Trying Linux distros live

>>312248
>Should I simply download from the big 'download' button from the distro's website, move the file to the USB stick and boot the computer with the stick put in?
No, you do need to use a media writer. Moving the file to a USB stick will not work.

>Some websites mentioned some media writers that will consequently wipe everything off the USB stick. Others say something about command lines.
You do need a media writer program and it will wipe the contents of the USB stick. There's a particular well-known such writer program that you run from the command line, but there are others.

>>312249
And what does the media writer do? Where do I put it, keep it in the computer or move it to the USB stick? Do I still need to download from the big button?

>>312248
The media writer can write the linux distro to the USB file. It's a program you install on your existing computer to write the USB stick.

People recommend the program Rufus ( https://rufus.akeo.ie/ ) to write the image to a USB stick. Instructions:
- Download linux image with the big red button
- Download Rufus
- Insert USB stick
- Start Rufus
- Select USB stick
- Select linux image
- Select "create a bootable disk image using -> dd image"
- Start

This gets you a bootable USB thing that will then work anywhere.

>>312262
Thanks man!

>>312270
Note that Rufus has a bad tendency of automatically switching from dd image back to iso image if you aren't careful. Better watch for that.

>>312271
Not the op but any idea why that happens?

>>312297
Because it's stupid software. If you select an ISO file, it autodetects that you probably wanted ISO mode, even if you already selected dd mode before.

>>312298
I see. So it's NTFS shitpants tweak related, again.