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Linux and SSD help please.



1066familyman

1066familyman

Radio User
Jan 15, 2008
15,185
Thinking of reinvigorating my old Vista laptop. Runs pretty slow now and Vista will soon lose all support anyway. No intention of buying a new laptop.

Seems I could possibly have a reasonably quick and reliable laptop again by getting shot of windows and installing Linux. Along with ditching the tired old HDD and putting in a new SSD instead.

So a couple of questions:

1) How easy is it to install Linux as a complete novice, and how steep is the learning curve for using it?

2) How easy is it to install a SSD? I'm quite happy to go as low as say 128 or 256GB to keep costs down and store large files on an existing external HD.

Any ideas on whether the above is worth doing and, if so, where best to start please?
Thanks.
 




happypig

happypig

Staring at the rude boys
May 23, 2009
7,960
Eastbourne
Forget the SSD for now. Download Mint and install it alongside vista to try it.

Biggest change I ever made was setting my PC up to default to booting into Linux rather than windows.
 


1066familyman

1066familyman

Radio User
Jan 15, 2008
15,185
happypig said:
Forget the SSD for now. Download Mint and install it alongside vista to try it.

Biggest change I ever made was setting my PC up to default to booting into Linux rather than windows.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Makes sense to go one step at a time I suppose, starting with the free option.
I am a bit concerned that my HDD could give up at any moment though. But then if I back everything up then I suppose if it does go then that's the time to get the SSD anyway.

Is it easy to install Linux? Any particular YouTube step by step tutorials you'd recommend?
 




D

Deleted member 22389

Guest
I would second for Mint, Ubuntu might be a bit more resource hungry. As others have said on here, stick with a normal Hard Drive first.

Download your .iso, 32 or 64 bit depending on your architecture, you could write this usb stick and boot from that, but you will need to set your BIOS to boot from USB.
https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php


https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/744
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

Mint will give you the option like other Linux distros to run the OS live and then install to your Hard Drive.

As for backing up Windows, without getting to complicated if you write the Mint .iso to usb stick, boot into Linux Mint it will mount your windows drive. You can then plug in an external drive and move all your important files to this.

Whatever is easier for you.
 
Last edited by a moderator:




beorhthelm

beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,302
SSD are easy to install like a new bike tyre. bit of a trick to getting them inplace but simply if you follow the instructions. upgrading is usually done in situ, you clone existing HD to the SSD then switch over in BIOS which is primary, or simply change the connectors round.

Linux is the way to go if you have no software that needs Windows, you might need to stick with the old slapper (i play a few games that tie me to Direct X). though there's little benefit to getting Linux and installing onto a crufty old HD, and if your getting a new one might as well go SSD.
 


Dick Head

Dick Head

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Jan 3, 2010
13,632
Quaxxann
beorhthelm said:
SSD are easy to install like a new bike tyre. bit of a trick to getting them inplace but simply if you follow the instructions. upgrading is usually done in situ, you clone existing HD to the SSD then switch over in BIOS which is primary, or simply change the connectors round.

Linux is the way to go if you have no software that needs Windows, you might need to stick with the old slapper (i play a few games that tie me to Direct X). though there's little benefit to getting Linux and installing onto a crufty old HD, and if your getting a new one might as well go SSD.
Click to expand...

You can run lots of Windoze software on Linux if you install Wine.
 


F

Fungus

Well-known member
NSC Patron
May 21, 2004
7,046
Truro
Just installed Linux Ubuntu on a desktop PC today, but have previously installed Linux Mint on a fresh SSD in old laptops - and it runs like a dream.

I think Mint is easier to get to grips with. Don't forget, you can download and burn it to a DVD or USB stick, then trial it on there before actually installing it (though it will obviously run slower).

I suggest you download the 64-bit MATE version from the UK servers on here: https://linuxmint.com/download.php
 




1066familyman

1066familyman

Radio User
Jan 15, 2008
15,185
beorhthelm said:
SSD are easy to install like a new bike tyre. bit of a trick to getting them inplace but simply if you follow the instructions. upgrading is usually done in situ, you clone existing HD to the SSD then switch over in BIOS which is primary, or simply change the connectors round.

