On Wed, Nov 01, 2000 at 10:40:12AM -0800, Brian Buhrow wrote:
> 	Could you just disable everything you're not using, disable memory testing,
> and go with that?  Also, how are you powering the unit and how did you
> package it?

Yeah, I'm already disabling everything it's possible to disable in the
BIOS with this particular MB.  I was hoping someone else might know
of a specific model which is particularly good about it.  (This MB dates from
1994 or 95; I'm sure there's better ones, but I'm not sure.)

Basically, it's in an AT-style case in the trunk, powered by an inverter.
(I'd love to find an inexpensive PS that takes 12V in, but...)  It's got
a 30G IDE drive which I'm looking at upgrading to 80G.  (Almost full).
The software still needs a lot of work; right now I've basically got
a python wrapper to mpg123 which plays random tracks, and allows me
to skip using a keyboard.

> 
> 	What about a cheap laptop that you suspend, rather than reboot?

Drives are expensive, plus I like being able to just shut it off like 
I would a regular radio.  I'm working on making it more and more like
an appliance, and less like a computer.  Next step is to code up the
remote control interface, so I can lose the keyboard.  :)

Thanks for the suggestions.  Ideally, I'd like to move to a specialized
motherboard with DC power and flash boot for the OS, but one of the
main goals of this project is cheap and/or free parts for everything.  :)
I'm also considering moving back to NetBSD-1.3 (I started with 1.4Y,
and am now at 1.5_ALPHA) to see if it speeds up the boot at all.  I'll
lose things like IDE DMA, but I don't think I really need that for
this implementation.

+j

-- 
Jeff Rizzo                                         http://boogers.sf.ca.us/~riz