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Low-end Linux

jeelabs.org

61 pointsswah11 comments

I'm running a low-end linux myself at home for years, with surprisingly similar characteristics (no FPU either):

    lloeki@slug> cat /proc/cpuinfo                                                ~
    Processor   : XScale-IXP42x Family rev 1 (v5l)
    BogoMIPS    : 266.24
    Features    : swp half thumb fastmult edsp 
    CPU implementer : 0x69
    CPU architecture: 5TE
    CPU variant : 0x0
    CPU part    : 0x41f
    CPU revision    : 1

    Hardware    : Linksys NSLU2
    Revision    : 0000
    Serial      : 0000000000000000
    lloeki@slug> free                                                             ~
                total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
    Mem:         28844      27212       1632          0       2372      10496
    -/+ buffers/cache:      14344      14500
    Swap:       121076      10272     110804
    lloeki@slug> cat /etc/debian_version                                          ~
    6.0.2

It has been tasked to do quite a bit of things, including:

    - imap+smtp server (smarthost)
    - out-of-cloud mail mirror
    - having a permanent, "immutable" diagnostics access point
    - securing untrusted wifi connexions with a vpn
    - tunnelling through even the worst http proxies (httptunnel+openvpn)
    - hosting a sixxs tunnel and a radvd instance for my LAN
    - IPv6 everywhere (via the openvpn TAP if)
    - NAS
    - networked Linux rsync hardlink delta backup (Time Machine style)
    - private file sharing (kinda like megaupload/dropbox links...)
    - mpd host
    - DNLA server
    - WOL packet sender
    - ssh hop
    - alarm system (cron+aplay)
    - LAN DNS
    - mDNS/dns-sd
    - WAN v4/v6 uptime monitor with history

Debian/arm provides a huuuge number of packages. The biggest constraint is actually not the CPU but the RAM, 2x or 4x that amount would be nice.

Many of those have been phased out when I replaced my wrt54g (v5, dd-wrt) with a Time Capsule, but it saved (and still saves) me time (or even my ass) quite a lot.

Total cost: ~100€ + 5W max. Well worth it.

What is the product?

I don't really see the value of running 486 instead of equivalent ARM CPU. Looking at something like RaspberryPi[1], you'd get a lot more everything with the same price, and the performance characteristics are actually relevant to modern day low power systems.

http://elinux.org/RaspberryPiBoard#Provisional_specification

Or a Gumstix, Beagle, Panda...

The thrust of this blog post appears to be that the software he has written works on even a very nerfed machine. It's about his software, not his hardware.

The value is x86 compatibility.

Our seismograph network is held together by DMP eBox 2300 computers. These things have 200 MHz 486DX compatible CPUs, 128 MB RAM, and a CompactFlash slot that we populate with a 4 GB SLC NAND card (that are now ridiculously hard to find). The computers come in a nice, small, passively cooled metal case, cost about $150 each, and draw a few watts at idle.

Now, sure, we could get ARM-based systems that are cheaper, faster, and even less power hungry (and I hope in the future I can start using such systems!), but for now, I'm stuck with x86 because we have to run a proprietary Linux/x86 binary on each computer to get the data out of the digitizers and into a "common" data format.

(One day I'll write my own code to replace that proprietary binary, and then the company that makes a small, sub-$100 ARM board that boots Linux and has a flash memory slot of some sort, two Ethernet ports, and two real [not TTL-level] serial ports will be my most favorite company in the world.)

Might want to check out the Alix boards.

I guess a i386 chroot would be too ressouce intensive for your case?

Legacy applications are a very valid reason to run x86, that I'll agree.

I've been a long time user of Soekris boards & cheap x86 boxes:

http://soekris.com/

They've just come out with their first Atom based system; it's been 486 class (Amd Elan) and 586 class (Amd Geode) processors until now.

Soekris is good suggestion for small boxes to use as Linux/BSD appliances. That said, they're too high a spec/cost a device for the kind of applications one would want to use a bifferboard for.

Some years ago I had some memory problems installing Debian in a similar setup (486dx4/100Mhz/24mb), Netbsd worked fine though. I think these days most Linux distributions are compiled for i686.

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