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Booting an x86 Virtual Machine from an iPod
randomjohndoe writes "IBM has taken the next logical extension of booting Linux from a flash drive. Researchers were recently able to boot Knoppix from an iPod and run an x86 virtual machine in VMware, which provided an easy way to encrypt the whole operating environment. The tests were conducted on a 60GB iPod photo using Knoppix."
It's not designed to have the HD running very hard, either. Run an OS off your iPod for ten minutes and that bad boy is smokin' hot.
there's more than one way to do me.
Did the submitter even read the article? It's primarily about IBM's SoulPad software, not the fact that they booted linux from an iPod.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
ok, so they used an ipod as an external usb hard drive and booted knoppix with it. we pay researchers to do stuff like this??? there is absolutely nothing amazing/revolutionary/interesting about that...
Well, maybe it's not revolutionary, but it's nice that someone took the time to actually figure out all the random issues related to having a roaming workstation (not just a roaming profile) and making sure that it not only works on any x86 configuration, but that files, settings, and preferences are written back to the device, apps work properly, and everything is encrypted so that your data isn't compromised if your device is stolen..
It's more of a complete solution, versus a bunch of ideas that "anyone could have put together" but no one did.
The article is confusing, so I'm still not sure exactly what the point is.
Yes at first I thought the iPod was being used to execute bochs and thus run an x86 OS. But this is about using the iPod as a USB drive to store and run a VMware machine?
Can someone explain to me why I should be thinking something other than "big deal"?
I can run VMware machines from my external USB and Firewire drives. I wouldn't bother trying to do this from my iRiver H340 because the performance would suck and I don't want to stress my MP3 player by using it in a longer term way which it was not designed for.
War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
For those who didn't RTFA, IBM is developing a way for you to take the portable HD you installed an OS onto from your computer and use it to boot another computer somewhere else, a function very familiar to Mac users who've been doing it pretty much since the FireWire port was invented, but is as yet not possible on WinTel/x86 machines. All I can say, It's About F***ing Time.
Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog
After going over the comments, it seems that most of the people miss the point. It's easily understandable why, because the Slashdot headline is somewhat misleading.
This is not a "gee wiz, somebody got Knoppix to run on an iPod and encrypt the files on the drive". That would be kind of pointless. What makes this newsworthy is that they have developed a way to put an OS, applications, and datafiles all together on one portable device. This way, you can take everything in your computer (including the OS and its configuration), or as they put it the "soul" of your machine, and run it on another machine independent of whatever OS is installed on it.
While currently you can store your own data files on a flash drive and access them on another PC (so as long as that PC has the software needed to read those files), you're still limited to the OS and configuration of that temporary host. With this, the temporary host doesn't even have to have an OS installed on it; it's all run from the portable device.
The Internet is generally stupid
Hey if you had an iPod shuffle, you could surprise yourself by booting up a random OS each time! :D
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