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IBM Using iPod to boot Linux on PCs
Applejack writes "Looks like iPod fever has caught on to Big Blue. IBM has a yet unreleased iPod-based software for rescue, restore, and recovery of failed Windows PCs. I read this description of the software on Amit Singh's blog, whose group at IBM apparently created this stuff. If I understand this correctly (and I think I do), the iPod contains IBM's rescue software along with Linux. A crashed PC boots into Linux from the iPod, after which you get all kinds of rescue & restore functionality ... web browsing and all, even if the PC's drive is totally hosed. All this while the iPod keeps working normally as a music player as it would. The blog has pointers to further information, including a Windows Media demo of the thing. " Should be noted this is not iPod specific; USB devices will do.
Recovery tools? On an external hardrive of some sort? What will they think of next?!
That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
...and then I deleted all that other stuff to make more room for my iTunes purchases, and now my system won't recover.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
I'm using my $699 iPod as a substitue for a $0.10 Knoppix liveCD!!!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Aren't there several free live linux distros already easily available with the same capability?
Exam 4/C again. Maybe I'll do better this time.
1. Take any generic news item
2. Try to work the iPod into the story, no matter how forced
3. Front page!
Is it just me or is the iPod becoming more and more like a Tricorder every day. (The small do-everything-device used in Star Trek)
;)
Dude, no need to explain what a tricorder is around here ok?
You must be new here
.... ...
All this while the iPod keeps working normally as a music player as it would.
Awesome!
Now sysadmins can listen to chill-out music while repairing mission-critical workstations!
Seems to me that the developers are on the ball with this one. They get to requisition expensive iPods for, ahem, work. They also get media attention from slashdot. This is much sexier than burning knoppix.
Thank you steve jobs for your magical machine of reconciliation. Do you think we could use IPODs to achieve peace in the mideast?
Play back OOG or FLAC audio files? Oh i know, gapless MP3 playback? Hava a good EQ?
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
If you're looking for a cheaper solution, check out the Ultimate Boot CD. It has tools to test memory, CPUs, hard disks, and so much more.
It's definitely something to keep handy and is much cheaper than an iPod.
When the iPod first came out, I thought that the coolest thing was that I could have my entire system on it and any Mac I encountered could boot my system
Cool, yes. Practical?
The tiny Toshiba drives in the iPods aren't designed for sustained use as a computer's system volume.
You could easily thrash the poor little thing to death doing anything more demanding than playing back MP3's in shuffle mode, and then good luck finding a replacement. There are virtually no 1.8" hard drives available in the end-user market right now, as the demand for new iPods means Toshiba is selling pretty much their entire production runs directly to Apple.
Purchase Request
Item Name: Apple iPod
Description: To be used as an external bootable storage device for diagnosing and recovering PC's with failed hard-disks.
Hmmm, wonder if the boss would go for it...
it depends a lot on what generation ipod you have. with older ipods you have to put the ipod itself into 'disk mode' for windows to see it as a drive. newer ipods (the mini included) this is no longer the case and they work out of the box as a normal usb storage device.
not sure what is going on with your 4th gen (i have a 40g 4th gen and a 4g 1st gen mini), because any computer with firewire and/or usb should be able to read it as a hard drive without installing any software at all.
many (most?) windows machines lack the firmware to be able to boot directly off a usb or firewire drive.
Large print giveth, and the small print taketh away
"IBM has a yet unreleased iPod-based software for rescue, restore, and recovery of failed Windows PCs."
So IBM has not unreleased this software. I know that delays are inevitable in development, but actually moving backwards through time. This puts Duke Nukem Forever to shame.
In C++, friends can touch each others private parts.
It was a windy day and I had a stack of papers that I wanted to sit down on the bench next to me....There were no rocks in site.
I made an awesome discovery. It just hit me. I could use my iPod layed at just the right angle on top of those papers to keep them from blowing away.
I had done it -- I had invented the first paper weight that could also play music. How did we all survive before iPods. This damn swiss army knife in my back pocket seems so useless now.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.