New to the world of Linux

[the lemming]

Hello

I have had a bad experience with Vista and had a look around for something different and with a bit of googling I learnt about Linux. I had a go with ubuntu 7.04 but after a weekend of frustration I could not get a stable setup.

So I am now on the lookout for another operating system to try. Seeing as I am exceptionally green behind the ears could somebody please explain how I set up / format my hard drives in preperation for a dual boot of Linux Mint and Microsoft XP.

My computer spec is:


AMD 64 3400+ processor 2205MHz
2gb RAM
Nvidia GeForce FX 5700 Graphics card
1 DVD Re-write drive
1 DVD Read only drive
2 Hard Drives 112GB
2 External Hard Drives (USB)
Belkin 802.11g wireless card model F5D 7000uk
Medion TV-Tuner 7134 MK 2/3

Cheers

[900i]

OK Mr Lemming, greetings and welcome to the Linux Mint Forums, this is how I would go about it.

1. In XP do a disc cleanup and then a disc defrag.

2. Pop in a Linux Mint live cd, and reboot, set bios to cd boot.

3. Go with all the default settings and Mint will partition and setup Dual Boot for you.

4. Remove Live cd and reboot, choose your OS.

[900i]

Hi can I also suggest you go here

http://www.linuxreality.com/

Listen to the audiocasts and they will bring you up to a decent level of understanding in no time at all.

[the lemming]

Thank you for the quick replies and helpful advice.

May I ask which version of minty I should download?

Cheers

[BlahBlah_X]

I would suggest using mint bianca gnome (the default one) because it works the best and has all the cool applications that make life easier.

back up your hard drive before installing and distro of linux.

Here are the steps to getting linux mint working:

1) Back up your hard drive

2) Download the mint cd image and burn it to a cd

3) Reboot into the cd (you may have to change your bios or press something at startup to do this)

4) Run the graphical installer of linux mint (this is very easy and user friendly)

5) If asked, choose to install grub to the MBR

6) Reboot and make sure everything works

7) If something doesn't work, post your problem here.

[900i]

Linux Mint 2.2 "Bianca"

This is the one I'd recommend for starters.

[900i]

Hi Lemming, if you install Linux Mint 2.2 "Bianca", this is based on Ubuntu 6.10 " Edgy Eft". Mint uses the Ubuntu Repositories for obtaining software. Here is a guide to installing software on Mint 2.2 "Bianca"

http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Edgy

[the lemming]

Hi chaps

Out of curiosity I downloaded the beta version and ran it on my Laptop and I was gobsmacked when I could get a connection with my wireless router. I have tried a couple of distros and none of which could get access to the router.

The only downer is that the Live CD did not have Firefox for me to play with. I am now going to run over to my Desktop and if I can access my router, which I must say is WAP2 encrypted, I am going to install it straight away.

My next question is, how do I install stuff?

Cheers

[mib924]

Mint uses the deb package format. And to it there is a good install tool called synaptic. You can find it when you open the program menu(install software).
From there just search what you want. If you dont know what to search for then you have the sections button, where all programs are split into sections(multimedia, development, graphic, ...).

If you have a package you have found online, you just need to dubbleclick on it and it will be installed. Thats if all the dependencies are met. I hope this answer your question in some degree.

[whare1]

The only downer is that the Live CD did not have Firefox for me to play with.

Welcome mate Newbe myself

Anyway firefox is on 3.0 "Cassandra"

If you click where it say Cassandra in the bottom left corner it will bring up the mint menu (I think by defult it is set on the favorites tab so click where is says "All Applications" in the top right of the menu and you should see a list of stuff to play with including internet and firefox will be in there


Hope this help alittle at least

Thanx
Will

[NiksaVel]

We have so quality tutorials in our own wiki ppl - use them

here is how to dual boot for dummies

http://www.linuxmint.com/wiki/index.php ... ot_with_XP

[Husse]

And here are some advice on partitioning
http://www.linuxmint.com/wiki/index.php ... _partition
to put home on its own partition is highly recommendable

[scorp123]

And here are some advice on partitioning
http://www.linuxmint.com/wiki/index.php ... _partition
to put home on its own partition is highly recommendable

I see that the text was "borrowed" from one of my postings here .... but the formatting is messed up in some instances?

[scorp123]

Quote:
Microsoft isn't but a toy for me, something I use in order to have fun. Ahemmmm ... Like a condom You use it, you have fun, then you throw it away and get back to serious business again. -scorp123

Seems you like that one, he?

[NiksaVel]

"prejebeno"

[Husse]

scorp123 wrote

I see that the text was "borrowed" from one of my postings here .... but the formatting is messed up in some instances?

Yes - I took the liberty of doing that
I've gone through the wiki and fixed the formatting. Strange things happen if you do not begin the text at the beginning of the line