16-32 GB multiboot2015 Eclectic 64-bit 1626 MBK X S t u d i o   1 4 . 0 4 . 2 1630 MB L i n u x   M i n t   1 7 . 2 702 MB M a n j a r o    L X Q T    0 .8 .13 .1 1548 MBS o l y d X     2 0 1 5 0 6 1151 MBU b u n t u   M a t e   1 5 . 0 4 1551 MB Z o r i n   1 0   C o r e 238 MB A l p h a   O S   1 6 . 1 271 MB F a t D o g   7 . 0 1 124 MBO p e n E l e c   X B M C 510 MBP o r t e u s   3 . 1   K D E 49 MBS l i T a z   5 . 0   C o r e 6 4 893 MBT w e a k O S   1 . 1 171 MBA V G  Windows  Rescue 1 + 19 MBF r e e D O S and more 188 MBH i r e n s   L i t e   1 5 . 2   +  m i n i - X P 75 MBP a r t i t i o n   W i z a r d 24 MBT i n y C o r e   P u r e 6 4   6 . 3 Bittorrent Download:           K A T B T S

 YUMI-based USB Multiboot 2015 Eclectic 64-bit --- Instructions and Documentation 

--- ec·lec·tic   /ə'klektik/   ►   deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources

The 2015 Eclectic 64 collection introduces our updated 64-bit selections from well designed, feature-rich, lightweight and fast Linux distros and tools. Linux stars come from both well-known and little-known distros and range in size from ultra-tiny TinyCore (15MB) to the very popular Linux Mint Cinnamon (1.6GB). Distros can be run "live" direct from USB or installed to hard disk.

A 16GB or larger USB flash drive is required. We enabled (minimal) 256MB USB "live session" persistence plus custom tweaking for each distro except Manjaro and two Debian distros. To replace a distro USB persistence file with a larger one, use a larger 32GB USB flash drive. (See important persistence files and backup.) A companion USB Multiboot Lite Speed 32-bit collection is also available.

This multiboot collection was produced using YUMI from PenDriveLinux.com. (If your PC has UEFI, change your UEFI firmware boot settings to Legacy.) The YUMI Windows and Linux utility program has for years enabled USB flash drives to easily boot into multiple Linux and utility software collections. To simplify the process (and save a lot of time), we only use YUMI to create the basic YUMI boot/menu structure (syslinux/grub) for multibooting. You will start YUMI, select the correct USB drive letter, click the FORMAT box, and select a "fake" dummy ISO file (empty.iso) needed to create that basic structure. After that, you are done with using YUMI.

Next, we unarchive E64-A.exe, E64-B.exe, E64-C.exe, adding all "real" content to your newly created USB YUMI Multiboot flash drive. (To install from Linux, rename .exe to .7z) When unarchived, the Eclectic 64 collection fits on a 16GB USB flash drive. Eclectic 64 Linux distributions are based on Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, Slackware and Puppy Linux and use XFCE, LXQt, Gnome, KDE, Cinnamon, Mate and Openbox desktop environments. There are also other USB multiboot collections. For safety, before starting installation, we recommend that you eject and remove all other USB hard drives and USB flash drives.

You should have arrived at this web document from a selection on the click-START.cmd or click-START-WinXP menu.

click-START Menu begin: run YUMI, select USB drive letter, click FORMAT box. Next, cursor down to bottom of distro list to Try Unlisted ISO (Grub), click BROWSE button and select "empty.iso". Next, click YUMI's CREATE button. You will not directly install any Linux distros via YUMI. So, you can exit YUMI and return to the click-START.cmd menu.

Next, we often recommend (option) that you change the USB flash drive's MBR type to UltraISO. This may help your USB flash drive to be bootable on a wider variety of PC's and notebooks. The (BootICE) usbMBR utility does not affect files on your USB drive.

