NW Digital's DRAWS is pretty interesting I have mine together (it is a Raspberry Pi, a Pi HAT and software) and getting ready to solder cables and fire it up.

Anyone else looking at this?

73

Steve
K9ZW

Blog: http://k9zw.wordpress.com

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/64)
* Origin: SPOT BBS (21:1/224)

Looks like an interesting project. What are you going to use it for?

Cheers,
Doug
VE1LG

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Free Speech You Smeg Head (21:1/225)

Hello Steve;

k9zw wrote to All <=-

NW Digital's DRAWS is pretty interesting I have mine together (it is a Raspberry Pi, a Pi HAT and software) and getting ready to solder cables and fire it up.

Anyone else looking at this?

While I have several RPi units (that mainly stay in the original shipping
box) I've just seen way way too many cases where they simply do not hold up. One guy in 9 land I know went through so many when he tallied up how much
he kept spending on replacements he finally broke down and got a nice
dell SFF PC for less than he spend on replacement Pis.

If they had better fault tollerance that'd be one thing but I really don't
see them handling much of a load. I use one for as my 44-net router and
because they don't have much tollerance it also acts as somewhat of a
circuit breaker against brute force crack attempts. It'll just lock up and die.

Just been my experiences with them and experiences shared by others. Some
have great luck with them. For a GO-kit they seem fine.

... Suicidal twin kills sister by mistake!
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
* Origin: Carnage - risen from the dead now on SBBS (21:4/107)

On 05-17-21 17:04, k9zw wrote to All <=-

NW Digital's DRAWS is pretty interesting I have mine together (it is a Raspberry Pi, a Pi HAT and software) and getting ready to solder cables and fire it up.

I haven't heard of that one, what exactly does it do? (I can't google while offline at 40,000 feet ;) ).


... Back in the stream that feeds the ocean that feeds the stream.
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Vk3jed wrote to k9zw <=-

I haven't heard of that one, what exactly does it do? (I can't google while offline at 40,000 feet ;) ).

I'd be curious too as my google search only showed a kit for $150.00USD.
A bit pricy for Pi stuff! and it did not tell me what it did. Most of the
pages that came up retured 404 errors.



... Free speech costs more
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
* Origin: Carnage - risen from the dead now on SBBS (21:4/107)

On 05-19-21 17:01, N1uro wrote to Vk3jed <=-

Vk3jed wrote to k9zw <=-

I haven't heard of that one, what exactly does it do? (I can't google while offline at 40,000 feet ;) ).

I'd be curious too as my google search only showed a kit for
$150.00USD. A bit pricy for Pi stuff! and it did not tell me what it
did. Most of the pages that came up retured 404 errors.

That's 2 of us wanting to know. Thanks for doing the Googling for me. I still haven't had time, since being on the ground. :)


... STUPIDITY is NOT a HANDICAP! Park elsewhere!
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Looks like an interesting project. What are you going to use it for?

I'd like to package it up for a portable digital setup to do some US/CDN Islands usislands.org and perhaps some POTA Parks on the Air.

Decided I am NOT dragging my Flex-6600M and a Laptop out for that sort of activation.

You can check out my DRAWS progress at k9zw.wordpress.com put Draws in the little search box way at the bottom

73

Steve
K9ZW

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/64)
* Origin: SPOT BBS (21:1/224)

While I have several RPi units (that mainly stay in the original shipping box) I've just seen way way too many cases where they simply do not hold up. One guy in 9 land I know went through so many when he tallied up how much he kept spending on replacements he finally broke down and got a
nice dell SFF PC for less than he spend on replacement Pis.

Any idea what the mode of failure has been?

I've broke two - hamfisted one trying to get it back out of a poorly designed case. It still works but I broke the camera connector, Another one I think succumbed to static losing its WiFi chip which again is more Operator Error than anything else.

But I've also run a Pi Based VPN as backup for about five years, and have
lots of other projects that have worked long term.

