Mailing List Archive

I tried that but the CF card didn't last long so I am back on IDE till I
find a cost effective solution

On 2/14/06, Toby Mills <toby@np.co.nz> wrote:
>
> Hi
>
> I'm using 2Gb CF cards with IDE converters in my frontends, I'd be
> interested to know if anyone else is doing something like this in order
> to achieve silence.
>
> I have my big grunty noisy backend box out in the garage with near
> silent frontends in the house that don't need any spinning disk or much
> horsepower to generate heat.
> Seeing as the frontends only need enough space for the OS and myth I
> found this was the cleanest and cheapest way of getting a silent system
> (anyone else have any better ideas). I just use NFS to mount MP3 and
> Video directories off the backend server.
>
> The only time the case fan spins up is when I'm ripping a DVD so it's a
> practically silent solution that doesn't involve spending bucketloads of
> money.
>
> Cheers
> Toby
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtvnz mailing list
> mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
> http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
> Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/
>

On 2/14/06, Sam Banks <banks.sam@gmail.com> wrote:
> I tried that but the CF card didn't last long so I am back on IDE till I
> find a cost effective solution

Do you happen know what sort of number of write cycles CF cards last
for these days?

Steve

_______________________________________________
mythtvnz mailing list
mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/

yes i was a bit worried about CF dying, but both frontends have been
going for 6 months now with no sign of any CF problems,
i made sure I turned off anything thats not really needed to reduce the
amount of disk access so it only really hits the CF on boot or when you
load something new in myth.

i believe that its writes that kill CF so if you minimise writes and are
generally only reading then it should last fairly well.
my frontends shut themselves down every night as an additional
precaution.

Cheers
Toby

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtvnz-admin@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
[mailto:mythtvnz-admin@lists.linuxnut.co.nz] On Behalf Of Sam Banks
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 2:17 PM
To: mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
Subject: Re: [mythtvnz] Mythfrontends using CF


I tried that but the CF card didn't last long so I am back on IDE till I
find a cost effective solution


On 2/14/06, Toby Mills < toby@np.co.nz <mailto:toby@np.co.nz> > wrote:

Hi

I'm using 2Gb CF cards with IDE converters in my frontends, I'd be
interested to know if anyone else is doing something like this in order
to achieve silence.

I have my big grunty noisy backend box out in the garage with near
silent frontends in the house that don't need any spinning disk or much
horsepower to generate heat.
Seeing as the frontends only need enough space for the OS and myth I
found this was the cleanest and cheapest way of getting a silent system
(anyone else have any better ideas). I just use NFS to mount MP3 and
Video directories off the backend server.

The only time the case fan spins up is when I'm ripping a DVD so it's a
practically silent solution that doesn't involve spending bucketloads of
money.

Cheers
Toby



_______________________________________________
mythtvnz mailing list
mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/

512mb CF here.

:D

On Tue, 2006-02-14 at 14:05 +1300, Toby Mills wrote:
> Hi
>
> I'm using 2Gb CF cards with IDE converters in my frontends, I'd be
> interested to know if anyone else is doing something like this in order
> to achieve silence.
>
> I have my big grunty noisy backend box out in the garage with near
> silent frontends in the house that don't need any spinning disk or much
> horsepower to generate heat.
> Seeing as the frontends only need enough space for the OS and myth I
> found this was the cleanest and cheapest way of getting a silent system
> (anyone else have any better ideas). I just use NFS to mount MP3 and
> Video directories off the backend server.
>
> The only time the case fan spins up is when I'm ripping a DVD so it's a
> practically silent solution that doesn't involve spending bucketloads of
> money.
>
> Cheers
> Toby
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtvnz mailing list
> mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
> http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
> Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/
>
>


_______________________________________________
mythtvnz mailing list
mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/

On Tue, 2006-02-14 at 14:16 +1300, Sam Banks wrote:
> I tried that but the CF card didn't last long so I am back on IDE till
> I find a cost effective solution

You need to create an image that is mounted via loopback...writing to
the cf all the time is a bad idea...they only have x number of writes
before they die.

simplest method is to use a knopmyth image..

:D


_______________________________________________
mythtvnz mailing list
mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/

Sam Banks wrote:

> I tried that but the CF card didn't last long so I am back on IDE till
> I find a cost effective solution
>
Is a net boot off your backend an option?
I'd be interested in in a HOWTO for booting myth using this method.




This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
MailScanner thanks transtec Computers for their support.
MailScanner Supplied by ITS-HelpDesk.
ext 4001 or email helpdesk@irl.cri.nz--


_______________________________________________
mythtvnz mailing list
mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/

Hi Toby,

On Tue, 2006-02-14 at 14:05 +1300, Toby Mills wrote:
> I'm using 2Gb CF cards with IDE converters in my frontends, I'd be
> interested to know if anyone else is doing something like this in order
> to achieve silence.

