Hi folks,

We have plan make one Mikrotik router using a normal PC with 2 or 3 supported network cards.

But, since the minimum harddisk available in the market is 40GB and Mikrotik only use about 64 MB, I do not think using a harddisk is a good options with reason wasted a lot of harddisk space.

In the other hand, USB Flash memory available in the market is a good options because they are available within some choices, such as 64MB, 128 MB, 256MB or even 1 GB.

Questions, is it possible to install mikrotik into USB Flash memory and then PC boot from usb flash memory ?

TIA

Paul

Why not just use a CF - PATA converter and put a 64MB CF card in?

Regards

Andrew

Why not just use a CF - PATA converter and put a 64MB CF card in?

That`s right. We use this combination for a long time, and it works like hell

Use old computers, they are cheap, have small HDs etc. And for most cases are powerful enough (for smaller bandwidths?).

http://www.computerhq.com/Transcend_128 ... 40929.html

This is nice They cost about 25 euros in Serbia (excl. VAT)


@dot-bot

Believe it or not, few months ago I bought brand new computers in Serbia for almost the same price as used brand machines. Used brand machines like Compaq 800MHz were like 135 euros, and I decided to buy Celeron-D 2.16GHz, integrated MSI VIA based PM8M-V motherboards, 256MB DDR, IDE-CF disks 128MB for maybe 5-10 euros more.

Brand machines were packed with CD players and 10GB hard disks, but who needs CD in router? I would anyhow have to throw them away.

So, this really depends how cheap you can buy hardware.

Well, since they don't have the drivers for USB in the kernel I don't think, there doesn't seem that you could get it to work. It will boot the stick fine (if your bios supports it) but then there is no support in the kernel that is loaded ...
I to think it would be nice to have USB ... USB is much cheaper than CF and you don't need have the cf/ide converter ... thus, one could make a really nice router with a 128meg usb thumb drive. Also, if you don't want to do net install for your system, having a usb CDRom to do the initial load (whether it is cf/hard drive/thumb drive) would be nice

I mean really old piece-o-sh*t puters, like they should pay You money to take such crap. As long as it has at least 64 megs of RAM. Or just take the HDDs from them if the rest of the machine is too slow. Depends on what kind of router you need and what bandwidth it will handle, how many users, what kind of services, etc. Old PCs are maybe useful for the SOHO segment (that someone here have said isn't what MT is for..., yes MT is too poerful and hard to deal with...) Actually the idea of using garbage hardware for routers is so good.. One may even use other soft that doesn't have the RAM and HD requirement like MT has. Boot and use it from floppy etc..
MT developers, why not modify RouterOS to be able to do a "stripped" install on a floppy and lower the memory req's to lets say.. 8megs of ram? if some functions are completely removed ?
I think it's worth it because one can get such puters for almost nothing these days. And they have a lot of life left in them. They could serve human kind long time before recycled, etc. Some of them are very high quality. They don't make them like that now. Of course some of them are expected to fail sooner than if you would use new puters. Then we would quickly replace these with others like 'em...

Or here's an idea for the free space if you put in a 40G HD: Turn on the ftp srvice and connect it to a network server that is near in the network (has low cost high speed to the router). The server could use the storage for lets say backups or some additional content that it's serving... Use your imagination.

It would be nice if MT could run a proper http server. In this case the router with big HD could be used to be the server in the network... no need for additional server....

RouterOS is a Router, not Webserver. We can't put everything on it

I mean really old piece-o-sh*t puters, like they should pay You money to take such crap. As long as it has at least 64 megs of RAM. Or just take the HDDs from them if the rest of the machine is too slow. Depends on what kind of router you need and what bandwidth it will handle, how many users, what kind of services, etc. Old PCs are maybe useful for the SOHO segment (that someone here have said isn't what MT is for..., yes MT is too poerful and hard to deal with...) Actually the idea of using garbage hardware for routers is so good.. One may even use other soft that doesn't have the RAM and HD requirement like MT has. Boot and use it from floppy etc..
MT developers, why not modify RouterOS to be able to do a "stripped" install on a floppy and lower the memory req's to lets say.. 8megs od ram? if some functions are completely removed ?
I think it's worth it because one can get such puters for almost nothing these days. And they have a lot of life left in them. They could serve human kind long time before recycled, etc. Some of them are very high quality. They don't make them like that now. Of course some of them are expected to fail sooner than if you would use new puters. Then we would quickly replace these with others like 'em...

Or here's an idea for the free space if you put in a 40G HD: Turn on the ftp srvice and connect it to a network server that is near in the network (has low cost high speed to the router). The server could use the storage for lets say backups or some additional content that it's serving... Use your imagination.

It would be nice if MT could run a proper http server. In this case the router with big HD could be used to be the server in the network... no need for additional server....

RouterOS is just that, A Router - not a damm server

^ Damm beaten

It would be nice if MT could run a proper http server. In this case the router with big HD could be used to be the server in the network... no need for additional server....

Install any Linux distro you like and put apache on it It can route, firewall, be a web server, use your imagination
But, there is no winbox to make your life easy.... Mtik is VERY good in what it ment to be: an easy configurable ROUTER!

Will be there support for boot from USB in the future???

We bought some Intel D945GNT Boards and it don't support CF-to-IDE drives...

Message from Intel:

Hello Martin,

Thank you for contacting Intel(R) Technical Support.

Intel does not recommend the use of CF-to-IDE converters. You are surely free to use your product as you wish, but, unfortunately, there is no technical support available from Intel pertaining to such converters. Our best suggestion is to get in contact with the CompactFlash card manufacturer for integration assistance.

Please, do not hesitate to contact us again if you need further assistance.

Sincerely,
Salem W.

I tried Kingston, Pretec, Apacer, Transcend... and Board allways say there is no drive connected

The same problem we have on D945GTP and etc...