Re: Linux booting from USB HD / USB interface devices

Roger Larsson (roger.larsson@skelleftea.mail.telia.com)
Mon, 29 Jul 2002 15:02:30 +0200


On Saturday 27 July 2002 20.15, David Ford wrote:
> Linux booting from USB HD
>
> I've been doing some research in this area. There are a few
> motherboards that I've come across that are capable of booting from a
> USB hard drive and I'm interested in collecting a lot of opinions and
> "yeah, i've done that" comments. The end application for this is to
> mount a motherboard in a 4x4 truck to process dash data and sensory
> input (i.e. GPS, atmospheric, fire department data, etc), provide
> digitized maps (GIS), network connectivity via wireless, and be the
> radio/mp3/cd player etc.

Maybe you are asking for the wrong thing here...
What you want is probably an "flash based persistent storage that can be
booted from" not specifically USB - correct?

If that is the case - you do not want to use USB memory but rather
CompactFlash - since they are both compatible with PCMCIA _and_ IDE.
You only need a ribbon cable and a small adapter (the adapter is really
simple)!

A quick search on google for "CompactFlash IDE" or "Compact flash IDE" will
give you several hits.

Since they are compatible with IDE you can use any MB including
most PC/104 variant - many of those can also be booted from DiskOnChip...

>
> The most promising vendor I've found so far is Gigabyte, one of the
> better motherboards appears to be the GA-8IGX model.
>
> _Please note_, I'm specifically trying to use a USB harddrive, not a
> floppy. I want the smallest number of devices required to run the
> system and floppy media is just too unreliable. I'm also intending on
> putting the harddrive several feet away from the motherboard -- the
> system's physical profile has to be flexible.

An compact flash IDE is VERY small... If you can not fit it in the case you
have other problems...

/RogerL

-- 
Roger Larsson
Skellefteċ
Sweden

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