It does pay to note that not all RPis are equal, as there are a number of builders. Since the whole RPi project orbits around an accessible prince
point perhaps the economization of a manufacturer looking to save product
costs might not work out so well?

Certainly would think twice about using one for a mission-critical purpose. There are upgraded versions and other SBC that might be more appropriate.

Another of my RPi projects migrated the same way as this guy's did, but
because of difficulties with the RPi supporting certain SSD hardware (current draw appears to exceed what the RPi will allow) so the project moved to a deskbook running Win10.

73

Steve
K9ZW

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/64)
* Origin: SPOT BBS (21:1/224)

k9zw wrote to N1uro <=-

Any idea what the mode of failure has been?

Most of them has to do with the fact that they insist on booting an SD Card.
SD Cards, while being made a tad better, still are the weakest link in a Pi. They contain an extremely thin piece of aluminum which tends to warp due to
the heat the Pis generate and that's like getting a dig in a hard drive's platters. Others are that they sometimes overheat and burn out.

One of their biggest downfalls is the fact that what they have for onboard
ram is *it*. It'd be nice if it was simple to upgrade ram in those things.

I've broke two - hamfisted one trying to get it back out of a poorly designed case. It still works but I broke the camera connector,
Another one I think succumbed to static losing its WiFi chip which
again is more Operator Error than anything else.

Personally, I have a 1B I've run for years. So far it's been "OK". Locks
up often from not having enough ram. Died once when the SD Card warped. Fortunately, my 'do-image' script backed it up prior to it dying.

But I've also run a Pi Based VPN as backup for about five years, and
have lots of other projects that have worked long term.

If you wish to count AmprNet connectivity as a VPN then I parallel you. It's also my testbed for URONode on a Pi. Not what I suggest but it is what it is.

It does pay to note that not all RPis are equal, as there are a number
of builders. Since the whole RPi project orbits around an accessible prince point perhaps the economization of a manufacturer looking to
save product costs might not work out so well?

As I tell others, especially those looking to get onto packet:
RPis are circuit test cards NOT replacement CPUs. You would _never_ see
Google run on Pis, nor Bing, or any other service... because they're not
meant for the punishment. Packet is a server (if you're running a node/bbs/ dxc/etc.

Certainly would think twice about using one for a mission-critical purpose. There are upgraded versions and other SBC that might be more appropriate.

You can easily get Dell SFF cases with iCore5's at 3KGhz speed for under $100.00. It's actually what I'm on now - an Optiplex3010 SFF. It does so much for so little. I paid $0.00 for it. Better price than any Pi config :)

Another of my RPi projects migrated the same way as this guy's did, but because of difficulties with the RPi supporting certain SSD hardware (current draw appears to exceed what the RPi will allow) so the project moved to a deskbook running Win10.

I'm using Devuan Linux, 8Gb ram, 4 BBS, XMPP server, DX Cluster, Convers, Mail, apache... I could go on. Windows would never handle it even on this system.

73

... Kidnapped - By Caesar Quick
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
* Origin: Carnage - risen from the dead now on SBBS (21:4/107)

Vk3jed wrote to N1uro <=-

That's 2 of us wanting to know. Thanks for doing the Googling for me.

Not a problem. I'm still curious to know. I've heard abot NPR but that's
still a work in progress and it's design is such that there's a central point of failure.

I still haven't had time, since being on the ground. :)

You're grounded?!? Were you sent to your room too? <G>

... Cases of fetishists with IQ's over 150 have beem documented."--Scully
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
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k9zw wrote to Otto Reverse <=-

You can check out my DRAWS progress at k9zw.wordpress.com put Draws in the little search box way at the bottom

What exactly is DRAWS? I don't like going on any wordpress site becuase crackers easily embed things such as ransomware in them.

... Joseph to Mary: "What do you mean, 'It's a GIRL?'"
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
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On 05-19-21 21:41, N1uro wrote to Vk3jed <=-

Vk3jed wrote to N1uro <=-

That's 2 of us wanting to know. Thanks for doing the Googling for me.

