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I really like the idea of using an SD card for the home directory, because that's the thing that changes constantly, and it's a pain trying to synchronise the h

I really like the idea of using an SD card for the home directory, because that's the thing that changes constantly, and it's a pain trying to synchronise the home directory over several machines. With one instance, that's backed up regularly, it makes life fairly simple. Now I just have to work out the mechanics of implementing it smoothly. I have an archive disk/directory that holds all the 'write once, keep forever' stuff like photos, music, ebooks, etc. That can be rsync'd periodically and that won't take much time because the archive grows fairly slowly over time, and rsync will only need to transfer those relatively few additions. I'm also somebody who prefers the feel of my old Lenovo ThinkPad T410 from back in 2010 to my much later P53. Perhaps I should resurrect it with the upgrading of its 2TB hard drive to a 2 or 4 TB SSD. I must look into that.

jacknews 3y ago
A portable home dir works if you have the same os and software on all the laptops. When I bought a macbook the first time (ostensibly to develop for iphone), I hated the UI, so ran linux in a virtualbox as my main os. I think that would work really well from an external drive - but an sdcard is way too slow, it should be on a usb c nvme.
- simonblack 3y ago
  but an sdcard is way too slow, it should be on a usb c nvme. Hmm, yes, that would probably be better and faster. And not only that, it could be possible to include a grub boot partition as well. I wonder if that would easily be doable, or would be just another can of worms.
  - jacknews 3y ago
    I have tried this, and also using e-sata, though not as a daily driver, and it does work, but as you say it can be a bit wormy to setup; bios vs gpt partition table, efi vs legacy bios support, disk numbers can change depending what other disks are on the machine, etc. One other problem is that boot-from-usb is usually not enabled by default so you have to fiddle with bios boot order every time.
    - simonblack 3y ago
      One other problem is that boot-from-usb is usually not enabled by default so you have to fiddle with bios boot order every time. No, leave the normal boot order as-is. To boot from the USB, just hit the 'boot-menu' key on boot-up. The 'boot-menu' key varies according to brand of computer. In a Lenovo, it's F12, in an ASUS, IIRC, it's ESC. Just select the correct boot-device and away you go. It's the same method as when you install the OS on the computer from a USB.)
      - jacknews 3y ago
        "The 'boot-menu' key varies according to brand of computer." Right I have a hard time remembering the bios keys, let alone the boot menu ones too, but yes this is better on foreign machines, and if you can't or don't want to permanently set the boot order.
        simonblack 3y ago
        I have a hard time remembering the bios keys For what it's worth, I often put a tiny sticker on the bottom of the monitor that just gives the two keys for getting into the BIOS menu and the Boot menu. It doesn't need to remain there for long till it soaks in. Then again, some brands of machines will display a prompt at boot time with those keys, if the BIOS setting is enabled (Lenovo, etc).

jacknews 3y ago

A portable home dir works if you have the same os and software on all the laptops. When I bought a macbook the first time (ostensibly to develop for iphone), I hated the UI, so ran linux in a virtualbox as my main os. I think that would work really well from an external drive - but an sdcard is way too slow, it should be on a usb c nvme.

simonblack 3y ago
but an sdcard is way too slow, it should be on a usb c nvme. Hmm, yes, that would probably be better and faster. And not only that, it could be possible to include a grub boot partition as well. I wonder if that would easily be doable, or would be just another can of worms.
- jacknews 3y ago
  I have tried this, and also using e-sata, though not as a daily driver, and it does work, but as you say it can be a bit wormy to setup; bios vs gpt partition table, efi vs legacy bios support, disk numbers can change depending what other disks are on the machine, etc. One other problem is that boot-from-usb is usually not enabled by default so you have to fiddle with bios boot order every time.
  - simonblack 3y ago
    One other problem is that boot-from-usb is usually not enabled by default so you have to fiddle with bios boot order every time. No, leave the normal boot order as-is. To boot from the USB, just hit the 'boot-menu' key on boot-up. The 'boot-menu' key varies according to brand of computer. In a Lenovo, it's F12, in an ASUS, IIRC, it's ESC. Just select the correct boot-device and away you go. It's the same method as when you install the OS on the computer from a USB.)
    - jacknews 3y ago
      "The 'boot-menu' key varies according to brand of computer." Right I have a hard time remembering the bios keys, let alone the boot menu ones too, but yes this is better on foreign machines, and if you can't or don't want to permanently set the boot order.
      - simonblack 3y ago
        I have a hard time remembering the bios keys For what it's worth, I often put a tiny sticker on the bottom of the monitor that just gives the two keys for getting into the BIOS menu and the Boot menu. It doesn't need to remain there for long till it soaks in. Then again, some brands of machines will display a prompt at boot time with those keys, if the BIOS setting is enabled (Lenovo, etc).