With #Windows10 support ending, the "try #linux" wave got a boost, but to install linux is a tad intimidating for many, and while trying "live USB" is a simple way to test stuff, it is limited. You reboot, all your changes are gone.

The one alternative that would seem to be a great one in this setting, a "live" usb, but... writable...

This seemed quite common before, in the days of "portable applications" installed on a USB drive and "plug in and run", having "portable linux" was easy to set up and get going. This does not seem to be the case anymore.

A tad sad, since it would be a great way to get people "over", keeping old content on the PC. Changing BIOS settings to boot USB first is a lot easier and less risk than the entire installation process.

The "MX Linux" distribution seem to have kept this, and presents a simple way to set up persistence from the live USB stick.

#NomadBSD (not Linux, but an easy to use BSD alternative) seems great.

For Ubuntu, use "mkusb" .

https://itsfoss.gitlab.io/post/how-to-create-persistent-live-usb-using-mkusb-on-ubuntu/

NomadBSD fails on my new work laptop https://forum.nomadbsd.org/t/install-fails-on-boot/2601 ideas welcome

#runbsd #nomadbsd

Thinking to move this (low-end) laptop away from Linux…

Options:

• #FreeBSD (UFS)
• #NetBSD
• #OpenBSD

I can use #NomadBSD to check compatibility hardware with FreeBSD but I am not aware of any "live a la Linux" ISO version for the other two…

Another thing that is confusing me is: I know that FreeBSD uses a partition table similar to Linux, while OpenBSD and NetBSD by default create a lot of partitions; NetBSD also uses letters as MS-DOS for partitions and I am not used anymore to handle partitions this way.

Any recommendation or suggestion is welcomed!

Thanks... 🙏