I really don't like the idea of installing #Windows again besides #Linux on a second #SSD, only to for #playing certain #games that don't run on Linux at all. Guess it's what it is, no way around it if I wanna play #GTA5 properly and in #Online mode. 🙄

Creating a #bootable #USB stick for Windows on Linux is a different beast, was a bit complicated. 😩😅😉

#bootable portal extra tools #density #io

from chatgpt onYou said:
compare usb flash drives to nvme in external enclosure - latency and overall speed comparison
ChatGPT said:

Great question — let’s break this down clearly.
⚡ USB Flash Drives vs. NVMe in External Enclosure
Aspect USB Flash Drive NVMe in External Enclosure
Underlying Technology NAND flash on a basic controller (often slower, fewer channels) High-speed NVMe SSD on PCIe lanes inside an enclosure with USB-C or Thunderbolt interface
Typical Interface USB 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2 (5–10 Gbps) USB 3.1/3.2 (10–20 Gbps) or Thunderbolt 3/4 (up to 40 Gbps)
Sequential Read Speed ~100–400 MB/s (high-end USB 3.2 models) 900–2,800 MB/s over USB 3.2; up to ~3,000–4,000 MB/s with Thunderbolt
Sequential Write Speed ~50–300 MB/s (often slower due to cheaper controllers) 900–2,500 MB/s over USB 3.2; higher with Thunderbolt
Random Read/Write IOPS Very low (~1,000–10,000 IOPS), latency ~100–500 µs Much higher (~100,000–600,000 IOPS), latency ~20–100 µs
Latency High (slow controller, weak queueing, high protocol overhead) Low (PCIe NVMe is optimized for low latency; enclosure adds some but still faster)
Performance Stability Degrades quickly on large sustained writes (thermal or cache limits) Much more stable under heavy or sustained workloads (thanks to DRAM cache, better controller)
Use Case Suitability Best for occasional file transfers, light usage Suitable for heavy file transfers, external boot drives, video editing, virtual machines, fast scratch disks
Cost per GB Low Higher (but dropping steadily)
Thermal Considerations Generally none (low power, low heat) Needs proper enclosure cooling; NVMe can throttle under sustained load
🔍 Latency Details

USB flash drives use simple microcontrollers designed for cost, not performance.
Latency is often >100 microseconds per request, plus protocol stack delays.

NVMe SSDs inside an external enclosure are fundamentally designed for high-performance PCIe operation:

Even though USB/Thunderbolt adds some latency, overall you get ~20–100 microseconds access times — significantly lower.

NVMe also benefits from parallel command queues (up to 64K queues) while USB flash sticks typically handle just one or a few.

💡 Real-World Speed Examples
Scenario USB 3.0 Flash Drive NVMe + USB 3.2 Enclosure
Copying 10 GB file ~5–10 min (100 MB/s) ~20–30 sec (400–500 MB/s over USB)
Running OS or apps (external boot) Feels slow, long delays Feels near-native, snappy performance
Editing 4K video off disk Likely choppy or slow Smooth playback and editing
🚀 Summary

✅ NVMe in an external enclosure is vastly faster in both throughput and latency — essentially turning your external drive into a portable high-speed SSD.
⚠ USB flash drives are convenient but optimized for simplicity and cost, not speed.

If you want to boot an OS, run virtual machines, edit large media, or move lots of data, NVMe is a huge upgrade.

If you just want to carry around some documents or backups occasionally, a decent USB stick is still fine.

