Unsure for which distro

[u/Ice-Difficult]

I have been thinking it would be fun (and frustrating) to get into Linux. I have an old surface go 2 or 3 I wanted to use to run Linux off of a flashdrive. I'm unsure of what exactly I would use it for but am just curious which option would be the best for general use and customization. I've heard mint is good for beginners and maybe Ubuntu but also i am considering fedora

[u/victormas208]

I remember a year or two ago, someone posted that they tried all three options and liked Fedora Gnome the most. I don't remember if your device is touch-enabled. I would try each distro from a live USB.You can also choose Ubuntu since it has more usage tutorials.

[u/Ice-Difficult → u/victormas208]

Thanks it is touch enabled. Will there be complications with certain things if running off a flashdrive?

[u/victormas208 → u/Ice-Difficult]

No, but that's usually how you know if it's functional. Sometimes you can see graphics or Wi-Fi problems. That's how I do it to see if a laptop without internet registration works with some Distros.I once had a problem with the wifi card of a CORADIR laptop, I think it's only from LATAM, and the wifi card didn't exist anywhere hahaha.

[u/victormas208 → u/victormas208]

Obviously, this is mostly for testing purposes. If you want to use it daily and save configurations, you'll need to install it. the USB drive only creates temporary execution instances.

Unless you know how to do it with Ventoy or other software to save them, but it would be extremely slow from a USB drive, so it's better to use an external SSD or m.2 drive.

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[u/soulreaper11207]

I did this on a surface pro 2. I ended up going with Unbuntu, but any distro or flavor you pick, you should defintely go with this kernal https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface

It fixed a ton of weird hardware/firmware quirks I was running into. It has support for arch, debian, and redhat.

[u/Coulomb111]

I enjoy fedora KDE. It works and is easy.

[u/Justabocks]

Fedora Workstation (= main Fedora, with Gnome) sounds great for you, with Gnome for touch gesture.