List of Linux distributions that run from RAM on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
This is a list of
This is a list of Linux distribution
A Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel and, often, a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one ...
s that can be run entirely from a computer's RAM
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* ...
, meaning that once the OS has been loaded to the RAM, the media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...
it was loaded from can be completely removed, and the distribution will run the PC through the RAM only. This ability allows them to be very fast, since reading and writing data from/to RAM is much faster than on a hard disk drive
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with mag ...
or solid state drive
A solid-state drive (SSD) is a solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies to store data Persistence (computer science), persistently, typically using flash memory, and functioning as secondary storage in the Computer ...
. Many of these operating systems will load from a removable media
Expandable storage is a form of computer storage that is designed to be inserted and removed from a system. Some forms of removable media, such as optical discs, require a reader to be installed in the computer, while others, such as USB flash dr ...
such as a Live CD
A live CD (also live DVD, live disc, or live operating system) is a complete bootable computer installation including operating system which runs directly from a CD-ROM or similar storage device into a computer's memory, rather than loading f ...
or a Live USB
A live USB is a portable USB-attached external data storage device containing a full operating system that can be booted from. The term is reminiscent of USB flash drives but may encompass an external hard disk drive or solid-state drive, ...
stick. A "frugal" install can also often be completed, allowing loading from a hard disk drive instead.
This feature is implemented in live-initramfs
In Linux systems, initrd (''initial ramdisk'') is a scheme for loading a temporary root file system into memory, to be used as part of the Linux startup process. initrd and initramfs refer to two different methods of achieving this. Both are comm ...
and allows the user to run a live distro that does not run from ram by default by adding toram to the kernel boot parameters.
Additionally some distributions can be configured to run from RAM, such as Ubuntu
Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: '' Desktop'', ''Server'', and ''Core'' for Internet of things devices and robots. All ...
using the ''toram'' option included in the Casper scripts.
Table
See also
*tmpfs
tmpfs (short for Temporary File System) is a temporary file storage paradigm implemented in many Unix-like operating systems. It is intended to appear as a mounted file system, but data is stored in volatile memory instead of a persistent storage ...
; by mounting a tmpfs and running files that are placed on this, files and programs can be run from RAM, even on Linux distros that do not run completely in RAM
* Clustered file system
A clustered file system is a file system which is shared by being simultaneously mounted on multiple servers. There are several approaches to clustering, most of which do not employ a clustered file system (only direct attached storage for ...
; network file systems are another way to avoid needing to use a (slow) harddisk (at least faster if using a E-IDE harddisk)
* initrd ("initial ramdisk"), a scheme for loading a temporary root file system into memory in the boot process of the Linux kernel.
* Lightweight Linux distribution
A light-weight Linux distribution is one that uses lower memory and/or has less processor-speed requirements than a more "feature-rich" Linux distribution. The lower demands on hardware ideally result in a more responsive machine, and/or all ...
* List of live CDs
This is a list of live CDs. A live CD or live DVD is a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM containing a bootable computer operating system. Live CDs are unique in that they have the ability to run a complete, modern operating system on a computer lacking mutab ...
* List of tools to create Live USB systems
This is a list of utilities for creating a live USB. Only those listed on Wikipedia are included.
Overview
Features
Multiboot means that the tool allows multiple systems on the USB stick, as well as a bootloader on the USB flash drive to choos ...
* SYSLINUX, a suite of lightweight IBM PC MBR bootloaders for starting up computers with the Linux kernel.
* Windows PE, a non-Linux operating system that can also be run from RAM.
References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:List of Linux Distributions That Run From Ram Light-weight Linux distributions Light-weight