I was wondering if it is possible to have a knoppmyth frontend launched from a flash drive. I would like this to work on multiple computers but want very little configuration to have to be done since this will be my roommate watching a recording from my mythtv server. It would be a plus if this could mount his music on his NTFS drive. If it is possible what size flash drive would you suggest. I'm going to be testing out the cd version later today I don't this this will be that bad since I already have it running on FC5.

Yes, it should be possible. I'd suggest investigating the various methods of putting Knoppix on a USB. I'd recommend a 1 gig drive.

I'm looking to do the same thing but with a 1gb CF card and a motherboard with an embedded controller that will boot from the CF (on board). I am wondering if there's a way to install Knoppmyth (just as a front end) so that the install size is minimized.

Currently I have installed KM in a virtual machine under vmware and removed several libraries and sources that I know I won't use. The machine will be used for front end viewing (no HD for now). I want the full install size to be about 800mb excluding /cache and /myth (those will reside on the backend) so that I can still have room for a swap partition and a little space just in case.

Can I just use apt-get and remove packages that I don't want or is there a better way to slim things down?

I think that the best solution for what you are after is to actually boot the conputer you want to be the frontend over the network from the backend. The filesystem for the frontend can reside on the backend (and for the most part share the backend filesystem). Look at the thread on diskless frontends using nfsroot.

Thanks Greg. Looks like the info is here:
http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php? ... ssFrontend
and
http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic. ... s+frontend

To save others from having to search.

If you really want to use USB, someone has just posted a nice writeup here: http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11169

I like that approach, but I still want to have the install on the CF card. Tiger Direct has a 4gb card on sale for $80 right now that I'll pick up on the way home today

Sure..... But, as a tip, keep in mind that a flash memory can only take about 1 million write cycles.... After that, you need a new card....

I can't tell exactly how many writes that will be performed during normal usage... But I bet you will reach 1 million within one year! (If you only use it as system drive)

(Read the limitations section of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_memory)

Regards // OwL

That's true. I was hoping to get the os and applications setup and then mount the card as read only while using a separate usb flash drive for the swap partition and replace it when it gets too old.

There are also the microdrives that are available. They are getting pretty cheap these days too. My reservation with the microdrive is that I don't know if the onboard cf header has enough juice to run the mini hard drive. I noticed that there is a 4gb and 8gb version available for $80 and $160 (found them on pricewatch).

Yes, to run the flash drive as ro is a wise decision...
I was also thinking somewhat of that approach myself....

scince I have 1Gb of memory in my frontend, I was thinking of the possibility to mount parts of the filesystem as RAM-drive(s), which I would initialize by untarring an archive that I at each halt/reboot will tar down to the flash.

for example:
1. Boot system.
2. Create a RAM-drive.
3. mount it where wanted
4. untar filesystem to RAM-drive from flash.
.... running
.... halting / rebooting
5. Tarring down the RAM drives to flash.

But I figured that approach would be much work to achieve...

So I went for USB with kernel and the frontend drive exported on the backend via NFS and mounted as root.... (the topic that was referred too a couple of posts higher up)

booting with "noatime" would reduce the number of writings to the flashdrive. So it last longer.. =)