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

[Steven Mainor <steve@degga.net>]

I don't know if this helps answer #3 or not. I have ran Debian from a
microSD flash card before but the card reader was attached via USB. 

It didn't last very long before the flash card degraded. I think running
an operating system on flash used up the read/write cycles too quickly.
I eventually decided to find another solution. But it may not be an
issue for your use case.

Hope that is helpful,
      * Steven

On Fri, 2016-12-02 at 23:21 +0100, Jochen Spieker wrote:
> Richard Owlett:
> > 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.
> 
> He probably has SD cards. All other options in your list have come out
> of fashion.
> 
> > 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.
> 
> Beware that this might slightly increase power usage / reduce battery
> life. That's at least my observation from a couple of years ago.
> Depenging on the hardware, an SD card can keep a bus alive that could be
> put to sleep otherwise. But if I would have to guess this is not an
> issue for your use case.
> 
> > My questions:
> >   1. Can Debian (and to what extent) make use of that storage?
> 
> Debian (the linux kernel) can use SD cards just like USB thumb drives or
> other types of removable (and rewritable) storage. It's simply a block
> device.
> 
> >   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.]
> 
> Debian doesn't really care, but you would have to test whether your BIOS
> can really boot from SD cards.
> 
> >   3. Any Debian people using this capability who would care to comment?
> >      ["off list" replies fine]
> 
> I would like to see replies here. :)
> 
> J.