Not a problem. I'm still curious to know. I've heard abot NPR but
that's still a work in progress and it's design is such that there's a central point of failure.

Yes, I didn't like the hub and spoke model they used for NPR.

I still haven't had time, since being on the ground. :)

You're grounded?!? Were you sent to your room too? <G>

No, I just conducted myself and kept my potential down. ;)

... Cases of fetishists with IQ's over 150 have beem
documented."--Scully --- MultiMail/Linux v0.52

;)


... "Hello, World!" 17 Errors, 31 Warnings....
=== MultiMail/Win v0.52
--- SBBSecho 3.10-Linux
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Vk3jed wrote to N1uro <=-

Yes, I didn't like the hub and spoke model they used for NPR.

Our packet group was supposed to get a demo of it. One guy even offered to
buy me a hub & spoke to play with! I sort of took that as an insult as I can easily get my own if I were that interested in it. When you consider for
spoke B to get to spoke D it has to travel through Hub A it just didn't make sense. Granted, the speeds were supposed to be superior however my take is;
if you can get digital radios to talk that fast on NPR why not through regular packet like they do in say Germany? They've been doing far more above 115,200 baud for ions. Our 1200 is child's play to them and not even something they wish to visit via the internet. You know it's bad then!

No, I just conducted myself and kept my potential down. ;)

They make little blue pills to raise your potential <G>

... Zonker Harris *HAS* to be related to Al Gore.
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
* Origin: Carnage - risen from the dead now on SBBS (21:4/107)

I'd like to package it up for a portable digital setup to do some US/CDN Islands usislands.org and perhaps some POTA Parks on the Air.

Decided I am NOT dragging my Flex-6600M and a Laptop out for that sort of activation.

What radio will you pair it with?

Cheers,
Doug
VE1LG

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Free Speech You Smeg Head (21:1/225)

On 20 May 2021, Otto Reverse said the following...

What radio will you pair it with?

Slightly undecided - thinking one of old ones. Likely either a TenTec
Jupiter or an SGC SG-2020

Could also finish off one of the Phaser kits for a single band alternative.

73

Steve
K9ZW

Blog: http://k9zw.wordpress.com

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/64)
* Origin: SPOT BBS (21:1/224)

On 05-20-21 07:31, N1uro wrote to Vk3jed <=-

Vk3jed wrote to N1uro <=-

Yes, I didn't like the hub and spoke model they used for NPR.

Our packet group was supposed to get a demo of it. One guy even offered
to buy me a hub & spoke to play with! I sort of took that as an insult
as I can easily get my own if I were that interested in it. When you consider for spoke B to get to spoke D it has to travel through Hub A
it just didn't make sense. Granted, the speeds were supposed to be superior however my take is; if you can get digital radios to talk that fast on NPR why not through regular packet like they do in say Germany? They've been doing far more above 115,200 baud for ions. Our 1200 is child's play to them and not even something they wish to visit via the internet. You know it's bad then!

Yes, the EU hams have been doing high speed AX.25 for decades. Impressive work there, but it never took off.

No, I just conducted myself and kept my potential down. ;)

They make little blue pills to raise your potential <G>

Haha, sometimes you don't want a lightning rod, when things get too charged - *ZAP* :P


... Given my druthers, I'd druther not.
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On 05-18-21 10:08, N1uro wrote to k9zw <=-

While I have several RPi units (that mainly stay in the original
shipping box) I've just seen way way too many cases where they simply
do not hold up. One guy in 9 land I know went through so many when he tallied up how much he kept spending on replacements he finally broke
down and got a nice dell SFF PC for less than he spend on replacement
Pis.

I've had pretty good mileage. I know a good power supply is a critical component.

Just been my experiences with them and experiences shared by others.
Some have great luck with them. For a GO-kit they seem fine.

Yeah, I've done pretty well with them.


