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JUSTIN & Linux (sounds dangerous, don't it?) (Read 878 times)
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JUSTIN & Linux (sounds dangerous, don't it?)
02/25/14 at 16:42:32
 

Justin has been talking about going to Linux for a while now.   Now we are gonna geek him up good.

If Justin can do it, you can do it .....  

What do you have to lose, but your chains ????


continued from several other threads .....


What I would suggest is getting a disk defragmenter that will stack everything together in a cohesive clump at the front of the drive.   This wil give you free room at the back of the drive for Linux.   Your traditional Windows world has many defragmenter/compactors, and quite a few of them are free.

Defrag and CoMPACT your current hard drive using Windows tools.   Tell it to move everything to the front if you have that option (most just do it automatically anyway)

Your current drive is huge,  you have a ton of space.

You can install Linux Mint Mate version on 20-30 gigs of hard drive and think it was a 100 gigs --- Linux files are much smaller and much fewer of them are required to run a system.

===============

Go here and download and burn the OS to a DVD with your DVD burner.  (cksum it to make sure it all got there)

http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=104

Scan down the page and pick a USA mirror from the list and click on it right before you go to bed.  Downloading takes quite a few minutes for an entire OS DVD load and people fricking around with the PC and tapping on the keyboard actually cause more bad downloads than anything else really does.

==============

Like I said, in a couple of months Mint Mate edition goes to a new 5 year LTS version, and me, I'm waiting for it.


Once you boot Linux, it doesn't matter how eat up your old Windows is with crap and viruses nor how badly your old program files are chewed up.

Linux will create a new set of partitions, written in a format Windows can't read and it will organize a nice neat new world on those partitions that Windows (and Windows viruses) can't touch.

Your drive may wheeze and moan all the time under Windows because the boot sector has root kits on it and the FAT table is mangled and the drive struggles to read stuff that has been corrupted.

When you boot Linux, magically all that hard drive illness just ..... stops.  

On my old while box I was running a hard drive that Windows and the manufacturer's fix it disk said was 100% dead & gone -- but it was fine under Linux.

Think of it as an experiment -- you can always change the drive out later if you want to.


=================


You are going to set up a dual boot system, so your old Windows world will always be only a reboot away if you need it.  

Still there, untouched and all buggy wormy & polluted with dead trojans lying around on the sidewalks just like it always has been ...

You don't realize how bad it is because you've always been there in the middle of it .....

And you really don't have any IDEA how slow it has really gotten ....

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« Last Edit: 02/26/14 at 09:10:03 by Oldfeller--FSO »  

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Re: JUSTIN does Linux (sounds dangerous, don't it?
Reply #1 - 02/25/14 at 16:59:03
 
Id rather pull it & stick it in a drawer.. I know what youre saying, I know it works, Ive done it, some years ago,, Id rather buy a new drive & just go from there, so, please, point the way,,
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Re: JUSTIN does Linux (sounds dangerous, don't it?
Reply #2 - 02/25/14 at 17:06:42
 

I did, you have to identify a drive that will work inside YOUR OLD DELL UNIT.

type "replacement hard drive for Dell xxxxx" into your browser with the x's being your Dell's model number.




If you dual boot on your existing hard drive, your old windows is there already hooked up for when you need to go back to it for something.

Going cold turkey isn't recommended for newbies -- no one is that good not to need something off the old Win machine at some point in time.

I needed the addresses list for my Christmas card mailing

And some saved links for car stuff that I knew I was going to need to buy later on.

(later on came)

Having to pull an old drive out of a drawer and hook it up is a PITA .... don't do that to yourself.

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Re: JUSTIN does Linux (sounds dangerous, don't it?
Reply #3 - 02/25/14 at 18:52:50
 
Ill give that a LOT of thot. I appreciate the heads up. I remember the pain of losing hard drives.. I had several die back in the late 90's,,Its kinda like losin your house, car, bike & shop & truck keys & billfold, all at one time,, YUKK,, BUT, this time I can spend some time, I can install the new one & load stuff from the old one,, NOOO,, Im  afraid Id load a bug,, dangitt.,.

HEY,, Most of what I have is websites I like,, I can email the links to myself,,right?

