can a usb linux really run on any pc?

[stucash]

I understand we could easily install any linux on a usb drive, but can we really run it on any computer? I thought once we install a linux we need to setup video card drive and etc and that's specified by one particular computer (the first computer that we use to run our usb linux system)

If we run our usb linux again on a different computer which has a different type of video card, how could the system correctly recognise it and not throw up?

The only way I see is to use the open source version of the video card drive, but even this I am not sure.

Anyone?

[Huckleberry Finn]

When they're with installed Nvidia or AMD drivers - that could be problematic or would not fit on another card-pc - ...

[timkb4cq]

The MX-Linux and antiX-Linux LiveUSBs autodetect the hardware when they boot. The 32bit version can run on the vast majority of computers, the 64bit version is limited to 64bit processors of course, but 32bit machines are relatively uncommon these days.
The open source nouveau, radeon, amdgpu & Intel graphics drivers normally work just fine using auto-detect.
If you have (as I do) a computer that requires the proprietary nvidia driver to run stably and you install it on your USB, then you may have issues booting it on another machine, although that can be overcome if need be.

[skidoo]

If we run our usb linux again on a different computer which has a different type of video card,
how could the system correctly recognise it and not throw up?

It's a great question ~~ underscores the point that users coming from other distros,
and folks who have not yet read the the-most-extensive-live-usb-on-the-planet page
cannot fathom the extraordinary capabilities of the antiX//MX live boot system.

OP, do you really want to read a technical explanation of "How"?
I'm guessing: probably not... but whatif someone does want to read about it?
It would be beneficial if the "most extensive" page contained a hyperlink leading to a "technical overview" page
(similar to the graphic-laden HowItWorks page which was previously [now absent] linked from slax.org homepage)
and perhaps further linked page containing a nitty-gritty explanation of the nuts-n-bolts "technical details".

[BitJam]

I understand we could easily install any linux on a usb drive, but can we really run it on any computer? I thought once we install a linux we need to setup video card drive and etc and that's specified by one particular computer (the first computer that we use to run our usb linux system)

To add to the existing great responses, we try to get the live system to boot on as many different machines as possible. For example, we are one of the few distros that boots on 32-bit UEFI out of the box (but maybe others are catching up).

f we run our usb linux again on a different computer which has a different type of video card, how could the system correctly recognise it and not throw up?

Installing proprietary drivers could cause a problem on machines that use a different gpu from the same vendor (such as nvidia). But we have easy ways around that. Normally video drivers are only loaded when hardware that goes with that driver is detected. I wrote a fairly lengthy post about how that works here.

What's more clever is if you take a snapshot of a modified system (either live or installed), the live system on the snapshot is (automatically/magically) restored so it too should boot on almost anything.

In addition, a single live-usb (full featured) can run on a variety of hardware even if those machines each need hardware specific settings and modules. In the full featured live-usb there is a list of files in /live/boot-dev/antiX/state/machine-state-files. These files are stored on a machine by machine basis. There may exist situations where you need to add some files to that list. If you do, let us know and we will add them to the original list if that makes sense. There are several cool things about this. For example, on antiX (and coming soon to MX) we save your wifi info across reboots even without persistence. If you do enable persistence, the machine-state-files take precedence so persistence will not muck up any hardware specific files or settings.

But, TBH, the automatic video detection is mostly handled by the kernel and udev and the x-server nowadays. We still handle exceptions though so we should boot to X on more systems. OTOH, the new automatic stuff is needlessly difficult to work with, for example they make it needlessly difficult to boot to a reasonable resolution on the first live boot. Maybe I'm jaded because we've been in the automatic setup business for almost a decade. IMO there is a lot of hubris upstream in the video driver side of things. They seem to assume their software will ALWAYS do the right thing so they don't give us the controls we need to fix it when it doesn't. Oh well. It's strange that after years and years of making the same mistakes, they continue to do it. In a sane world, we would not need to move heaven and earth in order to provide a reasonable and usable resolution on the first live boot. The simple feature that would allow us to do this ourselves was recently removed from the x-server in their zeal to automate everything automatically. ***** sigh *****

[KBD]

I have intel hardware, so generally a full install usb stick will run on them all. The exception is UEFI bootloaders. On legacy bios machines no problem, but you need UEFI settings to boot on those machines needing it.

[TTwrs]

I've tried the same live USB on no fewer than a dozen different computer now. Except for one (only a USB created with Rufus will boot on that one) MX runs fine on all of them. State settings are stored for each machine on the USB. It really is a wonderful Linux distro.

