but an sdcard is way too slow, it should be on a usb c nvme.
Hmm, yes, that would probably be better and faster. And not only that, it could be possible to include a grub boot partition as well. I wonder if that would easily
be doable, or would be just another can of worms.
I have tried this, and also using e-sata, though not as a daily driver, and it does work, but as you say it can be a bit wormy to setup; bios vs gpt partition table, efi vs legacy bios support, disk numbers can change depending what other disks are on the machine, etc.
One other problem is that boot-from-usb is usually not enabled by default so you have to fiddle with bios boot order every time.
One other problem is that boot-from-usb is usually not enabled by default so you have to fiddle with bios boot order every time.
No, leave the normal boot order as-is. To boot from the USB, just hit the 'boot-menu' key on boot-up. The 'boot-menu' key varies according to brand of computer. In a Lenovo, it's F12, in an ASUS, IIRC, it's ESC. Just select the correct boot-device and away you go. It's the same method as when you install the OS on the computer from a USB.)
"The 'boot-menu' key varies according to brand of computer."
Right I have a hard time remembering the bios keys, let alone the boot menu ones too, but yes this is better on foreign machines, and if you can't or don't want to permanently set the boot order.
For what it's worth, I often put a tiny sticker on the bottom of the monitor that just gives the two keys for getting into the BIOS menu and the Boot menu. It doesn't need to remain there for long till it soaks in. Then again, some brands of machines will display a prompt at boot time with those keys, if the BIOS setting is enabled (Lenovo, etc).
When I bought a macbook the first time (ostensibly to develop for iphone), I hated the UI, so ran linux in a virtualbox as my main os.
I think that would work really well from an external drive - but an sdcard is way too slow, it should be on a usb c nvme.