If you tell me your use case, I can help recommend the best external drive setup! Want me to suggest some specific models?
You said:
do this - plan out a bootable encrypted persistence drive with all the bells and whistles - it is based on kali everything and has all the tools plus some kali everything leaves out, notably it is geared to have a full wiki dump imported into mediawiki, it also has a giant solr index from say top 100 sites and what else? i would like the tone to be specialized as a dx/pentesting but also serving tool - maybe have some components of my cms/portals idea installed, it couldd be customized for various sectors but initially for infosec/IT....you have a 2 tb nvme - fill it up to 1.4gb to leave some space. maybe include pihole and opnsense and malcolm images, have scripts that will run and gather data into a buffer in memory but also on the drive. so the tool should have a open source license but also some community gen resources for how to use with proprietary data and sw and extend. heavy emphasis on osint, versioning, ai and leveraging info - maybe even have some info on going more api less and more on getting reliable feeds, hooking it up to a vps over a vpn to offload and scale, even easy clustering - you could spin up this image on a vm if you wanted to scale cluster
ChatGPT said:

🔥 Plan: Bootable Encrypted Persistence Kali + Specialized DX/Pentest/OSINT Mega Toolkit 🔥

Here’s a detailed, structured build plan for your 2TB NVMe to create a bootable, encrypted, persistent, heavy-duty pentesting + data-ops drive geared for infosec, IT, and OSINT power use.
🛡 Core Design Goals

✅ Bootable Kali “Everything” (with persistence, encryption, and full toolset)
✅ Preloaded MediaWiki with full offline wiki dump (e.g., English Wikipedia)
✅ Prebuilt Solr search index from top ~100 important sites (infosec, tech, OSINT)
✅ Pi-hole, OPNsense, Malcolm IDS preinstalled images or containers
✅ Custom CMS/portal framework (seeded for infosec/IT sector, but extendable)
✅ Ready-to-run scripts and collectors for real-time OSINT + memory buffering
✅ Designed for local offline power use but able to scale to VPS or clusters over VPN
✅ Heavy on open-source tooling but flexible for commercial integration
✅ Includes AI tools and resources for RAG (retrieval-augmented generation), versioning, and live intelligence
🧱 Drive Structure (2TB NVMe, ~1.4TB Used)
Partition Size Contents
Boot partition (GRUB, EFI) ~1 GB GRUB, encrypted LUKS bootloader, persistence hooks
Root (/) encrypted ext4 ~200 GB Kali “Everything” + added tools, drivers, configs, core scripts
/home encrypted ext4 ~200 GB Personal configs, CMS/portal configs, collected data, user scripts
/data encrypted ext4 or ZFS ~1.0 TB MediaWiki + offline dumps, Solr index, Malcolm + IDS data, Pi-hole data, CMS DBs
Swap (encrypted) ~64–128 GB Large swap for memory buffers, AI tools, and clustering workloads
Spare space ~400–600 GB free For additional VMs, containers, OS snapshots, sandboxed work, or expansion
🔧 Major Software Components

✅ Kali Linux Everything +

Extra tools not included:

Ghidra, Angr, Volatility, BloodHound, CrackMapExec

CyberChef offline version, Sigma rules, Mitre ATT&CK navigator offline

Big malware sample zoo (if legally permissible) in quarantined area

Local GitLab instance for version control of tools/scripts

Docker, Podman for running OPNsense, Pi-hole, Malcolm, etc.

✅ MediaWiki with Offline Dump

Preload with latest full English Wikipedia (or curated infosec/IT subset)

Fully searchable, customizable offline knowledgebase

Optionally add other dumps: Stack Overflow, Exploit DB, CVE DB, etc.

✅ Apache Solr Index

Prebuilt Solr/Lucene index with crawled top 100 infosec and tech sites

Local search + analytics, extendable with own crawls or enterprise datasets

✅ Pi-hole, OPNsense, Malcolm

Pi-hole as local DNS sinkhole on container or VM

OPNsense router/firewall images ready to deploy on VM or embedded hardware

Malcolm for network capture, PCAP indexing, IDS analytics

✅ Custom CMS/Portal Layer

Start with lightweight Django or Flask app

Connects local tools, dashboards, script runners

Modular design for sector-specific extensions (infosec, IT, fintech, etc.)