Download:

(1) KAT torrent search ( usb+multiboot+gooplusplus )

(2) Google Drive or Softpedia USB MULTIBOOT (Eclectic 64)

After YUMI "empty.ISO" and usbMBR actions, run E64-[ A,B,C ] .exe files to transfer Linux software to your USB flash drive.

---

More Distro Info: Detailed Reviews (Text and YouTube) plus Related Links

Linux Mint 17.2 [ Cinnamon ] Even though I run many different desktops, Linux Mint has been my favorite for years now. This latest long-term-support release, which will be supported until 2019, is the best yet. I'm not the only one who feels that way. A friend of mine who works for a Linux rival to Mint, said, "Mint makes every other distro look like amateur hour." I wouldn't go that far, but I know what he means. - ZDNet (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols)

Ubuntu Mate 15.04 [ Mate ] Ubuntu MATE is a heavyweight among the lightweight distributions. I have tried almost every lightweight DE out there and most of them are not that “light”. Those that are actually light have shed way too many features to remain useful for a casual user. I have tried Xfce, LXDE and many other light-weight DEs and there is a reason why I am not using any of them; they don’t appeal to me out of the box. I found MATE to be the most feature-rich yet visually appealing lightweight DE. We tend to undermine lightweight distributions assuming that they are meant for low-end hardware. That’s not the case. A lightweight distribution works for everyone. Yes, it certainly works on older, less powerful hardware. It makes even more sense if you are a power user or a gamer, because you certainly don’t want your OS to use the lion’s share of your hardware resources.

The distro was co-founded by a UK-based Arch Linux developer Martin Wimpress who wanted to create an Ubuntu flavor of the desktop he liked. While most of the groundwork was done by him, he received a substantial amount of support from Ubuntu developers. [Ubuntu] MATE is appealing not only to individuals looking for efficient desktops, it has great appeal for enterprise customers who want to use resources more efficiently. There are enterprises who want a lean desktop for remote desktop use cases. [Ubuntu] MATE provides a lean, familiar, highly customisable interface for them. - IT World (Swapnil Bhartiya)

Manjaro 0.8.13.1 (no USB persistence) [ LXQt ] Manjaro Linux LXDE-qt Community Edition is an open source and freely distributed edition of the well known Manjaro Linux operating system built around the revamped LXDE-Qt desktop environment, a mix between the original Razor-qt window manager and the original LXDE project, which uses the GTK+ toolkit. Manjaro Linux LXDE-qt Community Edition is a really lightweight and modern operating system that is stable, based on Arch Linux and crafted to perfection. It will support low-end machines with only 512 MB of RAM! - Softpedia (Marius Nestor)

SolydX 201506 (no USB persistence) [ XFCE ] SolydX is a desktop distribution based on Debian's Stable branch. SolydX originally began as an unofficial spin of the Linux Mint project, but has since grown into its own distribution with its own repositories. SolydX is one of those distributions where things tend to work smoothly and quickly enough that I do not think about the operating system. Once I adjusted to the new theme and ... style of application menu, I had a blissfully pleasant experience. SolydX ships with a lot of useful software and makes it easy to access Debian's massive repositories of software packages. All of my hardware was properly detected, the distribution integrates with VirtualBox and applications tended to work without surprises or mishaps.

One thing I appreciate about SolydX is the distribution fills a niche that I feel needed to be explored. I have been using Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) quite a bit recently and I like it a lot. I feel SolydX picks up where LMDE left off. I found SolydX to be very easy to install, the distribution offers good performance, I encountered very few problems and I generally found SolydX provided everything I wanted. People who would like to have modern conveniences, a powerful desktop environment and access to a lot of applications will appreciate what SolydX has to offer. - Distrowatch (Jesse Smith)

Zorin OS 10 Core [ Zorin-Gnome ] Zorin OS a free Linux distribution designed for Linux beginners. It provides users with a computing environment that is quite similar to the desktop environments of the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X commercial operating systems. It is based on Ubuntu [15.04] Linux, which says a lot about it already. Being declared the most popular free Linux operating system in the world, Ubuntu is targeted at the novice and standard desktop users. Zorin developers stated that this is their best, most beautiful release yet. It includes major visual changes to the desktop layout through the addition of a new font, and a stunning new icon theme based on Elementary OS icons.

