done with windows-I think!

sailormanbigd · Post by **sailormanbigd** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 7:42 pm

First post, first day exploring linux os. Story, I had an old HP desktop that was messing up, freezing, not loading or running so I stopped using it after many hours of attempts to fix it. Decided after 2 years to fire it up to see if I can fix it for an internet browsing machine and to store my itunes on, and to copy vhsc to dvd's. due to limited space on this laptop hard drive. It powered up but would'nt run. Decided to reinstall windows xp pro and start fresh. Now after 2 days of attempts I can't get it to load the xp software. It won't accept my product key, or any that I got of the internet either, like 20 of them. So, I came accros this LInux thing and have downloaded MINT but my windows machine won't open it. I want to make a "live" cd and boot my old desktop with it and probably download it there permanently. Windows is always getting bogged down, slow, freezes, not responding, malware magnet, registry errors and fixes and essentially always needing tweeked. But, I am stuck with the mint not opening-unless I just copy it to cd the way it is and try it. I read somewhere about installing it on a windows machine and setting up partitions, subpartitions, etc. It is a bit over my head though, I am slow to get things I guess. Is there a program that will do the install for me, like windows install mgr? Is what I'm attempting to do feesible at all? Turning a windows piece of junk into a smooth linux joy? thanks for any reply.

jagwinn · Post by **jagwinn** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 7:54 pm

How were you able to download Mint? Just double click on the file. It should open with options to run or install. Window should not care that it is a rival OS! By all means, as the first time user, just accept the defaults in everything with the following exception:

It will ask if you want to dual boot along side of Windows or do you want to use the entire HDD thereby formatting Windows into oblivion.

If you are truly fed up with Windows, then choose the second option and never look back!

John

sailormanbigd · Post by **sailormanbigd** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 8:07 pm

thanks Jag that was fast. I downloaded it from the mint download page, from a mirror site in USA. It took an hour like site said..
After it downloaded i clicked on it and it said it needed a file to open it and gave me an option to search the web for a program to open it. I just closed it and posted here my problem. I am alittle reluctant to throw out what I know about windows. I am 52 and have not delt with dos in a long time.

sailormanbigd · Post by **sailormanbigd** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 8:50 pm

well i found the file linux mint.32bit.iso, actually i found two of them, one from a download mgr (vule) or something and i guess one from the window site. Neither one of them would copy to cd due to the file size was 802 or close and the disc can only handle 770 or something. Hard to change to a new OS if I can't even copy it or anything.

animaguy · Post by **animaguy** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 12:29 am

Ok, dont stress, I will definitely watch this post very closely.

Do not worry about asking questions on this thread. Downloading and installing the linux isos is actually easier once you understand.

animaguy · Post by **animaguy** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 12:32 am

I remember when I first started. It was somewhat challenging because of the fear of the unknown. People on the forums were very helpful to me.

And now it is my turn to help you.

I will give you a step by step way to learn.

First Question:

How many computers do you own or have access to and are connected to the internet?

Pilosopong Tasyo · Post by **Pilosopong Tasyo** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 5:43 am

sailormanbigd wrote:well i found the file linux mint.32bit.iso... Neither one of them would copy to cd due to the file size was 802 or close and the disc can only handle 770 or something.

What you have downloaded is called an image file that is meant to be burned on a DVD as an image as opposed to burning as a data disc (or transferred to flash media using a special tool) before installing. Perusing the download site, all current editions of Mint are over 700 MB in size. The smallest among the bunch is "Maya" - Cinnamon no-codecs (32-bit) but even that is 783 MB in size. Burning to CD media is out of the question.

