10-22-2017, 10:09 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-22-2017, 10:21 PM by br1anstorm.)
Over the last few years I have installed various Linux distros in the "traditional" way by downloading the ISO, burning a CD/DVD which then runs as a Live session, and installing from that CD/DVD. I now have quite a collection of CDs and DVDs with versions of Lite, Mint, LXLE, Zorin and PCLinuxOS - many of which are no longer supported.
I now want to install/replace one or two distros, in laptops which I don't use daily and which therefore have no crucial config settings or files which I need to preserve. So in effect they are 'clean installs'.
Rather than burn yet more CD/DVDs with recent Linux ISOs, I'd prefer to create a bootable USB stick from which I can then install. I'd like advice on which is the best/easiest/most reliable of the various different software programs that can create the bootable stick. I should add that I'll be installing from the USB stick on to older non-UEFI, non-GPT systems and/or on to external hard drives.
I am familiar with YUMI - and indeed have run Live sessions of various distros from a YUMI USB. But I have never installed from YUMI - mainly because their website has an explicit warning that installing from a YUMI USB may sometimes work, but is not supported. Hardly a ringing reassurance!
So is is better or safer to create a bootable USB stick - and then install - using some other means. Unetbootin? Rufus? LiveUSBInstall? Universal USB Installer (UUI)? Etcher? Others? I notice incidentally that the LL install help manual suggests doing it from within LL by running commands in the terminal (I'm not too keen on that idea as I still find command line working pretty unfamiliar territory).
I would be creating the bootable USB stick using either Windows 7 or Linux Lite or Mint.
My main priority, apart from reliability, is simplicity and user-friendliness: a decent user interface, and not too many complicated tweaking choices. Any recommendations would be appreciated.
I now want to install/replace one or two distros, in laptops which I don't use daily and which therefore have no crucial config settings or files which I need to preserve. So in effect they are 'clean installs'.
Rather than burn yet more CD/DVDs with recent Linux ISOs, I'd prefer to create a bootable USB stick from which I can then install. I'd like advice on which is the best/easiest/most reliable of the various different software programs that can create the bootable stick. I should add that I'll be installing from the USB stick on to older non-UEFI, non-GPT systems and/or on to external hard drives.
I am familiar with YUMI - and indeed have run Live sessions of various distros from a YUMI USB. But I have never installed from YUMI - mainly because their website has an explicit warning that installing from a YUMI USB may sometimes work, but is not supported. Hardly a ringing reassurance!
So is is better or safer to create a bootable USB stick - and then install - using some other means. Unetbootin? Rufus? LiveUSBInstall? Universal USB Installer (UUI)? Etcher? Others? I notice incidentally that the LL install help manual suggests doing it from within LL by running commands in the terminal (I'm not too keen on that idea as I still find command line working pretty unfamiliar territory).
I would be creating the bootable USB stick using either Windows 7 or Linux Lite or Mint.
My main priority, apart from reliability, is simplicity and user-friendliness: a decent user interface, and not too many complicated tweaking choices. Any recommendations would be appreciated.