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| 2009-05-24 22:46:23 | Digital PostBox: New Storage Idea |
I have had a bit of time recently, in between exams , to think about the extension of my DPB project. One of the main issues I had was the storage capacity while using a full Linux distro. Ubuntu 8d.10 weighs in at about 3GB and I'm lead to believe that the new 9.04 isn't any smaller. To use a drive similar to what I originally ordered would mean ordering a 4GB version with the cost of around ?109 which is just silly. It pushes the unit cost up to about ?350, which is far too expensive. The temporary solution I had was to use a USB pendrive. The more I thought about it the more I realised that this solution was, in fact, better all round. The cost of pendrives is so low they are now are virtually throw away commodities. Another plus side, which is something my Linux geek friend Russell mentioned, is if the system is booting off a pendrive and there is problem or an update is created for the software rather than attempt to execute the required changes remotely it would be better to mail a new pendrive out to the village where the DPB is located with instructions to power down the unit, remove the old drive, replace it with the new drive and to switch device back on. The old drive can then be returned via post for recycling or just binned. I can get a 4GB pendrive from Aria for under a tenner! Compared to $58 from the manufacturer for the IDE flash module. Bargin! The downsides are that the USB drives are slower and there is potential for them to be dislodged during operation or for the replacement units to go missing in transit. I do think the cost benefit is a massive incentive for the slight change to future devices. |
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Comments
| 2009-05-24 22:49:23 | Posted by John |
Just discovered that the pound signs aren't transfered to the database cleanly. Just for reference all the prices quoted are in GBP.
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