Re: Seagate DockStar and power consumption

[Andy Ruhl <acruhl%gmail.com@localhost>]

On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 10:55 AM, Stefano Marinelli
<postnet%dragas.dyndns.org@localhost> wrote:
> Hello,
> after yesterday's commits, I can confirm that my DockStar is stable. The 
> clock is running fine and the system is working perfectly.
> I've decided to do some tests and plugged a kill-a-watt like device. In 
> standby, with NetBSD running and a Sandisk 4GB micro cruzer usb device 
> plugged, it uses around 11.5 W. It's ok, still I expected a bit less from 
> this device. I've read great things about the Sheevaplugs using just 2/3 
> watts, so I thought this could be as good as the Sheeva. I was wrong. Anyway, 
> it's ok.
> I've then decided to do some more tests, and I installed Debian on the same 
> memory device. Same conditions, using Debian, the Dockstar requires 9 W. So 
> 2.5 W less than NetBSD. Is there anything I am missing or is it just that 
> Linux has a more complete power management?
>
> Asking the other DockStar owners: do you confirm this is the normal power 
> usage of this little jewel?

As for stability in general, I think it's too soon to say how stable it is.

I built a kernel after yesterday's updates, and I built it on the
Dockstar itself so that's good.

Under heavy I/O to the TDK branded 32 gig USB stick, the device lags
pretty badly. Seems worse than just I/O performance on the USB stick,
but I could be wrong.

Someone mentioned earlier that rsync would hang. I have this problem
as well. netstat -i doesn't show errors. It just sits there. I haven't
looked any farther into it yet. This is what I do:

rsync -avx --progress <localfiles> rsync://me@server/rsync/repository/

I wanted to try another USB network adapter but when I plug it in
there's no phy. I noticed that the kernel config file doesn't have a
phy associated with USB ethernet adapters for whatever reason.

I also want to do some power testing. I was going to install FreeBSD
at some point to see how it works.

Does anyone know if Gentoo will run from chroot with the kernel that
the dockstar ships with?

Andy