Portable linux flash drive

10 Best Linux Distros to Install on a USB Stick

The GNU/Linux community is blessed with 100+ distributions and we do our best to cover only the best of them on FossMint so if you haven’t checked out titles like the Best Linux Distros for Laptops in 2019, 5 Operating Systems for the IoT, and the Top 10 GNU/Linux Distros for Privacy & Security then you probably should.

Today, our attention is Linux distros that are perfect for running from USB sticks (and potentially other portable external storage devices) which means that we’ll be concentrating on portable Operating Systems.

These are Operating Systems that are designed to be minimalist in their resource requirements i.e. they can run on hardware with little secondary storage space and/or little RAM.

Portable Operating Systems also typically come in small enough sizes to fit on USB drives and CDs without losing the quality of their performance even when running on old machines. With that being said, here’s my list of the best portable Linux distributions.

1. MX Linux

MX Linux is an open-source antiX and MEPIS-based Linux distro designed to work efficiently on both old and modern PCs. It is easy to configure and has been developed to be simple enough for Linux beginners to easily get up and running with it.

MX Linux is powerful and sure to run nicely on your USB stick plus its online community is 100% welcoming of new users and developers.

2. Puppy Linux

Puppy Linux is a collection of completely customizable lightweight portable Linux distributions developed with a focus on memory friendliness and ease of use. It ships with common tools for daily computing, a “grandpa”-navigable UI, and several flavors to meet the individual requirements of potential users.

Puppy leaves such a small memory footprint that it can run entirely on RAM and it even enables you to save your session data separately.

3. Peppermint OS

Peppermint OS is a fast, fully customizable lightweight Lubuntu-based OS designed to integrate with web-based applications and cloud services.

It combines the functionality of Xfce’s panel and application menu with LXDE’s lxsession to offer users a fancy desktop environment and ships with the tools that users typically need in their workstation such as the Software Manager and the terminal.

4. Ubuntu GamePack

Ubuntu GamePack is an Ubuntu-based distro created to provide Linux users with 28,000+ games and applications that typically run on only Windows and MS-DOS.

It ships with preinstalled delivery systems for Internet games and apps including Lutris, Steam, Wine, and PlayOnLinux and conveniently allows users to keep copies of their game configuration and progress on multiple drives.

5. Kali Linux

Kali Linux is a Debian-based distro developed especially for penetration testing and digital forensics. It comes with 300+ premier tools built by an elite team of security experts and it is designed to be able to run on a flash drive in order to facilitate an unhindered workflow irrespective of place.

If you’re into cybersecurity/forensics you should check out our article on the Best 20 Hacking and Penetration Tools for Kali Linux.

6. Slax

Hailed as a Pocket Operating System, Slax is an open source Debian-based LiveCD distro with a modular installer that enables users to choose the apps they want to be installed on their machine.

In total, Slax is about 210MB and requires just about 256MB RAM to run. It works excellently even on old machines as it is available for both 32 and 64-bit architectures.

7. Porteus

Porteus is a full Linux Operating System optimized to be run from USB flash drives, CDs, or any bootable storage media including hard drives.

Being a little under 300MB, it is among the smallest and yet fastest distros on our planet as, among other features, it boots into the LXDE desktop in under 15 seconds! It implements a modular system which is available for 32 and 64-bit architectures with support for several world languages and a large user community.

8. Knoppix

Knoppix is a Debian-based Operating System designed for running directly from a USB drive and/or CD/DVD thereby successfully placing a Live Linux Filesystem on CD.

Knoppix was first released 18 years ago as one of the first LiveCD distributions and has been in active development ever since and giving rise to similar initiatives such as DSL.

9. Tiny Core Linux

Tiny Core Linux is a mini Linux Operating System developed by Robert Shingledecker to provide a base system using FLTK and BusyBox and it stands out for its small size and minimalist approach to applications manager, among other features.

The goal of the Tiny Core Linux project is to create an OS capable of booting from a CD ROM, pen drive, or booting frugally from a hard drive while completing operations speedily. It runs directly from RAM and can have its modules extended using extensions installed in the RAM or mounted from a storage device.

10. SliTaz

SliTaz is a secure and high-performance GNU/Linux Operating System designed to be fast, simple to use, and completely customizable. Its name stands for Simple, Light, Incredible, Temporary Autonomous Zone and with a total core LiveCD size of 35 – 50MB.

SliTaz is possibly the smallest distribution with a desktop GUI on the planet. It is so customizable that you can change anything you want including adding Desktop Effects, persistence (the characteristic of a state that outlives its parent process), etc.

Did I mention your favorite portable Linux distro? Feel free to add your suggestions and share your experience with us in the comments section below. And don’t forget to support us by subscribing to FossMint’s newsletter and sharing our articles.

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10 Best Portable Linux OS/Distros To Install & Run From USB

Undoubtedly, Linux is one of the most used and trusted systems for security and stability. But in some cases, if you’re using an old configuration of a PC or a very tiny notebook, you might face the urgency to have a Linux OS or distros that is lightweight and portable. There are many portable Linux OS out there on the web developed by expert software engineers that you can use.

When we’re talking about the plug-and-play type Linux distro, there is no reason to be afraid of losing all the files and applications every time you power off the system. The portable Linux OS or distro is designed so that the OS is totally capable of storing all the applications, configurations, and files on the portable drive.

