Extending the Omega 2+ LTE memory with microSD
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I am finding that the internal 38MB is insufficient for my requirements and I would like to understand how to install/mount a microSD card to use for my installed programs so that i don't blow my storage.
Any advice on this will be greatly appreciated.
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@MickB There is a distinction between "memory" and "storage", using the SD Card as external storage will extend your storage capacity but if you require more working memory you can use a swap file and store the swap on external storage, also swap on an SD is likely to have a perfomance impact. The topic is discussed here
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Thanks again. What I need is to be able to install packages without running out of space and then to execute everything with no issues. Is the swapfile method the way to proceed? Thanks again in advance!
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@MickB without knowing the memory requirements of what you are installing it's not a simple answer, however I'll assume you are worried about storage capacity. Assuming you are installing using opkg and just using opkg install <app name>, they'll install where the developer of the app decided the various files need to be installed and those locations will be on the Omega device. You can use set up symlinks to point to sd card in order to relocate directories such as /us/sbin etc onto your sdcard but it starts to get messy. Instead you can follow this document which shows you how to duplicate the overlay on your larger sdcard so you have more storage without having to mess around with symlinks.
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I installed python and then attempted ro install paho-mqtt and ran out of space. The device only has 38MB all up so it is unusable for an app that i am writing for the device. This is why i need more storage/memory etc.
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@MickB OK so you probably want to use the method I described above. You might try uninstalling some stuff, you can see the space required by an app by using opkg for example to see how muc space mosquitto-nossl package requires you can use the command opkg info mosquitto-nossl
Python is a space hog, have you looked at micropython?
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Thanks @crispyoz . I wasn't aware of micro python. Once my ethernet expansion arrives and i can unbrick the device I will install it.. I assume it is available as a package?
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On a side note... Why does the Omega2+ lte only have 32MB of storage? The only option left is to somehow configure the system to utilize the MicroSD for installation of programs etc.
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@MickB IOT devices are always a compromise, cost vs features vs form. A lot of us can manage fine with limited memory, personally I use SD card on my devices for storage of my data.
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@crispyoz yes, I will need to lwarn how to efficiently juggle the space available