{Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc}

[Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net>]

I have a well used Lenovo R61 Thinkpad whose sole raison d'etre 
is to serve as a test platform for experiments which may 
spectacularly fail.

To quote a product description, it has:
  Card Reader
    4 in 1 card reader
    Supported Flash Memory
    Memory Stick PRO, MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, xD-Picture 
Card

My local supplier has 32GB cards in stock. Not sure which of the 
above flavors, as I just asked him what he had available that 
were compatible with my hardware.

I'm pondering an application that could be accomplished with USB 
flash drives.
It would be much "NICER" if that x GB were physically "inside" 
the laptop's profile.

My questions:
  1. Can Debian (and to what extent) make use of that storage?
  2. Can Debian itself reside on that medium?
     I'm thinking in terms of changing 
look/feel/function/capabilities/...
     of the machine by swapping media before "power up".
     [The BIOS *DOES* have some capability to specify precedence 
of boot devices.]
  3. Any Debian people using this capability who would care to 
comment?
     ["off list" replies fine]

TIA