=== MultiMail/Win v0.52
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# Origin: Freeway BBS Bendigo,Australia freeway.apana.org.au (432:1/101)
* Origin: Ham Inter-network Echomail Gateway. (21:1/143.0)

Vk3jed wrote to N1uro <=-

Yes, the EU hams have been doing high speed AX.25 for decades.
Impressive work there, but it never took off.

ax.25 is such a horrible protocol to begin with! It's MTU is only 256 bytes which is almost nothing. Add netrom, and now your MTU is 236 bytes... just horrible! Even at faster speeds, it's just a rapid fire of frames, a
plethra of packets, a disaster of data <G> On another note, it is flexible enough that you can push quite a bit under it.

Haha, sometimes you don't want a lightning rod, when things get too charged - *ZAP* :P

LOL! True that :)

... Just to have it is enough
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
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Vk3jed wrote to N1uro <=-

I've had pretty good mileage. I know a good power supply is a critical component.

Most of my RPi's are in the original shipping boxes - I find that's the
best place for them. When a site such as Google runs 100% on them, perhaps maybe I'll consider them. Then again like Google I mainly run servers. Test cards just don't cut it... and the ax.25 stack on the newer kernels is very broken - takes way too long to compile new kernels.

Yeah, I've done pretty well with them.

Personally I have "ok" luck with the one I have in use, but I limit any writing to the SD card as much as possible. It's helped stretch out the
life.

I gave one to a guy who's 80 and refuses to retain how to debug when it
goes to sleep. I keep answering the same questions for him almost daily
for 10 years now. Makes the whole hobby very UN fun.

... You are then attempting to bribe me. Data
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
* Origin: Carnage - risen from the dead now on SBBS (21:4/107)

Slightly undecided - thinking one of old ones. Likely either a TenTec Jupiter or an SGC SG-2020

Never laid eyes on either, but that SG-2020 looks interesting. You can do a
lot with 20 watts and digital modes.

Cheers,
Doug
VE1LG

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Free Speech You Smeg Head (21:1/225)

On 05-21-21 07:01, N1uro wrote to Vk3jed <=-

Vk3jed wrote to N1uro <=-

Yes, the EU hams have been doing high speed AX.25 for decades.
Impressive work there, but it never took off.

ax.25 is such a horrible protocol to begin with! It's MTU is only 256 bytes which is almost nothing. Add netrom, and now your MTU is 236 bytes... just horrible! Even at faster speeds, it's just a rapid fire
of frames, a plethra of packets, a disaster of data <G> On another
note, it is flexible enough that you can push quite a bit under it.

Yeah the small MTU is a pain, but yeah it has its uses. :)

Haha, sometimes you don't want a lightning rod, when things get too charged - *ZAP* :P

LOL! True that :)

Yeah not good. ;)


... Windows 95 repair kit: A copy of OS/2 Warp.
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On 05-21-21 07:33, N1uro wrote to Vk3jed <=-

Vk3jed wrote to N1uro <=-

I've had pretty good mileage. I know a good power supply is a critical component.

Most of my RPi's are in the original shipping boxes - I find that's the best place for them. When a site such as Google runs 100% on them,
perhaps maybe I'll consider them. Then again like Google I mainly run servers. Test cards just don't cut it... and the ax.25 stack on the
newer kernels is very broken - takes way too long to compile new
kernels.

I use the Pis for low load applications, even BBSs. ;) I'll have your spares. ;)

Yeah, I've done pretty well with them.

Personally I have "ok" luck with the one I have in use, but I limit any writing to the SD card as much as possible. It's helped stretch out the life.

Yeah that helps. The one the BBSs run on has a read only SD card. Writing is only done to the attached 500GB SSD. :)

I gave one to a guy who's 80 and refuses to retain how to debug when it goes to sleep. I keep answering the same questions for him almost daily for 10 years now. Makes the whole hobby very UN fun.

Hmm, that's a pain.


... Don't Panic! It's only ones and zeros.
=== MultiMail/Win v0.52
--- SBBSecho 3.10-Linux
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Personally I have "ok" luck with the one I have in use, but I limit a writing to the SD card as much as possible. It's helped stretch out t life.

