Just in case people think there's nothing happening at the moment - here's a brief update.

• A LOT of work is going into making FlashLinux run off a JFFS2 filesystem.
  

  Why is this an issue?

  USB keys will eventually wear out as each memory block is limited to 1,000,000 (ish) writes (before that block becomes unusable)
  

  JFFS2 is a filesystem that was designed to run on flash memory (i.e. memory with this "feature") and incorporates many bells and whistles including what is known as "wear levelling". Ths idea is that using this filesystem can extend the life of your key by a factor of 300 or more !
  At the moment we don't really know how long FlashLinux on an ext2 filesystem would last as far as "everyday use" is concerned. It could be three months or it could be three years .. however if it's three months or less, JFFS2 will certainly have a dramatic effect on howuseful FlashLinux us.
  

  Also

  Because JFFS2 compresses on the fly (as opposed to requiring a static image currently used by cramfs in the current FlashLinux) it may be possible to make the entire FlashLinux filesystem read-write. This will also have a dramatic effect on the user's abilility to customise the distribution.
  

• More work and thought is being put into Windows integration.
  

  There are two main issues here;

  • Actually installing the key
  • Moving files to and from the key in a Windows environment
  Using ext2, the problems have been partially solved using the documented ext2 driver for Windows .. however no such driver exists for JFFS2. One solution being looked at is to provide a complete QEMU environment on windows from which to install FlashLinux onto a key.
  

  Further to that, if anyone fancy's their chances writing an implementation of JFFS2 for Windows, please let is know .. :-)