Amahi embedded...

[liam]

Thanks rjwaldren, very helpful, and yes I should have made it clearer, I was talking about an eUSB industrial grade SLC flash drive, mounted on the USB headers on the motherboard.

I'm learning more all the time, thanks for the guidance

[rjwaldren]

Based on you previous messages I figured your devices fell somewhere in the middle. If you don't mind what devices are you using? I looked into it briefly since my NAS runs on a D510MO MB which has support for the Intel SSD modules which were discontinued as quick as they were announced. I found several similar devices but never bothered making the purchase.

[liam]

Intel D945GSEJT and eUSB. I've got ClearOS on the eUSB storage right now, but then found Amahi. I will look further into embedded Linux OS which are suitable for the eUSB.

Same as you just using this for a NAS, and as a music fileserver for Squeezbox, but the ease and functionality of Amahi drew me in.

[lou1z]

Intel D945GSEJT and eUSB. I've got ClearOS on the eUSB storage right now, but then found Amahi. I will look further into embedded Linux OS which are suitable for the eUSB.

Same as you just using this for a NAS, and as a music fileserver for Squeezbox, but the ease and functionality of Amahi drew me in.

hi liam,
how did you get on with the eusb. i'm thinking of getting one for an intel d510m that i have siting about. was there any noticable difference with boot up, performance etc?

[liam]

I'm not using the eUSB for Fedora/Amahi now as tis only 4Gb and really needs 8Gb, so will keep it for other embedded Linux OS for testing and run Amahi from SATA.

In terms of speed/performance, I am not able to compare as I use Windows XP and have not run this from the eUSB, but I imagine it is very similar to speed/performance of SSD. My main PC has XP on an SSD and is much much faster, although there's a few tweaks to minimise wear from multiple writes to the drive. I'm a Linux newbie so this thread contains about as much as I know about Amahi on SSD or eUSB

[rjwaldren]

I was wondering the same about the eUSB - I have a D510MO also and it's usb (stick) boot speeds are abysmal - at least with FreeNAS. initramfs based linux distros that make the proper usb2.0 drivers available early in the boot process boot okay, once the driver loads. It seems the BIOS only exposes a very limited profile until the driver loads until then they perform at about usb1.0. A avg performing CF on a SATA adapter is still faster at boot.

The eUSB is rated at Read 33 MB/sec.; Write 12 MB/sec. So about the same as a usb2.0 stick but with SLC flash. I asked about the Intel Z-120(??) on the Intel forums and never recieved a response. My hope was that the BIOS made special accomodations for these devices, but based on the recent BIOS fiasco on these boards, I doubt it.

[liam]

I have a D510MO also and it's usb (stick) boot speeds are abysmal - at least with FreeNAS. initramfs based linux distros that make the proper usb2.0 drivers available early in the boot process boot okay, once the driver loads

Well unsurprisingly initramfs is new to me

But does this mean the problem is with the Intel BIOS, or with the Linux distro, or with the fact that it is a USB stick rather than eUSB?

I've sent an email enquiry to the retailers LogicSupply, they have very good sales/support service so hopefully will get more guidance

[rjwaldren]

The last couple of BIOS updates completely broke booting to non windows OS's from usb. I've been watching for USB improvements since v301, things only got worse. V509 recently released appears to fix the largest issue. Don't know if the eUSB SSD devices were having problems.

Search for "ridiculous" at the intel forums or just click this link
http://communities.intel.com/thread/17415?tstart=0

[liam]

Oops Intel I suppose wait and see how v0509 performs before you embark upon eUSB.

Here's the speedy response from LogicSupply:

I do not believe there are any BIOS settings that will affect the BOOT speed. In my experience with Mini-ITX boards, if a BIOS has an option to set the USB to 1.0 Full speed, it is usually defaulted to 2.0 High Speed. If you do have speed issues, you could always try updating your BIOS with the most recent revision for the mainboard from http://www.intel.com.
Concerning your Linux question, we do not have any particular suggestions as we offer very limited support for Linux....