Yeah that helps. The one the BBSs run on has a read only SD card. Writing is only done to the attached 500GB SSD. :)

My SSD experiments have been largely good, but did find that larger SSDs and non-sata3 ones troublesome.

I have one setup as a radio station eNotebook where my station building notes all end up at.

73

Steve
K9ZW

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/64)
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Yeah that helps. The one the BBSs run on has a read only SD card. Writing is only done to the attached 500GB SSD. :)

My SSD experiments have been largely good, but did find that larger SSDs and non-sata3 ones troublesome.

I have one setup as a radio station eNotebook where my station building notes all end up at.

https://tinyurl.com/24ravk58 is a shortened URL to the small project.

Basically I wanted it hosted on a disposable and separately from my main comps.

73

Steve
K9ZW

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/64)
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Vk3jed wrote to N1uro <=-

Yeah the small MTU is a pain, but yeah it has its uses. :)

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how versitile the flexnet protocol is for ax.25! It adds so much more that NetRom fails to deliver... and with ZERO additional protocol overhead! Just today, I had to reroute a flexnet
link then figured that I'd have to recode ALL the IP routing for the various points involved.... WRONG!

I didn't have to redo a single thing! FlexNet acted as somewhat of a BGP router and the IP magically took the new paths without me having to recode a single
IP route! Had this been NetRom it would have been a total nightmare and
a half. As proof, I used to have a 1200 baud RF path to W1EDH from my qth
but now I'm not getting any audio from EDH, I am getting signal. EDH
had a direct IP path here but now the only working IP path for it is to
K1YON. Since FlexNet auto reroutes when a new path comes online, now
the path from EDH goes:
*** W1EDH (0-14) T=156

*** route: N1URO-2 N1URO-1 K1YON-2 W1EDH-1
and without rerouting IP:
[email protected]:/uronode6: p w1edh
Ping engaged, hit <ENTER> to abort.
ICMP Echo request sent to: 44.88.8.1
ICMP Echo reply received from: 44.88.8.1
Ping completed in: 1494ms (ttl=63)
[email protected]:/uronode6:
(btw; URONode has the ability to present ANSI color if you give yourself
the color flags <G>)
For 4 hops, at 1200 baud half duplex, that's not at all bad! It'd at least
be 1 full second longer had NetRom been in play.

One of these days I need to add IPv6 there :)

... XMS: Xtraordinarily Meaningless Specification
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
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Vk3jed wrote to N1uro <=-

I use the Pis for low load applications, even BBSs. ;) I'll have your spares. ;)

You got guts! I would *never* run a BBS on a Pi. Too many read/writes.
Before I run my monthly CloneZilla backups, I do a mirror image of my
SDCard so that also gets grabbed by CloneZilla. I have a very simple script that does it I call do-image. Here it is if you wish it:

#! /bin/sh
echo -n "What size in do you want (ex: 4M): "; read answer1
echo -n "Input device or file with path: "; read answer2
echo -n "Output device or file with path: "; read answer3
sleep 1
echo "preparing: dd bs=$answer1 if=$answer2 of=$answer3 is this correct?"
sleep 3
echo -n "This will take a L O N G while... "
/bin/dd bs=$answer1 if=$answer2 of=$answer3
echo "backup/restore done."

It uses DD... makes bootable backups. You can use it on almost any sort of drive you wish to mirror really... and reverse things to do a restore.
Just make the input device the source and Output device the destination.
I've had to restore my SDCard a couple times already when I've made a dumb
typo <G>

Yeah that helps. The one the BBSs run on has a read only SD card.
Writing is only done to the attached 500GB SSD. :)

I tried using an external drive in a USB case... didn't fly well at all.
I just gave up on the RPi units for anything remotely server related.

Hmm, that's a pain.

Very much so. Makes me sometimes feel as if my assistance really isn't appreciated.

