How does Linux?
Creeperbane2
Victorian ScoundrelIndianapolis, IN Icrontian
So, I have an old laptop that I no longer use. It still works but it's slow as molasses and completely out of date. I don't want to throw it out so I figured "Hey Linux is free, why not convert it into a Linux based gadget and have some fun with the old clunker." Except I have NO idea what I'm doing, I've pretty much stripped from it all I need when I retired it, will do another check tho. But here's the question. How exactly do I convert a Windows 7 laptop to Linux? And yes I have google searched it, but I need results in English that even a mechanical moron such as myself can understand.
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http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
Ubuntu's really good if you've never screwed with Linux before. Tushon's got a good link there. I'd start there for sure.
Mint is another really good distribution if you're a newbie, but there are a few more options that won't make sense to you (i.e. "wtf is cinnamon? MATE? What are these?"). If you feel like doing more googling, you can try that out - that'll give you a good handle on how to linux (lots of googling and hunting through manual pages). http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php .
Arch is not newbie friendly at all, and is almost DEFINITELY not what you're looking for, but it does give you a really good insight into how a Linux distribution is put together (you'd effectively put your own distribution together mostly from scratch, as Arch comes with exactly no bells or whistles). The only reason I include it is because it's pretty much become the de facto distro of choice for 'linux beginners who don't want to be beginners anymore,' what with the incredibly good documentation and the slew of 'how to set shit up with Arch' guides out there. You should come back to this post in a few months after fucking with linux if you feel like diving in a little deeper, and Arch will be there waiting.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/beginners'_guide
http://lifehacker.com/5680453/build-a-killer-customized-arch-linux-installation-and-learn-all-about-linux-in-the-process
imo mint is significantly better than ubuntu, whether or not you go cinnamon (shinier, newer) or MATE (older, stable, faster).
basically:
1) Make sure you have any old files you need off the laptop, you'll be formatting it.
2) Burn iso that you download
3) Boot from cd (you can do this with usb also, maybe)
4) Install your choice of distribution
5) Linux!
If the laptop is old enough, the GPU might not be strong enough for Cinnamon.
I believe it will fallback to a mode that looks similar to mate.
Must put to disk, can I overwrite promo disks.
They have to be RW disks like CD-RW or DVD-RW. I doubt you will be able to burn to those promo disks. I would make sure that the laptop is set to boot from the USB drive in the bios.
True. I mostly noted because it was a point of confusion for me when I first loaded it up and didn't have GPU drivers installed yet.
@Creeperbane2 would you post the laptop make and model so we can better help you if you run into issues?
You might try a USB stick install instead. First, it's hella fast, second, if you've never done something like that, it's good experience.
Are you just trying to experience desktop Linux, or do you have some other goal in mind?
For instance, if you said you ultimately wanted to learn about running a web server, that'd change your path considerably.
I'm not half bad at using Linux now, but I've never used a desktop environment aside from brief demos / getting frustrated. My first serious box was a CentOS web server and I never looked back.
@Sonorous It's a Presario CQ56 Notebook PC with an Intel Celeron CPU. Also Bios, how do I access this, checked some sites that said it should be F1 F2 F12 or del while booting but nothing is working
Try F10 @Creeperbane2
You need to hit the F10 key:
Link
Is Floopy boot and flashdriveboot the same thing? Because This thing doesn't take floopies lol.
After trying several Linux versions including the CentOS server (way too much looking stuff up for a Windows guy), I settled on Zorin (based on Ubuntu) for a desktop OS. I like that you can select from several desktop looks, including Windows 7 and Mac OS X. The Help works and updates are really easy. I don’t do anything important with it and have only tried it on a VMware host, but it’ll work well with 2 GB of RAM and should work with your laptop.
The manual I found online (may not be your exact model) didn’t include booting from a USB drive as an option, but I have had a PC boot from a USB drive when set to boot from a USB hard drive. If that doesn't work, you can create the install CD and boot from that.
No, floppy boot and flashdriveboot are not the same. Flashdriveboot is for a USB memory card though.
inb4 "Install Gentoo."
ITT: you will ALWAYS be in b4 "install Gentoo." blech.
Would use Gentoo b4 Arch. Gentoo4lyfe.
LFS or nothing.
I would never use CentOS as my day-to-day computer, but I cannot deny that learning it was critical to my career. The overlap with the command line tools I use every day on my Mac is considerable too.
Just as "no one ever got fired for buying IBM" back in the day, no sysadmin ever got fired for launching a web app on CentOS.
I’ll admit that it would have been helpful at times when I was working as a Windows and VMware administrator. I hosted several Red Hat and CentOS servers. I always had to call the Linux guy for just about everything on those systems. And it’s always good to know more things when looking for a new job.
Seriously though, just install something. Mint or Ubuntu are both alright choices; I personally prefer Mint over Ubuntu because I am less familiar with it and much more familiar with Ubuntu's naughty behavior. Ubuntu's philosophy is to protect you from your noobness which means that when things go wrong they tend to do so silently. This can have hilarious consequences when an update to a core operating system component silently fails after having uninstalled the previous version.
Gentoo, Arch, and Debian, for all the crap they get about being unfriendly to new users, at least tell you when something is not right. And, if you managed to install these operating systems in the first place, odds are pretty good you'll be able to fix what broke and get back to a consistent state. Gentoo taught me everything I know about Linux internals to the point that I can fix broken Ubuntu machines as required about twice a year.
Truer words not yet spoken in this thread.
@drasnor,
Here here!!!
Any love for Slackware?
I've used Linux Live USB creator a lot and it really simplifies the bootable USB bit. You can run from the USB, or install from it. It even puts Virtualbox on the USB drive so that you can run the Linux OS from inside Windows, if you want.
I've only used it for Ubuntu and Mint, but it supports several other distributions.
In the vein of what Gargoyle said, unetbootin does the same thing. Allows you to boot via usb and run directly off the thumb drive. In my experience with Linux, I have to say my personal favorite is #!. I can also vouch for Mint over Ubuntu. It's got a pretty solid Windows XP feel out of the box, if that's something you're interested in.
If you want to play with Gentoo but are scared off by the lack of a GUI, Sabayon is a good place to start. It's based off Gentoo's testing branch, so it's about as stable as a house of cards, but I feel you learn more trying to fix something when it breaks than you do using something that works.
If you're looking to get into the server side, Red Hat is the go-to distro, however most casual users aren't willing to pay for Linux. Scientific Linux is a good alternative. It's essentially CERN's build of Red Hat. In that vein, CentOS is basically a free version of Red Hat's release, but 5 years behind their release schedule. If you want to learn Yum's syntax without worrying too much about the server attributes, Fedora would be a good choice.
You just need to decide what you want to do and find a distro that caters to that. Want to learn how to hack? Better download a copy of Kali. If you want to feel like you're in North Korea, Red Star OS is what they're using over there to try and get away from Windows. If you want to emulate OS X's file structure, grab a copy of Gobo Linux.
As long as you're having fun, it shouldn't matter too much what version you use.