Re: Linux booting from USB HD / USB interface devices

[Roger Larsson <roger.larsson@skelleftea.mail.telia.com>]

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
Skellefteå
Sweden