this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2026
106 points (68.4% liked)
Linux
64549 readers
186 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
A live distro? I'm not actually sure what that is. I'll do a bit of looking around about it, though!
Think about a linux installation on a removable usb drive or a CD or DVD.
You won't install Linux directly in your hard drive or whatever but in a removable device.
With it you can boot your laptop in it and use it almost as if it was actually installed on your laptop. It will let you check for hardware compatibility and that sort of thing. Also it won't be as smooth as if it was actually installed on your laptop but for the looks of it even that way you would notice a huge difference with whatever you have installed on your laptop right now.
There are many linux flavors to test, and maybe people around here can give you better examples, but at the tip of my tongue right now there's ubuntu or fedora, which have great hardware support by default.
I appreciate the advice! All my looking around so far has me thinking Mint or Bazzite, but I think Mint will end up being what I go with so I actually learn how to troubleshoot in case I need to move to something else in the future.
I'll look for a free drive and try and test this afternoon!