I can't get the word "nomadic" from Roberts text out of my head

[samweller]

I love the word nomadic.  It's an attractive word to me.  I gives me the sense of freedom.  Reading Roberts description got me wondering.

I am going thru the typical process of "learning a different way of thinking".  I've been a Puppy user for about two and a half years although my original desire was dsl.  I bought the book but the distro proved to advanced for my ignorance. 

Here's my question in the form of a scenario.  I'll use Roberts in my story if he'll kindly allow. 

Roberts is travelling up the West Coast and comes to my town.  We meet at a coffee shop and talk.  We talk Linux.  Roberts is willing to show me some cool stuff.  I take him to my home to meet my family and to where I have a computer with a frugal installation of a stock TCE with no extensions added. 

Here's the question:

Can Roberts take out his theoretical usb thumb drive, plug it in my computer, press a few buttons and POOF! have his entire personal save file activated on my computer?  And can he then press a few buttons, another POOF!, and then I put my usb thumb drive in and press a few buttons and (yes another POOF!) and then show him my desktop that I had stored?

Is that what is meant by nomadic?

[roberts]

Yes, assuming the computer can boot from usb. I carry such a pendrive.

For internet access it would be required that wired ethernet is supported in base. In my optional directory, I have a collection wireless support extensions, which allow me internet access with little effort.. Of course if you have a non-standard netcard or wireless that is unique then it would take more effort. But the desktop and stored applications would work fine.

In your senario, since you already have a frugal install, I could boot with options to use my desktop setup on my pendrive and not need to have to boot from usb.

[samweller]

So to have such a pendrive I would just need to install TC on a pendrive and always save to it?  My computer will not boot from usb.

[roberts]

Yes, but, as you noted, not all computers will boot from a pendrive, and even then some require/expect a certain format for the pendrive, USB-ZIP, USB-HDD, USB-FLOPPY, etc,. Most new(er) computers boot fine with unetbootin or USB_HDD. YMWV.

[samweller]

I think that I am thinking something more in the terms of a multi-user button. 

When I first booted up TC I saw the 'backup/restore' button.  I was thinking that TC always booted up to a stock system and then you mounted a partition or thumb drive and hit the backup/RESTORE button.  The computer would then upload a save file and present your desktop the way it is saved on the usb according to the setup on the usb.  Then once you were done, you would hit the BACKUP/restore button, any changes would be saved, unmount the usb and the system goes back to stock.

That's what I thought TC did, which is why I got so mixed up there at the beginning.  (that and not reading the faq's, instructions, directions, wiki, etc) 

I suppose there are problems with the scenario I envisioned from a technical point of view.  From a simpletons view, it makes sense.

Anyway thanks for clearing it up.  Nice work with the distro.