first off a big alo to you all, as this is my first post moor than likley you may of herd that Windows XP security updates finish on 8th April 2014
so i am really after your wisdom and advise and ease me into the new world of Linux, i have a toshiba satellite pro laptop with 55 GB of room,
and Dell desktop, but i would if possible like to put Linux onto my laptop and get used to the using of Linux befor i install it onto my desk top,
so the first question is what to use in Linux taking into consideration i can get round a pc ok downloading music piccys and waching stuff on youtube and the general upkeep of a PC, wich one would you advise Pinguy/Mint ect ect.
so i’m of now on the forum to just read and read i suppose, thanks for your time R
Lightweight (so fast on older hardware) … based on Ubuntu so has access to the Ubuntu software repositories and PPA’s
That said I must disclose (or I may get shouted at ;)) that I’m a member of “Team Peppermint” … so read into that what you will
There are a number of youtube videos about Peppermint 4 if you want a looksee … such as those below
Failing that, any of the “buntu” family and derivatives … such as
Ubuntu
Lubuntu
Xubuntu
Kubuntu
Mint
etc.
Reason I suggest an Ubuntu based distro - you’ll find more help/tutorials/walkthoughs/etc
Do you realise you can test drive most Linux distro’s from a USB stick (LiveUSB) or CD/DVD (LiveCD) without making any changes to your computer ?
(which will give you the opportunity to test drive a few distro’s before deciding which to install … obviously linux won’t be as quick in a “live” session, but it’ll give you an idea about what to expect … if you want help creating a LiveCD/LiveUSB, just ask)
It would be helpful if you told us a little more about the PC & laptop you have ie cpu, ram etc and what your requirements are, that way we could better advise you.
Peppermint 4 would be a good choice for any PC/Laptop but as Mark said in his post you can try out different distros without installing or making any changes to your PC by burning an iso to DVD or a USB flash drive, if you need any help with that post back here and we’ll be glad to help you
I have a Toshiba satellite M70 with Mint 16 MATE edition installed and it runs like a good 'un, support on that is not very long as it’s about to be replaced with a LTS (long term support/5years) edition over the next month or so, if you prefer longer support for now you could install LM13 which has roughly 3 years of updates still or hang on a bit or. . . . . . . create a separate root ‘/’ partition at install and upgrade to LM17 when it becomes available.
As well as the fine suggestions above, another good edition to maybe have a look at is Linux Lite (very nice) and depending on your spec’s you could consider other desktop environments, I’ve installed LM 13 cinnamon on a friends Satellite Eqquim recently and that runs great too, therein lies your dilemma, you’re spoilt for choice . . . . . . : Run a few as live USB trials and see what you like the feel of, it’s a great way to get an idea of the OS, plus point is the real install’s always quicker.
Peppermint is a fine OS…the only reason I recommend Mint over it, is that Mint has more software “out of the box”. Some call this “bloated”, but I think it saves time and hassle tracking down software to fulfil a task, as it’s already installed. If you’ve got the hard drive space (55Gb is enough, unless you’re going to be downloading tons of pictures & music), I’d say go Mint MATE (what Dave said is spot on!!)
If you’re willing to ask questions (we certainly don’t mind answering them!!), then Peppermint will do you fine. Someone’s always here (although if it’s 2am, it’s probably just Mark :p)
I’ve never tried it, but been reading about it for years. Interesting idea, but they’ve got little development resource, so it’s little more than a proof-of-concept (and now, given that it’s based on 12+ year old technology, is probably all it will be).
It’s basically “if WINE made operating systems…”, and we all know how well WINE works :
Hi every one thanks for all replies been doing as much reading as poss on the forums in between sorting out my vw van “door lock stuck” when i first came onto the forums i was and still am in heathrow looking after my mates house while he was in India for 6 weeks heese back now, and i will be returning to my home town Suffolk the weekend after a few beers with the chaps as its my birthday to day, so i will get all the info on my desktop -laptop when i get back, thanks once againe, i reckon i’m gonna like it here
Hi all hope your all good, hope this info is what i need to supply regarding the running of Linux
Laptop
Toshiba Satellite Pro
XP SP3
Intel \r celeron
Processor 1.40 GHz
1.39 GHz 4mb of Ram
Desktop PC
XP 32bit SP3
Pentium 4 CPU 3.00GHz
149 GB
Nvida Geforce GT 610
Intell R
2.99 GHz 1.00GB Ram
all info is from clicking on control pannell then System box, hope thats the info you need. what i would like is help burning Linux to usb stick then at least i can have a good play about and talk to you guys about bassicly what i do on my PC thanks for looking R
Step 1 … In the drop down list, select the distribution you chose Step 2 … point it at the ISO image you downloaded Step 3 … Choose your (already plugged in >= 1GB) USB stick … probably best to let it format it too, so backup its contents first. Step 4 … Set the slider to the largest persistence file it will allow you… so you can save changes. (if you want to test drive it first)
Heres a pic of the Universal USB Installer interface
Click Create … and wait till it’s done … it will take a while, and may appear to have stopped … but just wait till it says it’s “Done” … as in the following pic
Pic of Universal USB Installer … Installing to USB Stick
I installed LMDE on my in-laws desktop PC last night, identical spec to yours! No wireless to test, and haven’t played with their Kodak printer/scanner yet, but everything else worked perfectly out of the box. You should have no problems running MATE (or Xfce or LXDE, used by Peppermint)
Never failed me, plus you don’t need to find & download the ISOs yourself, as the app will do it for you
You don’t mention your Linux experience, but bear in mind that the majority of ISOs will produce a “live image” - one which you don’t need to install to your machine at all, but provide the full environment. You can “try before you buy”
(of course, by “buy”, I mean “buy into Linux” and actually install it permenantly)
Hi and thanks for all your replies i did download linuxliveusb. i now have a usb stick containing virtualbox and virtual key wich says directly run your Linux live File version 2.0.035 size 762 kb.
the page i get after clicking on usb stick in my computor, at top oracle VM virtual box manager, then under that is blue button says new. then yellow says settings, then green arrow green says start. this ia all being done on my laptop so i can hopefully get some help and reply back on my desk top. running side by side if you no what i mean. it may be better if i take some photo’s then post them to you. Chemicalfan you may of guest by now i have had no experience with Linux, hope your all well.
Hi and thanks for all your replies i did download linuxliveusb. i now have a usb stick containing virtualbox and virtual key wich says directly run your Linux live File version 2.0.035 size 762 kb.
You lost me on this one. Why virtual box?
If you have created your LiveUSB according the instructions provided by Mark, then all you need to do is plug it in and boot from it to get into the live environment.
Whoops i downloaded what chemicalfan said http://www.linuxliveusb.com/ then with Linuxliveusb i down loaded linux mint petra cinnamon and this is what i ended up with this
OK, I get it now. You have followed the first part of the instructions
I would suggest to skip the Using your LinuxLive USB key directly within windows part and go to Booting your PC from your LinuxLive USB key
Agreed, you need to reboot your machine with the USB stick connected - hopefully the USB stick is made bootable (never attempted the Virtualbox USB thing myself!). You need to make sure that your BIOS is set to boot from USB before the HDD - if you need instructions on how to do this, please post exactly which PC you have, and we’ll try to point you in the right direction
