~/learn

A whole computer on a USB stick.

A live USB stick starts a complete operating system without touching what is on the computer's disk. Use it, then pull the stick out and restart: the computer is exactly as you left it.

Why people carry one

Try Linux before you switch: See whether your Wi-Fi, screen and printer work, and whether you like it, before you change anything on the disk.
Rescue a computer that will not start: Boot from the stick, check the disk's health and copy your files somewhere safe, even when Windows is broken.
Give an old laptop a second life: A machine that crawls with its old system often runs a lighter Linux desktop well.
Leave nothing behind: On a shared or borrowed computer, a live session keeps your browsing and files off its disk. It forgets everything at shutdown.
One stick for a whole room: Classrooms, labs and kiosks boot every machine into the same setup, and a restart puts each one back to clean.
Your desktop in your pocket: Carry the same desktop and apps to any PC you can start from USB.

Make one in four steps

I am on

Get the ISO
Download it from the distro's page in the Library. Ubuntu-based ISOs are about 3 GB and Fedora-based ones about 4.5 GB, so use a USB stick of 8 GB or more.
Make sure the file is intact
Open PowerShell in the folder with the download and run:
```
Get-FileHash .\lawn-darts-linux.iso -Algorithm SHA256
```
Open Terminal in the folder with the download and run:
```
shasum -a 256 lawn-darts-linux.iso
```
Open a terminal in the folder with the download and run:
```
sha256sum lawn-darts-linux.iso
```
The long string it prints must match the SHA-256 checksum on the distro's page, character for character.
Put it on a USB stick
Use Rufus, or Ventoy if you want several ISOs on one stick: install Ventoy once, then copy ISOs onto the stick like ordinary files.
Writing erases everything on the stick. Copy off anything you need first.
Start the computer from it
Plug the stick in, restart, and press the boot menu key as soon as the screen lights up. Pick your stick from the list. The next part says which key your computer uses.

Find your boot menu key

Pick who made your computer.

Dell

F12

Restart and tap F12 as soon as the Dell logo appears.

F2 opens the firmware setup if you need it.

Leave Secure Boot on. Every linuxlive ISO starts with it on, using the signed boot chain from Ubuntu or Fedora.

Try it in a virtual machine first

A virtual machine runs the ISO in a window, so you can look around without a USB stick or a restart. VirtualBox works on Windows, Linux and Intel Macs; on Linux, GNOME Boxes is simpler still.

Give it at least 4 GB of memory and 2 processors.
Turn on EFI in the machine's settings so it starts like a modern PC.
Attach the ISO as the optical drive and start the machine.
To try the installer too, add a virtual disk before you start it: 20 GB for most distros, 32 GB for large ones like a GIS workstation. If it is too small, the installer says how much it needs.

Keep your changes

A plain live stick forgets everything at shutdown. To keep your files and settings, install the distro on the computer's disk, as the next part explains.

Install it on a computer

Liked it? linuxlive distros can install themselves, so the computer starts it from its own disk, faster, with your files kept between starts. Fedora-based ones download their system while installing, so connect to the internet first (on the network icon in the panel); afterwards they update as a whole.

Start the distro from its USB stick, then open Install on the desktop (or pick Install in the boot menu).
Pick the disk, your name, a user name and password, the computer's name and your time zone.
Type erase to confirm. The installer erases that whole disk, copies the system, and sets it up to start with or without Secure Boot, on newer UEFI and older BIOS computers alike.
Restart and take out the USB stick. The computer starts from its disk and logs you in.

Everything on the disk you pick is lost, including Windows or another Linux. Installing next to another system (dual boot) is not offered yet: use a spare computer, a second disk, or a virtual machine.

Questions

Will it change anything on my computer?

No. A live session runs from the stick and from memory. Your disk is only touched if you open it yourself, for example to copy files off it.

Is it safe to boot a distro someone else made?

Every Library distro is built by linuxlive's open-source pipeline from its public spec, so what it contains is exactly what its page lists. Check the download against the SHA-256 checksum on its page before you write it to a stick.

Can I use it on a Mac?

On a Mac with an Intel chip, yes: hold Option while it starts. Macs with Apple's T2 security chip also need "Allow booting from external media" turned on. Macs with Apple silicon (M1 and later) cannot boot these ISOs, which are built for Intel and AMD processors.

Why is a Fedora download bigger than an Ubuntu one?

Fedora-based distros start from a complete Fedora Atomic image, which lets installed systems update as a whole later on. It carries more than Ubuntu's starting point.