Getting a small cluster running - PC-Chips 810

[Jonathan Morton]

>  > This seems to imply I don't need a Disk-on-Chip unit, separate Flash
>>  chip, or Flash programmer (unless I goof up, in which case the Flash
>>  programmer can be used to restore the original BIOS).  Is this
>>  correct?
>
>That's right.  DOC is not necessary, but would be a nice option to have.
>DOC not only reduces traffic, but also allows some fancy features, eg kexec.

I don't expect traffic or features to be a problem, as with OpenMOSIX 
the slave would be running almost nothing autonomously.

>  > FWIW, I'm planning to use Gentoo Linux, which should say something
>>  about my proficiency level.  IOW, I'm not averse to compiling things
>>  and generally fiddling around, but the existence of a nearly
>>  plug-and-play solution is encouraging (and likely to satisfy my
>>  supervisor more easily).
>
>For fb support, you need sisfb_lite patch.  If you don't need fb, stock
>kernel might work.

I probably don't need video at all, except to make sure the box boots 
properly.  Even for that, I could probably get away with serial 
console, as I think the master will have two spare serial ports.  :o)

I'll try your stock image first as a proof of concept, then build an 
OpenMOSIX kernel and image using the least number of patches 
necessary.  Gentoo include an OpenMOSIX-patched kernel source tree, 
which is nice of them, so I only need to worry about the LinuxBIOS 
patches and hackery.

I'm guessing that if I use the vendor-supplied BIOS flash utility, I 
don't need to muck around with MTD drivers, right?  Looking at the 
HOWTOs, that method seems to be extremely icky at the moment, 
requiring kernel source edits.  I don't mind getting a single floppy 
drive, and moving it between slaves for this step.

-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------
from:     Jonathan "Chromatix" Morton
mail:     chromi at chromatix.demon.co.uk
website:  http://www.chromatix.uklinux.net/
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