hy!

> At the moment I have the headless ubuntu 11.10 on the beagleboard
> so no X window. I'll just end up testing how many substantial nodes
> I can get running nicely, but ultimately it's looking like these are
> just not suited to be the main workhorse just yet.

but is the gdm/lightdm daemon running?
if it's an ubuntu server i think no

i think you get a ridiculous amount on ram...
but you can try to have less 'tyy's,
[in debian they are in /etc/inittab in ubuntu i'm not sure]

other things are to turn off daemons thar you don't need...
and last but not least (re)compile a kernel

time ago i used to do this to optimize small computers, smallers than the
beagleboard... the beagleboard is a really small monster! i'm not sure
what 's the best way to have a light ROS system running on it.

well, please tell us your experience...
good luck!



jvr