Portable Linux OS or Distros

Before we go to the in-depth review of the most popular portable Linux OS or distros, let’s see why you wanna need to get a plug-and-play type Linux system. The most common uses of a plug-and-play type Linux distribution are for troubleshooting, quick file sharing, checking and recovering files from viruses, and cybersecurity. Also, if you’ve been looking forward to building your own privacy-protected machine, the portable Linux OS or distros can be an excellent choice.

The pros of using a handy and lightweight Linux distro are it is not too big to boot. That allows you to boot the OS through a tiny Pendrive. You can also choose which tools and packages you want to get on the portable OS in different Linux operating systems. Lastly, it hardly consumes a lot of system resources. In this post, we will see the most popular portable Linux operating systems.

1. Puppy Linux

The Puppy Linux is one of the most rated and user-friendly lightweight, portable and small Linux OS that you can get into your system. You can just make it bootable on a USB device or on a removable disk. It does not require a lot of system RAM and CPU. Even with poor memory and no SSDs, you can rely on Puppy Linux for stability.

Even on a Pentium or Celeron-based CPU with less than 500 MB of RAM, you can fire up your notebook or pc with the Puppy Linux portable OS.

2. Kali Portable Linux OS

The Kali Linux is very useful and secure for cybersecurity and encryption tasks. With Kali, you can turn your old pc or notebook into a safe network zone for your personal and professional work. Even the portable version of Kali Linux OS is as much as powerful as the actual conventional one is.

If you’re looking for a plug-and-play type security-concerned Linux OS, you can just plug in the booted Kali Linux on your PC. It does not require the system resource to have more than a dual-core CPU and 2GB of RAM.

3. Slax Portable Linux OS

The Slax is one of those lightweight and nifty Linux-based operating systems that you can literally call a LiveCD OS. The Slax is a new Linux OS that is a bit different from all the other traditional Unix-like and Linux operating systems. With a bootable flash drive, you can create the Slax bootable file and make your system live. This modular-based portable Linux OS does not require much ram or CPU.

4. Ubuntu GamePack Linux OS

Most people recognize Ubuntu as a GNOME-based heavy Linux OS which is compatible but yet not quite in the race of being a portable Linux OS. But here comes the Ubuntu GamePack distro, the lightweight and compact version of Ubuntu that you can install on your removable data drive and make your systems live.

The original Ubuntu GamePack OS is built with enormous modifications for making it suitable for gamers. This one is actually a 3rd party redistribution of Ubuntu, but you can use this free and open-source plug-and-play type Linux distribution on your system without any worries.

5. Porteus Plug-and-Play Type Linux OS

Porteus is a Slackware-based removable and plug-and-play type Linux OS. This Linux OS is much like other regular distributions. However, there is one special version of Slax of the Porteus, which is very popular with the name Slax Remix. You can get this Porteus portable Linux OS for your small, mini-computer or notebooks for day-to-day regular lightweight tasks.

6. ArchBang Portable Linux OS

If you’re a fan of Arch Linux, then this portable Linux OS is totally for you. The ArchBang is the most minimalistic distribution of Arch that can be installed on a computer with just a simple Pendrive or removable disk. It only requires less than 500MB of RAM and a little over 1GB of drive storage.

7. MX Portable Linux OS

This free and open-source Debian-based lightweight portable Linux OS officially comes under the MEPIS (Modular Manufacturing Execution System) category. The kernel of the MX Linux OS is designed in a pattern so that the user never faces any issues when it’s time to test this plug-and-play type Linux distribution on the machine. With a good USB flash drive, you can just boot the file on your drive and fire up your system.

8. Peppermint Distribution

The Peppermint distribution is a true combination of Debian Linux with the Xfce desktop environment. Many also consider this great combination as the most lightweight and portable Lubuntu Linux OS. Nonetheless, it can be installed easily with the conventional rules on a machine.

This portable distribution is capable of being integrated easily with the hardware. The kernel, terminal shell, and other little GUI-based tools have made this Peppermint Linux OS super attractive, compact, and lightweight.

9. Knoppix Portable Linux OS

If you’re a Debian fan and want a native plug-and-play type removable USB disk/CD-based Linux distribution for your system with the traditional DPKG or APT installer, then you can use the Knoppix Linux OS.

The hardware required for this portable Linux OS is very unbelievably low. You can just fire up your machine with Knoppix if your system has a RAM of 500 MB. And the disk space is an optional choice as we will be using the live USB method. By default, it uses the LXDE desktop environment, but you can use any other DE on your system as well.

10. SliTaz Portable Linux OS

The SliTaz Linux OS is totally for the type of computer setups that have very old hardware. You can fire up your old laptop or notebook with this handy and compact Linux distro with only a little over 192MB RAM.

This secure and open-source Linux OS has a very unique, simple, and classic Openbox desktop environment. This setup ensures that the DE is not using a huge number of system resources.

Final Words

Using a portable Linux OS might be helpful if your system hardware has a low configuration. All the above-mentioned operating systems are open-source and Linux kernel-based. Most of the above-mentioned distributions are also compatible with Pi boards. In the entire post, we have seen a brief illustration and overview of the most used and easy-to-use portable Linux operating systems.

If you find this post useful and informative, please share this with your friends and the Linux community. You can also write down your opinions about this post in the comment section.

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