USB boot has been possible since the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B (v1.2), but it has only become really worthwhile with the Pi 4. Here is some information, tips, tricks and opinions explaining why and how.

Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distributions, and it's based on Debian, same as Raspberry Pi OS, so you'd think it would be easy. It's not.

Early versions of the Raspberry Pi could only boot from SD cards, but newer ones can boot from any USB device, like an external drive or USB stick. Here's how.

Explore the new Raspberry Pi boot menu, a game-changer for device flexibility, allowing easy boot from USB, NVMe, and network sources.

You can now boot the Raspberry Pi 3 from just about anything. The documentation for these new boot modes goes over the process of how to put an image on a USB thumb drive.

With the larger memory of the Raspberry Pi 4 series, it is now more practical to run Ubuntu. I'm going to see how easy it is - or isn't, and how well it works - or doesn't.

What you need to do to get Ubuntu 14.10 with the LXDE desktop up and running on the Raspberry Pi 2.

Insert the CD and boot your machine from the optical drive. After a few moments, choose the Try Ubuntu option from the menu, rather than Install.

Back in April, Ubuntu's Server distribution came to the Raspberry Pi for the first time. Now with Ubuntu 20.10 codenamed Groovy Gorilla, Ubuntu desktop has come to the Pi.