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I see that you guys are having great fun and success with toram. I tried it a year ago when I got a new LAN where each PC had nearly 1 GB RAM! It didn't work great for me, however, as these Dells use shared RAM for the BIOS and the Video and God knows what else!
Anyway, its obvious that you can't use apt-get on a read-only fs. However, can you make use of KLIK?
Regards,
AJG
I'll give it a try if it's still in 3.6... I read somewhere klik had been taken out?
Basically I've just downloaded source for all the tools I need (eclipse (a 90MB download
for an editor!!!! - and I thought xemacs was big!), mono, cscope, jdk, ddd, dillo, mplayer
(hey I gotta watch something while I'm programming :-) ), ncftp, sylpheed, xscreensaver, xcdroast, etc) and built and installed them in my "persistant home" which gets round the
problem of getting stuff that's not on the cd. But for updating the cd s/w yes I know it's
obvious that apt-get ain't going to work although I think the issue is that the image is
compressed as it could always be remounted rw ;-). Yep I'd need to do a proper hd install
for the apt-get stuff to work. I'm not too worried about security fixes since I'm not
running any servers at all (not even sshd) and it's all behind other firewall boxes anyhow.
I think you'd be pushing it to get it to work with only 1G since the cd image in memory
is gong to be something like 700 or 800 MB, I suspect minimum spec for a decent
toram setup would be 2GB ram.
Hmm, just reading that last post... security fixes aren't limited to servers... mozilla springs to mind...
Smorty;
Lotsa good stuff you have tied together there fella!
Glad that someone else has appreciated Klaus's Live CD enough to use ram mode.
I have little trouble with the noise of my system which is true for all noise or sound...I am hard of hearing at age 79.
But with all the drives turned off (unless recording or retrieving via USB) I have a minimum power setup and in California power is expensive.
I just need an LCD display now to finish up. I mentioned the laptop ram sticks which save energy also but I haven't tried that.
It is disappointing to note that dual cpu permits only 4GB versus 3GB for the single cpu.
I have to note in passing that the CD or DVD that one uses for this toram Live disc load, cannot be copied because they have isolinux.gz elements within them. Mkisofs (growisofs perhaps for the DVD) sets up the program data for isolinux burn to disc so the process controls how one changes the installed programs.
The limits in isolinux prevent more than 4.9GB of data from being loaded in compressed format. Actual load limits in a DVD disc are not 4.7GB but really more like 4.4GB as the binary bird flies.
I have experimented with both of the Live discs, CD and DVD and have modified the minirt.gz file and the isolinux.cfg file in each of the disc formats.
Neither of the two permit 3GB of memory use without change to the linuxrc file(s). I was surprised to see that on the 2.1GB DVD file which was limited to 800MB!!!
The KnoppixCD v3.4 minirt26.gz has the limit set at "800000"kB which limits that disc as well.
I changed both of them to reflect 3GB.
The linuxrc file was changed to permit USB 2.0, ; ehci-hcd.o... was entered in the usb options on both discs.
I also added an option permitting a backslash (\) to initiate the install.... fromhd toram myconfig=scan. This was made the default as well.
I found it advantageous to utilize Klaus's linuxrc file to load the DVD ..fromhd toram myconfig=scan after having loaded the DVD tohd from its own disc. This permitted the loading at 35MB/sec on my system and the DVD to desktop in 2min 5secs. Thats with kde!!
After the load, the drive can be powered down. From USB loading of the DVD takes longer since it runs at 12MB/sec. After loading, USB runs at around 20MB/sec, not a great deal faster....
The DVD can be downloaded from chemnitz mirror..it took about 13 hours for my download. Then one needs a burner such as k3b with growisofs to burn the iso. However, the memory limit remains!!!
I burned the iso and later copied the disc to a directory in home. Then the operation on the boot section to correct the memory allocation can be performed..gunzip. minirt26.gz........mount -o loop
minirt26 /mnt/lp; edit linuxrc and replace the orig..umount /mnt/lp...gzip minirt26. Run mkisofs for 2.6 kernels and burn the resulting .iso in k3b.
Each Live disc was modified in the above manner with the exception that the DVD disc received the linuxrc file from the LiveCD.
The kernel in the CD is 2.6.5 and the DVD is 2.6.3 (an earlier release). Each of these operating Live discs has only been modified for kernel2.6.
I hesitate to send the DVD to you if your'e not able to boot kernel 2.6. The DVD cannot be copied but has to be run through the mkisofs process as a new disc.
