Wanted - small capacity micro SD card

I need to create a small RISC OS distribution suitable for download as a disc image. It is essential that it be small and compact, ideally with < 1 GB formatted space, certainly no more than 4GB.

The obvious method was to format up a suitable micro SD card, then read the image via linux/dd. Unfortunately, I can’t find any small micro SD cards. It is crazy, because I recall all the Beagleboards coming with small micro SDs, but I can’t find any :(

Since it is hard to buy anything smaller than 8GB, I’m wondering if anyone has a small capacity card that they wouldn’t mind sending me. I’d be happy to reimberse, or trade for a larger (say 32gb) card.

Or, alternative suggestions on how to create a suitable, bootable RISC OS image (bearing in mind that the format tool needs to write to a SCSI: disc).

I suppose I could “format down” a larger card, but I’m not sure how I’d guarantee a viable image from dd without dd-ing the whole disc (at which point we’re back to a 16-32gb image [before compression], which isn’t what’s required).

Go to cpc.co.uk and look for item code MD00367 (2GB class 2) or MD00369 (4GB class 4). They may sting you for delivery if you only want one, mind…

This site seems to have stopped working with Firefox in the last few hours – it lets me log on but then thinks I haven’t.

Anyway I think it is simple. Just download the 2Gbyte ‘.img’ file for the Raspberry Pi SD card image and write it to a larger card or pen drive using Win32DiskImager. You then alter the files to what you want – the size of the drive under RISC OS will be 2Gbytes. Then write the SD card or pen drive image to disc using Win32DiskImager (which writes an image file of the whole capacity of the pen drive), then just set its file size back to what it was originally.

The last step is awkward but you can download BBC BASIC for Windows and use this simple programme to reduce the file size:

      F%=OPENUP"C:\Program Files\Win32DI\30G_armini.img"
      PTR#F%=0
      L%=1392508928
      H%=7
      SYS "SetFilePointer",@hfile%(F%),L%,^H%,0
      SYS "SetEndOfFile",@hfile%(F%)
      SYS "CloseHandle",@hfile%(F%)
      PRINT F%
      END

Advantage of this method is that the 1,966,080,000 byte size was designed to fit onto a large range of 2Gbyte cards (which each vary in size marginally but you ca’t write an image slightly bigger than the actaul card size. The example above sets the file size to &753000000, i.e. around 29Gbytes.

I suppose I could “format down” a larger card, but I’m not sure how I’d guarantee a viable image from dd without dd-ing the whole disc (at which point we’re back to a 16-32gb image [before compression], which isn’t what’s required).

Would the excellent SystemDisk do this for you?

Thanks guys – that’s super-helpful. I’d still like to get a 512MB or 1GB card if such a thing exists, but in the meantime, that’s two solutions for 2GB.

Mike – not sure. It can’t make discs suitable for this hardware, that’s for sure. But, I think Ben was planning to write software to do disc imaging, but I’m not sure if that does what I need (I don’t have a copy).

I’m fairly certain that if HForm says it’s going to format a drive with 1000 cylinders, 255 heads, and 63 sectors-per-track, the resulting filesystem will only use the first 1000*255*63 sectors of the drive. So as long as you know how many sectors you want your image to be, it’s trivial to get HForm to stay within that limit, allowing you to safely use dd (or similar) to make copies of the result.

Failing that, you could modify the source so that the IDEAddressSpace% value it calculates from the SCSI_Initialise / SDFS_ReadCardInfo calls contain the sector count that you want.

Thanks guys – that’s super-helpful. I’d still like to get a 512MB or 1GB card if such a thing exists, but in the meantime, that’s two solutions for 2GB.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Genuine-Nokia-512MB-Memory-Adaptor/dp/B002PDG6EE/ – any good?

This site seems to have stopped working with Firefox in the last few hours – it lets me log on but then thinks I haven’t.

I had that trouble with Firefox. It cured itself some time later. (although I have not logged out since, so I do not know what is going on now)

I have plenty of 32Mbyte and 128Mbyte pen drives if that would help. (And I do mean Mbyte, not Gbyte.)

This site seems to have stopped working with Firefox in the last few hours – it lets me log on but then thinks I haven’t.

Same here – I am using stupid Chrome with it’s stupid incompetent auto text fiddling in order to write this.
Example – https://i.imgur.com/4PTwqkG.jpg

Anyway, ROOL is whitelisted in Ghostery, UBlock Origin, and cookies are permitted. But it doesn’t work with Firefox, same behaviour as above.

