[olug] Compact Flash booting

[Phil Brutsche]

Eric Penne wrote:
  > I'm going to try something new before the end of this year.  I
  > purchased a compact flash to IDE adapter.  I will install this in my
  > router PC.

Hrm, the questions I miss when I'm doing work on my mail server...

  > Has anybody used a compact flash card as the main hard drive instead
  > of booting from floppy or or other mechanical device?

I've not done it personally, but others have.  It can work, but it can
be tricky - not all flash cards are made the same, and some makes won't
work as well as others.

  > Is it faster?

Depends.  Latency or throughput :)  Flash usually seems to transfer data
slower, but responds quicker.

  > Cheaper is out of the question.  I think the solid state way would be
  > better since it could give you more room for things like seti :)
  > because 8MB in compact flash is cheap and these converters are under
  > 15 bucks.

Only 8MB?  Crucial has 64MB for $30 :)  It's cheaper than that on ebay -
   I got a 128MB flash drive for $40.

  > Possibly another good OLUG presentation.  Somebody should start
  > writing these down so I can remember them and maybe give a
  > presentation on them.

-- 

Phil Brutsche
phil at brutsche.us