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For only 20 or 10 dollars more than the packaged price, for the latest and greatest of OS (like Microsoft windows), you get a special ssd, the size of your floppy drive faceplate.
The faceplate installed, has 3 switch. A read/write switch for the included ssd, and a (optional) instant boot LinuxOS_rom
switch. And lastly, and emergency OS reinstall button, on the other side of the case. It also have a space for the certificate of authenticity (for Microsoft window's license)
How this works is, the ssd is initially empty, and you press the emergency reinstall, which transfer the content of the cheap Installation ROM for the included OS (e.g. windows), straight into the internal ssd. You then flip the read/write switch, so that it doesn't get affected by viruses. (you only flip it again, when installing patches to the OS)
The internal ssd is kept small (just enough for the OS, and patches) for cost purpose, but its chipset is emphasized for read speed (possible ram cache?).
There is also an optional minimum boot time OS (e.g. small firefox only Linux), that is used only to browse the internet. Which works by switching the ssd, over to a rom that contains the alternative OS.
Massed produced, this is very feasible, and is actually better for the OS owner, and users. The OS owner, gets to provide an OS, that is tangible, and has properties that cannot be easily duplicated (reducing piracy). And the consumer, for a few extra dollars, gets a faster booting and dirt easy to format computer (that also happens to be also easily patchable.
and... it can be transferred from computer to computer.
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Btw, if standardized even more (with physical OS switches mention above, being outside located elsewhere in the laptop), it can be kept really small, and be placed in a special port in PCs, servers... and most of all, laptops.
Imagine, changing your OS, becoming a case of popping a cover off your laptop and changing the OS cartridge. (if so, try and keep it about a flash disk drive size)
[link]
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Currently, prices for 4 gig flashdisk, is $14 AUS dollar a pop. Hence $20 dollars 4gig OS ssd, should be possible. |
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Nice, although I'd rather see an emergency OS
reinstall disk on a memory card (e.g. SDHC or
CompactFlash), as many computers now have
built-in memory card readers. |
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Dumb question: what is an ssd? |
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fantastic idea, a fresh tasty bun for you. anyone who
has formatted systems before knows how pointless
the OS reinstall feels, so having this "untouched" OS
area seems like a brilliant idea, add to that the idea
of a switch for this very fast internet only OS and you
have a simply brilliant idea which is not only
technically feasible but also very practical and not all
that expensive for manufacturer or consumer
[+] |
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//...what is an ssd ?// an SSD with size issues... a Flash storage device used in the capacity currently occupied by hard-drives. |
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You'd want it to start loading the OS into it's RAM as soon as the system's powered on, and have a small backup battery to tidy up when the system's powered off. |
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Personally I'd use high-speed Flash as a generic all-purpose cache and buffer at the system level (and stick a couple fast RAM sticks on top to minimize wear) but nobody asked me... typical. |
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SSD stands for Solid State Disk, in case the above explanation isn't enough. |
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One question I have: How do you handle OS updates? |
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I think something very similar to this has been done
with USB memory sticks, certainly the alternate OS
boot part. Seeing as you are only writing to the
drive a couple of times, maybe hundreds, you
wouldn't need the cost of a SSD drive, though I guess
maybe for the disk cache of the alternate OS.
In any case, I want one, with triple boot Chomium,
Android and Windows 7 on a Netbook, so (+). |
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One question I have: How do you handle OS updates?— NoOneYouKnow |
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This is an ssd, that is read/write protected. To update the OS you switch this ssd, to write mode, and run the update patch. Switching write off, after patching, prevents viruses from reaching the OS. (Who, knows, maybe you can have the anti-virus, live in that area as well.) |
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The OS ROM, is just there to act in place of the installation CD. (So you can still recover after your OS gets infected, or dies.) You still have to download the patch yourself. |
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