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Dev boots a PC from Google Drive cloud storage — a storage-less laptop becomes a truly cloud-native computer

Ersei, the developer behind this so-called Cloud Native Computer, says the project was primarily a “silly” pursuit. There is also a problem with booting from Google Drive currently being very slow. However, the dev also boasts that “the possibilities are endless” and would welcome any companies or individuals who wish to get in contact and discuss commercializing this project or something related to it.

jfx ,

Soo, booting your computer from someone else’s computer?

I mean we’ve had thin clients and PXE for ages?

mox ,

And bootp before that, and tftp before that. So I think roughly… 35 years?

areyouevenreal ,

PXE specifically uses tftp doesn’t it?

noobface ,
@noobface@lemmy.world avatar

yep

SchmidtGenetics , (edited )

More being able to use cloud storage and not need a full physical secondary computer. In theory the cloud can be accessed anywhere, even if a portion is down, not the same for a single physical PC.

helenslunch ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

More being able to use cloud storage and not need a physical computer.

Are you going to access The Cloud telepathically?

SchmidtGenetics , (edited )

The cloud is many computers with a redundancy, you putting multiple PCs in remote locations so you can access when one goes down….?

One requires two physical computers, while one requires one and the cloud. Not a hard concept here or anything people.

helenslunch ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

Yes I understand how The Cloud works…?

SchmidtGenetics ,

Okay so you should comprehend how multiple “computers” allow a redundancy over a single one.

Yeah….?

You can’t access a remote physical computer without internet either? So what’s your point here?

helenslunch ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

I don’t have a point. Just asked a question.

SchmidtGenetics ,

I do, clearly you don’t if you need to ask the question.

So what are you doing here exactly? You’re not adding to the discussion, so that would make you a troll, no?

helenslunch ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

My guy, I’m not the one making non-sense statements and then refusing to answer questions about them. You’re the troll.

SchmidtGenetics ,

What is so hard to understand about one needing two full physical computers, while one needs a single full physical computer?

refusing to answer

I did answer and the statement wasn’t nonsense. What’s hard to understand about the difference between two and one…?

One has redundancy and one doesn’t… not shockingly they are different things for this reason……

helenslunch ,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

You said you could access the cloud with zero computers.

SchmidtGenetics , (edited )

deleted_by_moderator

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    catloaf ,

    The joke is about what exactly you’re doing with the cloud with no physical computer in front of you.

    SchmidtGenetics ,

    deleted_by_moderator

    •
    catloaf ,

    Because you said “not need a physical computer”. If there is no physical computer, with what device are you accessing the cloud?

    SchmidtGenetics ,

    deleted_by_moderator

    •
    Sanctus ,
    @Sanctus@lemmy.world avatar

    No one is arguing against its redundancy. We are saying you still need your own physical device to access the cloud. Whether its a computer, phone, or anything else. That was the joke.

    SchmidtGenetics , (edited )

    deleted_by_moderator

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    catloaf ,

    Traditional computing involves a computer on a desk. If everything is in the cloud, and there is no physical computer, then there is nothing on the desk. How do you access the cloud with a bare desk? That is the joke. Presumably you meant that there is no singular server, and a deliberate misinterpretation like the other commenter’s is a form of humor (Brône, 2008).

    SchmidtGenetics , (edited )

    deleted_by_moderator

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    catloaf ,

    Sometimes deliberate misinterpretation can be used as a linguistic device (Wang, 2008). Perhaps you consider that trolling or derailing, but regardless of whether or not you appreciate the joke, to continue in the thread does not contribute to a productive discussion.

    One study found that troll-like responses “deviate from expectations” and “easily capture unsuspecting users’ attention and manage to prolong futile conversations interminably” (Paakki, 2021). Perhaps it is your comments that deviate from community expectations and are prolonging futile conversations? Does it count as trolling if it’s not intentional? Appendix 1 shares the author’s criteria, so I suppose you can try applying them yourself.

    Personally, I’m finding this interaction positively fascinating. I’m a little disappointed I couldn’t easily find a more relevant analysis on linguistic humor, but that article by Henna Paakki actually looks really interesting. I highly recommend reading it, I’m only halfway through the introduction and I’m already hooked. For me, it’s absolutely been productive. I’m going to print that paper out and make it some night reading. Thanks!