Okay, the grandson needs me,, I gotsta go,, moms asleep & he wants a snack,, Ill be thinking,, thank you for your advice.
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Re: JUSTIN does Linux (sounds dangerous, don't it?
Reply #4 - 02/25/14 at 19:31:41
 

You can transfer all of that easily if you are using Firefox.

Explorer, I don't use it so I can't say.

If you are putting the Linux stuff on the existing Windows drive, Firefox is smart enough to go to the Windows area and go get it for you.
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Re: JUSTIN does Linux (sounds dangerous, don't it?
Reply #5 - 02/25/14 at 22:17:04
 
Well... RIP JOG...

I tried Linux mint for 1 1/2 years...
I'm not a geek...  (perhaps a 'tard)... I just couldn't navigate...
Too many fruity tooty names...  
I need literalism...
Put my programs in a place called programs... documents in documents,.. music in music, movies in movies... etc...
Leave the puppies, dolphins, penguins, squirrels, and gnomes alone...
I couldn't even select my own wallpaper... Huh...

Admittedly... my cellphone scares me... Undecided...
Linux makes me crazy...
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Re: JUSTIN does Linux (sounds dangerous, don't it?
Reply #6 - 02/25/14 at 22:31:26
 
Not sure what fruity tooty names you mean. Regular ubuntu installation has all those Music, Documents etc directories. And wallpaper can be selected with 3 clicks.
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Re: JUSTIN does Linux (sounds dangerous, don't it?
Reply #7 - 02/25/14 at 22:40:10
 
JOG can fill me in... once he figures it out... Huh...
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Re: JUSTIN does Linux (sounds dangerous, don't it?
Reply #8 - 02/26/14 at 01:30:07
 

Most of us don't react well to "different" and I do remember far enough back to when early Gnome used to use some real cutie pie names for some things.    

That was a while ago and Gnome isn't default for any distro any more
(it died due to running off a cliff under the leadership of an idiot who wouldn't listen to anybody).

The son of Gnome is called Mate and it is run by the ones who baulked at the edge of the cliff and wouldn't drink the koolaide and refused to be stupid.  

That was most of them, BTW.

Mate looks a whole lot like XP, you change the wallpaper by right clicking on the blank desktop then selecting what you want.   Mate looks to be a stable desktop now that has figured out that using a mouse and keyboard is the best way to go with a PC screen, not touch and gestures.

Is it always the exact same as XP, no.   But it is consistent and if you type in a question about how do you do "?" in Mint Mate (version #) the internet instantly tells you how to do it.   After a while the jump to get used to Mate is a whole lot less than the jump that Windows made going from Win 7 to Win 8.

Plus, once you get your desktop set up and your program icons where yo want them, the whole thing just sits there working, day in, day out, year after year until a new LTS comes out and you upgrade to it.

Flash comes and goes periodically (Adobe has now dropped all direct support for everything but Windows and Mac) but Google has taken up the slack on that front.   DRM makes a pain in the butt out of itself every month or so with the free Amazon Prime movies, but that is just Amazon trying to get you to buy a Kindle by twisting your arm.

Serowbot has tried Linux a while back and didn't like it.  I'd say 50% of those who try Linux for the first time simply don't like the distros they try out first.  

Me, I hated Red Hat and all the KDE distros, and Slackware, and Knoppix.   I liked Puppy, but it seemed like it really wasn't all there.  I used to use Ubuntu until the Unity thing ran me over to Mint.  Then the Gnome split up took place with Mate surviving and stabilizing several years ago and I found what I liked and stayed there.

Linux Mint gives you all the non-free graphics drivers and proprietary stuff in the original easy install and Mate gives you a simple, clean, stable, normal acting desktop experience.

==================

Me, I'd give Justin a good shot, but I fear he's about like Serowbot and won't like hitting very much "different" all that much.   The size of the speed bump that will make your suspension go CLUNK varies per vehicle and operator .....  everyone is different.

I'm serious about Apple using women to use-test all the software before they release it -- Apple has learned that men aren't their main customers and anything that makes the woman happy stays .... and that anything that frustrates her very quickly goes away.

Linux is learning that fact quicker than Windows, since women programmers contribute more to FOSS than the average male programmer does.   Problem is that there are a lot more male programmers in the world right now so Linux still tends to be geeky sometimes.

However, my wife uses my Mint/Mate rig with no instructions and just a few minor complaints about the odd menu system I use on my Word ....

