New to Linux, Help a Lady Out? (solved)

[Falling_Stars]

Good morning, everyone!

I am a new (female) Linux user, quite honestly hoping to ditch Microsoft and Windows altogether. I have a Windows 7 Home Premium system, 64 bit, 4GB of RAM, on an Asus Ntebook K52JU/K52JT series with an intel core i5 cpu M 480 @ 2.67Ghz

Anyway, I am excited to learn new things and especially happy that I have saved myself an untold hundreds or even thousands of dollars by ditching Windows since each new iteration of Windows causes all sorts of havoc with each new upgrade which then means spending all sorts of money, or possibly needing to buy a new system due to manufacturers putting out computers that are almost never compatible with new versions of Windows. Screw that noise!

Once my download to the DVD is done, I know I need to verify it. Do I just follow the same steps as with hard drive install verification? Your input for this new user is much appreciated!

[majpooper]

Welcome to a great and friendly forum and a really good OS.

Once my download to the DVD is done, I know I need to verify it. Do I just follow the same steps as with hard drive install verification? Your input for this new user is much appreciated!

Here is the link to how to verify your Mint download
https://linuxmint.com/verify.php

Just a couple of tips - you will get plenty here.
1.) Take a test drive of the OS from the live DVD (or USB) make sure everything works and you can do all things that you want to do. It won't be quite as snappy as running the OS on your HD but close enough to get a feel for everything. If you run into any issues or have questions come here - most things can be worked out.

2.) One of the more knowledgeable and experienced members of this forum, Pjotr, has a great website " Easy Linux tips for beginners and for advanced users" which IMHO is a must. I have installed Mint dozens of times for myself, family and friends and after every fresh install the first thing I do is go to this website and apply the tweaks - they just make Mint run better i.e. faster and saver.
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/Home

[Moem]

Once my download to the DVD is done, I know I need to verify it.

Hello and welcome! I hope this is helpful:

You don't download to the DVD. You download an .iso, verify it, then use suitable software (such as Rufus, Etcher...) to burn the .iso to the DVD as an image, making it bootable.

Do I just follow the same steps as with hard drive install verification?

What would those be? I'm not familiar with that.

[phd21]

Hi Falling_Stars,

Welcome to the wonderful world of Linux Mint and its excellent forum!

I just read your post and the good replies to it. Here are my thoughts on this as well.

FYI: The Linux Mint downloads are verified frequently now and are safe to use.

You might want to make sure the "checksum" values match to make sure nothing went wrong while downloading the Linux Mint .iso disc image file. If you use the "torrent" download link option and your torrent software has the "check file" option enabled, then the checksum is verified automatically. There are other options for checking downloaded file checksum values in MS Windows, Mac, and Linux. Linux Mint uses a sha256 byte checksum.

You can use whatever DVD software you have installed to burn the "Linux Mint" iso file to a DVD (the free Ashampoo Burning software works great in MS Windows), or burn (write) the iso file to a USB stick (2gb or more) using "rufus", "unetbootin", "etcher", etc...

The "PeaZip" archiving application includes the ability to compare and verify checksum values in addition to being an excellent archiving application (MS Windows and Linux).

PeaZip free archiver utility, open extract RAR TAR ZIP files
http://www.peazip.org/

How to verify Linux Mint .iso file
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=226092&hilit=verify+iso

How to verify MD5, SHA1, and SHA256 Checksum on Windows
https://bhoover.com/how-to-verify-checksum-windows/

MD5 & SHA Checksum Utility - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com
https://download.cnet.com/MD5-SHA-Check ... 11445.html


How to Verify File Integrity in Windows With FCIV - not sure if this works with sha256 checksum?
https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-verify- ... iv-2625186

Download Microsoft File Checksum Integrity Verifier from Official Microsoft Download Center
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downloa ... n&id=11533


Validating the MD5 Checksum of a File
https://www.lifewire.com/validate-md5-c ... le-4037391

Hope this helps ...
.

PeaZip_PeaUtils_Checksum-hash1.jpg

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PeaZip_PeaUtils_Checksum-hash2_copy.jpg

[Falling_Stars]

Lots of information here so far! I'll have to take it slow because I'm so new to this.

So, let me see if I understand everything.

