Re: Speed up CD/DVD-based FreeBSD

On Mon, Mar 12, 2018 at 8:30 AM, Rodney W. Grimes <
freebsd-rwg_at_pdx.rh.cn85.dnsmgr.net> wrote:

> > We have a special case of running FreeBSD (actually a NanoBSD) from a
> CD/DVD.
> > The reason behind using a CD/DVD is to prevent manipulations.
> >
> > Now, after the GUI hass started, the system autologin a user and
> autostarts
> > Firefox. But starting Firefox takes ~ 5 - 7 minutes, while the operating
> system
> > takes 2 - 3 minutes. As you can imagine, this isn't quite a useful time.
> >
> > Is there a simple way, considering enough RAM in the box, to speed up the
> > process? Loading Firefox makes the DVD drive moving the head very often
> - I
> > assume this is the fact because I can hear the head scratiching around
> very
> > intense.
> >
> > Does FreeBSD bring tools/facilities onboard to achive what I'm
> requesting or do
> > I need an additional port/softwarepackage?
>
> Are you custom building this CD-rom image, or is it just a slightly
> modified
> stock FreeBSD distritbution with some scripts?
>
> One suggestion would be to run from a mfs /usr, including /usr/local,
> as a sample on how to do this take a look at /etc/rc.initdiskless
> that does this for /etc and /var when booting diskless.
>
> I suspect your slow down is shared library linking time, which
> would mean you might also solve this problem by building a staticly
> linked firefox binary.  This would be much simpler to try out.
>
> --
> Rod Grimes
> rgrimes_at_freebsd.org
>

Hello,

doesn't nanoBSD run in ro-mode per default, ie it should be somewhat tamper
proof as is, even installed on disk.

If running from optical drive is important, I would have a closer look on
how pcbsd/trueos sets up their install-discs ( or at least used to, haven't
tried one in a while ) where they basically load the entire file system
into ram from a compressed image on the optical disc.

Best regards
Andreas