Knoppix on SD media - Best practice request

[KElephant]

Dear Knoppix Users;

I have a best practice question: What is the best way to run Knoppix on a netbook with a SD card as the drive media? (Netbook does not have a hard drive)

System Info: HP Mini 1000 Netbook

knoppix@Microknoppix:~$ lspci -v
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 361a
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
    Capabilities: <access denied>
    Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel

00:02.0  VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express  Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 361a
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
    Memory at fe980000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
    I/O ports at dc80 [size=8]
    Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
    Memory at fe940000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]
    Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
    Capabilities: <access denied>
    Kernel driver in use: i915

00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 361a
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
    Memory at fe880000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
    Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 361a
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 41
    Memory at fe938000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
    Capabilities: <access denied>
    Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
    Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
    I/O behind bridge: 00001000-00001fff
    Memory behind bridge: fea00000-feafffff
    Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 000000007f800000-000000007f9fffff
    Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
    Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
    I/O behind bridge: 0000e000-0000efff
    Memory behind bridge: feb00000-febfffff
    Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 000000007fa00000-000000007fbfffff
    Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 361a
    Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
    I/O ports at dc00 [size=32]
    Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 361a
    Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
    I/O ports at d880 [size=32]
    Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 361a
    Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
    I/O ports at d800 [size=32]
    Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 361a
    Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
    I/O ports at d480 [size=32]
    Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 361a
    Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
    Memory at fe937c00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
    Capabilities: <access denied>
    Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2) (prog-if 01 [Subtractive decode])
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
    Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=32
    Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 361a
    Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
    Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 361a
    Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
    I/O ports at 01f0 [size=8]
    I/O ports at 03f4 [size=1]
    I/O ports at 0170 [size=8]
    I/O ports at 0374 [size=1]
    I/O ports at ffa0 [size=16]
    Kernel driver in use: ata_piix

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 02)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 361a
    Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 19
    I/O ports at 0400 [size=32]
    Kernel driver in use: i801_smbus

01:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 1507
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
    Memory at feafc000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
    Capabilities: <access denied>
    Kernel driver in use: wl

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 361a
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 40
    Memory at febfc000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
    I/O ports at ec00 [size=256]
    Capabilities: <access denied>
    Kernel driver in use: sky2

Device info: AData 32gb Class 10 SDHC card.

Currently running: KNOPPIX_V6.4.4CD-2011-01-30-EN as Live media on the SD with cheatcodes - no3d and toram

Currently experiencing - long boot time (TORAM is adding to an already long sequence); and Hibernate doesn't work.

Looking for your suggestions.

-K. Elephant

[Capricorny]

I'm just now running remastered (10 GB software) knoppix w/4 GB persistent store off a 8GB class 2(?possibly, 4 at most) Kingston card on an Asus UL30VT, 4GB RAM. The Asus can't boot from the card, but I have just added a GRUB entry for it on the hard disk. Seems to work OK, but of course things go somewhat slower. I am greatly surprised at the relative speed and comfort, though. And, having done no card-sparing modifications, I don't know how long the card will last. Just testing it. TORAM: Probably not good idea. Normally we use just a few programs at a time, and these get cached in RAM anyway. Hibernate: Could not work well with much RAM: Writing 4GB takes 400 sec to write to SFD w/10MB/s (class 10) cards,

[Capricorny]

Quick update: With FAT16 cards/partitions (<=2GB), I am able to boot with external card readers, but no way with the built-in reader. This simply means that I have to use boot partitions to run DVD version/derivatives off SD cards. On the other hand, this works also for microSD cards and all kinds of permissive readers. For example, I ran Knoppix successfully from the memory card in a smartphone, but didn't want to try making a boot partition there.

Using boot partitions, SDHC cards may be a good alternative to USB sticks, as they have alternative use as recording media. And with a careful writing regime, they could last long.