Supports community-developed modules, licensed as open source

✅ OSINT + Data Collection Scripts

Parsers for RSS, Atom, social feeds

In-memory collectors (RAM-buffered) and disk-backed archival

Configurable pipelines for scraping, crawling, and syncing feeds

Exporters to push to VPS, cluster, or partner nodes over VPN

✅ AI + RAG Toolkit

Local vector DB (e.g., Milvus, Weaviate, Qdrant)

Lightweight LLMs (e.g., GGUF models) preloaded with open weights

Scripts for embedding + querying wiki, Solr, Malcolm data

Tools to link out to API-less, robust scraping and offline enrichment

✅ Cluster + VPS Extensions

WireGuard or Tailscale VPN ready to connect to offload nodes

Cluster startup templates (VM- or container-based) to scale horizontally

Option to replicate toolstack on cloud VPS for remote jobs

⚙ Preloaded Scripts + Tools

✅ Quick setup script for new sector (infosec/IT → medical → finance → etc.)
✅ Automated updater for tools, dumps, feeds, AI models
✅ Data sync script (selective or full) to VPS or peer node
✅ Local dashboard UI (web-based) to manage collectors, scrapers, solr, wiki
✅ Burn-in tester + disk health monitor to ensure drive integrity under heavy loads
🔒 Security + Encryption

LUKS full-disk encryption with strong passphrase + Yubikey/2FA support

Encrypted swap to prevent memory leakage

Hidden encrypted vault (Veracrypt or LUKS hidden volume) for sensitive payloads

Scripted integrity checkers + hashes to ensure toolchain hasn’t been tampered

Optional self-destruct script or wipe trigger on tamper detection

📦 Final Disk Fill

With ~1.4TB occupied, you get:
✅ 80–100 GB: Full offline wiki, MediaWiki + DB
✅ ~200–300 GB: Solr search index
✅ ~200–300 GB: Container + VM images (OPNsense, Pi-hole, Malcolm, etc.)
✅ ~200–300 GB: Local tool binaries, scripts, models, datasets
✅ ~200–400 GB: Spare user + working space, logs, collected data
🏗 Customization & Licensing

Open-source license (e.g., GPLv3, MIT) for your tooling and integrations

Community guide + wiki on using it with proprietary/commercial data

Template configs + YAML/JSON to extend it for any industry

Local-first design but ready for hybrid/cloud scaling

Emphasis on reproducibility + versioning: snapshot, rollback, extend

🌐 How You Can Use It

✅ Boot as your all-in-one pentest/OSINT lab anywhere
✅ Plug into a workstation or cluster as a scaling node
✅ Push/pull data to a VPS for remote jobs, aggregation, enrichment
✅ Serve as an offline knowledge + intelligence center when disconnected
🛠 Next Steps

If you want, I can:
✅ Write out the build script / setup checklist
✅ Generate a detailed disk partition map + encryption scheme
✅ Provide YAML or Docker Compose configs for the containers
✅ Build out example CMS/portal components for your sector
✅ Recommend hardware (NVMe enclosure, host systems)

Want me to prepare the detailed technical setup or generate a GitHub starter project? Let me know! 🚀 moving from usb to bootable nvme, also bootable enc persistent image with tools+ info and serving not just winpe dx #bootable portal #generic

Now the penny drops about why pen-drives are called pen-drives.
It's because they're the new pens.
You start with a few then somehow they vanish ,never to be seen again 🫤. I've lost track of how many times I've had to create a new bootable for installing or reinstalling Linux.🤣

So much for a quick install before grabbing tea.

EDIT: Saved time & hassle by the ISO file hiding on my PC 🥳 but I've wasted time messing with other things & playing with my portable online Mastodon 😅, so food first or I might bite someone.

#Life #Computers #Tech #Pendrives #Linux #Bootable

The Joy of Linux Theming in the Age of Bootable Containers

https://blues.win/posts/joy-of-linux-theming/

#HackerNews #Linux #Theming #Joy #Bootable #Containers #OpenSource #Customization

Ventoy, please just bloody work, will you?

