can one "dd" XO-1.5 internal microSD cards, to another XO-1.5?

[James Cameron]

On Mon, Feb 19, 2018 at 10:13:51PM -0800, Hal Murray wrote:
> > Better would be to use SD cards.
> 
> The original goal was to copy microSD cards.

Yes, but original goal unwise; it will damage the microSD card
connector and display cable.  At this stage of life there is
contact oxidation, spring tension reduction, and brittle polymers.

I've observed these in my test units that have had way less use than
units in the hands of children.

> Would it be reasonable to copy microSD to SD, move the SD card to
> the target XO, and then copy SD to microSD?  I expect an
> OpenFirmware wizard could do it with no effort but I'm not that
> level of wizard.

No, not really.

An order of magnitude faster to use Linux to copy, as it can do
asynchronous I/O.  Open Firmware only does asynchronous I/O during
fs-update.

To access my wizardry, use the tools we have refined and kept running
for years, or get me to do it.  Can also sign the build; overcomes the
next common problem; locked laptops.

The .zd format and fs-update is the fastest method to bulk load the
microSD card without having to remove and replace it.

A clone can be made with Linux, then converted to .zd using the
zhashfs program.

There is also rsync from a teacher laptop, see
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Tiny_Core_Linux/Reversion

-- 
James Cameron
http://quozl.netrek.org/