I’m only using Chrome to post this. I don’t ordinarily. And I don’t plan to. So please fix!

Oh, and in the other thread, the “*” to mean unsaved? Nothing new. Notepad++ on XP does it. I think it was introduced into Windows with the MDI system…?

Another screenshot, this time from Firefox… https://i.imgur.com/Y2WAu71.jpg

I had logged out on Chrome, logged in on Firefox, and then gone to the forum list. Top of the screen, a prompt asking me to login. Bottom of the screen, text saying I was logged in…

Okay, there’s a workaround. Posting this from Firefox. ;-)

Open Cookie Manager (or install it, then open it), search for all cookies from “riscosopen.org”. Delete them all. Then login.

Open Cookie Manager (or install it, then open it), search for all cookies from “riscosopen.org”. Delete them all. Then login.

Thanks for the tip. It is not just a Firefox issue, I could not login from any browser. Clearing website data on this Microsoft Edge has now resulted in success.

P.S. Similarly Firefox and Safari on the iMac are now working again. (In Firefox cookies can be nobbled from Preferences, Privacy & Security, Content Blocking.)

P.P.S Oddly I cannot get NetSurf to stay logged on even after deleting cookies!!

This site seems to have stopped working with Firefox in the last few hours – it lets me log on but then thinks I haven’t.

That happened on my Firefox install when the Firefox v67 was downloading in the background.
Could be co-incidence.

There’s also some root certificate changes going on with Firefox, and I think Chrome (from a cow-orker)

Open Cookie Manager (or install it, then open it), …

Deleting the riscosopen.org cookies using Firefox’s own cookie management works as well.

Could be co-incidence.

I’m using 60.0.2 – I’m sick of them breaking my add-ons or arbitrarily changing things because agile hipster devops constant integration…

There’s also some root certificate changes going on with Firefox,

I think we’re all wishing they’d just leave anything with “certificate” alone for a while…
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/05/06/mozilla_firefox_add_on_expiry/

using Firefox’s own cookie management works as well.

On desktop, perhaps. Mobile benefits from an easy to use add-on, though that said I use the same on my desktop machine.

I just switched from 4G to inside WiFi, and had to nuke the cookies again. Is somebody fiddling around with hub?

After fiddling as suggested, I can post with Firefox, but I still have a problem with Samsung Internet.

Back to the original request. A search on Ebay brings up a lot of options for all sizes. Some in UK and others in China. I cannot vouch for the honesty or reliability, but I bought a bunch of 2 GB cards last year and have not a had a problem with the ones I have used so far.

I could not login (and stay logged-in) with Firefox again just now.

As far as I know, nothing has changed on my Windoze XP system as I do not allow updates of any sort (unless I do them!). Firefox is set to delete all cookies and history when it closes. A minor inconvenience is worth the benefits.

Logged in now using Netsurf on RO 5.24 works as usual.

Perhaps this needs another topic as it has nowt to do with SD cards (of any size).

search for all cookies from “riscosopen.org”. Delete them all. Then login.

Thanks; I needed to do the same in Safari.

This site seems to have stopped working with Firefox in the last few hours – it lets me log on but then thinks I haven’t.

I had that problem yesterday too. Not only on Firefox: I went to Safari and same there. Went to wife’s Mac laptop, got in no problem (Safari again). Back to my own, still no joy on either Firefox or Safari. Deleted cookies on Firefox, back in.

Haven’t tried Safari again yet.

(While in/not in could remain logged in looking at Home, News, Account (was able to add my middle name, even) or Contact Us, but anything else logged me out (properly: was no longer logged in for Home, News, Account or Contact Us).

Just noticed that (presumably because I’ve inserted my middle name) system now thinks I’ve only made one post! :)

Just noticed that (presumably because I’ve inserted my middle name) system now thinks I’ve only made one post! :)

And now I’ve removed middle name, it knows how many my old self made…

Edit: oh – probably not until I log out and log back in? And all my old posts have lost my pic, but presumably will get it back when I log out and in again?

Nope. Maybe tomorrow? Or maybe if I delete cookies again?

I have just had to delete the cookie on Firefox again this morning!

Should a new but more appropriately titled thread be started?

Perhaps – but will those most interested even be able to post on it? Er, yes, they can read it and then if we tell them to clear their cookies…you do it, David?

A topic with the right title, Forum login failures has been started