... JOIN THE PARTNERSHIP FOR A FUNDAMENTALIST-FREE AMERICA
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
* Origin: Carnage - risen from the dead now on SBBS (21:4/107)

N1uro wrote to Vk3jed <=-

I use the Pis for low load applications, even BBSs. ;) I'll have your spares. ;)

You got guts! I would *never* run a BBS on a Pi. Too many
read/writes. Before I run my monthly CloneZilla backups, I do a
mirror image of my SDCard so that also gets grabbed by
CloneZilla.

On an RPi-4 (and I think the 3B+ also), an SD card is not required at
all. I have a 4 that boots and runs from a 500GB SSD housed in an
(externally powered) enclosure connected to the Pi with USB3. It runs
24x7 doing various things for me (not running the BBS), such as my DDNS updater, automated system-status emails, and distributed computing (the
BOINC projects). Works very well and is fast. Again, it does not even
have an SD card installed in it, and boots/operates from the SSD.



... All the easy problems have been solved.
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Hello Gamgee;

On an RPi-4 (and I think the 3B+ also), an SD card is not required at
all. I have a 4 that boots and runs from a 500GB SSD housed in an (externally powered) enclosure connected to the Pi with USB3. It runs 24x7 doing various things for me (not running the BBS), such as my DDNS updater, automated system-status emails, and distributed computing (the BOINC projects). Works very well and is fast. Again, it does not even have an SD card installed in it, and boots/operates from the SSD.

I haven't looked at the 4's. When they first came out there was a flood of reports of them catching fire - and I don't care to make smores indoors <G>
At least they realized one of their faults. What about ram expansion for the
4?

... MAC: It does less, It costs more, It's that simple.
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
* Origin: Carnage - risen from the dead now on SBBS (21:4/107)

On 05-22-21 08:22, k9zw wrote to Vk3jed <=-

My SSD experiments have been largely good, but did find that larger
SSDs and non-sata3 ones troublesome.

That Pi is a Banana Pi, which may be a bit beefier in the USB department too. The SSD runs well.

I have one setup as a radio station eNotebook where my station building notes all end up at.

Nice. :)


... Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. But the transition is troublesome.
=== MultiMail/Win v0.52
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On 05-22-21 12:42, N1uro wrote to Vk3jed <=-

Vk3jed wrote to N1uro <=-

Yeah the small MTU is a pain, but yeah it has its uses. :)

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how versitile the flexnet protocol is for ax.25! It adds so much more that NetRom fails to deliver... and with ZERO additional protocol overhead! Just today, I
had to reroute a flexnet link then figured that I'd have to recode ALL
the IP routing for the various points involved.... WRONG!

<snip> Now that is nice! :)

One of these days I need to add IPv6 there :)

Yep. ;)

... XMS: Xtraordinarily Meaningless Specification

Sure is nowadays! :D


... Can you hear me?
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On 05-22-21 12:47, N1uro wrote to Vk3jed <=-

Vk3jed wrote to N1uro <=-

I use the Pis for low load applications, even BBSs. ;) I'll have your spares. ;)

You got guts! I would *never* run a BBS on a Pi. Too many read/writes. Before I run my monthly CloneZilla backups, I do a mirror image of my SDCard so that also gets grabbed by CloneZilla. I have a very simple script that does it I call do-image. Here it is if you wish it:

The SSD takes the writes. I used to do a 6 monthly SD replacement cycle, but now leave the SD read only, and do all the writes on the SSD (or RAM disk).

#! /bin/sh
echo -n "What size in do you want (ex: 4M): "; read answer1
echo -n "Input device or file with path: "; read answer2
echo -n "Output device or file with path: "; read answer3
sleep 1
echo "preparing: dd bs=$answer1 if=$answer2 of=$answer3 is this
correct?" sleep 3
echo -n "This will take a L O N G while... "
/bin/dd bs=$answer1 if=$answer2 of=$answer3
echo "backup/restore done."

