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USB FlashDrives The New PC?

Posted by Zonk on from the for-limited-amounts-of-functionality dept.

olddotter writes "Yahoo has an article about how large capacity USB drives might be redefining the concept of the personal computer. The article is windows specific, but think knopix on a flash drive." From the article: "When you check into an average hotel room and find -- alongside the alarm clock, hair dryer and DVD player that once were bring-your-own items but now are as standard as the furniture -- a cheap PC for guests to plug into, as our truly personal computing environment travels with us."

5 of 305 comments (clear)

  1. Or you can go one better... by Afecks · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...check out VirtualPrivacyMachine. DamnSmallLinux made completely anonymous with Tor.

  2. I like this concept by technoextreme · · Score: 5, Informative

    I have always been fascinated by the programs that can boot off a flash drive because I don't own a computer yet. These programs are quite useful and so far I know of three. (Open Office, Mozilla, and an HTML editor) Does anyone else know what programs can be booted off such a drive?

    --
    Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
  3. Flash drives don't last forever by heptapod · · Score: 3, Informative

    They crap out after so many read/writes. If a company can make a better flash drive all the better.

    1. Re:Flash drives don't last forever by big+daddy+kane · · Score: 3, Informative

      With a a proper and flash specific file system the write limit problem is almost non-existant. Wear leveling can allow the memory to last for years. One of the reasons for the semi-crappy performance/dependibility of these flash drives is because they use FAT over a flash translation layer, which uses more writes than nessesary and doesnt include wear leveling. A real flash filing system such as YAFFS is far more robust. The only problem is it requires support in the OS, which isn't included by default in any popular desktop operating system.

  4. Bad example by Wudbaer · · Score: 4, Informative

    You chose a really bad example up there ;-). At least in Europe fraud using manipulated or even completely bogus ATMs is not too infrequent according to police reports. Apparently there are a lot of mostly Eastern European gangs that either "enhance" real ATM systems with add-ons for the card reader and the keyboard that, while often not discernible on even closer inspection to the non-expert, can log the users PIN codes and grab the transmitted card data. Sometimes they even use complete real-looking fake-ATMs that trick you into entering your PIN and swallowing your ATM card afterwards. Until you have contacted the bank to get your card back from the presumed read ATM they are already spending your money using your real card and the PIN you gave them.