Replacing Windows & Installing LINUX How Hard?

1/22/09 | Don VB

[Don@VB]

I have an old PC with a Pentium 1 it is ok for email etc.. I thought it might run faster with LINUX

[Don@VB]

I have an old PC with a Pentium 1 it is ok for email etc.. I thought it might run faster with LINUX. We recently purchased an ASUS Netbook: It has a limited amount of capacity but runs very well on LINUX. I was considering a switch to LINUX for our older PC. How hard is it to do? The LINUX website seemed quite vast and I wasn't sure where to start. Any feedback is helpful and appreciated. PS I'll be offline for a while so I wont be able to participate on this right away. Thanks!! Don

[maclay]

I’ve nothing to add, but am also intersted in doing this.

[Redcloak]

Faster? Perhaps. More reliably? Probably. With Linux, you won’t be taxing the POT with anti-virus software or a hokey file allocation system. As for installing, that’s easy now. My mom could probably install Ubuntu or one of its cousins.

[lormand]

I just converted an old Gateway desktop to the Ubuntu version of Linux. All the drivers including the wireless nic driver installed with no problems.

I'm staging it to run my online photo gallery so I can retire my old PC.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

You can create a live CD from kubuntu that you can boot with to see how it works.

If you like it, you can install it from the CD.

I prefer kubunu over ubuntu because the KDE desktop is easier for Windows users to adapt to than the Gnome desktop of ubuntu.

[gridlock]

I have an old laptop/doorstop that could be fun to try a LINUX install on...

[rabscuttle385]

Look, my advice to you is to go fishing on eBay for a Pentium III with 256+ megabytes of RAM (note that RAM != hard drive). I got one (the whole computer) for $2.00 a week or so ago.

[Astronaut]

Instead of Linux, take a look at OpenSolaris at http://www.opensolaris.com. Its the open source version of Sun Microsystem’s Solaris 10. They’ll send you a free Live CD that you can also use to install the operating system. OpenSolaris is like Linux, but its real UNIX and its supported by Sun. There is a nice graphical package manager that makes installing software a snap. Its also completely free.

[Redcloak]

I prefer kubunu over ubuntu because the KDE desktop is easier for Windows users to adapt to than the Gnome desktop of ubuntu.

I'm using Kubuntu right now. The installation disks are here. I used Slackware for years, but that can be a bit much for a noob to set up. (The install's easy enough, but some of the under-the-hood stuff can be a little daunting.) As you point out, it's easy enough to try by booting from the CD without permanently installing the OS.

[Bulwinkle]

Replacing windows?
I would suggest The Window Man
http://www.thewindowman.com/

Line-X??? It’s great!!!
http://www.linex.com/

[The Great RJ]

I have heard good things about A href=”http://www.puppylinux.org/";>Puppy Linux</a> as a very basic operating system.

[TexasTransplant]

Mark for later

[Chartist]

Not very hard to do with the Ubuntu flavor of Linux and you can even try it out without making any changes to your PC.

Go to http://www.ubuntulinux.org/getubuntu/download and get an .iso file which you then burn to a CD.

You can then boot from this CD, run it, play with it and later reboot, remove the disc and your PC is back to windows.

If you like it, back up everything on your PC and permanently install Linux — even Windows too in another partition.

Apologies that this thread is off topic.

[bcsco]

a Pentium III with 256+ megabytes of RAM (note that RAM != hard drive).

RAM does NOT = hard drive. RAM is your random access memory that runs off one or more circuit boards that plug into your motherboard. Your hard drive in an encased drive that also attaches to your mother board and is your storage drive. RAM is volatile memory in which applications run when you open them. It's completely separate from hard disk space.

[oh8eleven]

I just did this last weekend. I had an old PC just sitting in the basement collecting dust (533Mhz CPU, 256MB Ram and a 16GB HD,) so I figured what the hey.
I tried installing Kubuntu 8.1, but had graphics problems. Then I tried PCLinuxOS and again the same graphics problem - I get the splash screen, then the screen goes black while the OS is loading.
Then I tried Linux Mint 6 and bingo, worked like a charm. The install is not hard, very intuitive and all menu driven. This review says it all.

[Yo-Yo]

The symbol != means “not equal to” in SQL.

[bcsco]

OK, I wasn’t aware of that. I take it it replaces the slash through the equal sign then...

[LuxMaker]

!= is not equals to in C++ as well.

[Yo-Yo]

Right, because the equal sign with a slash through it isn't on a computer keyboard.

I was taught to use <> for "not equal to," but kids these days think != looks 'cooler' I guess. (Plus, with xml languages that use < and > for other purposes, like we do here on FR with HTML tags like <P> for new paragraph, using <> isn't even possible.)

Back in my day, we programmed in machine language, hand compiled from object code, loading the programming code one byte at a time using toggle switches, and we liked it!

[bcsco]

If I’m doing, say, a simple database equation on my PC or Palm, I use <>. That’s what’s available. But I’ve always considered the combined “=\” mark to be the default “not equal to” symbol. The != is a new one for me. Oh, well. I’m not into Kool...