General Questions

M0n0wall takes a long time to boot.    It reads the cf on a usb adapter for a long time, shows the thinking spinner, some hex info, then finally starts to load linux.

It takes about 120s to get through that boot loader.  I've used floppy only routers, and tested usb boot ones, this one is the longest by far.   I like the web interface and the fact that it just booted right up and worked.

I don't have better details to post about what it says, there is no error, just some cryptic info.   I'll try to jot down what it says next time....

Is this is normal?   I tried to install M0n0 on several usb sticks, the 2+g wouldn't boot(hs), this is the only one I have that works at all, it is a 512sd on a 1.99 usb adapter from ebay, I've used these together many times and never had any problem. 

Are there some things loading that I could stop?  I'm using a very basic system so far, I just assigned the cards and set some port forwards.  generic-pc-1.235.img

The system has 256mb ram, 1.7ghz AMD, 2x 530tx cards.  Would it help to reduce ram?

Hoping to get some advise before buying things or rebooting just to test....

Thanks

If you have IDE interfaces in the machine, I would try IDE interface CF or IDE DOM rather than USB anything. This stuff is so cheap these days, I just don't see any reason not to use it.

m0n0wall is based on FreeBSD not Linux.

I'll look into IDE cf devices...

This is the log up till the dhcp, I think the issue is before this in the boot.  Once the system is up it responds fine and I'm getting good bw.

Nov 25 00:51:58    /kernel: sc0: VGA <16 virtual consoles, flags=0x300>
Nov 25 00:51:58    /kernel: sio0 at port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x10 on isa0
Nov 25 00:51:58    /kernel: sio0: type 16550A
Nov 25 00:51:58    /kernel: sio1 at port 0x2f8-0x2ff irq 3 on isa0
Nov 25 00:51:58    /kernel: sio1: type 16550A
Nov 25 00:51:58    /kernel: BRIDGE 020214 loaded
Nov 25 00:51:58    /kernel: IPsec: Initialized Security Association Processing.
Nov 25 00:51:58    /kernel: IP Filter: v3.4.35 initialized. Default = block all, Logging = enabled
Nov 25 00:51:58    /kernel: acd0: DVD-R <PHILIPS SPD2413P> at ata0-slave PIO4
Nov 25 00:51:58    /kernel: Mounting root from ufs:/dev/md0c
Nov 25 00:51:58    /kernel: da0 at umass-sim0 bus 0 target 0 lun 0
Nov 25 00:51:58    /kernel: da0: <Generic USB SD Reader 2.00> Removable Direct Access SCSI-0 device
Nov 25 00:51:58    /kernel: da0: 650KB/s transfers
Nov 25 00:51:58    /kernel: da0: 481MB (985088 512 byte sectors: 64H 32S/T 481C)
Nov 25 00:51:58    dnsmasq[105]: started, version 2.45 cachesize 150
Nov 25 00:51:58    dnsmasq[105]: compile time options: IPv6 no-GNU-getopt BSD-bridge ISC-leasefile no-DBus no-I18N no-TFTP
Nov 25 00:51:58    dnsmasq[105]: setting --bind-interfaces option because of OS limitations
Nov 25 00:51:58    dnsmasq[105]: setting --bind-interfaces option because of OS limitations
Nov 25 00:51:58    dnsmasq[105]: no servers found in /etc/resolv.conf, will retry
Nov 25 00:51:58    dnsmasq[105]: no servers found in /etc/resolv.conf, will retry
Nov 25 00:51:58    dnsmasq[105]: read /etc/hosts - 2 addresses
Nov 25 00:51:58    dhcpd: Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Server V3.0.5
Nov 25 00:51:58    dhcpd: Copyright 2004-2006 Internet Systems Consortium.
Nov 25 00:51:58    dhcpd: All rights reserved.
Nov 25 00:51:58    dhcpd: For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/
Nov 25 00:51:59    dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on rl0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 5
Nov 25 00:52:04    dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on rl0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 9

Here's what it says on boot.  I'm not sure if all these #s were right I was on the phone with the impatient electric company computer to report the transformer blowing, it was harassing me to press 1 for english and 2 for whatever while I tried to type this. 

freebsd/i3867 bootstrap loader, revison.8
(rootfb4111.neon1.net, date
/kernel text = 0.2eeeb60 data=0x69d50+0x2221c syms=[04+04a09a0+0x43+0x4809a6

Getting through this takes around 2 minutes.  It just seems after booting other systems (on other boards) that this one is taking a long time. 

Here, using really old and slow hardware - 200MHz Pentium, with m0n0wall loaded onto a 16MB 40 pin IDE Disk on Module Flash Drive, it boots to all the way to a usable state in under 45 seconds.

You can find 512MB 40 pin Disk on Module Flash Drives for $20US each.

The smaller 16MB units are still just large enough for m0n0wall, but can be harder to find, and aren't any cheaper.

I don't know how much your time is worth, but I think you've already burned thru more than $20US worth