notfred folding cd with usb stick

[ArVee]

I have basically an available empty box with processor, RAM and a cd r/w. No NIC card. Can I get a usb stick (what size?) and use notfred and the stick to sneakernet to another machine? Does it matter if the other machine is Windows, VMWare or Linux? Alternatively, I could hook on a modem and put it on my voice line if that's better, although the box would still be standalone. What setup is best? It's no big deal, but I just can't stand to see a little box sitting there with those bonus Ambers calling to me.

[John Naylor]

a 1GB USB stick will be more than enough for notfred... but to use it the computer does require a local internet connection. NIC cards are not too expensive anymore though so it would not cost you much to add one... The other machine should be linux (it can be linux in VMWare)... as notfred uses a cut-down version of linux as its core.

EDIT: actually... if you're going to buy a USB stick... why not save on power bills and use notfreds USB stick version? that way the CD drive will not have to spin up, and USB sticks only use around 1W, which is much less thna a CD drive.

[ArVee]

That was fast, thank you. The USB-stick-only version would be almost ideal, and I do have a VMWare/Linux machine going, but I can't just sneakernet over to it? I was hoping something got written to the CD (now to be USB stick) and I could do the old way. I'm really not too cheap to spring for a NIC card, lol, just getting a little kick out of making something out of almost nothing.

[John Naylor]

That was fast, thank you. The USB-stick-only version would be almost ideal, and I do have a VMWare/Linux machine going, but I can't just sneakernet over to it? I was hoping something got written to the CD (now to be USB stick) and I could do the old way. I'm really not too cheap to spring for a NIC card, lol, just getting a little kick out of making something out of almost nothing.

No problem... as for getting stuff onto there... there may be a way to sneakernet units into a notfred install but I am not aware of it.

[MstrBlstr]

Doesn't all the folding take place on the USB stick with the notfred method?

Thus, boot from the USB stick on the connected system, let it get a unit, stop folding, remove the stick (properly), move it to the offline system, boot that system, let it finish the unit, stop, remove, boot from the online system to upload and get a new unit. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Now that is all dependent on both systems being able to boot from a USB stick in the first place.

Or is that not the way that it works.

I still think adding a nic would be less of a hassle though. Unless there is a reason that you don't want that box connected to the net.

[Hyperlife]

Thus, boot from the USB stick on the connected system, let it get a unit, stop folding, remove the stick (properly), move it to the offline system, boot that system, let it finish the unit, stop, remove, boot from the online system to upload and get a new unit. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Yes, that should work. The WU has to be saved to the USB drive before it is moved to the offline system, and I don't think it saves until the first "backup interval" time runs -- it won't immediately write the WU to the USB drive after download. You'll have to set the "backup interval" to something small in the syslinux.cfg file. Also, don't pull out the USB drive or shut the computer down while the backup is being written, or it will corrupt it.

I agree that a cheap NIC will save a lot of time and free you from constantly monitoring the progress of the WU.

[ArVee]

Thanks for all the feedback. It's good to know that the sneakernetting option is still there, but I've heeded the counsel re hassle minimization and will get a NIC and cable and minimize downtime between WUs as well.