On 2005-11-11 algould@datawok.com wrote:

> In the past, I've installed packages for my Nec MobilePro by having
> swap and /usr/pkgsrc on a FreeBSD computer and using them via NFS.  In
> an effort to make it easier after installing NetBSD 2.1, I'm
> considering whether it would be better to run swap and pkgsrc
> locally by installing NetBSD to a 6GB microdrive or buying a cobalt
> raq2 on ebay.  The raq2 would actually be cheaper than the microdrive;
> and would provide yet another educational experience.  The larger
> microdrive would provide more resources for the mobilepro on an ongoing
> basis.  I'm not sure what to decide.

  The main problem with storage on hpcmips is that you can't do DMA (this
is particularly annoying on the Clio, where the internal CF slot is behind
the battery and so not hot swapable anyway).  The microdrives and some
flash cards are capable of DMA on an ATA/IDE interface, but no hpcmips
machine (or other handheld) I know of has one.  NFS from a system that
does DMA transfers could easily be faster than a directly attached disk,
even with the recent performance improvement for CF.  The VR41XX series
has direct mapped data cache, which hurts performance in many situations
(I don't think the lack of FP hardware would affect compile speed, but I
don't know).  Also, microdrives are less reliable than 3.5" disks.

Matthew Orgass
darkstar@city-net.com