Please excuse a complete Newbie

[MeatballTurbo]

A car computer has to boot under 30 sec or its
just going to get old fast i think, specially if you want
to sell commercially, which i think is a good idea.

I've found a 60gig Laptop HDD for under £80GBP.
Now I'm wondering, could I build an embedded system that was read only,
except for the hibernate file (hiberfil.sys)?

I'm wondering if I could either registry hack the location of the
hibernate file to a read/write partition (maybe the storage partition),
or some other solution, to keep the system and apps partition read only
after instalation.

If I was to want to add Media player 9 (I've been told that the XP pro
version can be installed fine and works) and Mappoint 2002, plus Winamp,
can I roll them into the built image (ready installed), or do I need to
build and install the device, and boot the device and build the apps in?

If I could build them in, it would be so much easier.

If an application has to option to run as a Shell (like Mediaengine
http://www.mediaengine.org) can I configure it to be a shell, as the
default boot shell instead of explorer?

Silly question, but how do I get the built image onto the partition I
intend to boot from on the device?

 

[Slobodan Brcin]

I've found a 60gig Laptop HDD for under £80GBP.

Now I'm wondering, could I build an embedded system that was read only,
except for the hibernate file (hiberfil.sys)?

Look for doc on EWF for protecting partition from write.

You will need to test this, but if your image is small, and you have enough
memory. Then SDI RAM boot from HDD is probably safer and better solution.
(On really fast processors it can be even faster than hibernation).

I'm wondering if I could either registry hack the location of the
hibernate file to a read/write partition (maybe the storage partition),
or some other solution, to keep the system and apps partition read only
after instalation.

Probably, you will need to find value in registry and change it. (I don't
think that changing registry values is hacking. Registry is one big config
base. )

If I was to want to add Media player 9 (I've been told that the XP pro
version can be installed fine and works) and Mappoint 2002, plus Winamp,
can I roll them into the built image (ready installed), or do I need to
build and install the device, and boot the device and build the apps in?

You can use FBA to install them.
Or you can take your time and make components from them.

BTW: Keep your image size small, otherwise my first suggestion about RAM
boot is useless.

If an application has to option to run as a Shell (like Mediaengine
http://www.mediaengine.org) can I configure it to be a shell, as the
default boot shell instead of explorer?

Of course this is what XPe is all about. You should also read infos on
minlogon.

Silly question, but how do I get the built image onto the partition I
intend to boot from on the device?

This is up to you (whatever you think is easy):
1. Network,
2. Move HDD from device to dev machine, etc.
3. CF
4. Deployment USB Disk.
5. etc



Regards,
Slobodan

 

[MeatballTurbo]

Look for doc on EWF for protecting partition from write.

Thanks, just wanted to confirm what I was expecting.

You will need to test this, but if your image is small, and you have enough
memory. Then SDI RAM boot from HDD is probably safer and better solution.
(On really fast processors it can be even faster than hibernation).

Will be running on a 1ghz epia processor, probably arround the speed of
a 600-700 MHZ pentium based machine.

Probably, you will need to find value in registry and change it. (I don't
think that changing registry values is hacking. Registry is one big config
base. )


You can use FBA to install them.
Or you can take your time and make components from them.

Think will have to look at Componentising them.
although the FBA aproach does sound easier.

BTW: Keep your image size small, otherwise my first suggestion about RAM
boot is useless.


Of course this is what XPe is all about. You should also read infos on
minlogon.

Great. Thanks.

This is up to you (whatever you think is easy):
1. Network,
2. Move HDD from device to dev machine, etc.
3. CF
4. Deployment USB Disk.
5. etc

Guess I have a lot more reading to do.
Built an M10000 Epia based build including almost everything that the
EpiaM SLD included, and came out with an uncompressed install or 303meg.
Not bad, but I'm sure I could trim that down substantially.