Bootable RAM

Have you ever imagine your box boots and runs right from your RAM when you switch it on?

Well, it may sound ridiculous but I believe that in the near future there will be a computer which boots and runs from RAM. No disk is needed to load an operating system. Instead you can maximize your hard drive(s) valuable space to store your precious documents, music and movie.

I will focus on Slax (a portable GNU/Linux Operating System) throughout this dicussion as Windows does not have the function required yet.

Here is the idea...

Portable operating system like Slax is an excellent candidate to hold this responsibility as it can be loaded into RAM using cheatcode (eg: slax toram) to copy slax into RAM (>300MB of RAM is needed to do this trick). If the idea is working, it needs only seconds to boot your box the next time you switch it on.

It is important to note that, RAM needs enough power for it to store data in which in the conventional computer, all data in RAM will be gone right after the computer is powered off.

As long as the RAM has enough current supply, I believe data like kernel and other modules needed by Slax will stay in RAM even after the computer is powered down.

As a result, the welcome screen may appear tremendously more quickly the second time you boot Slax as the kernel, device drivers and modules needed by Slax are already there in RAM. No need for the computer to load any hard drive to provide those data.

Wait a second, isn't that the same as hibernation concept ?

Nope, it is not. In the hibernation process all data in RAM will be stored in the hard drive before the computer is powered down. Differently, the idea I try to share here is that all data needed by an operating system to boot up and run are left comfortably in the RAM even after the computer is off, the power cable is unpluged.

The concept is somehow similar to BIOS flash. BIOS chip needs a battery in order for a computer to function. As long as the battery is in good condition and not removed from its place, the computer will work as usual.

The Challenges

1) How to continuosly supply current to RAM after shutting down my box.

2) Even if battery can be used to supply power, how to modify my conventional motherboard in order to replace Alternate Current power supply to RAM by Direct Current from batteries.

I need to work hard doing research and experiments to turn this idea into reality. Therefore, please do not hesitate to share your ideas and thoughts to polish this rough idea as I need your feedback.

-together we make a change-

NOTE:
I'm writing this post using Kwrite (KDE Text Editor) on my box running Slax which is copied to RAM. In other words my box's now running right from RAM.

Look at the picture below. It's a Top (shell's task manager) report. Note the underlined memory usage. It's awesome to see Slax's utilizing my RAM for only 57 percent.