[sf-lug] A ROM bootable OS

[jim stockford]

and the linuxBIOS project --->
http://www.linuxbios.org/index.php/Welcome_to_LinuxBIOS
http://www.linuxdevices.com/links/LK8294110575.html


On May 29, 2006, at 2:20 PM, Sameer Verma wrote:

> Andrew Stanton wrote:
>> Hi folks:
>>
>> How about a linux that boots in ROM?  Nothing to configure for a 
>> minimal
>> setup.
>>
>> I think a ROM OS with essential software would really be 
>> revolutionary.
>>
>> Of course the trick is defining what "essential" is.
>>
>> Note: This is similar but not the same as booting from a Knoppix CD.
>> The closest thing to what i'm suggesting would be putting the OS on a
>> flash CF card and making it bootable. (the key difference is that the
>> CF card can be erased, but ROM cannot - but in both cases the OS
>> resides in a permanent form of
>> solid state memory)
>>
>> What do you all think?
>>
>> I don't know about you all, but I'm fairly tired of having to 
>> configure
>> an OS for a new computer (whether it be Windoze, the mac OS, or a
>> linux variant - let's be honest - they are all nuisance to set up).
>>
>>
>> - Andy S.
> Pebble Linux uses such an approach. It is not a Desktop Linux type OS.
> Its Debian based, and is designed to run wireless and wired routers. 
> The
> image sits on a CF card or can be flashed to onboard flash. At boot
> time, it partitions the RAM into a temporary filesystem and unloads the
> /var into it. Runs as read-only from there, with all the read-write
> happening in the /var partition in the RAM.
>
> http://www.nycwireless.net/pebble
>
> Sameer
>
> -- 
> Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
> Asst. Professor of Information Systems
> San Francisco State University
> San Francisco CA 94132 USA
> http://verma.sfsu.edu/
> http://opensource.sfsu.edu/
>
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