Live distributions

HOW WE TESTED…

As usual, we tested the distributions on a virtual machine for convenience. But we also wanted to get some insight into how well these distributions worked on genuinely lower-end hardware, so we tested the various flash drives on an old Asus laptop that we thought was typical of the type of older machine to be found in the back of an office cupboard. The specs included a 2.1GHz Intel dualcore CPU and 4GB of RAM; so, we’re not talking superlow specs.

We kept an eye out for problems, but by and large, none of the distributions were slow on this hardware.

We tested all of the common functions in each and every distribution, and these included installing applications, browsing the web, and viewing and playing media. We put each distro into a mode whereby storage would be persistent and changes would be permanent, as we felt that this is the most useful way of using a live distribution. ive distributions are distros that run directly from a medium such as L flash drive without having to be installed on a hard drive. They can give you a fairly complete desktop and loads of full, useful applications. All you should have to do is put the flash drive into an available slot, turn the computer on, and press a key to enable USB booting. Live distros can get you out of a scrape when your system is messed up, and are also an excellent way of showing the uninitiated what Linux is capable of.

The Linux Lite distribution is specifically aimed at providing a desktop, along with documentation for use, which is suitable for Windows switchers. Ubuntu should be familiar to most of you, and we’ve decided to make the installer ISO into a live boot system to see how the mainstream distro stood up to the more specialised distributions in this role. EasyOS is a Swiss army knife of useful tools and unconventional approaches at every turn. Meanwhile, Porteus provides a fairly lightweight desktop and the means to start adding applications that you