1. I download the .iso to "my downloads" on Windows.

2. I verify the image

3. I can use pretty much any image burning software, such as Windows image burner to burn it to the DVD+R, correct?

4. Once the image burns to the disc, then it's bootable from the disc as the live OS?

[DAMIEN1307]

hi "lady"...my first time burning an ISO for linux to a dvd when i dumped windows was to use a free "burner" software called "cdburnerxp" which i downloaded into my windows 10 i was using at the time...it worked simply and flawlessly the very first time...DAMIEN

https://cdburnerxp.se/en/home

[phd21]

HI Falling_Stars,

Yes ...

[Falling_Stars]

Once I do all this, how do I install it onto my computer for everyday use? I did some reading and it seems complicated. There was mention of something called "disc partitions" and that's where I got lost...really lost

[Moem]

A disc partition is like a drawer divider. Partitioning means dividing a disc into separate sections.
More precisely: If the drawer is the disc, the different spaces beween the drawer dividers are the partitions.

And here's the good news: you don't have to do that, or know how it's done. In most cases, the installer will do that automatically.

[phd21]

Hi Falling_Stars,

It is simple to install Linux Mint in about 16 minutes or less, but I recommend reading the manual and release notes. If you click install from the Linux Mint DVD or USB stick, you will be presented with installation options to use the whole drive or to install alongside of an existing operating system (MS Windows, or Mac, or another Linux system), or a custom (something else) option. The first two installation options don't require the user to know anything about drive "partitions".

Documentation - Linux Mint
https://linuxmint.com/documentation.php

Hope this helps ...

[michael louwe]

I am a new (female) Linux user, quite honestly hoping to ditch Microsoft and Windows altogether. I have a Windows 7 Home Premium system, 64 bit, 4GB of RAM, on an Asus Ntebook K52JU/K52JT series with an intel core i5 cpu M 480 @ 2.67Ghz

.
https://5azrocks.blogspot.com/2014/05/g ... l.html?m=0 - Guide To Install Linux Mint 16 In Dual Boot With Windows in Legacy BIOS mode.
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=122276 (manual partitioning Tutorial for Legacy BIOS mode and MBR/ms-dos disks)

[WharfRat]

Hello Falling_Stars

I see you have plenty of instructions so I'll just welcome you to Linux Mint and the Linux Mint forum

[Falling_Stars]

Hello Falling_Stars

I see you have plenty of instructions so I'll just welcome you to Linux Mint and the Linux Mint forum

Thank you, thank you! My download indicator says I have 1 day and 6 hours left. I have a family who slows the house connection down by streaming 24/7.

[srq2625]

Thank you, thank you! My download indicator says I have 1 day and 6 hours left. I have a family who slows the house connection down by streaming 24/7.

Sounds like a good reason to kick everyone off for 10 minutes to let the download complete in a reasonable amount of time.

[michael louwe]

Thank you, thank you! My download indicator says I have 1 day and 6 hours left. I have a family who slows the house connection down by streaming 24/7.

.
At 5Mbps download speed, the 1.8GB LM 19 ISO file will take about 1 hour to download;

Roughly, 1.8GB = 1800MB = 18000Mb divide by 5Mbps = 3600 seconds divide by 60 = 60 minutes = 1 hour.
.
.
Tech-geeks know how to set their Internet router to put bandwidth restrictions on other users on the same network = QOS settings of the router....
https://itstillworks.com/use-router-lim ... -1431.html - How to Use Your Router to Limit People's Internet Usage, by Rebecca Mecomber

[JerryF]

Welcome Falling_Stars!

[Falling_Stars]

How do I generate the SHA256 sum for my .iso image now that it's finally downloaded? I downloaded both of the txt files (sha256sum.txt) and
(sha256sum.txt.gpg) and placed them in the same folder (directory) as the .iso

[srq2625]

How do I generate the SHA256 sum for my .iso image now that it's finally downloaded? I downloaded both of the txt files (sha256sum.txt) and
(sha256sum.txt.gpg) and placed them in the same folder (directory) as the .iso

For Windows, check out this page

[Falling_Stars]

ok, I downloaded Cygwin to do the checksum. how do I do the checksum with Cygwin? There's no instructions anywhere?

[phd21]

Hi Falling_Stars,

Linux Mint uses sha256 checksum.

Cygwin User's Guide
https://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net.html

How to Verify MD5, SHA-1, and SHA-256 Checksum in Windows 10 - Make Tech Easier
https://www.maketecheasier.com/verify-m ... windows10/

How to Verify a Linux ISO’s Checksum and Confirm It Hasn’t Been Tampered With
* see section on "How to Verify a Checksum On Windows"
https://www.howtogeek.com/246332/how-to ... ered-with/

Hope this helps ...