    SchmidtGenetics , (edited )

    I specified in my original comment about a full secondary computer being a requirement already. So no, your joke is moronic considered the established context of the conversation. Using the coud doesn’t require a full secondary computer. Did you miss this key detail in my original comment or something……?

    Jokes can be appreciated in conversation, but not when they miss the original context…. I was clear in my original comment, so yeah fuck off with this “joke” bullshit, I was trying to have a conversation. All you are doing is being a troll here, especially when the joke just actually doesn’t fucking work…

    How is it a joke when you clearly misunderstood my original comment?

    datelmd5sum ,

    is the non physical cloud in the room right now?

    SchmidtGenetics ,

    Google redundancy.

    lewdian69 ,

    Nope! That’s the point. It’s in someone else’s room!

    GamingChairModel ,

    Do thin clients and PXE require a server specifically configured to serve a boot image? (Genuinely asking.)

    I’m not sure whether this project is doing something new by just accessing network resources that are nothing more than shared files, without any specific software running on the server (beyond just a server serving files).

    catloaf ,

    Yes, they do. The novel thing here is serving the files out of Google Drive.

    There are existing PXE servers that run over the Internet, like boot.netboot.xyz, so that you don’t have to run your own (assuming you trust everyone involved in that connection). Those are far more practical.

    umami_wasbi ,

    Good luck booting when Google nukes your account

    regrub ,

    Interesting experiment, but I’d rather have a personal machine that isnt completely useless when/if the internet goes out. Also would be nice not to depend on a centralized service that could easily revoke access.

    Seems like it’s better suited for company work computers.

    Treczoks ,

    when/if the internet goes out.

    Or worse, when it basically sends a different image…

    regrub ,

    Looks like a new CVE dropped lol

    shortwavesurfer ,

    Boot from IPFS!

    SzethFriendOfNimi , (edited )

    So we’re back to PXI PXE? Everything old is new again.

    Neat technical problem to solve though just for fun

    sugar_in_your_tea ,

    I set up a PXE image for the Arch installer and scripted the whole installation. The idea was to switch the boot order and have it auto-reimage, such as for a IOT device deploy.

    Once I built it, I never used it again. But it was a fun afternoon.

    SzethFriendOfNimi ,

    I wonder if it’s still used for POS such as registers?

    sugar_in_your_tea ,

    Maybe in larger orgs. I’m guessing it’s also used in public computers like in city and university libraries, as well as quick imaging of corporate computers at larger companies.

    vaionko ,

    I used it along with Fog in the military to image ~60 computers every once in a while.

    catloaf ,

    Yup. At work, we have a contractual requirement to replace certain PCs within a certain time frame. (Don’t ask, it’s stupid.) And we’ve got a lot of them. So we’ve got the Windows imaging process scripted to be very low-touch. (It also makes it much easier when someone leaves or has a really fucked up PC. Give them a new one, restore their data, reimage the old.)

    vext01 ,
    @vext01@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

    Was gonna say. Has no-one heard of diskless boot (PXE on x86).

    I’ve done it in the past with OpenBSD: man.openbsd.org/diskless

    Glowstick ,

    y tho

    deranger ,

    “Primarily a silly pursuit”

    Glowstick ,

    Yeah, but it then goes on saying

    “However, the dev also boasts that “the possibilities are endless” and would welcome any companies or individuals who wish to get in contact and discuss commercializing this project or something related to it.”

    And that’s what I’m saying “y tho” to.

    deranger ,

    I mean, shit. If I did something stupid for fun and some idiot business major wants to pay me for an implementation, regardless of how useful It actually is, I’m not turning it down.

    Revan343 ,

    Funny

    ReveredOxygen ,
    @ReveredOxygen@sh.itjust.works avatar

    funny

    FelipeFelop ,
    @FelipeFelop@discuss.online avatar

    I can see two issues here:

    It’s not really a storageless computer. It’s using EFI as storage to build the ramdisk.

    What happens if you need to change things because of a change of cloud account, change of cloud API etc etc

    catloaf ,

    No computer is ever really storageless. Even the BIOS has to be stored somewhere. If you didn’t have any storage, you wouldn’t be able to load any code, and it would not be a computer, it would be a brick.

    sugar_in_your_tea ,

    Not necessarily, you could build all of the boot stuff into hardware, have it send all input to the cloud server, and only have enough hardware to render images. Boom, no storage, everything is static.

    catloaf ,

    Where is that boot code kept? Is that not storage? I mean, even magnetic core memory is storage. An array of vacuum tubes is storage. If you wired up a bunch of transistors to perform mathematic operations, do the wires and transistors on the breadboard count as storage? Maybe not. If you did it on an FPGA, I would say yes, though.

