http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/ Engadget Comments for IBM's SoulPad portable virtual computing environment http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/
Sounds like DP to me.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/Dec 19th 2005 1:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/Dec 19th 2005 1:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/
Very cool though, this will be awesome future technology.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/Dec 19th 2005 1:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/Dec 19th 2005 1:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/Dec 19th 2005 1:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/Dec 19th 2005 1:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/Dec 19th 2005 1:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/Dec 19th 2005 1:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/
For those who can't wait to do the same thing, here's the recipe I've been using since last December:
- one iPod with a few gigs free space (my smallest virtual machine takes 200MB, my biggest takes 11GB)
- two licenses of Windows (one for the hardware and one for the virtual machine)
- one license of VMWare (I use VMWare Workstation)

Install VMWare on your iPod (ex. G:Program Files). Whenever you get to a computer you want to use as if it were your own computer, connect the usb cord, and boot up VMWare. Maximize the display. Voila, you are now using your own computer.

Since I started doing that, I consider my home computer to be on my belt - in my iPod - at all times. Most of my important stuff (data, applications) is only installed on that virtual machine (keep backups!). When I am somewhere (at work, visiting a friend or family) and need to use my home computer, I plug into the first available computer, and feel right at home. I can even use the network connection if it's available.

I was in shock for the first two months of this year, while it was sinking in that hardware as I knew it was irrelevant. I need a faster machine? I just sit somewhere else and resume the virtual machine. Hardware problem and I need to change my computer? Install Windows on the new computer, and resume the virtual machine - no need to reinstall all my applications and data when doing hardware upgrades. I don't even need to carry a laptop - I have 4 virtual machines on my belt, each with a different OS and a different purpose in life. I even suspect I could carry nodes for a Beowulf cluster on my iPod, boot up instances on 20 PCs on my floor (assuming I have enough vmware licences), and do massive computations for the day without asking IT to reformat all the drives just for the kicks.

That's a future I like...

Christian
]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/
This isn't really that spectacular an idea with one exception - the notion that you can boot into it. But even that's not that stunning.

Take VMWare or Virtual PC, work in it and copy your virtual machine to the external drive. If you want something non-commercial - try Bochs.

In fact, the VPC version will work on Macs and PCs, and the VMWare version will work on PCs and Linux. Bochs works on all three, I think. You just run the appropriate version of the emulator and point it at your system image.

If you REALLY want boot time - then you put a bootable partition on your external drive with knoppix that autostarts into Bochs. Most PCs can boot off external USB2 hard drives these days.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/
a minimal linux enviroment on a cd, with xen running on top.

a xen system image on a removable drive.

then its just a matter of inserting cd, booting machine and presto.

hell, why not put the boot cd onto a flash chip and hook it up to the ide controller?

hmm, i feel like building a system like this at home :P

i wonder if it can support multiple users with seperate external drives at the same time ;)]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/-Evolution Email
-Firefox Browser
-Word processor
-Spreadsheet creator
-Powerpoint creator
-Zip Compressor
-PDF Creator
Moreover, the device has a secure login system and 256-bit AES encryption to protect sensitive data and a 'Public' director for sharing not so sensitive data as a regular flash drive. I'm sure I left a few things out. www.fingergear.com]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/10/ibms-soulpad-portable-virtual-computing-environment/"FingerGear puts out bootable Computer-On-a-Stick bootable USB Flash Drive" 7/23/05
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000070051575/]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:03AM