Vlad's Linux Diary, and G'day !

[vladtepes]

G'day everyone from Brisbane, Australia.

I had a VERY brief flirtation with Linux back in 2012 and was frustrated with issues I was having so I gave it away. (I subsequently discovered it was probably my Dell causing the problems, but anyway...)

I absolutely LOVE Windows 10.. oh, wait, no that's not the phrase I'm looking for. "Barely tolerate"comes closer.

I like open source programs, and run a forum on SMF software for that reason. (yes I know phpBB that this forum uses is open source too, and I'd expect no less ! )


Anyway I have an old netbook thing, and it runs at a glacial speed under Windows 10 so it's currently getting wiped clean for a fresh start.

I plan to keep a diary, of sorts, relating my experience as a newbie. It might help someone in future, and hopefully be occasionally amusing.
This thread is as good a place as any.

The system I'll be attempting to use as a learning tool is a Gigabyte netbook. It has an Intel Atom CPU @1.5 GHz, 2 GB of RAM and a 250 GB HDD.
Hopefully Linux will operate OK on this.

[Pierre]

G'day from W.A.


and welcome to our Forum.

Do Take the Time to Read the LinuxMint Users Guide that came with the installation.

[The-Wizard]

G-day Vlad

Welcome to the Mint family forums.

Most problems already have a fix
search
read
ask
If you need to ask please copy and paste the result of terminal code inxi -Fnx with your question
And take your time to avoid disappointment.

wizard

here is a little tip for you to Impale yourself upon...... your Gigabyte netbook. [Atom CPU @1.5 GHz, 2 GB of RAM and a 250 GB HDD.]

Dose not have sufficient resources to run mint with cinnamon desktop...

It may run ok with the Mate desktop faster than Win but still a bit slowly,

Your machine has a similar spec to my Acer Z5G, I have been running this successfully for at least 8 yrs using Mint 32 bit with XFCE desktop..

If it works for you you can split a tube and celebrate.

[Crewp]

Welcome to Linux Mint, and the Mint forum.

[vladtepes]

Thanks all.

Yes it is still running too slowly.

@The Wizard - is there an advantage in running the 32 bit version as opposed to 64 bit?

If so, having installed it, can I just change the desktop or do I need to reinstall from scratch?

If the latter I would very much appreciate an appropriate link.


Otherwise things are going well so far !

[WharfRat]

Hello vladtepes from Brisbane, Australia.

Welcome to Linux Mint and the Linux Mint forum

[The-Wizard]

@The Wizard - is there an advantage in running the 32 bit version as opposed to 64 bit?

as far as I am aware the Atom processor is only 32 bit so I am surprised it loaded in the first place.

on low end machines even with a 64 bit processor tend to have weak graphics.

the XFCE desktop in one of the least hungry on resources and the pre installed applications are chosen for best performance.

Wizard

https://linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=229 [please read the notes before re-installing]

[jimallyn]

Welcome aboard, vladtepes!

[Citizen229]

I have done this already with my gateway lt21 . Mint 17.3 XFCE. Pinguy repackage tool.
1) install mint 17.3 xfce.
2) remove everything that is unwanted. I traded firefox for midori.
3) update with software manager
4) run pinguy and repack what you have on your ssd/hdd into an installable ISO. Its nice to have an oops back up that short cuts removing/settings change again.
5) once back up iso created, you can now play with system critical things

intel atoms can be 64 bit. Mine is 64 bit N450 1.67ghtz 1 core 2threadswith 1 gig ram. Mine boots to desktop using 144 megs of ram at idle.My install package is now 1.1 gigs versus 1.6. and my installed space is 5.5gigs fully updated.

[The-Wizard]

intel atoms can be 64 bit. Mine is 64 bit N450 1.67ghtz

thanks for that I have sorted several atom machines but never come across a 64 bit version.. now noted

wizard

[vladtepes]

Yeah it's interesting. Apparently the die for the chips is such that all Atoms were/are 64bit capable BUT in many examples (particularly earlier ones) it was disabled.
I suppose that was for two reasons.
1. As we have seen running the 64bit version is hungrier, requires more RAM etc.
2. If part of the product range is advertised as 32 bit, you can more readily justify a $ 'premium' for up-spec 64 bit versions...



I've installed sysinfo which tells me I have an N550 chipset
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_I ... 45_nm.29_4
this supports 64bit.

I will try the 64 bit version of 17.3 with XFCE and see how I get on. Wish me luck.

Now I just have to wait eons for it to download via my blisteringly fast 1 megabit / second internet connection Yep that is what I said, one megaBIT / sec
Oh look it will only take 2 hours.....

Cheers all.

[Tomgin5]

Vlad, are you sure that your computer is a 32 bit? I have run into several that said they were 32 but they were actually 64 like this one!

