[Discuss] linux on usb stick

[Richard Pieri]

Stephen Adler wrote:
> Now here's an interesting test point. When I run linux on the usb memory
> stick through VMware on my desktop, the response is phenomianl. No
> delay. It's snippy. The big test is surf to the daily show and fire up
> one of Jon Stewarts show, in full screen. Runs like a charm.

That's because VMware heavily caches I/O. Direct USB flash I/O 
performance is somewhere between poor and abysmal. This is compounded by 
using anything other than ext2. Journaling destroys USB flash I/O 
performance through excessive writes. This is the most significant 
reason why I eventually gave up on the idea of trying to run Linux 
directly off USB flash as any kind of daily driver. It can be made to 
work, but it can't be made to work well.

-- 
Rich P.