Optimal settings for embedded system running PostgreSQL

Dear Members,

We are currently using PostgreSQL 7.3 on an Embedded System (Based on
http://www.msc-ge.com/de/produkte/com/qseven/q7-us15w.html) running
Windows XP Embedded / SP3. The onbard flash shows the following
performance figures:

  - Average read = 15,6Mb/s
  - 4Kbyte reads = 3,5Mb/s
  - 1Kbyte read = 1Mb/s

We are sometimes facing problems that the system seems to hang due to
database activity and now we are looking to improve the situation. If
the database application is running and we run the benchmark again
figures drop down to zero so we assume that the database (and
application) is responsible for the high load. Since the embedded
flash is quite hard to change we are looking for solution on improving
this. For me it seems that blocksize seems a big issue and I would
like to know if a recompile of Postgres with a larger block size would
resolve this?

Are there any other options which should be set for flash based disks
since latency is a lower than on harddisks.

In addition I would like to mention that we would also be intersted in
commercial support regarding this issue if some companies providing
PostgreSQL support are monitoring this forum.

Thanks for any help,
   Christian

--
+--------------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
Embedded Solutions                     | DI Christian Walter
Lorenz Böhler Gasse 4/4, A-1200 Wien   | cwalter@embedded-solutions.at
http://www.embedded-solutions.at       | +43-664-2486048