I really liked this idea..

[olegil]

OS on ROM isn't necessarily required, you could fit them with flash disks easily (and cheaply). CF cards can run in IDE mode, you know, and they are cheap in the sizes up to 256M, at least... Even better if Alan decided to purchase a rather large lot of them. Hmm, maybe I should make an IDE to CF adapter this week? I have plenty of CF cards on my desk :-)

[olegil]

Sure, why shouldn't you be able to? CF in IDE mode is just another IDE device, afaik... Ok, there's a few things it doesn't support, but nothing critical... I'll try it out if I get the chance :-)