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Bender10
11-10-2007, 03:20 AM
Almost a year ago, I decided to try and setup a low power, 'diskless' cruncher. This lead me to SETI, and other ground breaking DC projects. After more searching and thinking, I settled on BOINCpe (this was the easy route). I wanted something that anyone could setup in an afternoon, with an existing computer. This is a 'live CD' OS (based on XP), that you can add DC software to.

Anyway. I did the BOINCpe CD thing, and this lead to booting my BOINCpe crunchers from a USB drive. No HD, CD or Monitor, Built on a Low power AMD CPU (65w).

Well, USB drives are ok. And there are all kinds of information on their longevity (good and bad). There are longevity issues with CF cards also, But the longevity (as with other 'chip' based media) seems to be based on the 'write' cycles. And, then there are different types of memory.......stuff for another day.

Why not try CF cards!!
I looked around a little. And found that to boot a CF card, it had to be able to operate like an IDE drive (And therefore operate in PIO mode). And it seems, not all CF cards are created equal, from the information I could find. I did not run out and try a bunch of CF cards to verify this. I actually had a CF card of dubious pedigree that I could not get to boot.... So, I just looked around for a CF card that was listed as IDE PIO capable:

Transcend 2 gig (1 card for ~$30.00 US)
Support IDE PIO mode 6, Ultra DMA mode 4
Compliant with the CF4.0 specification
Built-in hardware ECC technology
Built-in ATA interface for easy Plug and Play interoperability
266X
40MB/sec(Max)
Lower power consumption

And I am using an: Addonics IDE to CF adapter. Model: ADIDECF (I bought 2 adapters for ~$30.00 US)

This stuff worked right out of the box! I just installed the software as if installing to a real HD. And it works great! I am using this card to boot my FreeNas file server. The actual OS for the file server is only about 64 Mb, and there is not a lot (if any) writes to the CF card in this application. But the card boots fine, and works like a champ.

My next step is to boot a cruncher....
LeBo
11-10-2007, 03:25 AM
Keep us posted Bender10. Sounds great
LeBo
11-10-2007, 04:05 PM
After reading up on this setup, I am going to order this combo and try it out on Linux. And try crunching with it.
Just wonder how long the CF card will last with all the read-writes to it.
Bender10
11-10-2007, 04:32 PM
Just make sure you get a CF card that your "Installed" OS will fit on...That was what held me back a first.

My 'diskless' OS from BOINCpe is only about 150-175 Mb. For an XP install, I would need an 8 gig CF I think...
Steve Lux
11-10-2007, 06:52 PM
Hey, I can run two instances of d20L on a Sony memory stick (from my camera). Haven't tried booting from it yet.
LeBo
11-10-2007, 07:25 PM
I am going to install DSL Linux. i am running DSL Linux in a Parallels VM with 256 memory with 3.2 Gig HD and it runs great.
Bender10
11-10-2007, 09:41 PM
Let me know how it goes. If that werks, I'll be right behind you...
drezha
11-11-2007, 10:42 AM
I've been wanting to do this for ages! My only downside is the only PC I can do it with, I want to be used for web server/file server so it encounters a fair amount of read and writes and it needs a fair HD space :(

I'd really like to get a LTSP server going and have nodes booting from network :)
drezha
11-15-2007, 05:21 PM
Bender, I'm looking at trying this soon. All that's holding me back is what CF card to use! I've fond some 1Gb ones for about £10 that seem ok but not sure if they would boot. I assume it will as it looks like it'll support PIO.
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=3587&category_id=316&manufacturer_id=0&tid=da-cf-2048

With luck I can figure myself out a decent small linux distro that will download and run MySQL, PHP and LightHTTPD for under 1GB. Mind the adapter I bought is a double stick one so I can run 2 sticks off it.
Bender10
11-15-2007, 11:36 PM
The card specs look ok. But it's hard to tell from their information...I'd try to research a little more or just try it....It does mention IDE and ATA capable....

Hard one to call. My card information said right up front it was able to boot before I bought it... That is, the manufacturer said it operated in PIO and DMA mode...
LeBo
11-16-2007, 01:23 AM
I got my CF and IDE2CF adapter today. Will let you know how I come out in a couple of days. Just wondering if PE2USB will work on a CF card. I might have to Trueimage it over to the CF. I like BoincPE because it runs boinc in a ramdrive. That keeps down read writes to the CF....
drezha
11-16-2007, 08:22 AM
The card specs look ok. But it's hard to tell from their information...I'd try to research a little more or just try it....It does mention IDE and ATA capable....

Hard one to call. My card information said right up front it was able to boot before I bought it... That is, the manufacturer said it operated in PIO and DMA mode...

I'll have a look around and see if anything jumps out at me. There's more shops than just CCL:icon_lol:
drezha
11-27-2007, 04:03 PM
Having trouble with mine. It appears the CF drive I ordered works fine but I'm not sure why (maybe it's my KVM) but my keyboard and mouse doesn't work with it and the display seems to not load. Well that's a a problem with Damn Small Linux I think. I wanted to run DSL on it to minimise disk writes but it doesn't seem to want to work.

Installing Lamppix to it now. Not what I want originally but it should get my webserver back up and going. Am downloading the network install of Debian and of Gentoo to try and install.
drezha
12-12-2007, 08:48 PM
Got it running a striped down Debian install no probs.
drezha
03-14-2008, 11:26 AM
Bender, saw this article today, might interest you.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/memory/506/1
Bender10
03-14-2008, 04:21 PM
Thanks, I'll read it through this weekend.....(nice catch).
Bender10
04-25-2008, 12:42 AM
This avenue of exploration seems to have slowed to a crawl. My fault I guess. I got my usb BOINCpe boxes up and running (and my CF booted server), then took it easy.

I just started planning a new cruncher build, and bouncing a few ideas around. I hope to use a CF card for the next box. Maybe around 8 gig, With some *nix os (to be determined). I'm not sure if running a ramdrive will help or not. (most likely a late summer project due to yard and garden drudgery, as mandated by the warden :-(....er my wife)

I also ran across a XP usb install that is supposed to werk... (http://www.ngine.de/index.jsp?pageid=4176), I haven't tried this as I would rather go *nix.....

But I have found oodles of information about 'alternate' boot ideas in the car pc forums (http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/faq-emporium/)
drezha
04-26-2008, 08:40 AM
Never thought of checking car forums.

I've had a graduate job offer so when I'm all done with exams and I know for sure I've got the job (it has some conditions), I think I'll purchase some bits and bobs for my current server and convert it to a media center as my main rig kind of fulfils server and and gaming/browsing features.

In fact I have want to buy a office PC for browsing and stuff whilst the main PC on but I'll pass on that idea :p