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On Mon, 17 Nov 2008, Neil Williams wrote: > On Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:08:30 +0000 (GMT) > Gordon Henderson <gordon+dcglug@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > >>> How can I promote a small distribution that is targetted at devices >>> that have less than 32Mb of total storage, by giving out 1Gb >>> media???? >> >> You're fighting a losing battle here. >> >> I build "embedded" systems based on Linux that boot off a Flash IDE >> device. I started with 32MB units. These days the "sweet spot" is >> 256MB. Won't be long before it's double that. > > We still need GNU/Linux on routers and other devices with 6Mb total > storage as well as other portable devices with 32Mb or 64Mb of storage. OK - not quite the same arena as commodity devices I use then! Incidentally, my sweet spot of a 256MB device was to do with cost, not what I can fit into it... My main application is asterisk PBX so most of that is voicemail and call-recording. > One aim is to get Emdebian onto the NSLU2 - not on an external hard > drive attached to the NSLU2, actually onto the NSLU2 itself to replace > the firmware with a system based on Debian. Other people need Debian on > 32Mb systems for a variety of embedded devices - using Emdebian Crush. 8MB Flash, 32MB RAM in an NSLU2.. I do wonder if it's actually sensible to put a "distribution" on these devices at all... Sure, it'll be nice, but why burden it with the overhead of package management when you can do that on a donor system and just produce images? > The sweet-spot is still 64Mb for a GUI and 6Mb for a basic system. Who > needs a router with 512Mb of storage? What about sensors and monitoring > devices? Small is still the target, much smaller than your systems. I have routers with 512MB or RAM... (32MB flash) RAM is so cheap, that unless you're building proper embedded stuff (or hacking exsiting platforms) I don't think it's worth it trying to scrimp & save unless you're making 100's and on a tight budget. > Emdebian also supports larger devices without needing external storage > - Emdebian Grip comes out between 40 and 50% smaller than standard > Debian. Netbooks are the typical use case. > > Emdebian Grip will use standard Debian installer tools and standard > Debian media too. I might have a look at Emdebian - not seen it before (but I've not been looking). I build my systems using a "donor" system which I then copy just the files I need into an initrd.gz file - put that on a small ext2 partition with a kernel and lilo boot it and run it all from RAM.. Maybe not the most elegant way of doing things, but it does seem quite stable, and everything then runs from RAM without touching the flash device, where writes are always a concern... Cheers, Gordon -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html