[sdiy] bootable linux cd

[Thomas Hudson]

You may also want to check out the LinuxBios project. Those 3 second
boot times look very appealing.

http://www.linuxbios.org/index.html


On Sunday, July 27, 2003, at 09:16 AM, Michael Zacherl wrote:

> Hi Glen/All,
>
> Glen wrote:
>> I'd like a stable OS that boots from non-volatile silicon memory, and 
>> which
>> can't be altered by the software which runs on that OS. For example, 
>> I'm
>> thinking along the lines of a memory card that has to be physically 
>> removed
>> from the computer to change the OS, instead of an OS stored on 
>> vulnerable
>> hard drive space, which could be altered by a rogue program or random 
>> power
>> failure.
>
> Ahh - you know this lone "NTLDR not found" message after the PC 
> crashed and you desperately tried to (re)boot that thing? Had that 2 
> days ago.
> I love it!  :-(((
>
>> I know I'm dreaming, and I know it would need a huge amount of 
>> memory, but
>> I think it would be better than what we have now.
>
> Well, actually your dreams may come true. We are closer than one might 
> think.
> Compact Flash Cards and their respective IDE adapters allready have 
> been mentioned.
>
> When it comes to OS it's a bit more difficult - since the value are 
> the apps and without apps ...
>
> Linux has been mentioned - there are several more or less complex 
> projects out there which specialise to run on a rather small (32MB or 
> so) CF card.
> But this is not what we are after.
> Modern OS rely on being able to write data back on a media and (at 
> least for the sake of minimum comfort) find them when booting up > again.
> So putting up a modern multi user and furthermore multitasking OS 
> would require a lot more effort.
>
> Fortunately a Unix-type system like Linux is quite modular and can be 
> found in many flavors.
>
> There's a german gentleman who wanted to have a non-destructable 
> variant of the OS of his choice for his training calsses.
> He managed to get software worth of 1.8GB on a single CD.
> Go and see Klaus Knopper's website and give "Knoppix" a try IMO it's 
> the most advanced version of a "Linux Live CD" you can find.
>
> Since this all is Open Source as well (and Klaus is very serious about 
> to take just open software) many spinoffs grew up in order to release 
> versions for specific needs and incorporate apps which couldn't find 
> place on the official "Knoppix" CD.
>
> Although spread around the net the whole project is well documented 
> and meanwhile international.
> So language is not an issue.
>
> Klaus uses an compressed disk image which he fits on the CD and mounts 
> this image as a virtual device (cloop) when booting up.
>
> So it's quite possible to generate a version of your wishes which 
> contains the apps you want and fits a smaller CF card (e.g. 512MB) put 
> the image and the kernel on it (very roughly spoken!) and boot from 
> that instead of CD.
> Everything runs in memory and is virtually not destroyable.
> AND yes, you are able to mount another drive (whatever you want, it's 
> Linux) and store data on it.
>
> Also you can choose to install it on an ordinary hard drive and use it 
> quite normal.
> And since it's based on Debian GNU/Linux it's pretty open to what ever 
> you want.
>
>> Having the means to "lock-down" your executables would also be nice, 
>> but I
>> wouldn't want each executable on a separate memory card, I'd just 
>> want to
>> be able to physically set some sections of memory as read-only, by 
>> manually
>> setting some physical switches myself. (Of course, this memory would 
>> be
>> non-volatile as well.)
>
> This you could do on a Linux system as well. Roughly, create a disk 
> image, install whatever you want, unmount it and remount it read-only. 
> Of course one has to take care of configuration files etc, but since 
> most applications put their files in the user's home directory this 
> should be achiveable.
>
> IMHO you can do a lot of things this way (and many people, including 
> myself, are taking advantage from this technology).
>
> One last thing: when we think of e.g. Ataris (I own two of them) we 
> think of "Megabytes" ... Now it's "Gigabytes", not to say almost 
> "Terabytes".
> That makes quite a difference - no multiuser for instance. Go figure.
>
> But - OTOH - we can do it!  ;-)
>
>
> Links of interest: http://www.knoppix.net/ (NZ spinoff in english 
> language)
>                   http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/ (the original site 
> in german language)
>
>    Michael.
>
>
>