Code: Select all

tom@tom-1001PX ~ $ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: tom-1001PX Kernel: 3.19.0-32-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 4.8.2)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 2.8.8 (Gtk 3.10.8~8+qiana) Distro: Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa
Machine:   System: ASUSTeK product: 1001PX v: x.x
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: 1001PX v: x.xx Bios: American Megatrends v: 0601 date: 04/30/2010
CPU:       Single core Intel Atom N450 (-HT-) cache: 512 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 ssse3) bmips: 3333 
           clock speeds: max: 1667 MHz 1: 1667 MHz 2: 1333 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Atom Processor D4xx/D5xx/N4xx/N5xx Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.17.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1024x600@60.0hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel IGD GLX Version: 1.4 Mesa 10.5.9 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.19.0-32-generic
Network:   Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR8132 Fast Ethernet driver: atl1c v: 1.0.1.1-NAPI port: ec00 bus-ID: 01:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) driver: ath9k bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 240.1GB (4.5% used) ID-1: /dev/sda model: Corsair_Force_LE size: 240.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 218G used: 8.2G (4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0
           ID-2: /boot size: 236M used: 49M (22%) fs: ext2 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 2.14GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-1
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 56.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 156 Uptime: 6 min Memory: 593.4/1991.7MB Init: Upstart runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.4
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.111) inxi: 2.2.28 

It runs just fine with 64 bit Cinnamon. Writing is no problem. There is a slight hesitation when browsing between sites of 1/2 to 1 second. It plays live video on a DVD player plugged into the USB.
Interestingly I noticed an add at Fry's for refurbished laptops of the same model on sale this week for $125 with Windex 10 installed.

[vladtepes]

citizen229 -

When you say remove everything that is unwanted. I traded firefox for midori.

Do you have any specific recommendations as to what to remove / install before making the said recovery ISO ?

[Citizen229]

I dont remember exactly what all I removed:P What i did was hit the all section of the menu to see all applications. Then between google and the software manager, I looked each program up to see what it actually did. If it seemed important I left it. If it did not seem important I removed it. I made mistakes along the way. But that is the learning process. For your first run through , if in doubt keep it. Once you have a back up you can make a second run through. Swapping firefox for midori and completely removing libre office, will reduce you size tremendously. As well as reduce the updates needed. Now I will say this, after you remove pidgin it will show an update. I think I missed a dependancy somewhere, so I just blacklisted it. there was one other program that did that as well, I dont remember what it was.

[vladtepes]

Hmm my initial reaction was - "remove LibreOffice"? Why would I do that ?!

Then I realised that as I have a proper office computer with actual memory and an i7 etc, I would have no need whatever to be using any office program on this netbook !

Cheers for that.

[Citizen229]

you can keep it. I did not with mine. Mine gets used for oops web browsing and pdfs. you may have different specific goals for yours.

[vladtepes]

Yep, my specific goals are:

1. Have a Linux install which works at something slightly higher than the glacial speed I had with windows.
2. Learn Linux
3. Use as a 'control' box for streaming Netflix and Stan to the bedroom TV (hopefully a bit easier than using the small screen mobile phone for the missus).

Well, that's the hope anyway.

[BG405]

Apparently the die for the chips is such that all Atoms were/are 64bit capable BUT in many examples (particularly earlier ones) it was disabled.

That's a surprise, first time I've heard of it. I have a few netbooks with different variants of the Atom processor and as far as I'm aware they are all 64-bit capable. The limitation appears to be the 1GB RAM which is usually supplied with these machines (I fit 2GB modules) and the machines were sold with 32-bit Windows xp or 7, probably to avoid the extra cost of more RAM. I do know that (some of) these machines were deliberately limited to 2GB RAM for commercial reasons.

Some more recent machines, including tablets, have a 64-bit CPU but 32-bit UEFI, complicating the installation.

The Acer in my signature runs 17.3 KDE (32-bit) much better than Win7 and faster even than xp, it really is a pleasure to use. Crashes are rare with the usual cause being numerous hibernate & resume cycles, or forgetting to unplug a USB device and then resuming without it connected. Only reason I don't run 64-bit is due to printer drivers. The older single-core machines work really well with Xfce; the NB305 was first set up with Cinnamon and even this ran at adequate speeds but it flies with Xfce. I guess it's what you are used to, for me I was "used to" waiting 5 minutes for things to happen when I still used Windows.

A newer netbook, an Acer Aspire E11 which I haven't really bothered with yet, has a dual-core Celeron at just over 2GHz, probably no better than an Atom really. However it has been tested with LM18 KDE 64-bit and that ran OK. Just need to work out how to do a proper installation with its (hoik - spit - CLANG) eMMC and UEFI. The cheapskates didn't even bother to fit a connector for a standard hard drive!

[Citizen229]

I did not notice a difference in 32 versus 64 bit. Then again pdf redering is a on die gpu task. Being my main task in video intensive, there might not be much difference. now in term of windows 32 and 64 bit starter. My particular unit may not have even booted with the 64 bit version of win7 starter.

[vladtepes]

A question in this

4) run pinguy and repack what you have on your ssd/hdd into an installable ISO. Its nice to have an oops back up that short cuts removing/settings change again.

I googled pinguy and all I could find is an OS / Linux distro by that name.
I thought you are referring to a program to repack, as you said.
Am I missing something here?
Do you perhaps have a link, or could you explain, how I would go about the process you've mentioned?

Thank You.