Live Linux on a Laptop with No hard drive?

[luffy]

I got an old computer P4 512 ram with no HDD from my cousin. Is it possible to run live Linux on it? I want to use the laptop to email, search web, watch youtube.
I will boot it from a USB drive. What Linux distro do you recommend?

[JayCub]

I used an old Ubuntu disk on a laptop with a dead hard drive (evo) as a live copy, you don't need the hard drive to run it live, i liked the mint i tried on an Advent laptop that has problems installing an OS corrupt BIOS i think
Sounds like an ideal way to browse the web, and learn more about Linux, im a complete noob to Linux so im sure some-one will make a good suggestion as to which one to use.

if you have an external drive you could save data there for further use, once it's no longer in ram it's gone.

[Neo]

i know LIVE uses RAm but NO Disk would be surprise for me too ..
I recommend Ubuntu Live USB for you ( not the latest )

[boyzee]

Grab a copy of LiLi - LinuxLive USB Creator from here and also look here.

and i recommend Linux Mint 10(LXDE)

[LizardMan]

Grab a copy of LiLi - LinuxLive USB Creator from here and also look here.

and i recommend Linux Mint 10(LXDE)

I think UNetbootin is a better than LiLi. As for the Mint 10 LXDE I'm totally agree
p.s Puppy might be the best choice :

Are you now ready for Puppy? Keep these important reminders before using Puppy:

You don't have to install Puppy (to hard disk) to use it. Simply burn the ISO to CD/DVD and boot the PC or laptop with it. Once booted, you can then install it to USB flash (see the Setup menu), so you can use it for booting the PC when a CD is not available.
You don't have to save data to hard drive to work with Puppy. You can save data to USB flash or even to Internet storage (like www.drop.io ). When installed to USB flash, Puppy consumes only a little over 100 MB, or about 256 MB with OpenOffice. You can use the same USB flash (where Puppy is installed) for saving data.

[hellnoire]

Finally, someone with some sense. (And I'm refering to LizardMan's post on using Puppy.)

With that little bit of RAM, any Ubuntu release would be too much. Even Mint with LXDE would be pushing it. Puppy or DSL, with Puppy being the better liveCD/liveUSB experience for sure.

[Bearcat]

I will second the motion on using Puppy. I have it installed on a flash drive, so I can take it with me where ever I go.

[kv777]

As lizardman said puppy linux is your best bet.

[boyzee]

LOL i never took notice of how much ram he had sorry about that, id still personally use LiLi take a look.

[hellnoire]

LOL i never took notice of how much ram he had sorry about that, id still personally use LiLi take a look.

He also has to deal with no HDD. TinyCore coudl work, same with DSL or Puppy... but the others don't seem to be good without a hdd.