Post by thread:[EE]: Compact-flash cards?

Thinking of putting my OS on a CF card in my PC, using a CF to IDE adapter. But apparently some CF cards can be made bootable, and others cannot. Any ideas how to tell which ones will boot and which ones won't? Cheers, -Neil. -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email spam_OUTlistservTakeThisOuTmitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

On Fri, 14 Feb 2003, PicDude wrote: *>Thinking of putting my OS on a CF card in my PC, using a CF to IDE adapter. *>But apparently some CF cards can be made bootable, and others cannot. Any *>ideas how to tell which ones will boot and which ones won't? The ones that support ATA are bootable (ATA = IDE emulation, with (re)writable sector 0). Apparently there are cards that have sector 0 hardwired somehow. Of course this is not advertised anywhere. Peter -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email .....listservKILLspam@spam@mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

I have an old laptop with ZipSlack running on a 128MB CF card. It's acting as a wireless gateway shoved under a desk and forgotten about. No moving parts, so it's more reliable. There is no swap and the /tmp mount is in ram, so very little is written to the drive. Mostly it's reading. Barry {Original Message removed}

Really? According to the compactflash specification, all flash memory CF cards must be ATA compliant. Setting any particular sector to a specific value would violate that spec, making that card non-CF compliant. Do you have any references or resources for this info? I currently use 4 and 8 MB cards in IDE adaptors for 'diskless' workstations and only have an issue if I try to format the cards using a USB adaptor. The IDE adaptors make them look just like hard drives on a regualr machine, though. -Adam Peter L. Peres wrote: {Quote hidden}>On Fri, 14 Feb 2003, PicDude wrote: > >*>Thinking of putting my OS on a CF card in my PC, using a CF to IDE adapter. >*>But apparently some CF cards can be made bootable, and others cannot. Any >*>ideas how to tell which ones will boot and which ones won't? > >The ones that support ATA are bootable (ATA = IDE emulation, with >(re)writable sector 0). Apparently there are cards that have sector 0 >hardwired somehow. Of course this is not advertised anywhere. > >Peter > >-- >http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! >email listservKILLspammitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body > > > > > -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email .....listservKILLspam.....mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

Not desktop, but MP3 player in car. Alternate option is IDE 2.5 flash drive, but with CF, I can have an external slot f/easier updates, etc. Not using swap right now, and don t see the need to for this small app. (Linux w/256MB RAM). Cheers, -Neil. > {Original Message removed}

Know of an easy way to test this? (Other than trying to install the OS on each?) Cheers, -Neil. Peter L. Peres wrote: > > The ones that support ATA are bootable (ATA = IDE emulation, with > (re)writable sector 0). Apparently there are cards that have sector 0 > hardwired somehow. Of course this is not advertised anywhere. > > Peter -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email EraseMElistservspam_OUTTakeThisOuTmitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

But in reality that are a lot of claims that aren t 100% true. (Just been thru this issue with SB audio compatibility as well). I ve heard that some CF cards cause problems, and some work fine, all under the same installation scheme (and I hadn t asked what scheme that was -- USB or IDE adapter). I do (did?) intend to update the OS on the CF using a USB adapter on my laptop (cause I can t think of any other easy way). Cheers, -Neil. > {Original Message removed}

On Fri, 14 Feb 2003, M. Adam Davis wrote: *>Really? *> *>According to the compactflash specification, all flash memory CF cards *>must be ATA compliant. Setting any particular sector to a specific *>value would violate that spec, making that card non-CF compliant. *> *>Do you have any references or resources for this info? I currently use *>4 and 8 MB cards in IDE adaptors for 'diskless' workstations and only *>have an issue if I try to format the cards using a USB adaptor. The IDE *>adaptors make them look just like hard drives on a regualr machine, though. I know that there are CF cards that cannot be formatted, and some machines do not accept their format. They are (were ?) sold as cheap giveaways with digital cameras. My theory is that parts of the sector 0 are used internally to keep some counters and the respective write code does not allow the sector to be overwritten. Peter -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email listservspam_OUTmitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

On Fri, 14 Feb 2003, PicDude wrote: *>Know of an easy way to test this? (Other than *>trying to install the OS on each?) In theory if you try to format a bad one on a computer CF slot it will fail. Other than that I know of no way to make sure. Small capacity ones are more suspect than normal ones. Peter -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email @spam@listservKILLspammitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

On Fri, 14 Feb 2003, PicDude wrote: *>I ve heard that some CF cards cause problems, and some *>work fine, all under the same installation scheme (and *>I hadn t asked what scheme that was -- USB or IDE adapter). *>I do (did?) intend to update the OS on the CF using a *>USB adapter on my laptop (cause I can t think of any other *>easy way). Does your laptop have a network connector ? ;-) Peter -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email KILLspamlistservKILLspammitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

I think it was from here (my internet connection is screwed up right now, so I can't confirm): http://www.pcengines.com/cflash.htm They offer 2.5" or 3.5" versions for $20 each. The CF card is a no-name card I got on e-bay for about $50 a year ago. ----- Original Message ----- From: "PicDude" <RemoveMEpicdudeTakeThisOuTNARWANI.ORG> To: <spamBeGonePICLISTspamBeGoneMITVMA.MIT.EDU> Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 11:29 AM Subject: Re: [EE]: Compact-flash cards? > Kewl -- very much the setup I ll have, but in a car. > What brand/model of CF card are you using? And which > CF to IDE adapter (cause I m thinking it may matter). > > Cheers, > -Neil. > > > > > {Original Message removed}

Yep, but during development, I've crashed the drive enough to need to physically put it in a machine with another drive. A few times. Other option was to put in a second drive in the mp3 unit. Either way is very difficult once mounted, so CF seemed like a much nicer option f/dev. Cheers, -Neil. > {Original Message removed}