#USB #Bootable #Ventoy 🖕

Как удалось сделать флешку в Linux-е с UEFI и UniversalAMDFormBrowser

Наверняка Вы знакомы с загрузочными флэшками usb. Тех самых, с которых устанавливали Windows, или же запускали UniversalAMDFormBrowser. Речь пойдет как раз о usb с типом EFI. Эти флэшки вставляются в выключенный компьютер. При включении, они загружаются через Boot Menu. На ноутбуках это меню может быть доступно по кнопкам "F12" ИЛИ "F10". В Windows же есть программа Rufus для форматирования таких флэшек, а что насчёт Linux-а? Для Linux-а же, как всегда, придётся читать дольше, чтобы найти что-то стоящее. Хотите узнать, что же это? Вам сюда. Мануал

https://habr.com/ru/articles/890632/

#linux #fdisk #efiboot #uefi #rufus #usb #amd_ryzen #amd #insyde #bootable

A great article on bootable containers and how my team integrates it into Podman Desktop by the great @cedricclyburn https://developers.redhat.com/articles/2024/11/27/get-started-bootable-containers-and-image-mode-rhel #bootable #containers #podman #podman-desktop

Tried running #linux #tails operating system off a #bootable #usb .
#distro seems to work nicely. It entirely disappears on shutdown due to
being in RAM only. But then the OS needs all settings and configuration
set afresh on next restart.

What about if I run a #nixOS #container #vm #virtalmachine #virtualize
inside Tails then I could maybe use my #configurationdotnix after each
reboot to save manually reconfiguring after each reboot. What is the
best way of doing this? Tips welcome. Thanks!

#EtchDroid is an #open-source application that helps you write images to USB drives.

Use it to make a #bootable operating system #USB drive when your laptop is dead.

https://github.com/etchdroid/etchdroid

the guy buys a nas (for his ai llm cluster) but why not store all the iso on the network, even as a torrent file but make it an app and then release the everything model based on what user install // usb5 may be route also#qox #gox #bootable

A collegue of mine (the great @vlntnrthbrg ), did a great demo about Bootable Containers (bootc): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fccox6sGCWA #containers #bootc #bootable

Google Drive Now Bootable https://hackaday.com/2024/07/02/google-drive-now-bootable/ #googledrive #LinuxHacks #filesystem #initramfs #bootable #dracut #linux #boot #fuse

If rufus made an impression on you while using Windows, make sure you try this on GNOME https://apps.gnome.org/Impression/ #bootable #usb

What's better than a #desktop screenshot? A desktop snapshot!

I spent a couple of months creating a set of scripts to build a #bootable #ISO image out of my #gentoo install, with all the packages, patches and configurations it involves.

Doing this allows me to create an archive of not only what my desktop looks like, but what it *feels* like. #gnu #linux keeps changing, and with it, my setup. It's hard to bring back old configs.

Check it out: https://github.com/mid-kid/RocketISO/blob/master/docs/RELEASE-2024.md

#ricing

I have done it, my Fedora 39 project has begun, just not on the laptop I thought it would…

On my recent post “My Laptops / Computers” I stated I had four currently working laptop computers and I expected to install “Fedora Linux” onto my present Linux laptop, swapping out it’s present installation of Ubuntu Linux for the brand new installation of Fedora Linux. Well at the time, which was of course only five days ago, this statement was as far as I was concerned correct, but I hadn’t allowed for the computer skills of my eldest son Jonathan.

You see I did have another laptop which I had bought cheap second hand on eBay, the problem was that not long after buying this laptop I tried to install a new OS onto it and I must have made a big mistake somewhere because I ended up with it stuck, locked in an “inescapable” loop, well inescapable for me anyway 😏

First things first I guess I should let you know what laptop my Fedora try out is going to be on, the laptop in question, as I said bought cheaply second hand on eBay and then “ruined” by me is a “Lenovo IdeaPad 120S-14IAP 14″ Laptop” with an Intel Celeron processor N3350 dual core, it has 4 GB RAM and a 32 GB eMMC storage device and a 14 inch screen.

