Re: Via Samuel 2 / mini-ITX

["Roberto" <roberto%redix.it@localhost>]

> I have some questions relating to mini-ITX - I have a VIA PD board with a
> 600MHz Samuel 2.
>
> I've been toying with it for home automation tasks, currently with Linux of
> various flavours.  And I've also had a play with FreeBSD.
>
> While the system has an old laptop drive in it, it also has an IDE CF
> adapter, and I'd like to run it from that, ideally, using the real HD as a
> backup and development facility to target the CF.
>
> At the moment, NetBSD 2.0.2 doesn't boot on this system.

As far I know, it is a "boot code" problem: there is a open (?) PR #26007.
Anyway I have a 2.x NetBSD booting from EPIA board using the boot code from
1.6.x.

>
> So ...
>
> 1) Is it fairly certain that 2.1 and 3.0 will boot on this?
>
I do not know;

> 2) Is the touch screen driver (I have a small 8" touch screen with USB, not
> 100% sure of its parentage but I think a driver went into NetBSD) in 2.1 or
> just 3.0?  (OK that's vague, I know, but really this is 'how much of the new
> stuff that's additional rather than changing makes its way into 2.1')
>
> 3) Will the new memory filesystem stuff work with 2.1 or 3.0, or will it
> just be for CVS?
>
> 4) Does NetBSD support a readonly root 'out of the box' in the way that
> FreeBSD does?
>
> 5) Does NetBSD have a working union filesystem?
>
Sorry I do not know it, so why use union fs.

> 6) Does NetBSD have an equivalent of squashfs?
>
> (Background: I quite like the SLAX approach of unioning squashed filesystems
> onto root as a way to build a modular base system)
>
Again sorry: why use squashfs?

> Cheers
> James

Regards,
Roberto

e-mail roberto.trovo [at] redix.it