Methods to try out new OS releases without committing to it?
Solution 1:
USB alternatives
USB alternatives are good, when
- you want to test the performance (on bare metal)
- the computer is not powerful enough to run a system well in a virtual machine
You can use a USB pendrive with at least 2GB drive space and create a
-
live Ubuntu system in the pendrive.
Boot from the USB pendrive and select 'Try Ubuntu' in the boot menu (and something similar with other linux distros). If you save data, install programs or tweak the system in a live (live-only) drive, it will not survive shutdown or reboot.
If you want to
- try Ubuntu in a more advanced way or
- save data, install programs or tweak the system and
- you have/get a fast USB pendrive of at least 4 GB,
you can create a
- persistent live Ubuntu system
or if you have/get a fast USB pendrive of at least 16 GB, you can create an
-
installed Ubuntu system (like installed in an internal drive, but in a USB pendrive).
An installed system in a USB drive is stable and flexible, can be kept up to date and tweaked without any limits. In this way it is better than a persistent live system. It is portable between computers, if you can avoid proprietary drivers, but a persistent live system is more portable.
Links
-
Try Ubuntu (Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, ...) before installing it
-
help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick
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help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick#Notes_about_speed
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help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb
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help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb/persistent
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Ubuntu live from USB with full persistence and NTFS
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multibootusb.org/
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Boot Ubuntu from external drive
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Restore a USB stick to a standard storage device
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Can't format my usb drive. I have already tried with mkdosfs and gparted
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Is DD Image disk writing permanent?
Solution 2:
One way to test new distros and OS versions is with virtualization. It does not require space for an additional PC/keyboard/video/mouse or adapters to run multiple PCs with a single keyboard, video, mouse. It only requires a single PC and some virtualization software.
This assumes that you have a machine with a multi-core CPU capable of virtualization and a reasonable amount of memory. I would recommend at least 8GB of memory with 16GB better if you have it.
If you are running Ubuntu and only want to try Linux distros (I do not believe Windows will work), you can use the free virtualization software packaged in Ubuntu: KVM or Xen. Both work fine, are FREE, and can run various Linux distros. However, the tools to manage the VMs are somewhat lacking. Oracle has a FREE version of a virtualization tool called VirtualBox and of course there is always the commercial VMWare product. Both VirtualBox and VMWare can also run Ubuntu on top of a Windows machine if that is your desktop of choice.
By using a VM manager, you will be able to add new distros as they come out, test them, play with the new features, and then discard them when the new release appears. They only eat up disk space when not running, so they do not even need to be discarded unless that becomes tight. With a VM manager, it is easy to balance 5, 10 or more distros on a machine and be able to boot them up and take them down as needed. If you are lucky enough to have a 32GB or 64GB machine, you can even run them all in parallel.