USB os's
 

OK well no matter what i have don't my dell adamo 13 will not run any sata from the internal ribbon cable.
so i have almost no choice but to run it from a USB drive so please suggestions on best OS to run off of a USB drive all it really needs to have is a a great media player ( vlc style ) and have internet pls help i have this great little lappie and it going to waste

I have run ubuntu 12 off of a usb but it lacks just about everything

What's wrong with Ubuntu? It has Firefox built in and you can easily install VLC.

Any Linux distro really should run fine off USB for that matter.

Only other choice would be Windows 8 To-Go but you need a certified USB drive and you need to be running Windows 8 Enterprise on a PC somewhere.

well ubuntu 12 wont allow you to install anything on a usb drive i am trying several others today and ya windows 8 to go was an option but don't really need windows ( lol ) just hoped to get other options so i don't have to try all of them

edit and after just trying ubuntu again it wont connect to the internet and it's media player sucks so once again i am back to a laptop that is a paper weight which suck :bananafunky:

I've run Ubuntu off my USB3 Mushkin drive on my laptop sucessfully. You can install stuff but it doesn't seem to save it once you power off.

I'm pretty sure I made it using this: Universal USB Installer – Easy as 1 2 3 | USB Pen Drive Linux

that was the app i used i cant get it to connect to internet or install anything and for some reason when i use a usb3 drive the adamo 13 sticks on boot and does nothing

Are you sure the NIC still works? If the SATA/HDD bay is broken...I suspect there's further issues.

ya it works and it's wireless too that says it connects but can not access internet at all and it is only the ribbon cable that doesn't work i grabbed the adamo off a member here and have not been able to use it since day one i mean i just dont want it to be a paperweight

Ribbon cable? Are you sure the HDD is SATA and not PATA(IDE)?

Slackware will boot and run from a USB key/drive. http://alien.slackbook.org/dokuwiki/...ckware:usbboot

link not working and yes i am sure and thanks going give it a shot

Wireless is always an issue on Linux distros depending on who made the chipset, which is why I only buy laptops with Intel wireless chipsets.
If you want to try out some other distros, you can make the task of putting it on USB stick easier with the installer by Pendrivelinux: Boot and run Linux from a USB flash memory stick | USB Pen Drive Linux
EDIT: Of that list I'd try Linux Mint as they package more wifi drivers and media stuff.

I've also been successful running Windows Vista (a full install) off an external hard drive if Linux isn't working well for you. Note that the external device must be seen as a hard drive and not a "removable storage" device to Windows for this sort of thing to work.