Project: Volatizer

Description:

Volatizer is a set of scripts that enable you to modify your OS, so that you have the options to load the entire OS to RAM memory, or just boot normally. This makes your system A) incredibly responsive, B) safe for experimentation, and learning by your own mistakes. It also has autosave and backup functions, that save everything within the /home/user folder, as well as some cleanup functionality that helps you keep your system small enough to be loaded to RAM. With normal boot option, you can boot as quickly as usual, allows you to keep your system up to date, install/uninstall software and make permanent changes, and free up some space if the system gets too big and fails to boot in Volatile mode.

Known supported distros

Ubuntu 16.04 (both Desktop and Server)
Ubuntu 17.04 (both Desktop and Server)
Ubuntu 17.10 (only Desktop was tested)
Ubuntu 18.04 (only Desktop was tested)
Ubuntu MATE 16.04 and 17.04
Ubuntu Gnome 16.04 and 17.04
Ubuntu Budgie 17.04
Kubuntu 16.04 and 17.04
Lubuntu 16.04 and 17.04
Linux Mint 18.2 (Cinemon, Mate, KDE)

(Generally speaking most Ubuntu based distros should be supported, but only these ware tested. If you run the Install.sh it will tell you if it's supported or not.
Ubuntu server may work with only 4GB of RAM, and boot way faster as it's usually way smaller then Desktop version, but you need to find and edit the RAM requirement in the Install.sh!)

Known unsupported distros

Debian(support may be added in future, there is a little difference in initramfs)
Fedora
Slackware

System Requirements

- 8GB(or more) RAM (the faster the better...) Update: 8GB was enough when I started this project, but the ubiverse is expanding rapidly... ;) 8GB may still be enough for lighter distros...
- Clean installation of a supported distro, or backup of your data before installation.
- 1-2 GB swap partition (if you only have 8-16 GB of ram it's a must, especially if you also have integrated graphics which also uses the RAM. Otherwise it's optional, but if you run out of RAM, your system may freeze, and you may loose data...)
- Another large partition for large and rarely used files that doesn't need to be loaded to memory...(optional if you have stuff that's rarely used and large, like photo, video, or music repository...)
- Separate drive for backup...(optional if you wnat to use backup functionality properly)

Known issues:

- I finally had a chance to tested it on a newer machine(not mine)... It doesn't seem to work in UEFI mode. Still works in Legacy mode.

Disclaimer:

This project is still in early development... It works, I'm using it, but it's kinda buggy, not really user friendly and it may break after a system update... Further more, it is very easy to just forget, and shut down/reboot before saving your work... It doesn't prompt! I made it available, but I would only recommend it if you're testing someting risky, since it makes restoring a broken system as easy as pressing reset, and waiting to reboot. That being said, I don't take any responsibility for your data losses, system crashes, etc.! That's on you!

Good news!

- Finally got 32GB of RAM into my old machine, so now I can resume development
- 4GB version of the Raspberry pi may enable me to load at least a raspbian light into RAM.

DownloadLink

Cloning: git clone https://github.com/RPBCACUEAIIBH/Volatizer.git

Check the README file for more on it's operation and new features... I may not edit the webpage every time I make a minor change or fix an issue!

Please consider donating to help keep all this freely available! Thank you!