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Distro for a small USB flash device

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  • 06-04-2014 4:55pm
    #1
    bonzodog2
    Registered Users Posts: 6,210 ✭✭✭


    Can somebody suggest a suitable distro to make a live Linux OS on a USB flash device with only 489MB ( 512,778,240 bytes free)

    I tried DSL, but I found its shell too minimal. It did boot tho!

    I tried PCLinuxOS KDE Minime, but it needed a few more MB on the device

    edit:its to run on a Dell E6400 laptop, Core2Duo CPU. Not bothered if 32/64bit OS


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    #2
    BopNiblets
    Registered Users Posts: 3,579 ✭✭✭BopNiblets


    Puppy Linux, SLiTaz, Tiny Core Linux, Unity, Vector Linux are some other small distros, but I have not used any of them.


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    #3
    niallb
    Registered Users Posts: 2,715 ✭✭✭niallb


    Depends on how much RAM you have. Compressed software images expanded to ramdisk or running in a compressed ramdisk can get around small storage.
    If the 6400 still has a DVD drive, you could look at knoppix and use the USB space for persistent storage.

    Other stripped down distros are worth considering. I keep a USB stick in my pocket with partedmagic on it.
    It's meant to be for managing disk recovery and imaging, but has lots of addons which can be stored on the USB and are loaded on boot,
    but I added a java addon for managing server consoles that are delivered via web browser.
    Including Java, skype, dropbox and teamviewer modules it takes up 576MB on the latest version. Without addons it's about 416MB.
    Out of the box it comes with Firefox installed, and the older versions from last September or so are free to download, a good bit smaller and will run with 1GB of RAM.
    Tinycore is a good suggestion also for getting maximum number of applications that you need into a minimum of space.


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