[vdr] Re: AW: Re: AW: VDR box based on EPIA-M board and Cubid case

["Oliver Friedrich" <oliver@familie-friedrich.de>]

>
> > -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> > Von: vdr-bounce@linuxtv.org [mailto:vdr-bounce@linuxtv.org]Im Auftrag
> > von Oliver Friedrich
> > Gesendet am: Montag, 10. Februar 2003 19:00
> > An: vdr@linuxtv.org
> > Betreff: [vdr] Re: AW: VDR box based on EPIA-M board and Cubid case
> > I'm using a compactflash to ide adaptor. This also makes an 0dB
> system and
> > boots even if the network is not available (perhaps you want to
> carry the
> > box to friends?).
>
> Please tell a little bit more about your configuration. Sounds
> intersting to
> me.
> Especially what dirs/files you have on your CF and which on the
> net and how
> you boot.
>
> Gruss
>
> Stephan
>
>


Ok, i will copy some text from a mail that i have written a few minutes ago
to another person. I should really read first the complete incoming mail ;)

[ ... ]
I'm using a Arita compactflash (128MB, it is too big for this task, but i
have no other cards) with 1.000.000 erase cycles on each block. Additional
i'm using the flash only for a compressed root filesystem image (8,3 MB), a
few config files (100kB) and the linux kernel (950kB). The System boots from
the compact flash, loads the kernel and the rootfs into ram and than leaves
the cf card alone. During the initscripts i'm mounting the cf card again and
copy the variable config files into the rootfs in the ramdisk. After that
the compactfalsh is not used. So i can reduce the accesses to the
compactflash to a minimum.

I'm searchging actually for a small deamon, that looks for changed config
files and copies them to the compactflash. If this happens, say 20 times a
day, the card should work for 10 or 11 years. This could be enhanced by
writing the cf card first completely full and than delete it (cyclic use),
if we reach the end. This should increase the lifetime of the card enormous
:)

At the moment i'm writing the changed config files back, if i shutdown the
computer. But this is not the way i want, because one advantage of a ramdisk
is, that i can power off the computer without a clean shutdown. There is
nothing that could be damaged ...
[ ... ]


Ok, that was the copy'n'paste part :)
The root file system is based on ttylinux 2.7. I have added all libraries
needed for vdr, lcdproc and lirc and a clean 2.4.20 kernel from kernel.org.

I have not tried any of the via modules up to know, because this is the
system, that i have used on the P200MMX board. The Epia 5000 has found its
way today inside the box (an old Kenwood DP-3080 cd player), but this
doesn't change so much :)

As i have written before, i'm copiing the config files via an init script
into the ramdisk and backup them on shutdown (or by hand, if needed). The
same way i update the compactflash with a new rootfs, manually edited config
files or a new kernel. For this i have written a second init script, that
tries to mount the cdrom. If it founds special files (this need to be
finetuned), it copies them to the compactflash, makes a "lilo"-call if
needed, ejectes the disk, waits 10 sek and rebootes the system. One bug of
the script is, if you forget to remove the cdrom, it flashes again, and
again, and ag... :(
So it needs some kind of version control. But this is not really dramatic,
because normaly you are sitting in front of your box and can remove the disk
if the time is coming ...

Another scenario would be also possible (but i haven't realised that):
The init script searches on a network share for an update of its rootfs, etc
and copies them to the cf card.


Now to the network/friend part :)
If the network is available, the init scripts mounts the network shares (via
nfs) and i have space enough for 54 hours of dvb recordings...

If there is no network connection (the box and myself are visiting some
friends ;) ), i have, hmm, say.... no space for recordings.... that's all.
Not really complicated ;)
All other functions of vdr are working. The only disadvantage is, that (if
the network link is missing) the network device driver (better the dhcp
client) is searching some time for an ip address. This makes the bootup time
much longer. Is there a way to reduce the timeout value of the dhcp client?


If i have forgotten someting, than ask again :)
And sorry for my bad english. I was the pure horror for my english teacher
(hello Frau Mager *wink*) :)


Now i will sleep a little bit, it's late...

cu,
Oliver



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