via EPIA: customizing distribution

[mark.richards at massmicro.com (Mark Richards)]

I'm doing some experimenting with Mini-ITX with a view to eventually 
provide an upgrade path for our remote monitoring and control system 
which runs on the AXIS LX chip (cris architecture, 100 mips, 16mb 
flash).  I'm looking here for some suggestions and guidance along this 
line, particularly as to creating a linux build for the platform.

Board: VIA EPIA ML6000EAG (600MHz C3 processor;VIA CLE266 north bridge; 
VIA VT8235 south bridge)
Memory: 256mb
Disk: 512MB "industrial" compact flash

I've done quite a bit of looking and it seems that all the distributions 
that have been packaged for these boards provide a gui.  One of these is 
worth mention here: Damn Small Linux.  This is a remarkable achievement 
considering the disk/memory footprint and is certainly something I'd 
consider if we ever provided a fancy display.  However I don't need or 
want a gui now.  The system requirements include support for a text LCD 
display (via USB), a sensor network (also USB), data storage (I use 
sqlite currently), and a simple web server for configuration on site (I 
use Klone).  All of these requirements are met on the AXIS chip.

The new system will provide considerably more horsepower and, 
importantly, "disk" space, and therefore lends itself to running php, 
perl, apache, and MySql.  Php and MySql would be the primary services 
used by the measurement/control system.  The box will, of course, need 
to communicate out (to our server for data transfer) so an ethernet port 
will need to be supported.  We will see a speed increase in development 
time for the unit and a commensurate gain in ability - at least, this is 
my goal.  It may be that sticking with Klone and Sqlite and abandoning 
php (instead using perl) is a better set of options, and I am not 
dismissing this idea.

My questions are:
- is 512 mb of flash sufficient?
- I am rather comfortable with Fedora Core, and particularly managing 
updates through yum.  Should I give up FC(6?) due to size requirements?
- On the above, FC6 will not install to a device with less than 650MB or 
so (at least in my testing so far this is as low as I could go).  Is 
there another way to squeeze the distribution down?  (I'm experimenting 
by installing to a hard disk, removing everything not needed, and 
creating a kickstart from there, but perhaps there's a better method?)

Sorry this is long.  I'll include any needed detail in future responses.

ps: although the board is "fanless" i am at a loss to understand how the 
north/southbridge chips can possibly survive even a minimal load 
(although they continue on!).  I guess these are designed to run hot, 
but even in open airflow the heat sinks on each of these seem to reach 
about 60 degrees C on the top surface - hot enough that finger pressure 
longer than 10 seconds or so invites a burn sensation.  The CPU runs 
much cooler.  VIA says little about temperatures on these boards. 
Perhaps there's some practical experience here I can draw on?

/mark


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