Linux on a small PC system

I have some beginner's questions:

I would like to use some small-sized PC motherboard with VGA controller to run some test hardware.

What kind of storage media would you recommend (CompactFlash with IDE adaptor, USB stick, ...)?

Which Linux distribution? Or tutorial how to make my own kernel and file structure.

I don't need any kind of X-windows system, but I need some library to draw some graphics on the screen when I do my tests.

I would like to write test results to external USB flash memory stick, so user can take it out and put it to "big" PC for analysis.

Thanks!

Reply to
dojjan
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Disk On Module (Flash on IDE bus

Thy this

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Bye

Reply to
Helix

mini-ITX (Via) or flex-ATX (Mercury) are 2 most common in retail market.

I'm using 200MB mini Slackware for thin-client package. It's booting and running from 256MB USB key, so I guess you can store to the USB key if it's less than 40MB or so.

--
William Park , Toronto, Canada
Slackware Linux -- because I can type.
Reply to
William Park

controller

IDE-CF Compact Flash Drive is the fastest, using 16 bits data bus vs. 1 bit serial bus (USB).

You can run a strip-down graphical system on 48M. One of our client is using a 48M CFD as mpeg-2 video clients, streaming video over the lan. They are using flash drive because hard drives are too noisy for playing video and sound.

stick,

You should mount the system drive read-only; otherwise, updating the flash every few seconds will shorten it's life. You can buffer and write to external flash memory as needed.

For more details on flash memory wearings, see

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Reply to
linnix

: >

: > I would like to write test results to external USB flash memory : stick, : > so user can take it out and put it to "big" PC for analysis.

: You should mount the system drive read-only; otherwise, updating the : flash every few seconds will shorten it's life. You can buffer and : write to external flash memory as needed.

You can make and use compact flash drives r/w - just make sure you use the the "noatime" option. Just be careful that your setup does as few writes to the root partition as possible - Skip running syslog, or put /var/log in a ram disk, etc etc.

: For more details on flash memory wearings, see :

formatting link

Another way of looking at this is write limit 100,000 you rewrite the whole "disk" 10 times a day -> 10,000 days lifetime or 27 years. Given each write will only cause one flash block to be written and there is some level-wearing in the internal controller - you probably have some extra headroom there - just be carefull with writes.

Jim

Reply to
J Jackson

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