How to work on Linux from a USB ?

How to work on Gnu/Linux on USB ?

Some of us may not have had the opportunity to work on Gnu/Linux, irrespective of the fact that Android OS on our smartphones (74% of all global smartphones) is Gnu/Linux based OS. Almost 99% of all Fortune 500 companies use Gnu/Linux in their daily operations like data processing, Internet web server software etc. 

If you use Google, Facebook, Youtube, Whatapp or LinkedIn, you are already a hardcore Linux fan !! This tutorial is to help you start working on Gnu/Linux on a desktop or laptop to enjoy it's ease of use and simplicity...

Gnu/Linux OS can be set up on your ordinary windows based desktop PC or laptop using a USB of at least 8 GB capacity. This 8 GB USB is your Solid State Drive (SSD) secondary memory. The computer RAM will continue as your RAM, you will continue using all desktop hardware resources except the hard disk. If you use a 32 GB USB as bootable USB, it will give you 30 GB secondary SSD memory.

1. Making your bootable USB - First you have to make your empty USB bootable with the particular LInux OS distribution you choose. There are thousands of Linux distributions with different desktops available on the Internet but the most famous ones are Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Red Hat, Suse, Mandrake, Elementary  and so on.  

1. Download the interested linux distro ISO file from the concerned website into your windows Downloads folder. I love the latest June ‘20 release Linux Mint 20 Ulyana iso file. It is 2 GB, 64 bit file with Cinnamon desktop. Click here .. 

2. Under Windows accessories you have a software option for creating a bootable USB disc. Click on it and and mention the source .iso file in the downloads directory and the destination USB drive. Click on start and after asking your permission to over write on the USB, after a couple of minutes it would have finished the formatting of your USB with your favourite Linux ISO file. The whole USB will be taken up as the Linux secondary memory by your desktop, so copy all important files on your USB to a safe location before you start making it a Linux bootable USB.

2. Once you create the Linux boot USB, the next thing is to switch off your desktop and switch it on with the bootable Linux boot USB in the USB drive. Make sure to boot using your Linux boot USB as the first boot device. (if it is not factory set to boot using USB, press ESC during the initial boot sequence, the boot sequence edit screen will then appear, select USB as first boot device by working on the screen, press SAVE and EXIT)

3. With USB as your first boot device on startup, you see your Windows desktop do a metamorphosis into a Linux machine with a secondary memory of 8 - 2 GB = 6 GB. 

4. Configure the network using the wi-fi logo at the bottom right of your screen to access the Internet. Whatever you save locally on your machine during the session is erased when you log out. So make it a habit to work on Google or other cloud applications for all your word processing,  spreadsheet and  presentation applications as it is highly secure and virus-free. Your free Gmail account gets you 15 GB free storage on the Google cloud.

5. Click on bottom left extreme button, the whole menu is available as in windows system. Explore. There are 5 text login terminals (ctrl+ alt + f2 ….f6) + 1 GUI terminal (ctrl+ alt+ f7).

6. Being an avid Google cloud user, all my word processing, spreadsheet and presentation work is carried out and stored in the Google cloud and can be sent across to others, which can be accessed from anywhere, anytime from any machine. You too can do it. It's not just only exciting and fascinating, it opens for you limitless, safe and secure opportunities into the future..

Good Luck and Good wishes..

Copyleft 2020