Linux On A Stick

Not a new concept, but booting Linux Operating Systems from USB drives keeps getting easier and more robust. Here is a look at the Test Center's favorite four flash-drive bootable Linux distributions.

CrunchBang is a minimalist, lightweight and unofficial variant of Ubuntu. It took just under a minute to load from the USB drive to the full desktop.

With CrunchBang, installed applications, like Firefox, have the same look as the desktop.

The ability to browse and save to the NTFS hard drive is a big plus.

VLC Media Player comes installed as do a host of other multimedia and graphics applications that an end user could want.

CrunchBang didn't forget about applications for the business user, such as this word-processing editor that is included with GNOME office.

Although it's based on Ubuntu, Linux Mint has a flavor all its own. It took 1 minute and 49 seconds to load from the flash drive to the desktop.

Linux Mint comes with OpenOffice.org. Here, the file we created in CrunchBang and saved to the local NTFS disk opens up effortlessly.

The interface is beautifully engineered. The user experience is such that one could forget the OS was running off of a simple 2-GB USB drive.

The elegance of the desktop extends to the applications as well.

Linux Mint is loaded with useful applications, and can also save and open files stored on the local hard disk drive.

Users familiar with the Windows interface should have little problem navigating around Xubuntu. Xubuntu is an official variant of Ubuntu, although more streamlined. It took 59 seconds to load from the USB drive.

Xubuntu enables search and the same kinds of tasks as one would do in Windows.

As with the other Linux apps tested, Xubuntu comes preloaded with programs. AbiWord is the installed word processor.

There are applications for play (and work), including Totem Movie Player and Instant Messaging.

Pendrivelinux2008 is based on Mandrivia Linux. It was the fastest of the four to load from USB drive to desktop: 48 seconds.

Pendrivelinux2008 has the same 3-D effects as Windows' Aero interface and the desktop appearance is arguably even more customizable than in Vista or Windows 7.

This Linux OS comes with all of the system-monitoring tools that can be found in Windows' Oses.