P.S. or if you have a spare USB 4GB or better that’s sufficient. You just will fit less iso’s.
If you want to do a single bootable iso (you’ll only need a 4GB-8GB USB) you can also use Rufus or BalenaEtcher instead of Ventoy.
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Further to original posts here’s a bit more of a list for reference:
- System76 (Pop!_OS & COSMIC)
- Tuxedo Computers
- Framework
- Slimbook
- KDE Slimbook
In case you haven’t found them already!
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Have had a system76 desktop for a year now. Like it very much over Microsoft type computers
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is there a benefit to using something much bigger like an external hard drive?
For doing the ISO live testing and/or installing? No, I don’t think so - you only need enough space for the ISO image file(s) you want to try out or install… it would just be wasting capacity otherwise…
Might be a small benefit if you had a bootable “recovery” drive with additional utilities to help repair a broken OS, but a medium to large USB stick would suffice.
But if you have a spare external drive and would otherwise need to buy a USB stick then it’s probably fine to use in the interim - as long as it will be bootable okay by Ventoy or similar… (which I believe it should be - you can basically run Linux off an external hard drive permanently connected via USB to a PC).
P.S. so that is also a way to dual boot if you only have 1 internal drive and/or limited partition space - I don’t like having 2 bootable partitions on the same physical drive so prefer multiple drives with one OS each.
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I’ve been using Ubuntu Linux as my daily driver for around 7 years. I love it and in my opinion, it has become even easier to use over the years. For the novice user, once it is installed, Ubuntu takes care of itself. You can complete all of your updates in the GUI and download apps in the GUI. No command line needed if that is your speed (although that takes some of the fun out of it).
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I’m currently a Fedora with KDE Plasma user (as my daily driver), and have also tried out Pop_OS! COSMIC (alpha 7) - big fan of the latter but found it not quite stable enough for use as a daily driver (yet), so not ideal for anyone new to Linux until at least the beta is out I think…
I’m also just starting to play round with Arch Linux & Hyprland as a dual boot alternate to Fedora - but that’s definitely not for people new to Linux!
I’ve recently returned to Linux early this year after ~22 years (having previously used Red Hat, GNOME, etc, for a couple of years back 2001-2002-ish), so am still relearning /getting back up to speed myself in many areas (a lot has changed)…
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There are so many good options with Linux, compared to the “you get what you get” experience with Windows and Mac.
I’ve successfully deployed Ubuntu Linux on my parents and grandparents old Windows machines and both are able to operate it without problems. My kids are growing up with Linux at home too. It is truly incredible that a free and open-source option is both available and is actually great to use.
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apologies for late reply. Thanks, This is helpful.
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Absolutely! And it is very user friendly with the right variants, especially the ones with less frequent updates like Ubuntu & Mint and even Debian.
KDE Plasma as a desktop choice is also easily the smoothest transition for non-techy people coming from Windows as it feels familiar while not attempting to replicate a Windows experience.