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OS Card

 Operating system kept externally of the hard drive.
  (+3)
(+3) 		  [vote for,
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I'm speculating on stuff I'm not 100% on here so I'm open to correction.

It's my understanding that data is stored on computers by binary switches that are either on or off at any one time. Operating systems are for the majority of the public mysterious things that must not be tampered with. My suggestion is a PCI card with the OS stored on it with the majority read-only to the user. The card could be placed in the computer without taking up the storage space and your OS could not be accidentally destroyed by inquisitive kids or accidental deletions. This would, in theory, make switching systems much easier too.

—harderthanjesus, Aug 23 2004

Firmware OS http://www.halfbake.../idea/Firmware_20OS
Redundant? [Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]


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Annotation:







       The cd-based version is very interesting as the "hard drive untouched" bit could, in theory, make for untraceable PC use. OS on a cd, use computer normally, then anything you wanted to keep could be burnt to CD before you walk away from the computer leaving no sign you were ever there.
—david_scothern, Aug 23 2004
   

       Oo, I hadn't thought of that.
—harderthanjesus, Aug 23 2004
   

       //must not be tampered with//
But doing this also prevents you from installing security patches or other bug fixes to your OS. This type of thing is better handled by using file permissions on the install drive to prevent the average user from writing any OS files. 		  

       //without taking up the storage space //
Hard drives are pretty cheap these days, under 50 cents a gig in most places.
—krelnik, Aug 23 2004
   

       The card could contain some memory for patches etc.   

       This could actually be quite interesting to OS manufacturers, since an OS card couldn't be easily pirated. (Baring technical details I know nothing about of course).
—RobertKidney, Aug 23 2004
   

       This would also speed up performace.
—Worldgineer, Aug 23 2004
   


 

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