She however LIVES on her I-Pad 2 and curses her Windows laptop bi-weekly.   Her Android phone frustrates her because it is too complicated to use .... and she hates the GPS in the car because it is totally stupid (Japanese software engineering).

Women have strong feelings about technology (and everything else too).

Wink

Roku is my current example of "good software that was written for/by women"  I don't even think there IS an instruction manual for how to use a Roku -- it is that simple and completely intuitive.

Compare that Roku remote to most TV and DVR remotes -- Roku has very few buttons and only uses a simple  "move and select" system for doing everything.

The magic of Roku is intentional simplicity and large clear screens to do the selecting on.
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Re: JUSTIN does Linux (sounds dangerous, don't it?
Reply #9 - 02/26/14 at 08:33:26
 
Intuitive, thats what I need,, If it isnt at least intuitive, Im not gonna win it. Ive learned XP, but until this cell phone, I was helpless.. I can do a few things with her phone, SHE has it in her hand almost constantly. I cal it her "Fidget".
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Re: JUSTIN does Linux (sounds dangerous, don't it?
Reply #10 - 02/26/14 at 09:06:40
 

Linux Mint Mate is on the same level as XP -- you gotta learn how to use mostly the exact same moves to do the exact same things.  

Many things work exactly the same as XP though, and it looks almost identical as far as the desktop goes.

It has a start button in the bottom left hand corner that opens everything up so you can get to all the drop down menus, just like good old XP did.  

Menus have different items, but the idea is the same.  You go to menu button>System Tools> you pick it to change it.

So, you ask the internet for help finding what you need to change, then the menu structure is so simple you don't need much beyond the help you get on the net.



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Re: JUSTIN & Linux (sounds dangerous, don't it?)
Reply #11 - 02/26/14 at 22:58:28
 
Trust me JOG... downloading and installing Linux Mint is not hard at all.
I downloaded it to a thumb drive with 16gig on it (cost me all of $10). I then, just looked at "my computer" and the disc drive, and hit "install", Linux allowed me to create a "dual boot" system and keep windows version that was currently installed.
Now when it boots up it gives me four selections
Last boot (or safe) for Linux Mint
Regular boot for Linux Mint
Last boot (or safe) for Windows
Regular boot for Windows

just use your arrows to select which one you want to boot.

Mint is really similar to most other operations.... play with it and you will learn it in a week (well the easy stuff, like opening folders and logging on to the net).

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Re: JUSTIN & Linux (sounds dangerous, don't it?)
Reply #12 - 03/01/14 at 13:25:19
 

Optiplex GX620

Is this what you got?    If not, pull it out and read the info off the main label on the back of the unit.   That is the info that counts.

You got to pull it out anyway and pop the back of the case off and make sure what you have looks exactly like the video before you go order anything.

Next, before you order anything, do you have a DVD WRITE drive on one of your other machines that is working?   What came on your old Dell is a read only DVD which cannot write the OS files to a DVD.   You will need another machine to do that.





If so this relatively inexpensive older technology 3.5" hard drive should mount your plastic slide rails and plug into your SATA connectors.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000Q85WOK/ref=sr_1_6_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=...


Smiley



(everybody feel free to jump in if I picked wrong or you can find a drive cheaper somewhere else)
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Re: JUSTIN & Linux (sounds dangerous, don't it?)
Reply #13 - 03/01/14 at 14:33:20
 
Im not havin a good day, wouldnt be smart for me to go diggin in a puter.Ima hafta wait, a day or 3,, but Ill leave the other thread to walk down the page into oblivion. I DID say thanks, right? Well,, thanks again,,
If I have to Ill get a Read/Write drive.. I desppise this one anyway, it sounds like a thrashing machine. cant watch a dvd its so noisy,,
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Re: JUSTIN & Linux (sounds dangerous, don't it?)
Reply #14 - 03/01/14 at 14:50:22
 

Once again, you will have to make sure the new burner will work with the old Dell unit that you have before you order it.

Yours is really really old, a full generation older than mine and I thought mine was really old when I got it.

PM me with a snail mail addy by PM and i will send you a Linux Mint DVD to try out.   This means you don't have to buy a new DVD burner as your reader that came in your Dell is all that you need.

(it is the last out LTS that I have been using fir the last year and a bit).

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