethrone Intel. By picking up the scraps

Say what? Name a microprocessor company that doesn't have a diverse line of semiconductor products. Hell IBM makes PPC chips, helps AMD with their production of Athlon chips, makes embedded chips, makes their own x86 clone, makes POWER chips, DACs, and lord knows what else as they're one of the largest fabs out there. Intel makes/made ethernet chips, 802.11 chips, ARM, bubble memory, x86, etc. Motorola makes chips for cell phones, embedded processors, PPC, 68k (coldfire et.al), DSP, etc. How on earth is AMD any different?

It's a Broadcom 802.11g chip

[EDA Wizard]

The Mini-PCI card is based on a Broadcom 11g chipset. Broadcom already has Linux drivers for this chip, but they aren't open source. They are licensed to embedded designers for binary distribution and they aren't available to the general public. This is the same chipset that the Linksys WMP54g pci card uses.

AMD and apple as a point of interest

[questamor]

FWIW, Apple have been using AMD chips through their machines for quite a while. I have dozens of older macs, from early powermacs back through quadras and mac II machines, and there are several AMD chips on some of those boards. They're not doing anything but auxiliary functions such as serial port controllers and the like, but they're there all the same

Ridiculous UK power plugs

[davesag]

from the article The cabling in Britain includes the typical ridiculous power plug combined with a standard RJ-11 telephone cable + adapter.

I don't know about you but those plugs never fall out of a wall socket. compare and contrast to the pissy little european two pin plugs, or even worse those very flimsy US two pin (easy-bend) plugs. The only thing that rivals it is the australian 3 pin power plugs but even they are prone to falling out from time to time. no for me the UK monster 3 pin plug is a great thing.

Re:Ridiculous UK power plugs

[WasterDave]

Australian ones (actually New Zealand in my case, but we use the same plugs) are overpoweringly stupid. Not as bad as the US ones, but stupid all the same.

The two live pins are at the top of the socket. This means that when a toddler stands on the cable, as she tends to extremely often, the two live pins are exposed with a gap just the right size for an inquisitive toddler finger. Stupid fuckers, having me running round duct taping all the power plugs to the wall.

The UK sockets are the tits. Best designed in the world. For a start the "garage doors" onto the live pins don't even open until the earth pin is in. Then by the time the live pins are touching inside the socket, the only exposed bits are plastic. Totally toddler proof AND they don't fall out.

Dave

Re:Ridiculous UK power plugs

[h4mmer5tein]

We're not afraid to do that either, but the outlets have to be of a specific type, isolated with internal transformers to step down the voltage, and mounted in a certain way, up high, away from any water. Added to this is the fact that all UK appliances are fused and virtually all are grounded. The large 3rd pin on uk mains plugs is the earth and all uk plugs have an internal fuse rated to match the appliance ( untill the owner changes it for the wrong rating, but there only so much you can do ).

So in the case of your hair dryer not only would it be grounded to prevent an electric shock, but the fuse in the plug would blow cutting off the supply without fusing the entire house's electrics.

The reason that the american, and other flat 2 pin plugs, tend to fall out easily is the way they are retained. The holes in the pins are for a sprung copper contact wiper inside the socket that has a detent bump moulded into it to match the hole, providing a away for the plug to be retained. Over time the wipers lose their spring and the detent becomes less and less effective, allowing the plug to fall out easily.

"AMD processor?? But does it run Linux?"

[Phantasmo]

Well, kinda.

The project hasn't been updated in a couple of months, and it breaks Ethernet bridging, but the idea of running Linux on a sleek little gadget from Apple is still geeky enough to be interesting.

The Airport is great, but to configure it you need to be running OS 9 or X - horrid news for a high school that I was working at a few months ago. Every machine was running OS 8.6, including the one teacher-owned laptop. Every student-owned laptop was Windows-based.
I brought in my laptop (which runs Debian) and gave the Airport Base Station Configurator a try, but to no avail.

So - cool device, but it needs to be easier to configure or modify.

Errr...

[Molt]

...so this guy buys an Apple Airport for his sister, gives it to her as a birthday present, then dismantles it with his handy-dandy toolkit?
Ah, there's nothing like the warm glow that comes from the giving of gifts.

AMD chips in Macs?

[jeffasselin]

I've seen those for years in Macs, same with NEC, TI, etc. Apple have often used AMD chips for their ethernet controllers on previous PowerMacs. There were AMD chips on some Quadra logic boards. Nothing new here or surprising, really.

Please don't tease the NSA

[Anonymous Coward]

Taking Apart an Airport Extreme Base Station

Yowzers, and didn't that title just set off every keyword monitor at the NSA.

I can actually envision some poor computer at the NSA literally having kittens.