Put more than one Linux 'distro' on the same USB stick

[mikkh]

I knew this was an option as I've seen multiple versions of Linux on one USB stick on eBay - mostly for fairly high prices considering they're just selling you a USB stick and a few minutes of their time.

Most (no all) don't have the imagination or knowledge to go much beyond putting Ubuntu or Ubuntu clones on them and often have old versions on too.

I knew it must be a fairly simple process, it was just finding the right program to do it.

That program is "ventoy" and like most things Linux, there's the geeky command line way with pages and pages of instructions or the simple GUI version which is literally two clicks.

Download the GUI version, unzip/extract it and in MX Linux at least, just click the relevant (64 bit) icon to launch the program.

Grab a spare USB stick (it will be wiped, so check you don't need something on it first) and run the install option in ventoy

Now copy as many Linux (or Windows) ISO's as you like onto the USB stick and go back to ventoy and pick the update option. You will now have a bootable USB stick with a simple menu to pick any of the ISO's you've just copied onto it.

Job done and you can simply upgrade or install new ISO's when you like and just use the update option again.

[jazzazz]

I did that long ago, but to DVD (Not CD,s weren't large enough from what I recall), but as I also recall to boot up from a disc, it took quite a bit longer, so when I eventually found the one I liked the most, Mint 17, I installed it.

That was on my first desktop, a Wndows XP, machine. Can that also be done with a MAC or a Chromebook??

[mikkh]

Booting from USB 3 is much quicker than booting from CD/DVD and USB sticks have far greater capacities with 64 GB being the current sweet spot for value - about £4 for Kingston ones.

There's no install option for MacOS or Chromebook, but you should be able to boot an Apple machine with a stick made in Linux or Windows by pressing the option key

[mikkh]

Struggling to even get close to filling a 128 GB stick - just about enough to fill a 32 GB one at the moment.

For those interested or bored enough to know my current choices, they are as follows:

MX Linux AHS (Advanced Hardware Support) - Best Linux by far IMHO. [so why have the rest? Shh, you can't have just one, that's the whole point]

PCLinuxOS Mate edition - A good alternative to MX Linux touted as a beginners 'distro' but perfectly adequate for more experienced users too.

Linux Mint (again in the Mate edition) - The acceptable face (to me at least) of Ubuntu derivatives. Not as full featured as the above two though.

Emmabuntus - Nothing to do with Ubuntu despite the close sounding name. It's designed as a lightweight educational distro for the Third World, but makes an acceptable desktop for anyone.

Partition Magic - Rescue CD with partition (obviously!) and other tools for fixing PC's

HBCD PE edition - Another rescue CD but boots to a live (cut down) version of Windows

Kaisen Linux - Another rescue CD (really, are you obsessed with these?!) Much more advanced than the previous two though

Active@Data Studio - Dare I say it? Yes, another rescue CD but with specific programs not on the others and technically all Linux 'live' CD's are rescue CD's anyway.

Clear Linux - Interesting one designed by Intel no less. Very minimalist and enhanced for Intel CPU's apparently but works fine on AMD CPU's too

Elive - Self professed most beautiful Linux. It's not but you have to have an angle in the Linux world. One of the few to concentrate on the Enlightenment (lightweight) desktop.

Mabox Linux - My preferred Arch based distro. Lightweight and mostly user friendly but still can't shake it's geeky Arch roots. Good one to try on very old hardware.

Despite my aversion to Canonical and South African millionaire owners with dubious agendas, I will probably put an Ubuntu one on there too.
Most likely Lubuntu a supposed lightweight version, but at least 3 of the others already mentioned are lighter and I could name many more.

[mikkh]

This can get a bit silly, currently 23 Linux distributions on my stick and there were more - just deleted three of them and could easily dismiss a dozen more.

Two interesting variations on my favourite MX Linux are staying though. AVL Linux which is basically MX Linux with a ton of extra video and audio programmes and a lightweight desktop and MXDE-EFL an ultra light variant suitable for older machines that can't cope with the full MX version.

