Just wondering if it would be possible to upload say a .iso of an OS and boot a machine that loads the OS from the safe network as some sort of external/virtual/encrypted drive. Imagine running all programs from within the network and saving the files directly to the network! Is this just wishful thinking or might a scenario like this be feasible?? Or perhaps some sort of VPS…
The only way I can think of you doing this is by running a VM some how and using the iso on the network as sourcefile you load up in your VM. I don’t see you booting a raw machine from the network. How would a blank machine know how to connect to the network without an iso to boot from? Chicken or the egg issue. Now there has been talk of creating a SAFE OS of some kind but I don’t think that’s what you’re describing here.
Ahh…yeah I think a VM would be about the best/only way to do it. I was just thinking that having a way to have you entire experience within the network would be the most secure way to use the network. Kind of like a live session that turns to vapor when you are done with it…
The only thing needed for this to be possible is a maidsafe bootloader. Network boot is a common feature so the only thing missing is the software which speaks maidsafe.
1 Like
Bootloader!! Duh! 
…the possibilities of maidsafe really are limitless!! Freaking awesome!
When logging in to Linux, people already have to give up a username and password, Would be great if someone could create a Linux SAFE edition, one that start’s up to the point where it asks for a username:PIN:password and all the data/programs etc. will come from SAFE. Only problem could be that you need internet to run it.
There’s no plan for implementation yet, but it is recognised as an important option to improve security. There are some discussions from a while ago maybe (May-July 2014?) - you might try searching for SafeOS, “booting” etc to locate them. Please post links if you find them!
Here is a way to achive some of this, when we get drive up and running. Drive is a VFS.
I have done this and it works… On login to linux mount the drive which gives a file url like /home/dirvine/safe_drive-dkfjrewiowf
So when logging into linux have your basrc map this to $HOME and your home dir is now all on SAFE. Including all apps etc. you store in your home dir.
If you create a PAM auth module then login to linux with your SAFE credentials and have this automatically and you have machines that only have user data on SAFE.I never did this last part but it is very simple. So we could provide on linux easily SAFE login screen to the OS, windows used to also be possible vial JULIA I think it was (windows login screen, nertware etc. used this). I assume MAC will be locked down much more though, although I am not sure.
In essence this is a pretty simple thing though.
4 Likes
The way it’s done is you have a bootable virtual desktop and your actual data are stored elsewhere.
There is no much need (or value) to boot from the network if you can boot from a bootable USB.
That’s why it’s better to boot the OS locally or from LAN, and just have your data (e.g. /home/user) mounted from the network.
But depending on each user’s situation, even that may not always be a good idea (say if you have a ton of data in your home directory, you’re on a slow network and you need to access just one small text file).
A good way to boot might be to use a linux live cd that’s designed to be only run from the live cd (check out tails). The live cd (or usb) boots and then asks for your username:PIN:password. Very similar to installing the system on your machine, the only difference is it’s a live system that does this. In all honesty though, just using an installed linux os is probably the best. Just a thought!
But there’s nothing personal on the CD (that’s the whole point - you can lose it and not care), so it should not ask you for username:PIN:password, I think. I think that “SAFE mount” step should be done later when/if you need to access your online data (you may not be able to always do that, which is another reason, lest you want to carry 2 CDs with you, one for connected, and one for disconnected ops).
And another way is to program one of the cheap card computers (some as low as $9) that run linux off flash and put safe onto them and use that as a boot device. Be it to simulate a disk to main computer or as the source for boot from LAN,
If used as Boot from LAN source then you can have all your computers boot from it if needed.
Expensive and I expect slow if you tried to use the SAFE network as your only disk, as others have said.
At least the board computer could be sold with the linux system configured for SAFE use and as a bot device. All for the same price as a CD drive, but a whole lot more useful (unless you have a DVD/CD to read )