Linux on a Windows box

Started by Pointyhat, July 14, 2008, 09:26:41 PM

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Pointyhat

Bosslady is thinking about tricking out her Dell with a Linux OS. I know nothing. Does anyone have any info, input, have a friend of a friend who's done it? Any feedback or advice greatly appreciated as always.
He was a good monkey, wingless but that gave him courage and character

Joe

Which Distro? Ubuntu, Fedora, Open Suse, etc?

Ubuntu is probably the easiest and most popular right now. In that case you go to the Ubuntu web site and download Ubuntu 8.x Desktop ISO file. Then using most any CD burning application you burn the ISO to a cd so it is bootable. You don't want a CD with just the ISO file, the CD burning software should uncompress the files within the ISO and burn it to CD so it's bootable. Once you get that done you boot the PC from the CD and it should come to a screen where you tell it to install Ubuntu. One word of caution, Linux does not identify the hard drives as C:, D:, etc...so if you have anything on a drive you don't want to lose be careful. If you just want it to automatically use the first hard drive Ubuntu can do it on it's own without you needing to do anything. It will try to configure your network for you. Usually it succeeds as long as you want to use DHCP. If you want a static IP hit escape when it says it is setting up the network in the installer. You gotta be quick on this one or you'll miss your chance. If that happens you can change the network settings from within the GUI later. When the install is done, remove the CD and let the PC reboot. You should see a login screen. Enter the user name and password you set up during install. You should get logged into the GUI. From there click and explore.

It's easier then it sounds actually.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.

Pointyhat

Quote from: Joe on July 14, 2008, 09:50:58 PMWhich Distro? Ubuntu, Fedora, Open Suse, etc?
LOL, HUH?? What part of "I know nothing" didn't you get.

No, actually believe it or not, I got it. Perfect, thank you very much. She's going to load it at home and then if it works for her, mebbe she'll load it at work. Obviously it's up to her to get comfortable and find the appropriate software. I'm hoping to wean her from DTP apps and more into more scheduling/softproofing software. As long as she stays on her meds I got a shot. Cross your fingers.
He was a good monkey, wingless but that gave him courage and character

frailer

As Joe knows, I recently installed Ubu 8.04 on a 2nd drive. That drive was cheap, and it keeps Ubu away from M. le Gates. As long as you know the ID of the said drive when you choose which one to install on. [In Windows World it would be E: Drive...].
The only thing I managed to do was inadvertently set my Boot Partition and my Swap Partiyion the wrong way round... :embarrassed: Haven't resolved it yet; other things happening. It works OK but no room for any more apps... :rolleyes:

As Joe says, it's easier than it sounds...hell, I did it.

The nice thing is that Linux [GRUB loader?] gives you the boot screen on startup, so you always have the option of which op. sys. to boot into.
Forgotten good guys: Dennis Ritchie, Burrell Smith, Bill Atkinson, Richard Stallman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now just an honorary member.

Joe

#4
Quote from: Pointyhat on July 14, 2008, 11:03:09 PM
Quote from: Joe on July 14, 2008, 09:50:58 PMWhich Distro? Ubuntu, Fedora, Open Suse, etc?
LOL, HUH?? What part of "I know nothing" didn't you get.

No, actually believe it or not, I got it. Perfect, thank you very much. She's going to load it at home and then if it works for her, mebbe she'll load it at work. Obviously it's up to her to get comfortable and find the appropriate software. I'm hoping to wean her from DTP apps and more into more scheduling/softproofing software. As long as she stays on her meds I got a shot. Cross your fingers.

Oh yeah, if she doesn't want to mess with downloading and burning a boot CD she can order it from the Ubuntu web site. She'll have to pay shipping & handling but I think that is all though.

PS: I'm moving this to the "Other OS" forum in case you are wondering where it went.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.

frailer

The one I got recently was free...came in about 3 weeks...from Holland... :huh:   Just fill in the fields, click GO, and wait... :cheesy:

It's LOL funny though. The opposite to MS.  "Please feel free to copy and distribute this disk for other users..."  Words to that effect.    :laugh:
Forgotten good guys: Dennis Ritchie, Burrell Smith, Bill Atkinson, Richard Stallman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now just an honorary member.