Post #3766295

2026-07-12 17:45 UTC

Fediverse do your thing: I’m looking for a #linux distro to boot off a usb key, either full install or “live system”. Persistence is a requirement for the latter. Last time I did this, it was regular Debian stable installed and booted off the usb key but read/write cycles killed the device after some use. I’m ok-ish doing Debian-on-usb again but also open to alternatives. #askFedi

Replies (3)

@angrylinus@mastodon.social 2026-07-12 17:48

@sid77@infosec.exchange flash sticks are horrible really. i/o is usually shocking and ruins the experience. so I opt for a cheap nvme and one of these ....

Open ##3766480
@Ichinin@infosec.exchange 2026-07-12 20:54

@sid77@infosec.exchange could modify the install to write agains a ram disk using tempfs.

Open ##3769073
@MaddieM4@raphus.social 2026-07-12 20:56

@sid77@infosec.exchange my immediate first thought is Puppy Linux. That's not really a distro so much as a collection of existing distros that have been repackaged to optimize for size and speed, loading the entire root FS into RAM at boot and using an overlayfs technique for persistence. They have puppified versions available of Debian, Ubuntu, Slackware, and Void, based on the download page. https://forum.puppylinux.com/puppy-linux-collection Bear in mind I don't have much personal experience with this, it's just a thing that I know exists because my partner is a distrohopper with a Ventoy stick so stuffed with ISOs that it would probably do something for inflation fetishists.

Open ##3779621