Exactly what it sounds like: XYZ Computing describes a project to get a M10000 Mini-ITX motherboard to boot from a stick of USB flash memory. It uses Puppy Linux, and is pretty straightforward. As it happens, I have exactly that motherboard: I remember trying to get it to boot USB stick memory and failing, and this author suggests that upgrading syslinux might be all it takes. I’ll have to try it again.
Yes, syslinux will help make sure that your USB stick is bootable. Another assumption is that it is FAT16-formatted, and of course, that it has the Puppy Linux files 🙂
Feel free to visit the Puppy Linux forum and share your experiences: http://murga.org/~puppy