Swap / Boot Time Questions

[zevdawg]

I'm wondering if it would be possible to use LVM (Linux) to span disks, at all? (mostly for management, but this idea came to mind from an earlier forum post)

Additionally, if I have a SWAP partition (not on the SD card(s), that would ruin them) setup on an external enclosure - will the operating system use SWAP, if available?

If not, will it ever be optimized to use SWAP if there is one? (This could actually be useful for those wanting to use memory intensive apps). Also, apps requiring more processing would state that a SWAP is required of sorts (like a lot of Linux apps currently do so).

 

[zevdawg]

Another thing that has piqued my curiosity for this device (result of hopping across various webpages), is the possibility to boot in ~5 seconds or so.
A few people probably wonder the same, can it be done with the Pandora?

Edit1: By booting, I mean a full "cold-boot" from a completely off state, to fully operational.

 

[lulzfish]

Maybe it can, right now it isn't being researched.
Either way, this belongs in General, not Development. Development is for active projects, not questions about generic things. If you were actually developing this, you could post your findings here.

 

[lulzfish]

Yes, Linux can use swap partitions. I don't know about LVM, it should work fine since Linux does support it.
Please ask any further questions in General, the Development forum is for development, not questions about things that aren't being developed.

 

[Chip]

Moved and merged.

 

[rabidpoobear]

lulzfish you are so good at photoshop.

 

[zevdawg]

lulzfish you are so good at photoshop.

:blink:

*golfclaps* way to continue derailing a thread

On a related note, I'm going to be experimenting with storage (internal, going to throw a couple 32GB SD's at it), as well as see how a SWAP partition (with external storage) pans out.
Secondly, I might try spanning across two SD cards (possibly smaller sizes, I don't want to risk a whole 64GB should something go awry). Though, I don't have a physical system yet, a few select devs may be able to get somewhere sooner than I :rolleyes: I don't think either of those are particularly difficult to do.

I don't have enough experience with Linux yet to code something to allow a ~5second boot (devs, anyone?) but that's what Wiki's are for I suppose.

 

[WizardStan]

Yes, you can use both LVM and swap: it's linux, the power is in your hands to do whatever you want.
Keep in mind two very important things though
1) if you LVM two SD cards, you cannot use them seperately. If you get a third card at some point in the future, you can't just swap them out as needed.
2) The fastest SD cards (excluding the new class 10, I haven't benchmarked those) are slower than the average hard drive of even the last 6 years. The Pandora has a theoretical top bus speed of 24 MB/s (kudos to... whomever found that quote) so for swap beyond a few hundred K or so, you are likely to experience noticeable slow down every time it swaps.
It may be a good idea to have a swap partition so that if you accidentally exceed memory it doesn't start crashing your programs and you can safely close things at your leisure, but I wouldn't count on it for regular use.