Linux Best Linux distro for running off a USB drive?

A

arvnd

Disciple
Guys, any idea which is the best linux distro for running off a pen-drive? It should boot up reasonably fast, and should be easy to install popular apps.

Currently the best one I found is Slax...very small install, lightning fast boot, and easy to install apps. But it's a little buggy at times and getting some apps to work is a pain.

Tried ubuntu, but it's damn on USB drive. Also tried MCNLive/Pendrive linux. It is good, but no support. Havent tried xubuntu or eebuntu yet.

Any idea what other distros might be suitable? BTW my hardware is really fast..only restriction is that I should be able to boot and work off the USB drive (preferably a 4GB one) without touching the hard disk.
 
Fedora has a dedicated USB mode installer. Try it. It has optimizations for USB drives and at the same time Fedora has a vast repo of software you can install.

Use it with Xfce Desktop Environment.
 
arvnd said:
Currently the best one I found is Slax...very small install, lightning fast boot, and easy to install apps. But it's a little buggy at times and getting some apps to work is a pain.

Any idea what other distros might be suitable? BTW my hardware is really fast..only restriction is that I should be able to boot and work off the USB drive (preferably a 4GB one) without touching the hard disk.
Click to expand...

Nothing could close to Puppy Linux for its small footprint, ease and other benefits when we talk about USB sticks. Read more here:

Puppy on USB pen drive
 
linux said:
Nothing could close to Puppy Linux for its small footprint, ease and other benefits when we talk about USB sticks. Read more here:

Puppy on USB pen drive
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. I have already tried out puppy and DSL. Both were a little too basic for my taste :) Yes it works for sure, but I wanted something with a little more eyecandy and preferably KDE.

MHG said:
Fedora has a dedicated USB mode installer. Try it. It has optimizations for USB drives and at the same time Fedora has a vast repo of software you can install.

Use it with Xfce Desktop Environment.
Click to expand...

Thanks I'll check this out. I hope this is light weight (though not as light weight as puppy/DSL). I'm looking for something intermediate (not too light weight as puppy/DSL, but not as heavy as a full live ISO image of something like Ubunutu). Slax is one such option which I found..looking for other options.
 
arvnd said:
Thanks for the suggestion. I have already tried out puppy and DSL. Both were a little too basic for my taste :) Yes it works for sure, but I wanted something with a little more eyecandy and preferably KDE.

Thanks I'll check this out. I hope this is light weight (though not as light weight as puppy/DSL). I'm looking for something intermediate (not too light weight as puppy/DSL, but not as heavy as a full live ISO image of something like Ubunutu). Slax is one such option which I found..looking for other options.
Click to expand...

Whatever you do just avoid heavy DE's like KDE and Gnome. Xfce is one of the best DE's for USB drives.

And the default look may not be very pleasing but you have plenty of themes to choose from. Just get a nice looking theme. I made my Xfce desktop look like a mac once (can't give screenshot but google for mac4lin). :clap:
 
^^ puppy looks interesting. I didnt like it when I tried it earlier due to it's drab looks, but like you said, adding some themes and eyecandy might help.

I'll try one of the puplets..lighthousepup looks promising :)
 
^^ yet to try it out Praks.
Currently I'm using Slax. It's working quite well. I'm just exploring more options.

Will try out some puplets during the weekend and let u know.
 
Slax is still the best for me. Tried out lighthousepup. They've tried to add some eyecandy, but it still looks soooo old (90s style) to me. It's almost depressing.

So I'm sticking to Slax. It's got everything I need. Thanks for the suggestions :(
 
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