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Portable Linux USB Drive

Ryoutarou97
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Go to solution Solved by Sauron,

It depends, you can use the usb drive just like you would a hard disk and install the system on there or, as you mentioned, you could make a live environment with persistent data.

 

The downside to the first is that it is not guaranteed to boot smoothly on a different machine, especially if you use drivers for specific parts in your computer. The live environment is more likely to work fine.

1 hour ago, Ryoutarou97 said:

Alright, so then mint seems like the way to go. Having read up on the desktop environment guide, my questions looked pretty darn stupid, but if all that jazz is the same between versions of linux, what is different? 

While on paper you could obtain any distribution from any other, it would be a hard and tedious task - and there would be no point in the exercise. There are various levels of preinstalled software depending on the distribution, Arch for example just gives you the core system with a command line interface and leaves it to the user to install anything else they may want, which allows you to have your system just the way you like it if you are willing to spend the time necessary to get there.

 

Ubuntu and company aim to provide a more complete desktop experience out of the box, but are ultimately rooted in Debian - which means you could take Debian and get something very close to Ubuntu or Ming just by adding stuff (although Canonical does mod the kernel somewhat for Ubuntu afaik). It makes sense to "judge" these distributions based on what they offer out of the box rather than on what you could potentially be running on them - after all why bother when there are prepackaged solutions that are closer to what you want? So from that point of view, even just a different choice of preinstalled applications and desktop environment can be considered significant.

 

If you want to go deeper, the main differences between "branches" (Debian, Arch, Red Hat...) are things like the package manager of choice, the init system (systemd in most widespread distros), whether the kernel is modified in a certain way and at times the core development philosophies. Some branches are also oriented towards scheduled releases whereas others are originally intended as rolling releases.

 

So yes, you can run Cinnamon or Xfce or whatever on pretty much any distribution (and not just linux ones), but that's not the only defining factor.

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I have a computer at home running windows with 500gb of storage and a really fast 64gb USB drive (that sandisk one that's rated at something like 250gb sequential read and has decent write/4k perf) that is going unused. To learn how to use linux (seems like a good way to learn how an OS works on a lower level) without using the extra space on my SSD by partitioning it, I was considering installing linux to the USB drive using it on this one machine with all the data and OS being left on the USB drive. Looking into this it seemed like I should go for a live bootable USB with persistant data, but elsewhere it said to install to the USB drive. Which would be the best option to do this with?

 

I was also wondering if anyone had opinions on which distro would be best? Linux Mint  is generally recommended for moving from windows, it seems, and came from Ubuntu. The Cinnamon desktop was my favorite because it looks similar to windows. I can only be so adventurous. Ubuntu seems to be the most popular version of Linux but also it looked kind of... terrible. Would putting the Cinnamon desktop on Ubuntu make it look exactly like mint with it? Are there any other distros or desktops you would recommend?

Tip to those that are new on LTT forum- quote a post so that the person you are quoting gets a notification, otherwise they'll have no idea that you did. You can also use a tag such as @Ryoutarou97 (replace my username with anyone's. You should get a dropdown after you type the "@")to send a notification, but quoting is preferable.

 

Feel free to PM me about absolutely anything be it tech, math, literature, etc. I'll try my best to help. I'm currently looking for a cheap used build for around $25 to set up as a home server if anyone is selling.

 

If you are a native speaker please use proper English if you can. Punctuation, capitalization, and spelling are as important to making your message readable as proper night theme formatting is.

 

My build is fully operational, but won't be posted until after I get a GPU in it and the case arted up.

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Do a live installation if you want it to be stored in the usb, go with mint because its super fun and easy to mess around with and change desktop skins

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               EVGA 650 GQ | AOC 60Hz Freesync Panels x2 | AOC 144hz Freesync Panel x1

Epsilon- I7 2700k | Asus GTX 970 | Corsair 780t | DDR3 8GB 1600MHz | EVGA Z68 FTW Mobo

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Upsilon- i7 5500u | 6GB DDR3 | 720p 60Hz panel

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1 minute ago, 21rkosta said:

Do a live installation if you want it to be stored in the usb, go with mint because its super fun and easy to mess around with and change desktop skins

Reading more about linux it seems like my question about Ubuntu would better be put as: What would be the difference between it and mint if both used the same desktop... skin? Wait, is a skin the wallpaper or the part that manages the taskbar and all that jazz? Is a live installation installing it or making it into a live bootable USB? What's the difference?

Tip to those that are new on LTT forum- quote a post so that the person you are quoting gets a notification, otherwise they'll have no idea that you did. You can also use a tag such as @Ryoutarou97 (replace my username with anyone's. You should get a dropdown after you type the "@")to send a notification, but quoting is preferable.

 

Feel free to PM me about absolutely anything be it tech, math, literature, etc. I'll try my best to help. I'm currently looking for a cheap used build for around $25 to set up as a home server if anyone is selling.

