Puppy Linux on an $30 internet appliance (i-opener)

[RobertB]

Now, there was also a mention of that fully-capable IDE adapter (no moving parts) in this Forum, though I cant locate it now. I had it saved somewhere, though...

Will be back as soon as I find the link. Cheers to your project!

Is this the link you were looking for?

http://www.coyotelinux.com/store/index.php?ByCategory=4

Here's the list of no-moving-parts hard drive replacements. While they aren't cheap, I suspect Vortech could cut a deal for a group that wants to buy a large number of units without the CF cards.

Direct-Plug IDE Flash Adapter with 256MB Compact Flash
$79.95
Replacement for 3.5" hard disk drives, plugs directly onto a 40 pin IDE connector, uses a floppy power connector, and is hard-wired as a master device. Not recommended for high vibration environments.

3.5" IDE Flash Adapter with Compact Flash
$79.95 (256MB) / $69.95 (128MB) / $59.95 (64MB)
Replacement for 3.5" hard disk drives, 40 pin IDE connector. Mounting hole locations are the same as the bottom holes of a hard disk drive. Board dimensions are 2" x 4". Jumper configuration for master or slave.

My goodness, it wasn't all *that* long ago that a 256MB spinning-platter hard drive would have cost several times that price... I recently showed the kids how you'd need around half a dozen 1.44MB floppy disks just to store the data in a .mp3 file of a couple of popular songs.

[sunburnt]

Those prices seem horrible, on Ebay you can get an IDE to CF Flash adapter for $10.
And the flash cards (there are so many different types) are about the same as the USB drives.
So an IDE adapter + $20 should get a 256MB or even a 512MB Flash card = $30 tops.
The newer faster Flash cards are more expensive of course, but for your use I think that's a waste.

NOTE: I also saw disk compression for Linux (like DOS's DriveSpace) which would give ~30MB on Flash storage.
There was also a memory data compressor which would give ~ 60MB of memory, but slows the CPU down.
The disk compressor would be the biggest help & slow the system down the least.