Weird find, QNX, and cooling

From: Doug Yowza <yowza_at_yowza.com>
Date: Sat Jan 9 15:48:39 1999

Hey, any industrial controller collectors out there? I didn't think so.

I just picked up an exceedingly cool 486 box from around 1993 with a
touch-screen LCD and ethernet. The entire machine is about the size of an
Amiga box, but it's in a black hermetically sealed magnesium case. It's
running QNX 4.11, and root didn't have a password (woohoo!). The Li
battery was starting to ooze corrosive juices onto the CPU, but other than
that, it's in primo shape.

I have some stupid questions:

Was there a GUI for this version of QNX? I can't find one, nor anything
that exploits the touch screen on this box.

There are three fans inside the box, but it's sealed. I always thought
that fans worked by exchanging hot air for cooler air. What good are
fans inside a sealed box?

Long shot: the display blanks after a few minutes, and hitting a key (it
has a keyboard port) or touching the screen doesn't unblank it. Any
guesses on how to wake it back up (BTW, there's no power switch on this
thing -- it wants to be on *all* the time).

-- Doug
Received on Sat Jan 09 1999 - 15:48:39 GMT