Actually a bit of both. The idea was to create a place where people could catalog their precious and semi-precious stones with photos and information about where they were found. I also added a system where collectors could trade stones with each other. I wanted each stone to have its own record and history even after changing hands. I have already built part of it but I was not sure how much interest there would be. Maybe I should give it another chance.

Congratulations on Quill. I have followed the project and will keep an eye on its development. I have also been working on a Nostr project related to precious and semi-precious stones. But I put it on hold because I was not sure there would be much interest in it.😀

Thanks @Johnny. I will check the login shell in /etc/passwd too. Getting Debian 13 to boot was a good step but now I seem to be collecting error messages instead of successful tests. Hopefully I can get past this one and finally see SkySigner USB OS working properly. 😊

Thanks for the suggestions. Every time I solve one problem another one seems to appear :D I will check the PAM configuration and account settings you mentioned. I am not giving up though. At least I am learning something new with every error. 😊

Well @Johnny. Here are the latest results from my SkySigner USB OS tests. 😊

I managed to boot Debian 13 from the USB drive but now I am stuck at this screen:

Debian GNU/Linux 13 skysigner-usb tty1
skysigner-usb login: skysigner (automatic login)
Authentication failure

So the USB boots but the automatic login fails. Looks like I have another problem to solve before I can continue testing SkySigner USB OS. 😊

First of all congratulations on designing and building it yourself. I wish you continued success with the project.

But I think you misunderstood what I meant by availability. I was not saying that you simply found a device somewhere. You actually designed and built it from scratch and that is impressive.

What I meant is that you have access to the electronic components and hardware needed to build something like this. Here in Türkiye many of these components have to be imported and even then some are difficult to find.

So building something similar to what you have made is not always a realistic option for us. Even if I wanted to buy your finished product I would first have to find a way to import it.

For example I have been wanting to buy a hardware wallet but Ledger is practically my only accessible option at the moment.

That is why I started thinking about SkySigner USB OS. I wanted to explore whether someone who cannot easily obtain specialized hardware could build a useful signing solution with something as common as a USB flash drive.

That is the question I am trying to answer. Not whether a USB drive can replace a properly designed hardware signer in terms of security but whether we can create something useful with the hardware we already have.

I will share the results here as soon as I get a chance to run the test.

That is exactly what I have been trying to achieve with SkySigner USB OS. I want the operating system to keep running in RAM after the USB drive is removed while the vault locks and the signer stops. When the USB drive is inserted again the user should be able to unlock the vault without rebooting the system.

I am currently working on making sure the system shuts down when the USB drive is removed and that no sensitive data remains in RAM. This is one of the technical challenges I am trying to solve with SkySigner USB OS. Thanks for the suggestion.

My goal is not to use an Android phone as a separate Nostr signer. I already have SkySigner which I developed myself and I want to take it a step further by turning it into a portable USB based signing system.

I want to explore what I can achieve with an ordinary USB flash drive rather than switching to another signing solution. The idea is to build on what I already have and improve its security and portability.

And SkySigner is not Windows-only. It already works on Linux too.

That actually makes a lot of sense. I have been trying to figure out how to keep SkySigner USB OS running after the USB drive is removed while making sure the vault becomes inaccessible. Separating the OS from the signer process might make this much simpler.

The idea of using udev to detect removal and immediately terminate the signer sounds worth testing. Then when the USB drive is inserted again the vault could start fresh and ask for the password.

I am still dealing with the shutdown problem during boot but I will definitely add this approach to my tests. Thanks for the suggestion.

You understood exactly what I am trying to preserve. I do not want SkyLordsLab BBS to turn into another website. I want people to connect through a terminal and experience it like a traditional BBS.

The SSH forced command approach sounds interesting and I will look into it. My biggest concern is still exposing my home network and the other projects running on my antiX netbook.

Your point about the node list and FidoNet is interesting too. I have already been working on the internal messaging system and recently added personal mail addresses for users. Exploring communication between different BBS systems could be a natural next step.

I am not in a hurry to publish it. For now I am enjoying building and testing everything locally. But I am definitely adding your suggestions to my research list .

Thanks for the suggestions. I have already managed to boot SkySigner USB OS but it shuts down shortly after starting. I have been trying to figure out whether the problem comes from the boot process or something in my own startup scripts. I will check the boot messages and logs you mentioned.

The NIP-49 suggestion is interesting too. One of my goals is to keep the vault locked until the user enters their password. I am also working on what happens when the USB drive is removed and inserted again without restarting the entire system. That part is proving to be one of the more difficult challenges.