[PLUG] eee pc 900 original disks?

[chris (fool) mccraw]

On Fri, Dec 24, 2010 at 13:52, Denis Heidtmann
<denis.heidtmann at gmail.com> wrote:

> My understanding is tailoring for SSD takes into account that there is a
> limit on the number of writes the drive can handle.  I would expect that
> involves choices in the kernel.  Speed is not the issue. If the netbook
> remix does that, I will choose it.

I'm not aware of any version of linux that installs or behaves
differently as regards write endurance on SSD's.  i am not an expert
though, perhaps someone else on this list knows of one.

the linux kernel, starting with 2.6.33, knows about and uses the TRIM
command (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIM_(SSD_command)), so you'll
want something with either a kernel at least that new or one with that
feature backported to it (backporting features like these is less
likely in my experience, outside of the redhat/centos world).

from some cursory googling on eeepc 900 and ssd write endurance, it
seems unlikely that you'll trip over write endurance actually being a
problem--for one, the drive in that machine is said to have 3%
capacity set aside for relocating failing sectors (which the
drive/controller handles independently of OS), plus be rated at either
10k or 100k writes per cell before failure.  to hit 100k writes, you'd
have to write the same block 30x/day for 8 years (i stole all this
info from http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=25304, didn't
verify any of it).

everyone's different, but as a gambling man who likes good odds, i
wouldn't worry about the SSD failing in a way that you or even linux
will notice (automatic failure/relocation of sectors by the drive will
not be communicated even to the linux kernel).  i don't know about
you, but my usage patterns aren't rewriting the same file over and
over again (or if i do, i am backing up my Magnum Opus frequently to
somewhere offsite).  the worst offender on a system like the eeepc
will probably be swap if you run enough apps to have it swapping, but
these machines are slow enough without swapping that i went and bought
more ram as soon as i started hitting swap..it was cheap ($30) and now
i typically can run 2 VM's simultaneously (windows, so, bloated!) and
still have good interactive performance.

all that said, make frequent backups to another machine.  frankly i'd
say loss/theft of the entire laptop, or operator error are more likely
causes of actual data loss.

> I realize the BIOS is independent of the OS, but the manuals describe
> getting to the start of the BIOS upgrade through the OS.  How do I do it
> with a broken OS?  I have the new BIOS file.  Is just adding it to a
> bootable thumb drive all that is needed?

depends on the machine/BIOS.  in your case, it appears that is just about it:

http://rosenred.wordpress.com/2009/05/14/asus-eeepc-900-bios-update/