[aus9]

to the subject line.....I say no.

reasons are:
some makers refuse to have a bios splash screen and have no or virtually zero information on how to disable UEFI

OK....I accept all Windows PC made before W8 are likely to be succesful

2) a well known maker uses CSM....Compatibility Support Module
another well known maker may use TPM=Trusted Platform Module....and yes altho they are not UEFI
---it can make a difference

3) And I can't name it....but I am pretty sure I had one maker....with firmware that essentially said
...on boot up.....detect its preferred file system format
....if not found....over write the "incorrect format" or offer a dialog box on how to use recovery.

bottom line.....I would recommend users consider buying laptops made by makers
brand name may start with an S or a T?

And the reason why I am so anti-UEFI is I believe UEFI if enabled is still active after boot up
which means no malware checker in Windows or Linux ....can scan it.

[JayM]

You can't run it on "any computer." MX won't run on mainframes, minis, ARM, RISC or Power PC architectures, or on old 8-bit computers, 286s, 386s or 486s. Smartphones are arguably computers and MX won't run on those either. It has to be a PC or similar (including some but not all some Macs and Chromebooks) with an Intel-compatible CPU that meets the minimum requirements (Pentium II or higher CPU IIRC), and to run a live USB the computer has to support booting from USB.

What OP can do is make a personal snapshot of his MX system, use Live USB Maker to burn it to a USB stick, then take it to a friend's house, boot his friend's computer from the USB stick, and have his own personal MX system up and running, but that isn't what he asked. The Live boot system will detect the hardware of the machine it's booting on and load the appropriate drivers for it if it can.

My current system is a desktop with an AMD FX octacore CPU and an AMD Radeon 6570 video card. I took a personal snapshot that I'd made on my laptop with a 1st generation Core i5 two-core mobile CPU and an older, legacy Nvidia GPU, booted it on my desktop, ran the MX Intaller and installed my own MX setup from my laptop onto my desktop. I could take that same snapshot USB stick and boot and install on just about any other 64-bit PC and it would work 99.99% of the time (if I could figure out how to make UEFI play nicely, if the other PC had UEFI not legacy BIOS.)

[stucash]

I understand we could easily install any linux on a usb drive, but can we really run it on any computer? I thought once we install a linux we need to setup video card drive and etc and that's specified by one particular computer (the first computer that we use to run our usb linux system)

To add to the existing great responses, we try to get the live system to boot on as many different machines as possible. For example, we are one of the few distros that boots on 32-bit UEFI out of the box (but maybe others are catching up).

f we run our usb linux again on a different computer which has a different type of video card, how could the system correctly recognise it and not throw up?

Installing proprietary drivers could cause a problem on machines that use a different gpu from the same vendor (such as nvidia). But we have easy ways around that. Normally video drivers are only loaded when hardware that goes with that driver is detected. I wrote a fairly lengthy post about how that works here.

What's more clever is if you take a snapshot of a modified system (either live or installed), the live system on the snapshot is (automatically/magically) restored so it too should boot on almost anything.

In addition, a single live-usb (full featured) can run on a variety of hardware even if those machines each need hardware specific settings and modules. In the full featured live-usb there is a list of files in /live/boot-dev/antiX/state/machine-state-files. These files are stored on a machine by machine basis. There may exist situations where you need to add some files to that list. If you do, let us know and we will add them to the original list if that makes sense. There are several cool things about this. For example, on antiX (and coming soon to MX) we save your wifi info across reboots even without persistence. If you do enable persistence, the machine-state-files take precedence so persistence will not muck up any hardware specific files or settings.

But, TBH, the automatic video detection is mostly handled by the kernel and udev and the x-server nowadays. We still handle exceptions though so we should boot to X on more systems. OTOH, the new automatic stuff is needlessly difficult to work with, for example they make it needlessly difficult to boot to a reasonable resolution on the first live boot. Maybe I'm jaded because we've been in the automatic setup business for almost a decade. IMO there is a lot of hubris upstream in the video driver side of things. They seem to assume their software will ALWAYS do the right thing so they don't give us the controls we need to fix it when it doesn't. Oh well. It's strange that after years and years of making the same mistakes, they continue to do it. In a sane world, we would not need to move heaven and earth in order to provide a reasonable and usable resolution on the first live boot. The simple feature that would allow us to do this ourselves was recently removed from the x-server in their zeal to automate everything automatically. ***** sigh *****

I recently started playing with the mx remaster/persistence system, it's the thing that I've been dreaming of for every other distro.
The most important bit is that the "clever thing" you mentioned about the live system snapshot, it just knows how to restore and then boot on almost any other PCs (well at the moment I only tried my modified live system on a previously-failed-to-boot laptop but that's enough); however for the installed system (on a usb drive) I had problem booting it up on a different machine (my laptop) and I am almost sure that this was because of the proprietary drivers.