D&C GLug - Home Page

[ Date Index ] [ Thread Index ] [ <= Previous by date / thread ] [ Next by date / thread => ]

Re: [LUG] Source of cheap small capacity USB memory sticks

 

On Wed, 19 Nov 2008, Neil Williams wrote:

> On Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:46:20 +0000 (GMT)
> Gordon Henderson <gordon+dcglug@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> 8MB Flash, 32MB RAM in an NSLU2.. I do wonder if it's actually
>> sensible to put a "distribution" on these devices at all...
>
> Depends what you mean by distribution. The main appeal is being able to
> apply security and critical bug fixes without reflashing the device.
>
>> 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?
>
> Because package management is not an overhead, it is a benefit. It
> supports development, supports testing and upgrades.
>
>> 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...
>
> Those methods simply don't scale. Emdebian is about supporting mass
> deployment of reproducible devices, not just bespoke versions.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on that one. I am currently 
producing reproducable devices my way, it does scale and I am making a 
living out of it too.

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