Lord_Eager · Post by **Lord_Eager** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 6:44 am

My suggestions are:
1-download linux distributions from the official sites (eg. for Mint go to http://www.linuxmint.com) there you will find all the still supported distributions and the specifications.
2-The file you will download is an *.iso file as Pilosopong told you previously, that is an image file, and has to be burned over a physical support (CD/DVD)- BURNED AS AN IMAGE NOT AS A FILE . There is a possibility to mount them (mount is the correct verb for "images files", through virtual drives softwares like Alchool or Daemon Tools under WinOS. However the best choiche is to burn the image onto a DVD in Mint case, or to choose a lighter distro (in terms of space) like Ubuntu 12.04 CD version which is approximately the same distro with less packages installed by default, if you have not a DVD burner and want to burn it on a CD.
3-When you make the boot from the Linux CD is the same as for any other OS, you have to set the boot order (CD READER as 1st) and just insert the CD/DVD inside and turn on the machine.
4-Then you have just to follow the instructions.
5-Before to make the physical installation it will let you try the OS with the Live CD, so you can chek wheter your hardware is fully recognized or not. Then you can choose on the desktop the icon that let you Install the OS onto the HDD.
5-The installing process is almost automatized and user-friendly, the only step you will have to pay a bit of attention is when it will ask you how to install it on the HDD. You will find several threads in this forum were the procedure about is very well explained, however the concept is that your HD is called sda by Linux, and you will have to make a partition sda1 formatted in ext3/4 (your choiche), where you will put the mount point / (which is the famous root) and a partition sda2 of about the double of the size of your actual RAM, formatted as Swap partition. This all process of making partitions is made by GUI by moving arrows so it's very intuitive, so make sure you have just these 2 partitions and be sure that GRUB Boot Loader is installed in sda (not onto a secondari partition). You can set both the partitions as primary. then press OK/Forward and it will make it all by itself.

Enjoy.

(When you will understand the mechanism better for the future installations, you maybe will want to make a 3rd partition in whick you will mount your /home/ directory in order to keep your personal files safer.)

sailormanbigd · Post by **sailormanbigd** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 8:14 am

ok finally gave up last night and went to bed. Thought I would see if any new posts, and wala, there are. I have two computers; the one I am typing on is a Dell inspiron 2200 with 256k ram and a 20gig harddrive I think. The other machine thats not running and therefore useless is an HP pavilion a600n desktop with an 80gig harddrive and I think 512kram. I already ran the windows disk and wiped and reformated the hardrive up to the point of it wanting a product key that it won't accept. The desktop is not currently hooked up to the web, but I will want to after I get it working.
I deleted the two .iso files of mint that I previously downloaded due to limited HD space and a slow put'r problem. They were too big anyway. I don't think that this lil laptop has a dvd burner, just a cd one? So, I will re-read the post of how to get a version of linux onto cd and run it live first, but am pretty positive I want to switch to linux permanently. Like I said, have about had it with windows o/s. Is it possible to download a simple version of linux and get my machine running then go online and update directly to the hardrive via download? I read somewhere if you don't want windows then just use the whole hard drive-no partitions? If so then which version/distribution should I download so as to run from cd? I think my machine loads from cd first upon startup. thanks for all your patients for newbie frustrations. Pat

Lord_Eager · Post by **Lord_Eager** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:39 am

Well now we have a bit more infos. If your HP machine is 512 K RAM , i feel to suggest you a light linux distro like Puppy Linux, or Lubuntu 12.04 which i'm currently using on a 1GB RAM machine which had some slow downs with multi tasking on Mint 13 KDE.

animaguy · Post by **animaguy** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 3:10 pm

My point is that when you make the jump to linux you should have two computers.

One computer needs to be able to download and burn on a CD/DvD. You can use a flashdrive but I personally do not use that method.

And another "experimental" computer to learn how to install a Linux distro via CD/DvD (or flashdrive) and connect to the internet to login to the forum and learn to burn another installation distro iso in the future if wanted.

It turns out you are getting a lot of help so I will read the thread and if I have something to add I will.

It seems to me you are well on your way to becoming a Linux guru.

