installing Linux to replace XP

[Mud]

success

I downloaded the ISO file for Cinammon and then burned it to a disc. The default speed for the burner was maximum, so I picked the next one in line for a slower burn, all looks good.
The first computer I'm trying this on is an older one from Micro Center, their house brand of PowerSpec. Upon start-up I hit the Delete key and it brought up the CMOS system which listed the primary and secondary sources for start-up. But I think that this is different from the BIOS system so therefore I need to find another key at start-up that will get me to BIOS to select start-up from disc?

 

[demarpaint]

I'm running Mint on my wife's machine, she loves it.

 

[Mud]

I think I found the info on changing the BIOS settings, looks like maybe I was on the right track but apprehensive about what I was doing:
http://www.latestwebcrunch.com/how-to-get-into-the-bios-in-powerspec/
The first screenshot is exactly what I got, but I didn't go beyond that one.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: Mud
The first computer I'm trying this on is an older one from Micro Center,


If it is an older system I cannot help but wonder if the MATE version of Mint would be better for you. MATE'd be much less demanding in terms of graphics horsepower, CPU and RAM needed to run it properly.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Mud
But I think that this is different from the BIOS system so therefore I need to find another key at start-up that will get me to BIOS to select start-up from disc?

is what was on my last one. There's usually a splash screen explaining it.

As uc50ic4more explains, MATE might be better for you. Even though my computer is brand new, I'm sticking with MATE. I liked Gnome, and don't like a bunch of fancy graphics.

@uc50ic4more: I had a laugh the other day. I downloaded the Cairo clock, as I like to play with it once in a while. Upon invoking it, it worked, but also returned an incidental error message about the absence of Compiz. I guess that's how bare bones MATE is. I like that!

 

[Mud]

Thanks gents, I will take that advice on MATE.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: Garak
@uc50ic4more: I had a laugh the other day. I downloaded the Cairo clock, as I like to play with it once in a while. Upon invoking it, it worked, but also returned an incidental error message about the absence of Compiz. I guess that's how bare bones MATE is. I like that!

When the MATE folks forked Gnome2 they simply renamed everything so as to avoid problems with applications looking for the gnome-session-manager. Metacity (Gnome2's window manager) simply became Marco. I am honestly not sure at this point what MATE has that Gnome2 did not, other than some GTK3 support. Apparently re-naming and re-branding every piece of the Gnome2 ecosystem was a major endeavour. I am glad to see MATE gaining some traction as Gnome2 was just about perfect.

Compiz was never used by default in Gnome2 although it was easily installed. Ubuntu's Unity is actually, for the time being, just a Compiz plugin. I am pretty sure, though, that Compiz development has slowed a lot recently due to the lead developer bowing out of full-time effort. Since a lot of these forked DE's are more and more often featuring their own window managers now, too, I'll bet Compiz goes the way of the dodo bird soon and most applications that would require a specific window manager (?!) will have to adapt or consign themselves, too, to the oblivion of history.

 

[Mud]

Sorry for being a bit obtuse on all this, I see downloads for MATE as Maya and Petra, is there a preferred version?
thanks

 

[ClutchDisc]

Originally Posted By: Mud
Sorry for being a bit obtuse on all this, I see downloads for MATE as Maya and Petra, is there a preferred version?
thanks

I'm using the Petra version.
http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=145

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: uc50ic4more
Compiz was never used by default in Gnome2 although it was easily installed. Ubuntu's Unity is actually, for the time being, just a Compiz plugin.

I had the Compiz setup in my last Ubuntu system. It seems that Mint (using 15 here) broke something with GPG, and some people were struggling with it, and it still doesn't show as solved in any bug reports I saw. I narrowed it down to the fact that the OS set the .gnupg directory to root access only (whereas in the Ubuntu that I was using, it was a user directory). Then, the frontends weren't giving any meaningful error reports. I had to try something in the command line to get an appropriate error.

So, I fixed the directory ownership, and it's in order now. So few people use encryption, I guess, that there was no obvious solution out there yet.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: ClutchDisc
Originally Posted By: Mud
Sorry for being a bit obtuse on all this, I see downloads for MATE as Maya and Petra, is there a preferred version?
thanks

I'm using the Petra version.
http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=145


Petra is the latest/ greatest... HOWEVER, they will be releasing the LTS (Long Term Support) version (version 17; the code name has not been made public yet as far as I know) some time in May. This version (released in May of even-numbered years following Ubuntu's LTS releases in April - Remember, Mint is just Ubuntu with a few technical tweaks...) will be more stable than the intermediate releases and will receive support for 5 years. It's common for users to only use LTS releases.

I'd seriously consider and recommend goofing around with Petra until the LTS release in May and then doing a clean re-install with the LTS version, then sticking with that unless and until you find a reason to upgrade. Personally I tend to stick with Ubuntu LTS releases for friends, family and neighbours for whom I administer systems, and Arch for myself.

Maya is the last LTS which was released in 2012. They have backported (making newer stuff available on older releases) most of the cool new stuff (ie. current versions of MATE and Cinnamon) to it so it would work great, too.

 

[Mud]

I really appreciate your help, it's nice to learn new stuff.
I'll go with Petra.
thanks!

 

[Ramblejam]

Originally Posted By: Mud
I know they have 2GB RAM


2GB here as well -- elementary OS runs exceedingly well on an old 15" laptop:

 

[Mud]

As I type this I'm now using Firefox, looks like I managed to successfully install Linux Petra

The only glitch was that the pc would not shut off after the LP install when it was time to reboot. I shut it down manually, then went to the BIOS and selected the hard drive as the primary start. Linix came up fine, I then installed all of the available updates, I'll see if the pc shuts down normally.
thanks everyone!

 

[Mud]

Some additional observations - pc shuts down and starts up fine now, no glitches in operation. Without yielding to exaggeration, speed is like I got a new pc, I can't believe the difference. I found all of my existing files and moved some to my new home folder.
There's some more learning curve ahead but so far I don't see ANY downside to having moved away from XP

Now that I have a boot disc, I will do the same for our other pc, I'm a happy camper.

 

[ClutchDisc]

I'm loving Linux Mint too. Enjoy it! Did you go with Mate?

 

[Mud]

yup

going to install same on the other pc.

Messing around with it, I think it's pretty easy to use. My current learning task is to get my IE Favorites over to Firefox.

 

[ClutchDisc]

Yea it's pretty easy. I'm still learning it too.

 

[Mud]

Just a bit of a follow-up, I used the MATE boot disc I had made to load Linux into our other pc that was in even worse shape than the first. Wife uses it mainly for email, facebook, stuff like that. It was terrible - slow/freezing, needing to reboot frequently, despite trying to delete unused programs, defrag, etc.
Anyway, MATE loaded up fine and once again the difference is remarkable, it all works as expected with no freezing or excessive delays. I also like that it has the Libre Office software so that any documents in Word/PP/etc are very easy to update. Nothing extra needed.
Thanks all for your guidance, this story turned out very well.

 

[simple_gifts]

Generally when people complain about a < 5 year old computer being slow, they don't need a new computer, they need a new OS.