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Side channel: OPS module vlog (Patreon)

Published:
2024-06-12 02:43:37
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

Haven't really done vlog style stuff in eons, didn't know if anyone would be interested, but I had a project to do yesterday and I figured it was a chance to talk at length about the whole OPS situation. That's been developing positively - I now have four of the modules and a fifth on the way, and two compatible TVs (thanks to Brandon and Kilian! not sure if either of you are patrons lol.) I'm definitely at a point where I could make a video about these things, but I know it's gonna be months before I figure out exactly what to say and how to shoot it, so I just wanted to record something. It's a lot of rambling, but hopefully someone will like it!

Files

Bench vlog: OPS module experiments

Comments

Chas Becht

If it wasn't clear, the touch screens are generally just exposed as a USB hid device. I would guess that the SATA port on that video capture board is there for some DVR application.

Lily Finley

You say "surely they wouldn't use the OPS standard and then have non-standard voltage requirements", but that is exactly what many companies do with HDBase-T. The spec says 48 volts, but there are tons of 12 and 24 volt HDBase-T devices out there that will let the smoke out if you connect them to something sending the standard 48V.

Aaronjamt

You mentioned around 43 minutes in that the CPU supports SDVO and if you had one you could try it out. I have an old Dell Optiplex, I believe it's a 360, with a "graphics card" which is just entirely passives. I don't think it fits in a standard PCI-E slot, although I don't remember if I actually ever tried it. Would would be interested in one of those cards, assuming they are SDVO?

cathoderaydude

but why??? why label it that if it's literally not that??? what do they get out of putting the logo on it or whatever if it isn't interoperable? they're literally just buying themselves warranty work and bad reputations for no benefit. i mean you can understand why, *even as someone who is used to the malfeasance and stupidity of corporations*, I did not expect this right

cathoderaydude

That is exactly the right era for it to be an SDVO card, it's probably the same one they used in everything, I think it has a "silicon image" chip on it. I actually already have one, but I appreciate the offer! (If it actually *is* entirely passives with *no* chips... let me know, that might be something else)

Aaronjamt

I'll have to look for it, I don't remember exactly where I put it, but I will let you know when I find it! I have 2 of them (insert cats photo here) so I'd be more than happy to give you one of them, maybe both if you want/need

Aaronjamt

So it turns out the machine was exactly where I thought I left it. It's an Optiplex 740, and the card does indeed have 0 chips, only a handful of passives (I count 5 capacitors, 1 diode, and 1 fuse). If you'll excuse the terrible lighting and phone camera flash, here's a photo of the front and back of it (it's a DVI-D card): https://photos.app.goo.gl/6SoZ3rWyGsFc14dD9

Aaronjamt

Looking at the Wikipedia article, both the 740 and 360 were released in 2008, so the timing would still line up.

cathoderaydude

Wow, now THAT is something else. I'm pretty sure this is a creature of Dell's own creation, I've never seen anything like it. The motherboard apparently has a custom slot on it with extra pins to connect to that extra edge connector in the back. This would just be a "riser" - dell basically wired up the DVI output on their chipset to a nonstandard plug and this breaks it out. I wonder *why* they did that - maybe SDVO didn't exist yet? I don't think I'd be able to do anything with it unfortunately, especially since I'd have to get the whole machine to go with it and I don't have the room, but I'm glad I know about it now, heh.

Aaronjamt

Fair enough, I don't blame ya! Yeah, there's a specific slot it's supposed to go in (my machine has 2 slots, one PCI-E, and one for *that*, I've been trying for years to figure out what it is/how it works, but haven't been able to find anything on it. I don't know if I've tried it in another machine, my comment about it not fitting in standard PCI-E was only because I know it only physically fits in one of the 2 slots on the Dell motherboard. I was considering getting rid of that machine, so if you're ever interested in it, let me know and I'd be more than happy to send it over! Here's the specs/info from memory, I'll see if I can read the part numbers still and get you the actual numbers: Dual-core AMD Athlon CPU, says 2005 on it DDR2, originally came (to me) with 2x 1GB sticks, but I added an extra 2x 512MB sticks for a total of 3GB Internal floppy and CD-ROM, although I wound up using both for other projects 160GB 5600RPM mechanical hard drive, non-branded, I believe it was a Western Digital drive but I don't remember for sure A funky weird Dell power supply, in a weird form factor, but uses standard ATX There's a weird front panel setup with the USB ports, audio jacks, and power button on a separate daughter board that connects back to the main board with a long cable, and also a separate daughter board for the Ethernet connection light and the 4 diagnostic lights The machine has a whole process for disassembly, where the HDD has a custom sled/enclosure it sits in (with a fan built-in!) that clips into the chassis and the CPU cooler assembly, which then screws through the motherboard and clips to the front case, which only comes apart after you take out the front panel board, etc All the parts on the machine with year stickers said 2005 It was originally part of a college's computer lab, I got it when they were upgrading their computers and giving away the old ones (I wonder why...) in sometime around... I want to say 2018, maybe a bit before? 2017, maybe? The computer had some flavor of Windows 7 on it when I got it (they never wiped the drive) so I took the opportunity to start fresh with Ubuntu It still has the XP/Vista stickers on it (I have 2 such machines, one is still intact and usable, and I actually have used it fairly recently, the other pretty quickly became a parts machine, and I don't remember which one had which sticker) It's an OptiPlex 740, specifically the "small form factor" size (the smallest one offered)

Lily Finley

My guess is it was more expensive to do it right and they just didn't care about interoperability at all. But they wanted the coolness factor of the HDBase-T buzzword.

Mat Fordon

I'm so glad I helped you buy that ridiculous display. It's amazing.

ItsSomeGuy

Live Communications Server (LCS) -> Office Communications Server (OCS) -> Lync -> Skype for Business -> Teams... I've been working with Microsoft tech for too long

Mat Fordon

The exposed nylocks are for security. Can't loosen them much before they spin in a hole you can't get to the other side of.

Kerne

The OPS units you've shown so far shouldn't draw anywhere near 6-8 amps. Maybe they just jacked up the spec to future-proof it for fatter modules.