If you get 2.6 booting, I will be happy to burn a DVD for you, with the memory value you specify. The media I use is 4X+RW and I have sony units for burn and playback (Dru530 burn, crx combo CDRW/DVDread). These are not high performance units (8 or 12 X). Not all readers read DVD +RW I have been told!
Some of the programs on the DVD do not perform on my machine but most do. I like xine for my video but it isn't on the DVD. It is on the KnoppixCD and with 3GB programmed in, plays a .vob file or two very nicely.
So the disc needs to be arranged for your memory requirements when you get kernel2.6 to load.
I tried loading the original DVD disc I burned ..toram... and it hangs reporting not enough space to load. This was corrected by changing the memory allocated.
I use the following to enter either disc;
knoppix26
This loads the disc operating system.
knoppix26 tohd
This enters the disc Knoppix file into hd and runs from there. The disc is needed to boot.
knoppix26 fromhd
Boots disc then runs program fromhd
knoppix fromhd toram
Boots disc, loads ram fromhd
In my system,: \ enter;
Disc boot then hd loads toram myconfig=scan
You are probably familiar with the above in using the 2.4 kernel.
I am hoping to get a download of the newer version of the Knoppix DVD because the program content is more to my liking.
When you get 2.6 going, let me know!!!
Ray
If Martha Stewart trades the stock market while in prison, is that "insider" trading?
smorty;
I just thought of a reason why your system may not boot in Knoppix26.
Only one KNOPPIX file can be present in the hdd system unless you identify both with ID's that control the one selected.
I find it easiest to have a single changeable USB arrangement and just use ...fromhd.
Otherwise, it should boot from the CD if the system will accept it. The kernel in my CD is 2.6..5 as I mentioned before and the Knoppix version is 3.4.
Good luck.
Cheers Ray, it sounds like a lot of work all round so I think I'll just stick with the cd for now,
just don't have that much time to play unfortunately. I've built this over a couple of
evenings, again knoppix was very useful in being nice and fast to install, much quicker
than a typical install used to take me. And if the dvd only has 2.6 then my box won't boot
it anyhow so better to wait until 2.6 supports my mobo or whatever part of my setup it
doesn't like.
Yeah I guess being hard of hearing could be an advantage if it means you don't hear
the disk whirring and all the fan noise! PC's seem to have got a lot noisier over the last
few years as power supplies have got bigger, chips got bigger and hotter and need bigger
fans, etc. Have you seen the size of some of the cpu cooler fans on sale nowadays?
Before I undervoltaged the ones on my amd box it sounded like there was a helicopter
in the room with me!
One thing I noticed once I got working on a silent system is how my perception
of how fast or rather how slow the machine changed; once you can't hear the disk
chattering away you realise that taking 7-8 seconds to startup mozilla is really pretty
slow, when you can hear all the noise it somehow has the psychological effect of
making the machine seem faster, I think the nosie distracts you from the time being taken.
Anyway all the best!
Actually I wasn't really being fair there, I've just timed it and it actually takes about 2-3 seconds
to start mozilla. Somehow it still seems slower when you can't hear it though!
And FWIW I'm glad to hear you're "still hacking" at 79! Makes me wonder what sort of machine
I'll be using when I'm your age. Of course if you believe Bill Joy's book I won't even have
a computer, I'll be verbally conversing with a "super-intelligent machine". Now that's
really scary! Maybe I'll still have a knoppix box and be a part of the "human resistance!"
smorty;
As to Klaus Knopper, I vote for him as Linux "Man Of The Year".
I think pov-ray enthusiasts might enjoy trying their hand at multiple pov-ray renderings via TORAM using holographic techniques on multiple display elements.
Maybe HDTV displays on the computer as well.
The present limits will undoubtedly be extended by breaking the shackles of conventional treatment.
Three cheers for TORAM !!!!
just to add my entry and join this thread,
my Via MII with 1G ram boots using usbhd
but only with 3.4, with this machine and my 2 thinkpad600e's i still have problems with 3.6 regarding wifi and im not in a position to obtain 3.5 or dvds.Code:knoppix fromhd=/dev/sda2 toram home=/dev/sda1
With the toram option, in 3.6, the system freezes at the kde startup, however with 3.4 it not only works fine, but is possibly the fastest most responsive computer i have ever used. I am attempting to utilise a 64M ide flash and a 1G cf card in conjunction with "toram" for non hd operation.
I agree that computing has been made much more interesting and fun with the invent of faster cd and dvd drives, and more powerful ram and cpu, and of course, Knoppix.