Nihil Obstat Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Over the new few weeks I am going to have access to a desktop PC which has just reached the end of its useful life running Windows Vista. Having never tried this before, I am really interested in trying to install and effectively use a Linux distro. I have zero experience in this field, and frankly reading some of the FAQs and troubleshooting guides makes me completely doubt my own technological literacy. Based on what I read today, I am relatively confident that I can download and install the OS itself, but not much beyond that. I am leaning towards Xubuntu or Pinguy OS right now. Mainly looking for something newbie friendly with an emphasis on applications and easy installation. So, has anyone here had a lot of experience installing and running Linux distros? Any tips or advice in getting into it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blazeingstar Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Ubuntu and Xubuntu are as simple as it gets, super easy. Xubuntu turned one of my older laptops into a high performance machine years ago, but they've trimmed Ubuntu down now so it's still pretty "light". Ubuntu (and Xubuntu) are well supported in the forums so its super easy to get help. Oh, and you should google your computer name + ubuntu to see what pre-existing driver issues there may be. That way you can save files the drivers. For some reason, lenovo always battled it out with speaker drivers, for instance. Also, ubuntu & xubuntu like to have weird wireless driver issues, so make sure you can get an ethernet line to get on the internet at first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Therese Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Haven't used xubuntu or pinguy, and my experience with this is very out-of-date, although it used to be my line of work about 8 years ago. Back in the day, however, ubuntu was my fave and I found it easy to work with. I'd recommend it for a user who is still building confidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Therese Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 OH - one other suggestion. If you have access to VMware or some other type of virtualisation software, I'd actually create a virtual machine first, and install the chosen distribution on that. If it all goes belly up, you just get rid of the virtual machine and start again with a new one. :) It also gives you the benefit of being able to try several different types of setup all at once, on separate virtual machines. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted September 10, 2014 Author Share Posted September 10, 2014 To be honest, this is simply giving new life to a machine destined for the garbage. There's nothing to lose even if I completely screw it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winchester Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 Answer: Yes, stupid nerds do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amppax Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 Ubuntu's nice, I've used it to resuscitate an old laptop. You seem to know what you're doing, so I won't give the customary "watch you don't break it warning." Plus, you've said it's an old piece of junk, so there's that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blazeingstar Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 Ubuntu's nice, I've used it to resuscitate an old laptop. You seem to know what you're doing, so I won't give the customary "watch you don't break it warning." Plus, you've said it's an old piece of junk, so there's that. Short of over-clocking a hard drive, I'm not sure what damage you could do that would be permainate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted September 11, 2014 Author Share Posted September 11, 2014 Short of over-clocking a hard drive, I'm not sure what damage you could do that would be permainate. Well, you could end up formatting a hard drive that was not meant to be formatted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhuturePriest Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 When in doubt, take inspiration from Kirk Cameron: http://youtu.be/t89Hsem2LkI?t=2m24s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted September 11, 2014 Author Share Posted September 11, 2014 When in doubt, take inspiration from Kirk Cameron: http://youtu.be/t89Hsem2LkI?t=2m24s He smashed the computer monitor. The computer itself is probably still right there on his desk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhuturePriest Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 (edited) He smashed the computer monitor. The computer itself is probably still right there on his desk. Stop ruining the magic of him choosing his wife over porn! Also, later it shows a shot of both the monitor and the computer smashed up in the trash. Edited September 11, 2014 by FuturePrius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amppax Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 Short of over-clocking a hard drive, I'm not sure what damage you could do that would be permainate. I am incredibly inept when it comes to computers. I have zero programming experience. I was told by the guy who put linux on my laptop that if I did it myself, I'd probably reduce the computer to a quivering mess of blue screen. Which is why I had him do it. Now I have a chromebook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winchester Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dUSt Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 I've installed Ubuntu on laptops that were old and Windows was broken. I've also used it to get into computers to repair Windows or recover files when Windows crashed. I never really used it as a main system. You can actually put Ubuntu on a thumb drive and run it from there to test it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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