    This is all semantics, of course, but it’s interesting to think about nonetheless. Ask a web developer and a BIOS ROM developer about what’s programmable, and you’ll get two very different answers. :P

    FelipeFelop ,
    @FelipeFelop@discuss.online avatar

    The point is that calling the computer storage less is what’s wrong.

    zelifcam , (edited )
    @zelifcam@lemmy.world avatar

    deleted_by_author

    •
    R00bot ,
    @R00bot@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    This is different (and far less practical than Apple’s approach). This one doesn’t download the OS and store it, it pulls the files from Google drive every time they’re accessed, so it’s incredibly slow by comparison, but is technically running from the cloud. The Apple one downloads everything it needs and stores it, then pulls from that local copy.

    zelifcam , (edited )
    @zelifcam@lemmy.world avatar

    deleted_by_author

    •
    SchmidtGenetics ,

    Yeah apparently adding to the discussion is frowned upon here, my comment chain got derailed by a “joke” because I tried to differentiate between the cloud and a PC to have a discussion….

    R00bot ,
    @R00bot@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    I was also adding to the discussion. You commented something it reminded you of, I commented the difference between the two. This may be an important point for those who are not familiar with either of these technologies.

    zelifcam , (edited )
    @zelifcam@lemmy.world avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    R00bot ,
    @R00bot@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    Yeah it’s very common unfortunately. I didn’t intend to undermine your contribution or anything. Sorry for that regardless.

    sugar_in_your_tea ,

    So it’s like PXE booting without a permanent local disk. If you have enough RAM, that’s probably fine.

    Or is it only downloading the kernel and loading literally everything else over the net with no RAM cache? If so, that’s terrifying.

    R00bot ,
    @R00bot@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    Yeah I believe it’s loading everything over the net. I haven’t looked super closely into it. I’m not sure what, if any, practical applications there are for this. Seems like it’s just a fun impractical project. I’m here for it. But you’re right about it being terrifying lol.

    cley_faye ,

    I’d argue it’s a bit worse than PXE booting, since they talk about having the actual bootloader on a USB stick, whereas the same thing could have been done by having the boot process remote too.

    LodeMike ,

    That’s not booting from the net that’s downloading an image and keeping it in RAM without sending any changed data back to the cloud, or needing to fetch anything once the image is downloaded.

    argh_another_username ,

    One of my duties in my first job was to build diskless computers. I’d record an EPROM in the station and boot from a Novell server.

    chiisana ,
    @chiisana@lemmy.chiisana.net avatar

    Netboot.xyz ?

    rockSlayer ,

    So they reinvented terminals, but worse

    sugartits ,

    Put a swap file on that bad boy boy and they’ve invented downloading ram!

    This is a revolution.

    Rai ,

    Aw yiss, all of my information on Google’s servers siiiiiicc

    seaQueue ,
    @seaQueue@lemmy.world avatar

    So it’s a thin client remote booting extremely slowly over a really high latency connection. Cool, the 1980s called and they want their tech back.

    Dave ,
    @Dave@lemmy.nz avatar

    However, the dev also boasts that “the possibilities are endless” and would welcome any companies or individuals who wish to get in contact and discuss commercializing this project or something related to it.

    “We’re looking for dumb investors that don’t understand technology so we can sell them a bridge.”

    seaQueue ,
    @seaQueue@lemmy.world avatar

    Bro forgot to liberally sprinkle blockchain and AI dust on his project before offering it to investors

    Plopp ,

    It’s basically booting and running the OS from inside the AI in the cloud!! The system doesn’t “use” blockchain, it’s made of blockchain! Every file is an NFT by default which provides a built in system for profit for everything you do on the computer!

    geophysicist ,

    Take my money

    Fedizen ,

    Wow this sounds useless. Congratulations or whatever.

    ILikeBoobies ,

    Reminds me of the image macro about using drive as your swap

    AVincentInSpace ,

    the thing that gets me is that said dev tried it first with amazon S3 and it worked infinitely better there

    Venator ,

    Probably a bit more expensive though, depending how much storage you need.

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