Portable Linux

sgtsmokey · February 16, 2017

Which portable Linux would you recommend? Many come with preinstalled packages and some are only limited to predefined packages.

is there any version that allows me to install full Linux software or do all of them do it and I have yet to discover this.

I tried Ubuntu with consistency storage, but I couldn't find a consistent storage maker that would make use of my 128GB flash drive.

So I am looking towards the portable flavors, do any of them have an IDE (Netbeans) as well as office suites

Ronda · February 16, 2017

You can write the installer ISO to another flash drive, boot from that and then do a full, proper install on the 128GB model as you would on an internal drive.

Schyken · February 16, 2017

Heyo! Alright, in short I wouldn't recommend any 'portable' Linux OS. They're just usually way more trouble than it's worth. If you want to install an operating system to a USB drive, I recommend either Peppermint OS which is lightweight and still compatible with Linux programs... Solus is also really efficient and reliable, looks great, and is solid. There's a smaller software base on Solus but all the software is vetted to ensure they work properly within Solus. (I really love Solus by the way but would recommend the MATE edition if you're using it on a USB drive. Budgie works just fine though)

Azgoth 2 · February 17, 2017

The biggest issue you'll run into with a portable install is speed. USB is a lot slower than a hardware install, so you'll want a distro that specifically addresses this issue by being super duper tiny (way lighter than even Lubuntu) and/or loading as much of itself into memory as possible (so it doesn't have to access the drive very much).

In general, any of the ultra lightweight Linux distros will be what you want for this. I'll point you specifically at SliTaz--it's a pretty neat distro, designed from the ground up to be compatible with portable USB drive installations. It's also super light and loads entirely into memory (sort of--I've run into occasional issues where this doesn't quite seem to work as it should, but all of the core OS stuff definitely loads up properly). It doesn't have a lot of software availability, but it's still enough to do basic tasks like editing some simple documents (last I checked, Libre Office wasn't ported to it yet, but Abi Word and GNUmeric are). It can compress its file system before saving to minimize write cycles to the flash drive (EMMC memory has far fewer write cycles than SSD storage--part of why it's so cheap). SliTaz isn't the most user friendly--it has some quirks you have to learn to deal with, but if you've got a decent bit of Linux knowledge under your belt and aren't afraid to muck with the occasional config file, you should be fine. I have a 32GB flash drive with SliTaz on it that I carry with me for those rare times when it's the perfect thing for whatever I'm doing.

Another option might be Puppy Linux. I haven't used it so I can't speak to it directly, but people tend to like it a lot and say very good things about it. And it's designed to be a super lightweight distro, so it could be a decent candidate for a flash drive install.

Tiny Core would be the last one t look at. It's super lightweight--you can get a 9MB ISO image, or a ~100MB one with a lot more software pre-installed. Unlike SliTaz, it's not designed for portable installations, but it's so damn small it can be used like one. Tiny Core is...odd, in a few ways, and I don't quite recommend it as a general-purpose desktop distro. But if you just need to occasionally spin up a Linux USB on some computer, it should be fine.

Villanity · February 18, 2017

Which portable Linux would you recommend?

For personal use, I would recommend OpenSuse. Go to their Official Website for more details.

Is there any version that allows me to install full Linux software or do all of them do it and I have yet to discover this?

Yeah, they allow installing full Linux software which can be achieved by making the persistent USB flash drive. Using Softwares like one I attached.
So I am looking towards the portable flavors, do any of them have an IDE (Netbeans) as well as office suites?

Well, you can use WINE for installing most(well most) of the Windows Applications in Linux Distros.

I also recommend using a 3.0 flash drive for getting performance otherwise, you may experience some desktop freezing.

Universal-USB-Installer-1.9.6.3.exe