The desktop experience in Zorin OS is quite astonishing. It features only a taskbar, which includes the main menu, the application launcher and the system tray area. The truth is that the desktop environment is actually a highly customized version of the GNOME window manager. Whether you are in the process of migrating from a Windows operating system, or you just want to get started with Linux, we strongly recommend to download and install Zorin OS on your personal computer and laptop. You won’t regret it! - Softpedia (Marius Nestor)

KXStudio 14.04.2 [ KDE ] Well here is KXStudio, a pretty slick GNU/Linux distribution based on Debian/Ubuntu that is customized for Audio production. Not only a distribution, KXStudio is also a collection of professional music production software for GNU/Linux. The full KXStudio Linux distribution includes many system tweaks, applications, and tools not found within common GNU/Linux operating systems (distributions) so KXStudio makes it easy to set up and use a free software-based digital audio/visual production environment with an optimized desktop and all ready to go. The KXStudio project is basically divided into Applications, Plugins and Repositories. Under Applications you will find a unique and custom set of Audio tools developed for KXStudio. Plugins are the Linux ports and Open-Source Audio plugins that are provided with KXStudio and Repositories where all the Debian and Ubuntu compatible music software are available to download. - Studiotoolz

OpenElec XBMC 3.2.4 is the last version (December 2013) of OpenElec XBMC / Kodi Media Center software which supported USB persistence files. Newer versions require more complicated and separate disk partitioning for any USB persistence use. - Goo++

Fatdog64 7.01 [ JWM ] Fatdog64 Linux is a small versatile 64-bit multi-user Linux distribution. Created as a "fatter" (=more built-in applications) derivative of Puppy Linux, Fatdog has grown to become an independent, mature 64-bit Linux distribution while still keeping true to Puppy Linux spirit: small, fast and efficient. At around 250MB, Fatdog boots up to a complete desktop environment ready for use. Most applications needed for everyday use are already included. - Ibiblio

Porteus 3.1 [ KDE ] Porteus is not for everyone. It is designed for USB use and installing to hard disk is more geeky and non-standard than most distros. Despite that, Porteus has become my "reboot to hard disk for quick editing / copying / moving" distro of choice because it boots up so fast from hard disk. Like Puppy Linux, Porteus software updates will install new "files" that are independent of the main distro. This allows the use of much smaller USB persistence files. Unfortunately, the Porteus software update and addition process seems more confusing than most. So, I mostly just use the good selection of basic software included in the stripped-down KDE version. Having tried other versions of Porteus, I would only recommend the more robust yet still fast and lightweight KDE version. One nice added feature that is lacking in most Linux distros is the ability to resize your USB persistence file while running Porteus. - Goo++

SliTaz 5.0-RC3 Rolling [ OpenBox ] This 45MB distro is amazing for its size but to maintain that tiny footprint, SliTaz omits any default wi-fi drivers (you must add them manually). SliTaz includes the ultra lightweight Midori web browser (an excellent choice for tiny distros but not for larger ones). Unlike other Linux distros, you are not limited to a single (crashable) USB persistence file. Instead, SliTaz provides an optional home=usb startup parameter that creates two small files and a user directory /tux in the main root directory of your USB flash drive. No startup / shutdown persistence file data copying is required - a faster, more flexible approach to USB persistence. We selected this super lightweight distro for viewing our Lite-Speed offline documentation via Midori. - Goo++

