ramOS: Boot Debian into RAM

This project boots and runs Debian entirely inside RAM. All changes are temporary within memory, users still able to made permanent changes through the init.sh and start.sh script. This made x86-64 computers act like embedded devices, enabling them to survive sudden power outages or being unplugged at any time without the risk of filesystem corruption. As the successor to ramfs, ramOS features the following major changes:

• Build the root filesystem with debootstrap: This allow user to build the boot files with Raspberry Pi, WSL or any Linux environment, instead of physical x86-64 machine or VM
• Save RAM: Reduce the file size to 33% of ramfs
• Gracefully, properly: Override the mount point and execute init.sh via local-bottom script

Clone the project

git clone https://github.com/danchouzhou/ramOS.git

Executing shell script

cd ramOS
chmod +x mkbootfiles.sh

# Build CLI only
sudo ./mkbootfiles.sh

# To build the Xfce desktop environment
sudo ./mkbootfiles.sh --desktop

Make a boot disk

For UEFI environment

• Simply copy the ./EFI directory to a disk formatted with FAT32, and the disk is ready to boot!

For Legacy BIOS

• Assume that your boot partition is /dev/sdb1
• Copy ./EFI to the disk
• Install GRUB (i386-pc)

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt
sudo grub-install --target=i386-pc --boot-directory=/mnt/EFI /dev/sdb
sudo umount /mnt

Validation

• A8-7600 / F2A88XM-HD3 / DDR3 16 GB / Secure Boot PASS