[conspire] disk media recommendation for server

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Calvin Wong (deadcat at freeshell.org):

> i just ordered a sheeva plug few weeks ago (still waiting due to back
> order) it comes with a built-in sd card slot and 1 usb port. i am
> thinking about installing the os on the sd card instead of external
> usb drive.
> 
> are sd cards reliable enough to have an os  (server) installed on? or
> i should just use the sd card slot as backup partition?

I personally wouldn't want to run an OS from one, if I could avoid it:
They're slow at the media level (don't even think of running swap on
them), and the controller chips for the slots are often really slow,
too. 

Also, does your machine even boot from SD slots?  Most don't.

If your machine does boot from SD, you _could_ boot from the card and then 
mount a RAMdisk image from the card.  That would save wear on the SD
card, and give you much, much better performance.

> also are there any usb sound cards that works with linux? debian.

Yes.  http://www.qbik.ch/usb/devices/showdevcat.php?id=7
(Found by following "Working devices list" links from
http://www.linux-usb.org/ .)

> i have a hy554 3d usb sound card
> http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.21813
> but i think its either defective or doesn't work on linux.
> so far it has not work on linux/windows/anything. just errors

Probably cost you about $3, right?  ;->

Some research suggests that it's from JMTek, LLC.  See:
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=6842
http://forum.synology.com/wiki/index.php/User_Reported_Compatible_USB_Speakers

Works for this guy:
http://www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=49009.30
Naturally, he couldn't be bothered to say _which_ ALSA driver worked,
but he did offer the tip of booting with the USB device plugged in being
the factor that made things suddenly work.

This guy says:  Check your mixer app, as they've been known to default
to muted.  http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=296122