 

If you are a native speaker please use proper English if you can. Punctuation, capitalization, and spelling are as important to making your message readable as proper night theme formatting is.

 

My build is fully operational, but won't be posted until after I get a GPU in it and the case arted up.

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its a little complicated, but TL DR; ubuntu was built to be like a main os and it is pretty much meant for regular computer activitys, while mint is an easy to customize and extreme custimizable and is meant for people who kinda want to learn about linux and play around with a lot of stuff

Omega-  I5 6600k | Gigabyte GTX 1060 | Cougar Panzer | DDR4 16GB 3000MHz | MSI Z170 Gaming M5

               EVGA 650 GQ | AOC 60Hz Freesync Panels x2 | AOC 144hz Freesync Panel x1

Epsilon- I7 2700k | Asus GTX 970 | Corsair 780t | DDR3 8GB 1600MHz | EVGA Z68 FTW Mobo

               Corsair 750W G2 | Acer R240HY x2

Upsilon- i7 5500u | 6GB DDR3 | 720p 60Hz panel

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2 minutes ago, 21rkosta said:

its a little complicated, but TL DR; ubuntu was built to be like a main os and it is pretty much meant for regular computer activitys, while mint is an easy to customize and extreme custimizable and is meant for people who kinda want to learn about linux and play around with a lot of stuff

Alright, so then mint seems like the way to go. Having read up on the desktop environment guide, my questions looked pretty darn stupid, but if all that jazz is the same between versions of linux, what is different? 

Tip to those that are new on LTT forum- quote a post so that the person you are quoting gets a notification, otherwise they'll have no idea that you did. You can also use a tag such as @Ryoutarou97 (replace my username with anyone's. You should get a dropdown after you type the "@")to send a notification, but quoting is preferable.

 

Feel free to PM me about absolutely anything be it tech, math, literature, etc. I'll try my best to help. I'm currently looking for a cheap used build for around $25 to set up as a home server if anyone is selling.

 

If you are a native speaker please use proper English if you can. Punctuation, capitalization, and spelling are as important to making your message readable as proper night theme formatting is.

 

My build is fully operational, but won't be posted until after I get a GPU in it and the case arted up.

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the jazz is actualy pretty different

Omega-  I5 6600k | Gigabyte GTX 1060 | Cougar Panzer | DDR4 16GB 3000MHz | MSI Z170 Gaming M5

               EVGA 650 GQ | AOC 60Hz Freesync Panels x2 | AOC 144hz Freesync Panel x1

Epsilon- I7 2700k | Asus GTX 970 | Corsair 780t | DDR3 8GB 1600MHz | EVGA Z68 FTW Mobo

               Corsair 750W G2 | Acer R240HY x2

Upsilon- i7 5500u | 6GB DDR3 | 720p 60Hz panel

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2 minutes ago, 21rkosta said:

the jazz is actualy pretty different

How so? It seems like a desktop manager would make every window look the same and be able to do all the same stuff regardless of which distro it was used on, what would be different?

Tip to those that are new on LTT forum- quote a post so that the person you are quoting gets a notification, otherwise they'll have no idea that you did. You can also use a tag such as @Ryoutarou97 (replace my username with anyone's. You should get a dropdown after you type the "@")to send a notification, but quoting is preferable.

 

Feel free to PM me about absolutely anything be it tech, math, literature, etc. I'll try my best to help. I'm currently looking for a cheap used build for around $25 to set up as a home server if anyone is selling.

 

If you are a native speaker please use proper English if you can. Punctuation, capitalization, and spelling are as important to making your message readable as proper night theme formatting is.

 

My build is fully operational, but won't be posted until after I get a GPU in it and the case arted up.

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It depends, you can use the usb drive just like you would a hard disk and install the system on there or, as you mentioned, you could make a live environment with persistent data.

 

The downside to the first is that it is not guaranteed to boot smoothly on a different machine, especially if you use drivers for specific parts in your computer. The live environment is more likely to work fine.

1 hour ago, Ryoutarou97 said:

Alright, so then mint seems like the way to go. Having read up on the desktop environment guide, my questions looked pretty darn stupid, but if all that jazz is the same between versions of linux, what is different? 

While on paper you could obtain any distribution from any other, it would be a hard and tedious task - and there would be no point in the exercise. There are various levels of preinstalled software depending on the distribution, Arch for example just gives you the core system with a command line interface and leaves it to the user to install anything else they may want, which allows you to have your system just the way you like it if you are willing to spend the time necessary to get there.

 

Ubuntu and company aim to provide a more complete desktop experience out of the box, but are ultimately rooted in Debian - which means you could take Debian and get something very close to Ubuntu or Ming just by adding stuff (although Canonical does mod the kernel somewhat for Ubuntu afaik). It makes sense to "judge" these distributions based on what they offer out of the box rather than on what you could potentially be running on them - after all why bother when there are prepackaged solutions that are closer to what you want? So from that point of view, even just a different choice of preinstalled applications and desktop environment can be considered significant.

