Goodbye Windows

[Cripple73]

Hey all,
I've been using Linux mint 18 for a few months now on dual boot with windows 10. I am never using Windows and feel its time to rid my laptop of Windows all together.
Is it best to just do a clean reinstall of Linux mint on the entire SSD? And what if I want to do dual boot of different versions ie cinnamon, mate or xdfe?

Your feedback would be very helpful.

[Pierre]

Welcome to the Wild Side


My Recommendation, is to remove the Original HDD / SSD,
and then replace it with a < new > HDD / SSD & then install LinuxMint onto that.
( for Warranty Reasons, if ever needed )

However, if you don't wish to do that,
AND you have created a win-10 ISO whilst you still have win-10 installed,
- you never know, and it may just come in handy, some day
AND you have backed up All of Your Stuff, from that win-10 system,

then, sure, go ahead, with the Big Erase & Install Thing.


then, if you wish to get really involved, with Tri-Booting or Quad-Booting various Linux Systems,
for that, will take some forward planning:
- separate /Home for each system ?
- just a separate / root for each system ?
or like me, a bit of both ??

in any case, you would pay to do all of that from Gparted, in the Live Environment,
and partition the drive up, according to what you plan to give to each operating system.

then, install them, in the Reverse Order, to how you wish to use them,
- least used, 1st,, most used - last to be installed:
that way, it's last installed / most used system - that controls the Boot Loader & thus the whole machine.

[wallyUSA]

@Cripple73
Another option for multi-Linux OSes is to use VirtualBox. Once you have your primary OS installed. you can install many different OSes and using VBox you do not have to re-boot to switch from one to the other. On a spare PC I have Cinnamon as the primary and and using VBox I have installed and tried other Mints and Windows. I have had several OSes running at the same time.

Good luck

[silfox2000]

And what if I want to do dual boot of different versions ie cinnamon, mate or xdfe?

These are different desktop environments and you don't have to boot them on a different Mint installation. Just install all of them on your Mint and can choose which one to load on the login screen.

My Recommendation, is to remove the Original HDD / SSD,
and then replace it with a < new > HDD / SSD & then install LinuxMint onto that.
( for Warranty Reasons, if ever needed )

I haven't seen a warranty which depends on the installed operating system.

[Moem]

These are different desktop environments and you don't have to boot them on a different Mint installation. Just install all of them on your Mint and can choose which one to load on the login screen.

Sorry, but that is bad advice. Combining several DEs on the same installation can lead to, shall we say... interesting problems. It's definitely not guaranteed to work and it should not be recommended to newcomers.

[silfox2000]

My fault. Before I switched entirely to Xfce I had Cinnamon and Xfce on one installation without noticing any issues.

[Moem]

Before I switched entirely to Xfce I had Cinnamon and Xfce on one installation without noticing any issues.

I'm glad that you were lucky!

[silfox2000]

Is this more relative to Mint, because I'm trying Debian with OpenBox, Xfce and LXDE on one installation? This is an option given during the installation and so far nothing worrying.

[Moem]

Is this more relative to Mint (...)

Yes, it is. On Mint specifically, DEs have more 'hooks' in the rest of the OS and so there is more potential for conflicts.

[silfox2000]

That is helpful information. Thank you!

[Cripple73]

Welcome to the Wild Side

Hey thanks for your feedback. Could I just use the windows partition to install a second Linux mint while keeping my existing Linux mint 18 cinnamon intake?
My Recommendation, is to remove the Original HDD / SSD,
and then replace it with a < new > HDD / SSD & then install LinuxMint onto that.
( for Warranty Reasons, if ever needed )

However, if you don't wish to do that,
AND you have created a win-10 ISO whilst you still have win-10 installed,
- you never know, and it may just come in handy, some day
AND you have backed up All of Your Stuff, from that win-10 system,

then, sure, go ahead, with the Big Erase & Install Thing.


then, if you wish to get really involved, with Tri-Booting or Quad-Booting various Linux Systems,
for that, will take some forward planning:
- separate /Home for each system ?
- just a separate / root for each system ?
or like me, a bit of both ??

in any case, you would pay to do all of that from Gparted, in the Live Environment,
and partition the drive up, according to what you plan to give to each operating system.

then, install them, in the Reverse Order, to how you wish to use them,
- least used, 1st,, most used - last to be installed:
that way, it's last installed / most used system - that controls the Boot Loader & thus the whole machine.

[Pierre]

I haven't seen a warranty which depends on the installed operating system.

@silfox2000 - - it's been my experience, that most, if not all, store-keepers,
will *not* accept some Computer, back under Warranty, if the Original Setup has been modified:
- as in the Main Operating System - has been replaced by the Computer Buyer / Owner.
ie - - you have to return the machine, in a similar order, to that what was supplied by the Store . . .
& even if the stated issue was in the Hardware & has nothing to do with the Operating System,
even if that was changed & doesn't affect the Hardware or the stated fault, in any way.


@Cripple73 - - you can run certain Desktop Environments together, but not all of them:
- Cinnamon or Kde will run okay with Mate or Xfce
- Mate will run with Xfce, okay too.
but, generally, you would indeed run them as an separate system, on different partitions,
- just in case . . .