I personally assure you that this isn't as difficult as it may seem.

remoulder · Post by **remoulder** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 3:21 pm

@animaguy: I have noticed on many of your posts that you appear to have changed the thread title from the default, such as in your posts here - all are missing the re. that would be automatically inserted on a reply. Please do not change the subject except in your own threads as this makes them appear as new posts rather than replies.

DrHu · Post by **DrHu** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 8:04 pm

I don't think either of those two machines can run any reasonable modern OS, whether Linux or otherwise
one machine is 512MB, the other is 256MB

Even though some windows OS version claimed to install in 128MB (at least initially claimed
--that's all it meant, it might install but it could hardly do anything
--that's like those free downloads from various web sites that are trial-buy editions or demos only..

Later OS (windows) requirements, examples
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... quirements
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_windows

At those specs, I think only something smaller like puppy will be functional
http://www.puppylinux.com/
http://01micko.com/slacko.html
--puppy Linux (latest version is slacko 5.3x, can run fairly quickly from a CD, it runs in RAM

Unless you tweak the heck out of other Linux installs, and perhaps run only one application at a time..

sailormanbigd · Post by **sailormanbigd** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 10:26 pm

ok, so the latest post says to not bother with any linux distributions they won't run on a 512kram machine. I have two slots but not sure if I CAN ONLY USE 512K OR IF i CAN GET MORE SAY 2 X 2 GB RAM CARDS? So I guess all the hype is more BS. I was/am running win xp on this 256k machine ok, it slows down with more than one page open but it works! Now linux has nothing comparble that will run a 512k machine? I did successfully load the ubunto 12.04.1 to my hardrive but am still having problems, guess I will just go back to windows and see how to get a product key. Thanks all for trying.

animaguy · Post by **animaguy** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 12:27 am

@Sailorman, I think you should still try Linux Mibt 13 w/xfce it may still work. And you should try Puppy Linux or Lubuntu. They are free so you have nothing to lose.

@remoulder, I usually post on my iphone with Tapatalk so I cannot control the Title or at least I do not know how to keep the topic the same. I will try to find out how but if you know how Ivam more than willing to follow the rules.

remoulder · Post by **remoulder** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:56 am

animaguy wrote:I usually post on my iphone with Tapatalk

Not familiar with that app so don't know the answer. On the web forum, clicking Postreply automatically inserts the re. at the start of the title, so it may be something specific to that software? As I said without that it looks like a new thread.

animaguy · Post by **animaguy** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 3:57 pm

@remoulder, it definitely seems to be a glitch.....

but getting back to the topic, i hope sailorman gives it a try.

sailormanbigd · Post by **sailormanbigd** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 8:40 am

well, thanks to those that have suck with my trials and tribulations. I did give it one more try. I researched "puppy" being suggested here and being a simple and small OS. In my research I found a link to a very simple cd/dvd burner program and downloaded it. Then after downloading "puppy" I used the new burner program-very simple, just opened it up and browsed my harddrive and double clicked on the pup program and it burned without any trouble. I then slaped it in my desktop cd drive and turned off then on. It loaded without incident-I now have a working computer! But, the text and icons on the home page are all elongated in the verticle plane, so I think I have to reboot and select a different screen resolution? I do very much enjoy this learning experience. I do get dumbfounded at times and frustrated at myself, but the rewards for sticking with it are priceless. Besides I am hopefully awakenning some of the grey matter that has layed dormant for so long. I used to be so-so with dos system, even had a Sinclair 2000. Thanks everyone, you will likely be hearing from me again. I do enjoy a challenge! Pat

animaguy · Post by **animaguy** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 2:37 pm

Good to here the news. I am not trying to blatantly attack windows but the fact remains firing up the brain synapsis and learning linux is fun! Maybe in the future you do get a 1gb ram computer with all kinds of viruses and you wipe the hard disk. At least you now know that you can do it.

Once you start it is hard to go back.

jagwinn · Post by **jagwinn** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 3:56 pm

Pah! (success!).

It the exercise of the brain thru thinking and challenges that thwarts Alzheimer disease!

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