 

If you want to go deeper, the main differences between "branches" (Debian, Arch, Red Hat...) are things like the package manager of choice, the init system (systemd in most widespread distros), whether the kernel is modified in a certain way and at times the core development philosophies. Some branches are also oriented towards scheduled releases whereas others are originally intended as rolling releases.

 

So yes, you can run Cinnamon or Xfce or whatever on pretty much any distribution (and not just linux ones), but that's not the only defining factor.

Don't ask to ask, just ask... please 🤨

sudo chmod -R 000 /*

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1 hour ago, Sauron said:

-Snip-

So yes, you can run Cinnamon or Xfce or whatever on pretty much any distribution (and not just linux ones), but that's not the only defining factor.

That answered it perfectly. Thanks! I'll go with an install to the USB drive because it's only going to be used on one machine. What's a non-linux distribution? Unix? GNU? Aren't those just separate OSes? Also, installation would be done using rufus or a similar program to make the USB bootable and then installing it from there to itself, right? Sorry for all the questions, I just don't want to screw anything up (will unplug the SATA drive just in case, pardon the pun).

Tip to those that are new on LTT forum- quote a post so that the person you are quoting gets a notification, otherwise they'll have no idea that you did. You can also use a tag such as @Ryoutarou97 (replace my username with anyone's. You should get a dropdown after you type the "@")to send a notification, but quoting is preferable.

 

Feel free to PM me about absolutely anything be it tech, math, literature, etc. I'll try my best to help. I'm currently looking for a cheap used build for around $25 to set up as a home server if anyone is selling.

 

If you are a native speaker please use proper English if you can. Punctuation, capitalization, and spelling are as important to making your message readable as proper night theme formatting is.

 

My build is fully operational, but won't be posted until after I get a GPU in it and the case arted up.

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8 hours ago, Ryoutarou97 said:

That answered it perfectly. Thanks! I'll go with an install to the USB drive because it's only going to be used on one machine. What's a non-linux distribution? Unix? GNU? Aren't those just separate OSes? Also, installation would be done using rufus or a similar program to make the USB bootable and then installing it from there to itself, right? Sorry for all the questions, I just don't want to screw anything up (will unplug the SATA drive just in case, pardon the pun).

A non Linux distribution would be BSD based or other Unix descendants, yes. It's important to make the distinction between a kernel (Linux, BSD etc) and a full operating system - GNU provides a lot of the core utilities used in open source operating systems (and even in commercial ones) but those by themselves are not an OS. GNU is in fact developing their own kernel (Hurd) but it's still very much in its early stages and it doesn't look like it will be ready anytime soon - you can find some distributions based on it though.

 

If you boot from a usb drive for the installation medium you will not be able to install the os to that usb drive. You need a live medium that is separate from the drive that you want to install the system to. So you could get a cheap usb drive to use with rufus and then install the OS to the fast one.

Don't ask to ask, just ask... please 🤨

sudo chmod -R 000 /*

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5 hours ago, Sauron said:

A non Linux distribution would be BSD based or other Unix descendants, yes. It's important to make the distinction between a kernel (Linux, BSD etc) and a full operating system - GNU provides a lot of the core utilities used in open source operating systems (and even in commercial ones) but those by themselves are not an OS. GNU is in fact developing their own kernel (Hurd) but it's still very much in its early stages and it doesn't look like it will be ready anytime soon - you can find some distributions based on it though.

 

If you boot from a usb drive for the installation medium you will not be able to install the os to that usb drive. You need a live medium that is separate from the drive that you want to install the system to. So you could get a cheap usb drive to use with rufus and then install the OS to the fast one.

Seriously thank you for all the help and writing out long posts, they really helped. Alrighty- let's get installing!

Tip to those that are new on LTT forum- quote a post so that the person you are quoting gets a notification, otherwise they'll have no idea that you did. You can also use a tag such as @Ryoutarou97 (replace my username with anyone's. You should get a dropdown after you type the "@")to send a notification, but quoting is preferable.

 

Feel free to PM me about absolutely anything be it tech, math, literature, etc. I'll try my best to help. I'm currently looking for a cheap used build for around $25 to set up as a home server if anyone is selling.

 

If you are a native speaker please use proper English if you can. Punctuation, capitalization, and spelling are as important to making your message readable as proper night theme formatting is.

 

My build is fully operational, but won't be posted until after I get a GPU in it and the case arted up.

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29 minutes ago, Ryoutarou97 said:

Seriously thank you for all the help and writing out long posts, they really helped. Alrighty- let's get installing!

No problem, I'm here to help ^^

Don't ask to ask, just ask... please 🤨

sudo chmod -R 000 /*

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