Live distro?

Usjes

Hi,

With each passing year I find myself using more and more different computers to access the web, even in my own home I might access from three different boxes in a day. With my own machines obviously I can keep them up-to-date and apply whatever security settings I see fit but increasingly I find myself logging on from other people's hardware (invariabley Windows-based) where it is not really my place to go fiddling with security settings. So I am wondering if a bootable live distro on a USB stick might be a good solution. I haven't used a live distro in years and I am wondering what the current state is. So, can anyone answer the following questions:
1. How exactly do they work, if I want to boot from the same USB key across a whole bunch of random pieces of h/w does this mean that the live distros come packed with drivers for every imaginable h/w ? Or might I go through having to search for drivers for each new machine I try to boot on?

2. Can the USB distro check itself for updates each time I connect to the web. ie. given that my primary concern is security, if the distro on the key gets hopelessly out of date over time then this will defeat the purpose.

3. Looking around there seem to be some distros described as USB-bootable and others as Live CD/DVDs, is there any real difference ? I mean can I just take the contents of a CD/DVD and put it on a USB drive or do I have to restrict myself to a distro which is tailored to be USB bootable?

4. Am I correct in thinking that I should be able to get something to fit on a 4Gb USB stick ?

5. Can anyone recommend a disto that might fit my needs? Given that I would most likely be re-booting a m/c that already has Windows up and running I would Ideally like something that boots as fast as possible. I dont want to have to wait 5 mins for Linux to boot up just do a quick internet search.

Thanks,

Usjes.

excollier

I use Puppy Linux as a USB portable distro, and yes, it will keep itself updated. It behaves just the same as a normal os.
A 4GB usb stick will be plenty. Puppy is very fast booting and easy to use, and despite it's name, it is a very able os, with all you need for most tasks you can name.
All you ever need is access to a computer that will boot from usb. Once it has been set up, from the third boot sequence, it takes well under a minute to boot.

Read here:
http://www.puppylinux.com/
http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview%20and%20Getting%20Started.htm

Johnboy1951

Usjes wrote: »

Hi,

With each passing year I find myself using more and more different computers to access the web, even in my own home I might access from three different boxes in a day. With my own machines obviously I can keep them up-to-date and apply whatever security settings I see fit but increasingly I find myself logging on from other people's hardware (invariabley Windows-based) where it is not really my place to go fiddling with security settings. So I am wondering if a bootable live distro on a USB stick might be a good solution. I haven't used a live distro in years and I am wondering what the current state is. So, can anyone answer the following questions:
1. How exactly do they work, if I want to boot from the same USB key across a whole bunch of random pieces of h/w does this mean that the live distros come packed with drivers for every imaginable h/w ? Or might I go through having to search for drivers for each new machine I try to boot on?

2. Can the USB distro check itself for updates each time I connect to the web. ie. given that my primary concern is security, if the distro on the key gets hopelessly out of date over time then this will defeat the purpose.

3. Looking around there seem to be some distros described as USB-bootable and others as Live CD/DVDs, is there any real difference ? I mean can I just take the contents of a CD/DVD and put it on a USB drive or do I have to restrict myself to a distro which is tailored to be USB bootable?

4. Am I correct in thinking that I should be able to get something to fit on a 4Gb USB stick ?

5. Can anyone recommend a disto that might fit my needs? Given that I would most likely be re-booting a m/c that already has Windows up and running I would Ideally like something that boots as fast as possible. I dont want to have to wait 5 mins for Linux to boot up just do a quick internet search.

Thanks,

Usjes.

1. When running live the OS identifies the hardware and loads suitable drivers for that hardware.
Those drivers might not be the optimum, but generally they work sufficiently well for the purpose.

2. Yes you can update a Live OS, provided the USB install allows for 'persistence' .... meaning changes you make in one session are stored for use in another session, provided you elect to boot into your stored 'persistent' session.

3. I have not found any real difference ... some distros release specific ISOs and others don't ..... but all I have tried have booted from USB regardless.

4. Yes .... but be aware that updates will need storage space, so how much space is required will depend on the original ISO, what apps etc it contains and how often it gets updated.

5. Your usage needs will determine which version of any distro will suit you. The smaller the ISO (less bloat) and the 'lighter' the desktop, the quicker the boot .... particularly on PCs with ram limitations or slow processors. Also, the read speed of the USB stick itself can be a factor in boot speed.
Generally speaking the less services you require running the quicker the boot for a given situation.
If you only need a browser to access emails then it could be very lightweight indeed ..... but if you want to view on line video and other such, then it will require more software.

Your requirements are the most important factor ...... then get the smallest and most stripped out ISO you can that fulfils those needs.

Puppy is a popular one, as mentioned above, but most distros will have something very close to what you need.

I use this a version one on USB

http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/pclinuxos/pclinuxos/live-cd/PCLinuxOS-LXDE-Mini-2012.12.iso

I use a 32 bit ISO with standard kernel for best compatibility across hardware.

I can install this one on a spare partition; make changes to it such as adding what I need and taking out what I don't, and then create my own ISO using the tools provided, and put that on a *partition* of a USB stick.
The other partitions on the USB stick I can then use for storage.
In fact this distro allows me to have several of its ISOs (and mine) on the one partition, so that I can choose to boot whichever suits my purpose at the time.

I like the flexibility

bonzodog2

You might check out YUMI

human 19

by the eway... with a "live" distro any updating changes you make will not be saved so you would have to update them each time.

4GB would be too small for comfort for a decent sized distro

I have a 16GB stick with a 32-bit and a 64-bit distro installed directly on to them via the usual install process. That way they can be kept up to date and I can preinstall games or whatever on them, depending on who I want to show it off to

Puppy was mentioned, but you may have problems connecting to the net depending on the connection that is being used. I couldnt get it to work with mobile broadband.

Johnboy1951

human 19 wrote: »

by the eway... with a "live" distro any updating changes you make will not be saved so you would have to update them each time.

<snip>

Not true ..... please search about 'persistence' on LiveUSB etc.

I have been using it for years!

human 19

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Not true ..... please search about 'persistence' on LiveUSB etc.

I have been using it for years!

fair enough.
never bothered. Just installed straight to USB

bappelbe

human 19 wrote: »

by the eway... with a "live" distro any updating changes you make will not be saved so you would have to update them each time.

4GB would be too small for comfort for a decent sized distro

I have a 16GB stick with a 32-bit and a 64-bit distro installed directly on to them via the usual install process. That way they can be kept up to date and I can preinstall games or whatever on them, depending on who I want to show it off to

Puppy was mentioned, but you may have problems connecting to the net depending on the connection that is being used. I couldnt get it to work with mobile broadband.

I use Puppy a lot - 4GB is loads for normal use
More recent versions have connect to the web more easily than old versions, though I have not tried on mobile broadband.

The real answer is to try a few and see which you like then use that.

There are lots of versions of Puppy (and probably others) that come with different look and feel, and different software preinstalled. You can use one that is binary compatible with other major distros (Ubintu/Slackware) so getting software is not a problem.

As mentioned above, puppy saves your environment so you can boot with all the settings you shutdown with, including browser history etc. Also this can be encrypted incase you loose the USB with your mail passwords etc on it.