Nice. :)

It uses DD... makes bootable backups. You can use it on almost any sort
of drive you wish to mirror really... and reverse things to do a
restore. Just make the input device the source and Output device the destination. I've had to restore my SDCard a couple times already when I've made a dumb typo <G>

Yeah, dd is my friend too. ;)

Yeah that helps. The one the BBSs run on has a read only SD card.
Writing is only done to the attached 500GB SSD. :)

I tried using an external drive in a USB case... didn't fly well at
all. I just gave up on the RPi units for anything remotely server
related.

Yeah, mine's working well, though I am running on a Banana Pi, not the Raspberry flavour. :)

Hmm, that's a pain.

Very much so. Makes me sometimes feel as if my assistance really isn't appreciated.

:(

... JOIN THE PARTNERSHIP FOR A FUNDAMENTALIST-FREE AMERICA

Good luck with that. :/


... I have a 9600bps modem and 1.5bps fingers.
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Re: RPis
By: N1uro to Vk3jed on Sat May 22 2021 12:47 pm

I use the Pis for low load applications, even BBSs. ;) I'll have your spares. ;)

You got guts! I would *never* run a BBS on a Pi. Too many read/writes.

Wow, I'm surprised by your issues.

I've been using PI's for many years now - started on the P1 (connected to the TV as plex clients, powered by the TV) and now have P4's.

My main BBS ran on a PI3 for a good two years without any issues (on an SD card). The Net 3 hub as well - for the last 18 months or so.

I've never had an SD card fail - I've had them for many years.

(I lie, my P4 got really hot one day, because the fan failed - and it started getting I/O errors - but cooling it down seemed to fix it.)

Now my P4's run ESXi with 3 VMs - with a BBS in docker that floats between the 3 VMs. Additionly its running on an M2 Sata - which is just a USB device. With USB booting now (which I started using on the P4s), I'm only using the SD card as a backup device.

I'm very happy with the Pis.

...δεσ∩
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On 05-23-21 13:45, deon wrote to N1uro <=-

I've been using PI's for many years now - started on the P1 (connected
to the TV as plex clients, powered by the TV) and now have P4's.

I've had mostly good experiences, though my Pi 1B did die (was the Pi itself, not the SD).

My main BBS ran on a PI3 for a good two years without any issues (on an
SD card). The Net 3 hub as well - for the last 18 months or so.

I've never had an SD card fail - I've had them for many years.

I have had one fail after heavy R/W use.

I'm very happy with the Pis.

Me too. :)

Replying from the VKRadio side of the gateway for a change. ;)


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Hello Tony;

Vk3jed wrote to N1uro <=-

<snip> Now that is nice! :)

Yes it is, especially when everyone I spoke with told me that it could never
be done. I love a good challenge :)

... XMS: Xtraordinarily Meaningless Specification

Sure is nowadays! :D

Unless you run DOSEmu or DOSBox.

... Can you hear me?

Eh?.. did you say something? <G>

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Hello deon;

deon wrote to N1uro <=-

Wow, I'm surprised by your issues.

I wasn't just talking about mine, which in reality have been quite few but those of others who use them and have had poor luck with them.

I've never had an SD card fail - I've had them for many years.

I had one fail, but I was also logging every little thing that happened on it. SD Cards almost 10 years ago did not like that.

(I lie, my P4 got really hot one day, because the fan failed - and it started getting I/O errors - but cooling it down seemed to fix it.)

Sounds as if you got a little luck there and saved it before things became
more permanent.

Now my P4's run ESXi with 3 VMs - with a BBS in docker that floats
between the 3 VMs. Additionly its running on an M2 Sata - which is just
a USB device. With USB booting now (which I started using on the P4s),
I'm only using the SD card as a backup device.

I'm very happy with the Pis.

I haven't touched a 4 yet. Mainly I get them to make a distro with my stuff pre-installed for those who aren't familiar with installing things. Pi3 was my last one. Now there's multiple issues with Linux's ham protocol stack.
We've submitted patches but they keep rejecting them claiming our patches aren't required - yet they've helped fix many MANY guys who use the native kernel protocol stack.

... I route, therefor you exist.
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