Which light, secure, distro to run on USB?

[overkill22]

I'd like to hear your opinion for a linux distro that is light (must be installed on a USB <8GB), and secure.
I'll need to save some files and install a couple of small programs, so it can't be a live cd.
I don't need to connect to internet while using this distro.
Reading I came accross to Discreete Linux, but the project and the twitter account seems inactive since dec 2016.

Edit: should be supported by an active community and developer for the security updates and etc

Do you have anything to suggest and why?

[Pierre]

small & light try anti-X
http://antix.mepis.org
lots of folks seem to like that one.

[overkill22]

small & light try anti-X
http://antix.mepis.org
lots of folks seem to like that one.

Why?
It reminds me of lubuntu when it first came out...

[Pierre]

well - - I've had both anti-X & LM xfce on some older PCs
and the anti-X did seem to be the better system.

but, on those older PCs it was always the CPU that was the determining issue.
- you can do most things on them, not the YouTube thing, which was always what they wanted to so.


at least, that's been my experience, so far.

BTW: the main reason that I've gotten involved, was because they complained that win-xp was too slow

of course it was - - SP3 was the issue, and there was never an hardware upgrade to match the software upgrade.
& that 1Gb ram is great - - most of these PCs have 512Mb of ram or even 256mb ram

[Faust]

In terms of Poker ....
" I'll see that anti-x and raise you MX-16 "

It's hard to fault and it just flies along .
One of the best light distros I've seen for some time ( and Solus is also very impressive ! )

" Secure " .... Hmmm , secure against what ?
Does that mean privacy focused or nearly unhackable ?
Many folks confuse those issues , and if you are not connecting to the internet , what is your security concern ?

At one end you have TAILS and at the other there is qubes , or whonix ( and maybe subgraph in between ? )
But if "light" is an important factor for you , forget about qubes and whonix ....

FWIW - Richard Stallman likes Trisquel , and he does not like going online .
I've played with it in a VM but not tried it on a USB stick yet .....

[overkill22]

In terms of Poker ....
" I'll see that anti-x and raise you MX-16 "

It's hard to fault and it just flies along .
One of the best light distros I've seen for some time ( and Solus is also very impressive ! )

" Secure " .... Hmmm , secure against what ?
Does that mean privacy focused or nearly unhackable ?
Many folks confuse those issues , and if you are not connecting to the internet , what is your security concern ?

At one end you have TAILS and at the other there is qubes , or whonix ( and maybe subgraph in between ? )
But if "light" is an important factor for you , forget about qubes and whonix ....

for secure I mean unhacakble or with some cryptography tool in case of someone stealing the USB.
I'm not planning to connect it to the internet, but I'll need to install a couple of programs and so using other devices (USB stick) to interact with the OS. The "light" factor is only because I'd like to use a USB with 8GB or less capacity.

[Faust]

Many distros allow you to choose Full Disk Encryption as part of the install process ,
and then there are the options of Veracrypt and LUKS .... so lot's of possibilities for locking it up tight .

[overkill22]

Many distros allow you to choose Full Disk Encryption as part of the install process ,
and then there are the options of Veracrypt and LUKS .... so lot's of possibilities for locking it up tight .

yes, true, I know about those. So in the end any distro could work just fine if not used online.

[NChewie]

+1 for TAILS with persistence

It has very regular updates and is designed to have a simple persistence set up that allows you to store key information and/or install additional programs.

[kc1di]

this page may be of help also https://mashtips.com/best-portable-linux-distro/

[overkill22]

this page may be of help also https://mashtips.com/best-portable-linux-distro/

super interesting! thank you! how can I know if one of these distros comes with the modules python-qt4 and python-pip preinstalled?

[catweazel]

how can I know if one of these distros comes with the modules python-qt4 and python-pip preinstalled?

Google.

[Faust]

You state that your system will always be air-gapped .
The main focus of an OS such as TAILS is to protect the privacy/anonymity of users while online.

Well if you never connect your system to the sprawl , then your potential "attack surface" is very small ;
it is limited to physical access to your devices ( eg . " Evil Maid " , or simply stealing your USB stick ! ).

BTW - I'm wary of the term "unhackable" , and I prefer " not yet hacked ".

Now the problem is simply reduced to good physical security practices :-
invest in high quality locks and doors , buy a safe , or keep the USB on your person at all times
...... use something like Yubikey for logins ? .... build a Faraday Cage ?

Only you can know the factors that you think may threaten your security .

But do let us know what route you take and how it works out for you ,
.... and if you are working on some priceless , patentable invention .... feel free to send me a PM

[lisabonne citadel]

you can make your own distro easily !

the best lightweight and versatile distro have to be based on Ubuntu... because have more apps that can be installed iin.

my opinion:

download mint xfce
install cinnamon DE on it
install all apps you desire
and make your custom live system with some commands
you can search over duckduckgo.

[overkill22]

You state that your system will always be air-gapped .
The main focus of an OS such as TAILS is to protect the privacy/anonymity of users while online.

Well if you never connect your system to the sprawl , then your potential "attack surface" is very small ;
it is limited to physical access to your devices ( eg . " Evil Maid " , or simply stealing your USB stick ! ).

BTW - I'm wary of the term "unhackable" , and I prefer " not yet hacked ".

Now the problem is simply reduced to good physical security practices :-
invest in high quality locks and doors , buy a safe , or keep the USB on your person at all times
...... use something like Yubikey for logins ? .... build a Faraday Cage ?

Only you can know the factors that you think may threaten your security .

But do let us know what route you take and how it works out for you ,
.... and if you are working on some priceless , patentable invention .... feel free to send me a PM

Will adopt "not yet hacked" for the future! good one

that's correct, it will be always offline, but a good base is better than a bad one.

At the moment I tried to install lubuntu 17.10 live with persistence (casper-rw), but it didn't work. I can't save my preferences, only files on the partition that I created during the installation with unetbootin. I have not clear if the distros based on ubuntu still support this function since I read somewhere that it could be supported only until 16.10 or something similar. I wasn't able to find specific information about that.

how can I know if one of these distros comes with the modules python-qt4 and python-pip preinstalled?

Google.

I agree. I remember there was a website with all the libraries preinstalled in each distros, but I'm not able to find that site anymore... probably I'm not using the right keywords to find it. I'm trying with "list installed packages *distro name*" but I find only forum topics not relevant for my needs.

[anticapitalista]

small & light try anti-X
http://antix.mepis.org
lots of folks seem to like that one.

Why?
It reminds me of lubuntu when it first came out...

antiX has been around a lot longer than lubuntu.