Hello,
I don't have much experience with linux but I would like to work with a live CD instead of a full desktop installation.
Can someone give me their best suggestions? And the most common pros and cons between the CD and desktop environment.

Thank you!
-Byron

Hi Byron and welcome to LQ!

Suggest you visit Distrowatch to examine some options.

I can vouch for Mint-DE because I like it, but it really is a preference. And I suppose the correct phrases should be the differences between a Live boot and a full install. Because whether you run from live media, run a virtual machine, or install, the "desktop environment" depends on what distribution you look at and whether or not it provides a desktop UI as part of the distribution. For instance some distributions, while capable of running a desktop UI, they may only boot to the command line in their native install form.

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Hello and welcome to LQ.

As with all linux distro's I suggest that you try some. Along with Distrowatch, there are a few other web based lists of live cd's and they detail the target audience and machines.

I'm sure there are hundreds of differences between live and installed. There are different levels of live also. Some can save information to some degree.

Live tends to be used for less than permanent uses or maybe issues when you don't want to install or don't want the original to change.

You also have ways to make a live, semi live and real installs on a usb flash and run it.

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Give Knoppix a spin. You would be hard pressed to find a live distro that is better supported. Its based on Debain.

See this link. http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

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Wow. a 4 gig Knoppix download fits on a CD? Kool Beans. < not making assumptions yet. Too little info>

Now if the OP has a DVD drive. Then by all means. I second the recommendation.

Lets hope the OP knows the difference I guess. Maybe the OP can clear this up for us.

maybe live iso may be more in tune in the thread title instead of

Being a Linux mod on a forum makes me post like this. So don't pay attention to this user.

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Puppy linux is easy to live boot. You can make it persistent so it saves your settings and files without installing. You can make multiple save files. you can also boot live anytime with the ram option

Most linux distros have live sessions but not very many have persistent features

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My suggestions include Antix &/or MX Linux - http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
& Devuan live CD - https://devuan.org/

You are correct, it will need to be a DVD or a memory stick.

My experience, rarely does a new poster tell us all they know, or have for that matter. The only straight CD read only drive I can remember having is over ten years old. Anyway, its just a suggestion.

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Not so, Knoppix is available as a CD image or as a DVD image. The size referenced above is for the full DVD image.

I load a USB key with Easy2Boot (E2B) and then can load on it about 30 live-cd and live-dvd iso images and select the one I want at boot time. Puppy, TinyCore, and DSL are ALWAYS on there. One of the Mint family is normal as well, the rest depends upon my recent projects. Since cheap usb keys are available from 4G to 128G and so many iso images will fit in 4G or 16G this gives me a lot of options and is faster than loading from real CD drives. This trick will allow you to boot the full DVD images when you have no USB drive IF you can boot from usb.

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Most (but certainly not all) of the current popular Linux distributions will require a live DVD rather than a live CD due to the number and size of the included programs. You can even create a live USB flash drive if you don't have a DVD drive.

Running off a live medium will allow you to work without altering anything on your hard drive or SSD. However, it will definitely be slower than running a full installation off a hard drive or SSD.

With Linux, the term "desktop environment," often abbreviated "DE," refers to the graphical desktop you see on your monitor and the associated programs. There are many different DEs, each presents a desktop with slightly different look and feel, and different DEs by default, may (or may not; depends on the DE) use different programs to perform a particular function. The nice thing about a full installation is that you can mix and match programs from different DEs to suit your fancy, and even install additional DEs.

If you're going to run off a DVD or a USB flash drive, I recommend starting with a live version of Linux Mint. Of all the different distributions I've used, it's probably the easiest to start with coming from Windows.

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Thank you everyone for their suggestions and recommendations. This is very encouraging. I will try a couple of them and eventually do a desktop installation.

-Byron

https://livecdlist.com/

While the name is live cd, we assume that generally this could mean any combination of cd/dvd/usb or hard drive.


See also www.pendrivelinux.com for ideas.

Many of the current big name distro's at Distrowatch can be run from a live boot even if they don't mention it anymore.