I actually started this with a view to selling them on eBay because the current ones on offer are (to me) obviously put together by people with little or no long term experience of Linux.

The only problem is while the sticks themselves are cheap in the bigger sizes (32 GB and 64 GB) I wanted to source some smaller ones in bulk to keep the costs down. The 16 and 8 sizes are literally only pennies difference and obviously not that popular when you can get bigger ones for virtually the same price. There must be warehouses full of these smaller sizes gathering dust, but nobody seems to making an effort to shift them by making them cheaper.

[jazzazz]

Is using Linux Distro the same as booting up one from a Disc (DVD), a bit slower than installed?? I did that when I had my old WindowsXP machine, to see which one I'd liked best settling on Mint 17.

Can they also be used on a MAC??

[mikkh]

Using a 'live' USB stick is faster than a CD/DVD, assuming it's a USB 3 stick in a USB 3 port.

They can be used on an Intel based MAC, but not on the newer M1 chips (yet)

Most will work, but finding all the hardware is not guaranteed - could fail to pick up the wi-fi or touch pad on some versions.

You should be fine with mainstream versions of Linux, like Mint, Fedora, Manjaro, MX Linux etc.

[jazzazz]

I have an Intel based Later 2014 Model MacMini, that I just recently upgraded to, "Monterey," MacOS.

Where can these be purchased, Amazon maybe???

[jazzazz]

Where can these be purchased, Amazon maybe??

[mikkh]

USB sticks with Linux distros on them? Or Intel based MAC's

eBay is your best bet for the first and probably the second too

[jazzazz]

USB STICKS that will work in intel based MACs :-)

I'd trust sellers on Amazon more though :-)

[jazzazz]

I went looking for one, any, on Amazon, and any I found, I'd ask that question regarding MACs, and either got that it won't or the person said, it never worked at all :-)

[mikkh]

I used an old (Intel based) macbook for my experiments and everything booted (and installed) fine, but bearing in mind I was completely replacing MacOS, it was a lot easier.

If you want to keep MacOS, that's a whole different world of pain navigating 'bootcamp' partitioning and other geeky stuff!

You can still use the 'live' option though without touching the installed OS.

Linux and MacOS share a common Unix/BSD ancestor, so theoretically are more compatible than with Windows.

Thinking back I can't actually remember whether I used a DVD or a USB stick, but it's worth a go.

www.balena.io/etcher/

Forgetting the multiple versions for now, use the above program to put a single Linux distro on a USB stick and see how that goes.

Just go to the Distrowatch website and download a Linux ISO first.

[jazzazz]

I definely would not want to blow away my MacOS, LOL. Heck I just recently went to the bother to upgrade to, "Monterey."

[mikkh]

Still using this on a regular basis and it's much better than trying Linux on a virtual machine via VMware or VirtualBox which run from within your current OS and have several obvious disadvantages.

1) You're running two systems at once and need a bare minimum of 8 GB of RAM, preferably 16.
2) It's virtual (software based pretend) hardware doesn't give a real picture of how it would perform on your real hardware and is more a sneak peek than an actual test.

Running it 'live' from Ventoy, you get the full picture of how it would look and perform if you chose to install it for real.

The real reason for this addendum is the discovery of a feature that was probably always there, but I've only just found!

It will search within folders/directories meaning you can tidy up and put similar ones together but still access them from the main boot screen.

Still with 20+ on there, it was looking messy and cluttered so I split it into four categories

1) Lite for older hardware including Antix, probably my most used on ancient computers.
2) Rescue including the excellent Hirens Boot CD (Windows 11 version)
3) Gaming for those into that with many gaming related programs like Steam already installed
4) Mainstream, the most often used versions like MX, Mint and others.

The main menu still comes up as all of them together, but pressing F3 gives a directory view to find things easier.