[mythtvnz] Zotac ION ATOM boot device recommendation / opinions

[Steve V]

----- Original Message ----
> From: Robin Gilks <g8ecj at gilks.org>
> To: MythTV in NZ <mythtvnz at lists.linuxnut.co.nz>
> Sent: Wednesday, 22 July, 2009 10:45:24 PM
> Subject: Re: [mythtvnz] Zotac ION ATOM boot device recommendation / opinions
> 
> 
> >
> > Now that I have a HD frontend working with VDPAU I'm looking at building a
> > new frontend using a Zotac Ion board.
> >
> > It seems that there are at least 4 options for a boot device:
> >
> > Network booting  - but this seems too complicated for my simple mind
> >
> > Using a standard hard drive
> >
> > Using a laptop drive and appropriate adapter.
> >
> > Using a CF card and appropriate adapter
> >
> > I would like to minimise power and noise, so I lean toward the CF card,
> > however, I read that you can wear out the flash with too many writes, so
> > this may not be the best long term solution.
> >
> > I'd appreciate any thoughts / opinions on the subject.
> 
> I've always run my frontend diskless and when I get an HD frontend I'll do
> the same with that. I net boot using pxegrub so the setup is pretty much
> the same as using normal grub.
> 
> I run enough RAM that I don't have to worry about swap space and the
> server has more than enough space for log files and other stuff being
> generated by the frontend.
> 
> I have a directory on the server called /diskless which is exported in the
> /etc/exports file with the line
> =========================================
> /diskless      media(rw,sync,no_root_squash,no_subtree_check)
> =========================================
> 
> and the /diskless/boot directory contains the kernel, pxegrub executable
> and grub.conf which contains:
> 
> =========================================
> default 0
> timeout 2
> tftpserver 192.168.1.10
> 
> title=MythTV
> kernel (nd)/linux-2.6.25-gentoo-r7 ip=dhcp root=/dev/nfs
> nfsroot=192.168.1.10:/diskless
> =========================================
> 
> I run dnsmasq on the server to give the frontend its IP address and to
> make sure it knows where to boot from. These are the options I use in the
> dnsmasq.conf file:
> 
> =========================================
> # Add local-only domains here, queries in these domains are answered
> # from /etc/hosts or DHCP only.
> local=/localdomain/
> # Override the default route supplied by dnsmasq, which assumes the
> # router is the same machine as the one running dnsmasq. Point
> # directly at the adsl router instead
> dhcp-option=3,192.168.1.100
> 
> # Send the Encapsulated-vendor-class ID needed by some configurations of
> # Etherboot to allow is to recognise the DHCP server.
> dhcp-option=vendor:Etherboot,60,"Etherboot"
> 
> # Set the boot filename for BOOTP. This gets the network version of grub
> # pxegrub) sent to the frontend after it gets its IP address
> dhcp-boot=net:media,pxegrub
> # a very badly documented option that tells pxegrub what its config file is
> dhcp-option-force=150,/grub.conf
> 
> # Enable dnsmasq's built-in TFTP server
> enable-tftp
> 
> # Set the root directory for files available via FTP.
> tftp-root=/diskless/boot
> 
> # Always give the host with ethernet address 00:40:63:de:5b:53
> # the name media and IP address 192.168.1.33 and infinite lease time
> dhcp-host=00:40:63:de:5b:53,media,192.168.1.33,infinite,net:media
> =========================================
> 
> My /etc/hosts file on the server has an entry for the frontend (called
> media - very original!!)
> 
> =========================================
> 192.168.1.33    media.localdomain      media
> =========================================
> 
> 
> Thats pretty much it - the /diskless directory is the complete frontend
> filesystem - if I make a major change I usually make a copy of it to
> /diskless.backup and if the new stuff doesn't work I can either rename the
> backup or export the backup and change the dnsmasq config to point to
> /diskless.backup/boot and it all works - great for good WAF.
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Robin Gilks
> 
> 
Thanks that's great info. I am planning to try diskless first. Bit of a learning curve for me but that's OK - I need a new project :-)