Does anybody know of a list of usb live-bootable distros, with links to the download pages?
I have a coworker who wants to switch his gaming computer over to Linux, he has Linux experience but from like a decade ago.
He’s not partial to any particular distro, so I was hoping to just put together a multiboot flash drive with a bunch of live images he could try. But I’m not sure what I should include, and what has live images, vs. install only images.
I’m most comfortable in an environment with apt, so Debian and Mint are of course already covered, but if the gaming-specific distros have live usb images, that would probably be the best thing for him to try.
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For all those suggesting Bazzite, Ublue (including Bazzite) images are offline installers only, see: https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/couldnt-get-aurora-into-test-mode-in-live-usb/4567
Be sure to include Nobara and Bazzite, both of which are gaming focused distros. Both are Fedora based, but Bazzite is known more as a SteamOS 3 clone. There’s also another gaming focused distro, it just escapes my mind. But I love Fedora KDE as is and then just installing the required software. So I’d say add Fedora, Nobara, and Bazzite for sure!
Might check out distrowatch. Just note that popularity for them just means how many times had that entry been looked up.
Its not a complete list but check out https://distrosea.com/
Endeavouros has a live bootable version which is just basically better Nobara in my humble opinion, you just need to install steam through pacman and for the most part you are good to go.
For first-time Linux users, I always recommend one of the main user friendly distributions - it is much easier to ask or look for help this way.
So, Fedora, Ubuntu or Opensuse.
Their installers all can live boot
The three “normal” suggestions are:
- Mint - https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
- Pop!_Os - https://pop.system76.com/ ; and
- Bazzite - https://bazzite.gg/
Tails is the closest I know
Mint can be live bootable and is the most often recommended distro for newbies.
Mint slaps
So does mIRC.
I typically search distrowatch for any need. Just use search filters. You’re likely to get the most comprehensive list in this way.
Everyone is replying as if the OP is asking about normal live environments, but I think he’s asking about having Linux actually fully installed on a usb instead of the ssd. In that case, most of the replies don’t apply. However, Mint has a way to install itself properly on a usb drive. Boot with the burned iso, insert a second usb drive, unmount it, and then install on it (you choose it during installation). It has to be unmounted first.
