(Somewhat) New user wanting to live boot Linux

[ASomewhatNewLinuxUser]

Hey, I've used Linux from time to time and I want to see if I get myself to be able to live boot Linux.
My only limitation is I have a 2 gigabyte flash drive and want to know any distros I should be pointed to.

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

 

[crtlbreak]

Most live boot version of Linux are under 2GB when uncompressed - they are trimmed down versions of the DVD iso's.
As with any answer it needs to be known what you are trying to achieve?
If you want to play audio and edit movies etc - then try Ubuntu Studio ?
If you just want a solid desktop machine that works with a desktop GUI - Ubuntu 20.04 LTS or Fedora desktop - version 31 or 32 by now.
If you want to run a webserver and database server etc etc - try a headless Centos (Community enterprise Operating System - a public free reskinned RedHat).
If you want all the analytical toys and tools then try Knoppix Live.

After downloading the desired iso

insert your USB and

sudo fdisk -l

will give you your USB device in a notation as /dev/sdx


make sure the device boot flag is set to "bootable" under

sudo fdisk /dev/sdx

then

sudo dd if=/path/to/iso of=/dev/sdx bs=2048 conv=notrunc,noerror status=progress

will write the image to the USB drive

 

[ASomewhatNewLinuxUser]

I am wanting to just have a USB I can use on my old computer when I'm just surfing the web and can bring along with me elsewhere if I so need to.

 

[crtlbreak]

This is a good place to start
https://www.pendrivelinux.com/live-cd-repository/

 

[arochester]

Slax ? https://www.slax.org/

 

[captain-sensible]

slackware live 64 bit 700Mb : http://bear.alienbase.nl/mirrors/slackware-live/latest/slackware64-live-xfce-current.iso you need iso2usb.sh to put it on usb

32 bit https://bear.alienbase.nl/mirrors/slackware-live/latest/slackware-live-xfce-current.iso

 

[ASomewhatNewLinuxUser]

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the help. I've chosen a distro to use.

 

[KGIII]

Most live boot version of Linux are under 2GB when uncompressed

To give this some numbers:

My "Current Distros" folder (excludes archives of distros past) contains 127 .iso files.

Of those, only 32 files are larger than 1.8 GB.

I figure 1.8 GB ISOs should only expand to somewhere under 2 GB, so I went with that as my maximum.

That's just 'current distros'. If I look in my archives, the numbers will favor smaller ISOs.