Installing manjaro on a USB stick

Hi all,
So, I have this laptop with a windows install that I sadly do need for school. I would like to use it for something more punchy and plan on…Linux.
I have tried to install Manjaro on a USB stick, but the result is sad. It’s slow, moving at the speed of melassis.
Any tips on achieving what I need? A double boot is ay too risky as I dont have install media for the other os…I only need it for online classes anyway.
Thanks
Melissa

There is a few things to do but none of them will gain any speed.

The bootle neck can be two places - the connection itself and/or the device.

If the laptop has a microSD reader you could try that approach - otherwise - a high speed SB device - I have had reasonable experience with Kingston Data Traveler USB3 both 8, 16, 32 and 64G variants.

Have you checked the alma project - which is in the repo 'alma-git`? It is explicitly for creating a mobile appliance on a stick.

It is also possible to use ventoy to boot the ISO straight of the siick - initializing the stick with room for a persistence partition -

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May I ask which desktop are you using? I am using xfce on usb and it’s really fast. Faster than Win
and also have you installed property drivers that may effect speed as well

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Well, yes, I use XFCE (mainly because I’m very familiar with it). And it is slow. Escpecially when having to fetch new things. Once fetched, the refetch is pretty fast…

I run it on a SanDisk Extreme Go 64GB,great experience!

I’m running M. Unstable on Samsung 128 gb usb 3.1, very fast
Arch on SanDisk Ultra Flair 64 gb, quiet fast too
both with Plasma5

I dont get it! How did you do that install? :thinking:

I use XFCE (comfy with it) and the open drivers…
Silly as mud, really

Manually - example

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