----- Original Message ----- From: "Casey Roberts" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2003 10:11 AM Subject: Re: [luau] No hard drive, only compact flash card
> --- Matthew John Darnell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Aloha, > > > > Does anyone have any experience with booting and > > running an full Linux > > server install from a 1.0GB CompactFlash Cardor > > similar. > > > > By full server install I mean, apache, sendmail, > > mysql, gc++, etc. No X > > needed, only command line. > > > > Seems like it would be possible, 500MB for the OS > > and 50MB for the apps. > > > > I wonder how fast/slow they are for access compared > > to a hard drive. > > > > I see 1.0GB card for $299 retail, they will only be > > getting > > cheaper/faster/higher density. > > Seeing as you are taking out what would be the largest > and most memory intensive packages in a Linux install > (XWin is great, but at a cost), you should be able to > do this like any other install. CompactFlash cards > are faster on read/write, but the lifespan is only > between 100,000-300,000 cycles. If you were to do a > system using only flash cards, I would recommend that > you place heavy read/write directories, such as /tmp, > on a separate card, so that you don't have to reload > the server every time that you need to replace the > card. Maybe even a hard drive for the /tmp. If the hard drive crashes the system will go down but it is realativly easy to recover from. > Also, from looking around on the 'Net, CF card speeds > are slower than ATA/100. Lexar 32X 1GB CR car has a > speed of just 4.7MB/s, versus 62 MB/s with ATA/100 > drives, after you get through the board. That is a bit slower, I wonder how long a boot up would take. From my very un-scientific observations Linux has less disk thrashing on starup than a Windows box.