Hi!
I would like to install a linux distribution on my external usb hard drive. The reason is that I want to be able to use the same OS, the same settings, and the same data at various locations (home, school, friend's, ...), without having to change anything at the computers involved. That also means, that I do not want to have to change boot setting (except maybe the boot order) or even installing any kind of program. And one thing that makes it also a bit tricky (?) is, that among the computers I want to use, there are PCs and notebooks, windows and linux machines, and they do not all support booting via usb.
My idea was that I could use some live distribution cd, boot with it so that it recognizes the external hard drive, and then start the operating system from the usb drive.
Is this idea even possible and has someone done something similar yet? Which linux distribution would you recommend me for that issue (right now I use Debian on my laptop, but I need to send that computer in for repair, so that is the reason I want to do this at all)?
And if you have really lots of time (is even one person out there who has lots of time these days ... probably not

), then it would be great if you could give some detailed hints on how to do it. I am not a total newbie, but I do not have any experience with linux live systems.
Thanks a lot!