Install disk 2 NOW!

& all ya got is ONE disk?

Maaaan,, that just aint right,, NORMAL, yes, right, No..

OF ,I don't know if this will work ,but I found this article about installing xp without a product key.


http://www.ehow.com/how_6122593_reinstall-xp-product-key.html

Guys, once again my installation CD is bad, won't read.   I've got a key code for the bad disk, but what good is it?

I've got XP and Vista laptops, I can get to Windows if I want it ...

ok,sorry. I was  trying to determine if  microsoft would actually block you from reinstalling xp by not activating your product key after april, but from the people i talked to, that is not true.

Has anyone tried the KDE version of Mint?  I have always loved the KDE desktop since I first used it.  If so, how does it compare, performance wise, with Mint Mate?

Oh yeah, I know it's completely different. Just was wondering if anyone had any comparisons between the two.

I am sure that KDE is much more resource intensive. I might have to try Mint Mate and see how I like it.

Old_rider,

I am not so foolish as to try to tell people which Linux is "the best" as there is no real answer to that question as what is "best" as that is something that is kinda undefined and always changing.

What I shot for instead is "most like XP" and "easiest to transfer over to"  and "has the minimum learning curve for an XP user".  

Any new OS will have differences and some learning to do, but we tried to pick the one that absolutely minimized the shift change.

So far the answer to the "best matches XP question" is Linux Mint Mate 64 bit.   With four people switching over with no issues and no one coming forward with a better XP alternate, it is the one we are going to recommend going forward and try to support as our XP folks roll into the future.

Next month Linux Mint Mate 64 version 17 will come out as a 5 year supported Long Term Support version.   I will be going through this update myself so I will have fresh and totally recent hands on experience with the ins and outs of it.

So, if you want to you can experiment with Linux all you like, there are many many versions out there and you can have some fun with it.

However, for those who want to have a relatively painless switchover from XP (which is dying next month) to Linux Mint Mate which will continue on in 5 year long chunks way out into the future we as a group can support you in doing that.


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


Why should you make a dual boot with Mint Mate as soon as the LTS becomes available?

Rumor has it that XP will be attacked with exploits that are intended to kill it inside the first month of unsupportedness.   Why would somebody want to do this?   They want your money, either for "fixing it" or else get you to go buy an new machine.

If you set up your current machine as dual boot machine and use Mint to do most of your internet cruising and save your XP installation for use only with the things that require it, your odds of having your XP survive a lot lot longer go way way up.

You did the right one -- a pentium isn't a 64 bit chip if my memory serves correctly.    I did the research and my memory sucks, your chip is a 64 bit chip and you can load a 64 bit distro if you want to.

http://hothardware.com/Reviews/Intel-Pentium-E2140-Dual-Core-Processor/

https://www.google.com/search?q=is+Pentium+E2140+Dual+Core+a+64+bit+chip

5-10 years ago I would have said "no real difference" but there are programs out there accessing 64 bit addresses and a whale of a lot of more modern video chips and video cards are 128k wide now days.

Modern softwares (and most Linux distros) are 64 bits wide now -- you can still get 32 bit modded distro versions (using older bits and pieces and the PAE extension tricks) but they are becoming scarcer and scarcer.

This is one of the reasons you didn't see a great big move to adopt ARM on Linux until it got up to the true 64 bit level.

So, how do you like what you have seen of Mint Mate so far ??