My new DSL PC
Forum: HD Install
Topic: My new DSL PC
started by: musther
Posted by musther on April 17 2005,07:45
So I've decided, with help from DSL, that I'm going to throw away the world of the fan, DSL is to become my new main OS, on a custom fanless PC. Bootiing frugally from a compact flash on a 266 with a lot of RAM. My question is this, what size compact flash to use and how much ram. Of course I want it to all fit into RAM so as not to be using the compact flash after boot time. I'm planning to have DSL and a couple of little addons, another word processor, real player, not a lot. So starting from DSL's 50mb, i'll add some, and then space for a personal files, I was thinking a 128mb compact flash should be plenty (I can always upgrade, they're becoming so cheap). Now how much RAM, I know DSL is over 100mb when expanded, and then the addons, and working space, 256mb? or go the whole hog and have 512? Although I don't want to spend more than I need to. Let me know what you think.Cheers!
Posted by musther on April 17 2005,10:32
Just one other thing, how exactly does frugal work? is part of the filesystem stored independantly, so that the user's files are preserved?
Posted by tronik on April 17 2005,11:54
Have you booted Damn Small yet?Most of your questions can be answered by booting it up one or two times and looking at everything it is doing.
Yes users files are backed up upon reboots.
Posted by musther on April 17 2005,21:38
Yes I've used DSL a bit, I wouldn't have set about building this machine if I hadn't, but I've only used it on my Athlon 2800+ 512mb DDR machine, and only booting from the CD, so it doesn't really give me a good idea about how much RAM and what size compact flash I'll need to use. For example I know the DSL CD is just under 50mb, but how bit is a frugal install, I guess it'll have to be a little larger? And are myDSL addons compressed in a frugal install, or just saved along with it, these things all affect the size of card I'll need. And as for the amount of RAM, I think I'll need a fair bit, uncompressed DSL is 100+mb, and with extensions and user files, not to mention working space........
Posted by jimbo62 on April 18 2005,00:38
Well, maybe this will help. I installed DSLinux to my laptop hard drive. Nothing extra. DSLinux takes 136.5 MB and I have a 141.2 MB swap partition. My laptop has 128 MB RAM.If I was installing DSLinux as my only OS, I would want 512 MB.
Good luck, jimbo
Posted by cbagger01 on April 18 2005,03:18
When DSL is installed as a frugal or poorman's install, it takes up approximately 50MB of hard disk / CF space.The file system remains in a read-only state, so you will need to store your backup and customization on the hard drive/ cf drive too.
Frugal install is the best way to go if you are using compact flash as your storage drive.
Why?
Because the file system is read-only, your device will not be exposed to constant writing of data.
Flash memory has a limited number of writes before it will fail so it is a good idea to avoid things like Cache directories and swapfiles / swap partitions on a flash drive. Otherwise, your device will fail after a short period of use.
My advice is to get a 256MB or 512MB CF card. They are the best bang-for-your-buck without completely emptying your wallet. 128MB cards are not much cheaper than 256MB cards and the 1GB cards are still too expensve for my tastes.
So, in summary:
Use a frugal install
Get a 256MB or 512MB compact flash card.
Posted by green on April 20 2005,01:53
I run DSL frugal from a 128CF and another one on 512CF. 128CF will do, but I have not filled up the 512CF as of yet. I have 128MB of ram for both of those, and it does just fine with my 199Mhz PC.
Posted by Cast on April 20 2005,13:56
Hey there,I've been trying to make DSL boot from compact flash for 3days but I still can't pass throught a kernel panic error. Could you explain how you could make it work?
Edit: sorry I posted too quickly and maybe I'll find my solution there : < http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....6;st=10 >
Posted by hueynym on April 20 2005,23:58
I just got the mini-ITX system with 512 CF, but I keep getting error messages- and I don't know/understand enough to either not worry about them, or how to fix them... I've also been trying to figure out how to upgrade to 1.0.1, any help would be appreciated. TIAThe error messages are:
modprobe: Can't locate module block-major-20 (at bootup)
then a message about recommending e2fsck I didn't write down
then these last two at shutdown -which are the scary ones for me
insmod: /lib/modules/2.4.26/kernel/arch/i386/kernel/apm.o: init_module: No such device
insmod: /lib/modules/2.4.26/kernel/arch/i386/kernel/apm.o: insmod char-major-10-134 failed
(at which point I have to power off manually)
Posted by cbagger01 on April 21 2005,03:30
Hmm...try boot parameter
dsl noapm acpi=off noapic
Posted by hueynym on April 22 2005,01:09
Thanks cbagger01! Since I'm still not editing the correct files somewhere, and this system autoboots, so I'm not sure where to enter those boot options - however; seeing your message helped me realize the errors were power management related - so I just turned them off in bios, and the error message went away. Except the modprobe at bootup, which hopefully isn't threatening, and the e2fsck warning which I can ignore... although I wonder what 'maximal mount'(sic) means....Thanks again.