I need help with Linux technical terms

[floccinaucini]

Thank you Calum and Geek-9pm. It is embarrassing but I have to ask! I have forgotten how to recognize a RE-writable DVD form a NON RE-writable one. Can you please tell me?

Regards,

[Geek-9pm]

Personally, I recommend you NOT use the RW type media.
CD-RW
DVD-RW
The failure rate is very high for bookable media. Just one bad bit can stop it from working right. But with music and video it does not  matter as much. And the RW media is more expensive.

[floccinaucini]

Personally, I recommend you NOT use the RW type media.
CD-RW
DVD-RW
The failure rate is very high for bookable media. Just one bad bit can stop it from working right. But with music and video it does not  matter as much. And the RW media is more expensive.

Thank you,

This is mainly for only trying out a number of Distros and desktop themes, before I decide on what I like. I can use just one Disk to do this by overwriting the previous Distro or desktop theme, until I am happy with one of them.

Regards,

[Calum]

Thank you Calum and Geek-9pm. It is embarrassing but I have to ask! I have forgotten how to recognize a RE-writable DVD form a NON RE-writable one. Can you please tell me?

Regards,

Usually the disk will have DVD-R/DVD+R (writable) or DVD-RW/DVD+RW (rewritable) printed on it.  So, basically just look for RW instead of R as this will indicate a rewritable disk.

Geek's comment is valid if you were going to use the disk for anything important, for your intended usage I don't see a problem with using RW media.  By their nature, they're reusable, so although they're more expensive it's not like you can't use them again in the future.

[floccinaucini]

Usually the disk will have DVD-R/DVD+R (writable) or DVD-RW/DVD+RW (rewritable) printed on it.  So, basically just look for RW instead of R as this will indicate a rewritable disk.

Geek's comment is valid if you were going to use the disk for anything important, for your intended usage I don't see a problem with using RW media.  By their nature, they're reusable, so although they're more expensive it's not like you can't use them again in the future.

Thank you. If I create a boot-able USB stick using rufus:
(1) Can I delete a Distro from the USB stick after checking the Distro, and download another distro to the stick, or do I first delete, and then format the stick before downloading the next Distro?
(2) Can a boot-able stick hold more than one distro at a time?
(3) At the end of this venture, can I use this same stick as a normal USB stick for saving media etc?

Kind regards,   

[Geek-9pm]

USB sticks are very  useful. 

Still, I think my earlier recommendation is pragmatic.
 The DVD-R only costs 25 cents and is fast an stable.
If you decide you don't want then ... -
 - they can be used as coasters for coffee cups.   

[Calum]

Thank you. If I create a boot-able USB stick using rufus:
(1) Can I delete a Distro from the USB stick after checking the Distro, and download another distro to the stick, or do I first delete, and then format the stick before downloading the next Distro?
(2) Can a boot-able stick hold more than one distro at a time?
(3) At the end of this venture, can I use this same stick as a normal USB stick for saving media etc?

Kind regards,   

1. The easiest way would be to use Rufus to "load" the next distro onto the stick, Rufus will format the drive automatically each time by default.  So no special steps need to be taken, just open Rufus, select the next distro's ISO file and ensure the target is set to your USB drive, it'll ask you if you're sure to format the drive, hit yes and it'll go ahead.
2. You could create a multi-distro USB stick, but that's not as simple a process and it's not one I've done before.  I'd recommend just sticking to one at a time, it makes everything simpler.
3. You can indeed, just format the drive once you're done and it'll be back to normal formatting it afterwards isn't absolutely necessary but again it just makes things easier as you're guaranteed to have removed everything on there before you start using it again.

[strollin]

Holy cow!  In the days you have been going back and forth asking questions about what disks to use and such, you could have easily tried a half dozen different distros already.

[floccinaucini]

1. The easiest way would be to use Rufus to "load" the next distro onto the stick, Rufus will format the drive automatically each time by default.  So no special steps need to be taken, just open Rufus, select the next distro's ISO file and ensure the target is set to your USB drive, it'll ask you if you're sure to format the drive, hit yes and it'll go ahead.
2. You could create a multi-distro USB stick, but that's not as simple a process and it's not one I've done before.  I'd recommend just sticking to one at a time, it makes everything simpler.
3. You can indeed, just format the drive once you're done and it'll be back to normal formatting it afterwards isn't absolutely necessary but again it just makes things easier as you're guaranteed to have removed everything on there before you start using it again.

Thank you for all the support. I am confident of doing this now.

Kind regards,

[Calum]

Holy cow!  In the days you have been going back and forth asking questions about what disks to use and such, you could have easily tried a half dozen different distros already.

Possibly, but understand that this can be daunting to someone who's never done this before.  I know I was just the same a few years back and asked a similar set of questions myself.

Thank you for all the support. I am confident of doing this now.

Kind regards,

Not a problem, hope it goes well for you

[strollin]

Possibly, but understand that this can be daunting to someone who's never done this before.  I know I was just the same a few years back and asked a similar set of questions myself. ...

Yeah, I guess.  I'm more fearless in that regard.  Instead of asking questions over several days, I would have just gone ahead and figured out (by trial and error if need be) what worked and what didn't.  What's to lose, a few cheap disks?

Anyway, here's a link to a listing of 10 distros that the OP might consider trying: http://www.techradar.com/us/news/software/operating-systems/best-linux-distro-five-we-recommend-1090058