I considered doing this, but decided to go with a diskless frontend. It
network boots off my server (the server also acts as my MythTV backend)
use PXE boot.

It works quite nicely, except that the Via EPIA motherboard doesn't
always see the network (known problem discussed in the Via Arena
forums). Turning the Via off at the wall and back on tends to fix it.

My Via is in an old 19" wide CD player case that I've ... converted.
There is a 120mm fan in it directly above the CPU, but I'm currently
running the fan at full speed. Which is rather noisy. I need to make
some more air vents to improve the air flow and hopefully be able to
turn the fan down without the system overheating.

Cheers!

--
At home: andrew@etc.gen.nz | This space intentionally
| left blank.



_______________________________________________
mythtvnz mailing list
mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/

Yes, knoppmyth works well for CF, the only issue is getting it installed
as it expects several partitions bigger than 2Gb and doesn't seem to
like adjusting them.

I found if you format the CF as a single partition and then select
"Upgrade" from the knoppmyth install menu then it ignores the size
settings, goes looking for a previous installtion and when it doesn't
find it merrily goes on to install in any size partition you like.

2Gb worked for me but you might be able to go smaller.

It's a nice workaround as it will make your CF last for a long time and
also only takes half an hour to get a fully functional system up and
running (or rebuilt when you screw it).

Cheers
Toby



-----Original Message-----
From: mythtvnz-admin@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
[mailto:mythtvnz-admin@lists.linuxnut.co.nz] On Behalf Of Drew Whittle
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 2:31 PM
To: mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
Subject: Re: [mythtvnz] Mythfrontends using CF


On Tue, 2006-02-14 at 14:16 +1300, Sam Banks wrote:
> I tried that but the CF card didn't last long so I am back on IDE till

> I find a cost effective solution

You need to create an image that is mounted via loopback...writing to
the cf all the time is a bad idea...they only have x number of writes
before they die.

simplest method is to use a knopmyth image..

:D


_______________________________________________
mythtvnz mailing list
mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/


_______________________________________________
mythtvnz mailing list
mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/

On 14/02/06, Toby Mills <toby@np.co.nz> wrote:

>
> I'm using 2Gb CF cards with IDE converters in my frontends, I'd be
> interested to know if anyone else is doing something like this in order
> to achieve silence.

Well, I'm doing something a bit different. I have diskless box that
boots of the network and mounts everything off NFS from the backend.
Works really well :-)

regards
pshemko
&ÊØm¾|æj)bž b²Ù²¶oŸ9b²Û%Š{±žë\¢|á¶ÚþX¬¶Ê.®ÈZrG(›ùšŠYšŸùb²Ø§~æÊØm¾|À­Èb½ë!¶Úÿ0‚‹,jg«¶ÞiÛ¢oåŠËlþl­†Ûÿ›+a¶ùó

> Sam Banks wrote:
>
>> I tried that but the CF card didn't last long so I am back on IDE till
>> I find a cost effective solution
>>
> Is a net boot off your backend an option?
> I'd be interested in in a HOWTO for booting myth using this method.
>

I've been doing a diskless network boot from my Epia SP13000 combined
front/backend right from when I first built it. Didn't even think of doing
it any other way as I've got bags of diskspace on the nfs server machine.

Just had to use network aware grub bootloader and keep an image of the
media box on the big server (built using Gentoo in a chroot environment).
Of course this all assumes that your BIOS can do a network boot...

--
Robin Gilks



_______________________________________________
mythtvnz mailing list
mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/

Cool, sounds like a cheaper way of doing it.
Is it a pain when you want to change something?
I tend to tweak a fair bit and I wouldn't want to go through the hassle
of dumping a new image everytime I changed something on a frontend.

Cheers
Toby

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtvnz-admin@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
[mailto:mythtvnz-admin@lists.linuxnut.co.nz] On Behalf Of Robin Gilks
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 2:53 PM
To: mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
Subject: Re: [mythtvnz] Mythfrontends using CF



> Sam Banks wrote:
>
>> I tried that but the CF card didn't last long so I am back on IDE
>> till I find a cost effective solution
>>
> Is a net boot off your backend an option?
> I'd be interested in in a HOWTO for booting myth using this method.
>

I've been doing a diskless network boot from my Epia SP13000 combined
front/backend right from when I first built it. Didn't even think of
doing it any other way as I've got bags of diskspace on the nfs server
machine.

Just had to use network aware grub bootloader and keep an image of the
media box on the big server (built using Gentoo in a chroot
environment). Of course this all assumes that your BIOS can do a network
boot...

--
Robin Gilks



_______________________________________________
mythtvnz mailing list
mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/


_______________________________________________
mythtvnz mailing list
mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/

On 14/02/06, Toby Mills <toby@np.co.nz> wrote:
> Cool, sounds like a cheaper way of doing it.
> Is it a pain when you want to change something?
> I tend to tweak a fair bit and I wouldn't want to go through the hassle
> of dumping a new image everytime I changed something on a frontend.

