In this short technical article, Bao C. Ha explains how to squeeze Debian GNU/Linux (and other OSS software) into a 32MB CompactFlash on the OpenBrick-E, a small, fanless, computer system with three built-in Ethernet interfaces. The goal is to create a low-cost, appliance-like VPN/firewall/router system, with the three network interfaces partitioned into Internet, DMZ, and local LAN. A system image is available for download.

Ha writes . . .

“Debian is a full-featured Linux distribution that supports more than 11 architectures, including x86, m68k, Sparc, PowerPC, ARM/XScale, MIPS/mipsel, and SuperH. It has a reputation for reliability and security, plus a very powerful package manager. It would thus serve as a good base to create an embeddable Linux distribution that scales well from very large systems (100MB) down to very small systems (1MB), i.e. from the desktop down to the set-top . . .”

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