Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:37:28 +1030 From: Matthew Smith <matt@smiffytech.com> To: FreeBSD Embedded <freebsd-embedded@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Best FreeBSD version for NanoBSD on an old SBC Message-ID: <495AA9B0.9050104@smiffytech.com> In-Reply-To: <495A53CD.7070007@FreeBSD.org> References: <495993FF.1060701@smiffytech.com> <495A53CD.7070007@FreeBSD.org>
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Thanks for your reply, Bruce. Quoth Bruce M. Simpson at 2008-12-31 03:31... ... > The key thing is to be able to leave enough in the base install for > what you need -- it doesn't strip absolutely everything, and whilst the > XORP LiveCD is now considerably smaller, and thus quicker to download, > than it was (thanks to NanoBSD), it is quite a generic place to start: > http://cvsweb.xorp.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/other/LiveCD/ Ta. I'll have a look at that. > Of course NanoBSD would work just fine w/o the patches for making > ATA drive images. You would probably do much better with CompactFlash in > your rig. For DRAM, 16MB may be seriously pushing it now, 32MB is really > a realistic minimum for FreeBSD on x86 these days on any platform. Not sure if CF would be totally suitable for this as I believe that ntpd needs to do a lot of logging - don't know if CF still has the issue with a finite number of writes. (Also trying to do this on virtually zero budget and with what I've got so don't really want to start forking out for extra bits.) I'm surprised about the RAM though seeing as how my first Unix box (IBM 6150), which ran the whole company, started off with only 8Mb! (And that was a card about the size of a keyboard.) I've run minimal Linux distributions on this hardware (the x86 SBC, not the 6150) so wonder what in FreeBSD is gobbling up the resources - and whether it can be pruned out. I'm sure that there is a load of stuff in the kernel that is unnecessary for simple, old, hardware on a headless machine - but then maybe this is already removed on NanoBSD. > Gels are nice, though I believe they can't be reconditioned. > Of course the embeddability situation should get better as time goes on. This is and physically small alternative to yet another UPS - and should probably be able to run the system for a fair while too. I should be able to squeeze these, 13.8V PSU, the SBC, GPS module and 1-Wire interface all into an old PC case. Cheers M -- Matthew Smith Smiffytech - Technology Consulting & Web Application Development Business: http://www.smiffytech.com/ Personal: http://www.smiffysplace.com/ LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/smiffy
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