TinyCore 6.3 [ CLI ] At a meager 15MB, the "core" version of TinyCore apparently lacks a GUI interface (or maybe it just did not work for me). Intended for Linux command line gurus, it is great for quick USB or hard disk file editing, moving, copying and rescue use. I used it a lot developing and tinkering with this multiboot set. Access is as simple as mount /mnt/sdb1 ; cd /mnt/sdb1 and then just use basic Linux commands like vi, nano, ls, rm, mv, and cp to get things done. Tinycore is powerful for those who know Linux CLI but can be dangerous for those who don't. - Goo++

Tweak OS 1.1 (no USB persistence) [ OpenBox ] TweakOS is a post-Crunchbang replacement based on Debian Jessie. Tweak OS emulates the primary features of Crunchbang Linux - lightweight, minimalist, fast, stable, an absence of desktop icons, with predefined keyboard shortcut app-launchers and desktop right-click access to application menus. In contrast to Crunchbang's default dark-themed desktop background, however, Tweak OS defaults to (easily changed) a more colorful background. Unfortunately, like almost all other Debian-based distros, Tweak OS is USB-persistence-file-unfriendly. - Goo++

Alpha OS 16.1 [ OpenBox ] alphaOS (formerly ArchPup) is an open source, lightweight and minimalistic Linux distribution based on the Arch Linux operating system. It was build using the Linux Live Kit project created by Tomas Matejicek, the developer of the popular Slax Linux distribution. It is a minimalistic distro that gives you full access to the Arch Linux’s default software repositories, and supports over 20 additional SFS modules, which are used in distributions like Puppy Linux. - Softpedia (Marius Nestor) - [ Note: alphaOS is not in active development but updates will continue. Firefox and Abiword were added to USB "live boot". ]

Hiren's Boot CD Lite is our custom rescue and utility distro. It contains a compressed micro version of WinXP plus many dozens of utility programs for Windows, DOS and Linux. We also added extra software and many unix commands. Even so, overall size was reduced to one third of the original Hiren's Boot CD by removing outdated and redundant antivirus and partition software and carefully selecting and removing utility programs that were less effective or problem prone.

Partition Wizard MiniTool 9.0 is based on TinyCore Linux. This cross-platform partitioning software includes partition recovery and other tools beyond what you find with the Gparted partitioning program available in many Linux distros.

FreeDOS is still a useful operating system for system rescue and running old MS-DOS programs and games. I added FreeDOS Shell plus old but still useful DOS utility programs written long ago by others and myself. Included are two assembly language compilers, an NTFS enabler, and DOSLFN, a utility that enables modern long filename usage with the Dillo-for-DOS web browser. Look around in the dusty DOS directories to find a few hidden gems you can use.

"FreeDOS has been used for everything from running old DOS programs and games to running embedded systems such as cash registers or display units, and being used to install firmware updates on PC hardware. Many people might find it surprising that more than a decade and a half after Microsoft killed MS-DOS, FreeDOS continues to be actively developed." - Computerworld Australia

Super Grub Disk 2 - a program that helps you boot into your Windows or Linux OS if your hard disk MBR (master boot record) or GRUB has been damaged.

AVG Rescue CD [updated virus definitions] AVG Rescue CD is what AVG Anti-Virus – distributed through Linux – calls its toolkit. A network administrator can use it to run a system recovery for Windows XP and newer Windows operating systems, as well as Linux operating systems. The CD also works for Windows 2003 servers through Windows 2008 Server. You can use AVG Rescue CD to repair damaged machines after a viral attack and to allow the system to restart using a USB stick or CD. This CD is intended for computers that most people would consider dead, meaning that the computer won't boot up or function at all. The AVG toolkit includes a two-panel file manager, a registry editor, along with servers, IP and domain tests and a new copy of basic Linux software. - Top 10 Reviews

--- FINAL INSTALLATION NOTES ---link: USB write speeds and boot problems

Send comments, suggestions, or questions to: usb.lite.speed@gmail.com -- Bob Carroll, Las Vegas

Total File Size on USB Flash Drive

10.8 GB - with no USB persistence files
13.2 GB - with eight small 256MB USB persistence files
23 GB - with eight larger 1.5GB USB persistence files