I have a separate dir for the frontend on the backend. So the box
simply uses nfs instead a local fs. I can ssh to it, upgrade kernel
etc. No functional differences to a box with a hard drive.

regards
pshemko
&ÊØm¾|æj)bž b²Ù²¶oŸ9b²Û%Š{±žë\¢|á¶ÚþX¬¶Ê.®ÈZrG(›ùšŠYšŸùb²Ø§~æÊØm¾|À­Èb½ë!¶Úÿ0‚‹,jg«¶ÞiÛ¢oåŠËlþl­†Ûÿ›+a¶ùó

Netiquette re-ordered...

>> Sam Banks wrote:
>>
>>> I tried that but the CF card didn't last long so I am back on IDE
>>> till I find a cost effective solution
>>>
>> Is a net boot off your backend an option?
>> I'd be interested in in a HOWTO for booting myth using this method.
>>
>
> I've been doing a diskless network boot from my Epia SP13000 combined
> front/backend right from when I first built it. Didn't even think of
> doing it any other way as I've got bags of diskspace on the nfs server
> machine.
>
> Just had to use network aware grub bootloader and keep an image of the
> media box on the big server (built using Gentoo in a chroot
> environment). Of course this all assumes that your BIOS can do a network
> boot...
>
> --
> Robin Gilks
>

> Cool, sounds like a cheaper way of doing it.
> Is it a pain when you want to change something?
> I tend to tweak a fair bit and I wouldn't want to go through the hassle
> of dumping a new image everytime I changed something on a frontend.
>
> Cheers
> Toby
>

Its not an image as in a single file but a complete directory on the
server. To do changes I just chroot into it on the server (no keyboard on
the media box) and do whatever - even updating, rebuilding etc I'm using
the 3GHz horsepower of the server rather than a 1.3GHz CPU of the media
box.

For mythtv, I run a master backend on the server (but no capture cards in
it - and a frontend for testing) so that after I've rebuilt an SVN update
I just 'mount --bind' the source directory into the media tree and do a
'make install' from the chroot environment.

As I'm using Gentoo, I use a 'mount --bind' of the portage tree to keep
that up-to-date as well (when I remember, about once a month!!)

Works well and is easy to tinker with

--
Robin Gilks



_______________________________________________
mythtvnz mailing list
mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/

I run a Smoothwall firewall off CF - to minimise the writes to CF (I believe
they are usually limited to ~1,000,000 writes) I have /var/log and /tmp
mounted on a ram disk which is copied back to the CF once a day. There's a
risk in power out that I lose up to a day's logs, but I'm not too concerned
on that front. If I was very keen, I could have the firewall monitor the
UPS and execute a copy to the CF before shutting itself down, but that's all
too much like organised for me.

I plan to use a mixture of NFS and CF for my bedroom frontend - I have not
had the sort of reliability I want from wireless networking to date so
haven't got it going yet though.

Basically I want the machine to boot itself without needing the server
present, but mount the usable stuff over NFS. Especially /usr/share/mythtv
- I hate upgrading the menus or themes and finding them not done on the
other machine!

_____

From: mythtvnz-admin@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
[mailto:mythtvnz-admin@lists.linuxnut.co.nz] On Behalf Of Toby Mills
Sent: Tuesday, 14 February 2006 2:27 p.m.
To: mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
Subject: RE: [mythtvnz] Mythfrontends using CF


yes i was a bit worried about CF dying, but both frontends have been going
for 6 months now with no sign of any CF problems,
i made sure I turned off anything thats not really needed to reduce the
amount of disk access so it only really hits the CF on boot or when you load
something new in myth.

i believe that its writes that kill CF so if you minimise writes and are
generally only reading then it should last fairly well.
my frontends shut themselves down every night as an additional precaution.

Cheers
Toby

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtvnz-admin@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
[mailto:mythtvnz-admin@lists.linuxnut.co.nz] On Behalf Of Sam Banks
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 2:17 PM
To: mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
Subject: Re: [mythtvnz] Mythfrontends using CF


I tried that but the CF card didn't last long so I am back on IDE till I
find a cost effective solution


On 2/14/06, Toby Mills < toby@np.co.nz <mailto:toby@np.co.nz> > wrote:

Hi

I'm using 2Gb CF cards with IDE converters in my frontends, I'd be
interested to know if anyone else is doing something like this in order
to achieve silence.

I have my big grunty noisy backend box out in the garage with near
silent frontends in the house that don't need any spinning disk or much
horsepower to generate heat.
Seeing as the frontends only need enough space for the OS and myth I
found this was the cleanest and cheapest way of getting a silent system
(anyone else have any better ideas). I just use NFS to mount MP3 and
Video directories off the backend server.

The only time the case fan spins up is when I'm ripping a DVD so it's a
practically silent solution that doesn't involve spending bucketloads of
money.

Cheers
Toby



_______________________________________________
mythtvnz mailing list
mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/