Not a particularly impressive machine I guess but I would think ample to try out Fedora Linux on, anyway as far as I was concerned it was irreversibly locked into an inescapable boot cycle, but Jonathan had other ideas, he played around with it for a while and yes he eventually managed to get it to a point where it would go into it’s boot menu and could be started from a USB.

Now it was up to me, so using my Chromebook I found and downloaded the ISO file for Fedora 39, I was going to create a bootable USB using the “Chromebook Recovery Utility”, which is designed to create bootable USB’s to recover your Chromebook of course but can also be used to create other bootable USB drives as well.

Quick note here in case you wanted to do the same thing, the “Chromebook Recovery Utility” doesn’t recognise ISO files so if like me you miss this bit of info in the instructions the file won’t appear for you to select, but don’t worry it’s quickly fixable, just rename the file from an ISO file to a BIN file and it will work 😁

Once the USB drive is created you can put it into your target device and boot up from it, it should give you the option to run Fedora from the USB drive or to install Fedora onto your laptop / desktop computer, I chose to install. The install took a little while as you would expect and there were a few little setup choices once it was installed but it all went smoothly with no problems 😁

When ordinary Fedora is installed it is running the Gnome desktop and I realised I wanted the KDE Plasma Desktop which I have on my Ubuntu laptop as I am used to it and I also really like it. So next I went to the Fedora Spins page for the “Fedora KDE Plasma Desktop“, downloaded it and followed the instructions to install it, upon a reboot I now have the option to use the KDE Plasma Desktop.

I next downloaded and installed the Google Chrome browser which is my favourite browser to use and set it to be my primary browser. I also installed some of my favourite Linux apps, Darktable, GIMP and Krita amongst others but haven’t really had a chance to use them properly yet.

All of this was done at the weekend, it’s now Tuesday and I’ve been using only my new Fedora laptop since then, so far things have gone smoothly and I’m quite enjoying the experience up to now, in fact I’m writing this post on my Fedora laptop 😁

So I still have my Ubuntu laptop intact but now I also have a fully functioning Fedora laptop as well, I will try to keep you informed on my further adventures with Fedora in future posts.

But for now I will say bye bye and please, Be Well, Be Safe, Be Happy 😊💕🙏

https://passivevoyeur.uk/2023/11/21/fedora-linux-and-plasma-install/

#blog #bootable #browser #chrome #chromebook #darktable #desktop #ebay #fedora #fedora39 #gimp #google #ideapad #install #installation #kde #KDEPlasmaDesktop #krita #laptop #lenovo #linux #operatingsystem #os #plasma #recovery #ubuntu #usb #utility

Not to mention that OS/1337 should really excel with #transparency and #reproduceability in that the first #release should be completely possible to #DIY from scratch by running a single #bash script that yoinks said sourcecodes, .config files and in the end spits out a working & #bootable #1440kB 3,5" #FDD image.

Nothing fancy but something useable - even if it's just a #dropbear #SSH #Client (aka. #dbclient) and the basic #toybox tools to get #IPv4 connectivity.

#OS1337 #Linux #embedded

And yes, #complexity is #cost. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGmtP5Lg_t0&t=2882s

Ideally the OS/1337 distro sources is just a bunch of #bash #scripts and #config files that pull #sourcecode and compile binaries and shove stuff together...
https://github.com/OS-1337/OS1337

Because that's what maintaining that #distro is about:

Do the minimum amount of work necessary to make some #bootable #distribution that is useable.

Even if it's just to #SSH into stuff...

You Know I Keep That THANG On Me!

https://tilvids.com/videos/watch/43bf87ee-d288-4c08-b4c7-3c02fbf3df0d