Linux is the way to go if you have no software that needs Windows, you might need to stick with the old slapper (i play a few games that tie me to Direct X). though there's little benefit to getting Linux and installing onto a crufty old HD, and if your getting a new one might as well go SSD.
Click to expand...

Thanks all for advice so far.


I don't think I need windows at all to be honest.

Preferred browser = Opera.
Use Open Office rather than Word.
VLC as my media player.

Anyone any experience of Point Linux? Seems to be highly recommended for old laptops as it's quite light so doesn't need much to run it, apparently.
 


happypig

happypig

Staring at the rude boys
May 23, 2009
7,960
Eastbourne
1066familyman said:
Anyone any experience of Point Linux? Seems to be highly recommended for old laptops as it's quite light so doesn't need much to run it, apparently.
Click to expand...

Never tried Point.
At variuous times I've installed Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Mint, Suse, Redhat/Fedora, Debian and probably others. The great thing about linux is that you can download a distro for free and try it. A lot of them will have a "live" version that you can run off the disc to see if your hardware can cope.

As Arthur Daley would say, The world is your lobster me old son
 


beorhthelm

beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,302
1066familyman said:
Anyone any experience of Point Linux? Seems to be highly recommended for old laptops as it's quite light so doesn't need much to run it, apparently.
Click to expand...

never heard of it, im sure its very nice but in Linux land when people say runs on old machines they mean low spec laptops or older than the <10 years Vista would date yours to. stick to Mint or Ubuntu, most likely to get support for any issues you face.
 




E

Ex-Staffs Gull

New member
Jul 5, 2003
1,687
Adelaide, SA
Mint & Ubuntu are the easiest for starters. It has got a lot better over the years. Get an ubuntu for dummies book and you will be laughing.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk
 




D

Deleted member 22389

Guest
1066familyman said:
Thanks all for advice so far.


I don't think I need windows at all to be honest.

Preferred browser = Opera.
Use Open Office rather than Word.
VLC as my media player.

Anyone any experience of Point Linux? Seems to be highly recommended for old laptops as it's quite light so doesn't need much to run it, apparently.
Click to expand...

Stick to the Ubuntu branch of distros simply because of the support. Here is a list of what I consider light distros. If you stick with these you will not have any problems. Once you start spinning off in to Linux land looking at less supported distros, it is never ending and you will never find a happy medium.

Also what graphics chip does your laptop have, if your laptop has Nvidia your laughing.

Mint
https://www.linuxmint.com/

Lubuntu
http://lubuntu.net/

Xubuntu
https://xubuntu.org/

Ubuntu Mate
https://ubuntu-mate.org/
 






D

Deleted member 22389

Guest
Oxy McFloppie-Tish said:
Not heard of that before - looks interesting. I don't find the standard Ubuntu desktop very friendly.
Click to expand...

It is very good, stable. I would say personally better than Mint. I don't find the Ubuntu Unity desktop user friendly either so your not alone here.

Anyway Give Ubuntu Mate a download, that's what I love about Linux the choice and it being free.
 


F

Fungus

Well-known member
NSC Patron
May 21, 2004
7,046
Truro
bashlsdir said:
It is very good, stable. I would say personally better than Mint. I don't find the Ubuntu Unity desktop user friendly either so your not alone here.

Anyway Give Ubuntu Mate a download, that's what I love about Linux the choice and it being free.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'll do that; I already like Mint, but recently gave standard Ubuntu another go - my spare PC is soon going to become a "quad-boot" machine!
 


D

Deleted member 22389

Guest
Oxy McFloppie-Tish said:
Yes, I'll do that; I already like Mint, but recently gave standard Ubuntu another go - my spare PC is soon going to become a "quad-boot" machine!
Click to expand...

Distro hopping, I go through stages of it. That was makes Linux interesting, you learn something new everyday.
 




1066familyman

1066familyman

Radio User
Jan 15, 2008
15,185
bashlsdir said:
Stick to the Ubuntu branch of distros simply because of the support. Here is a list of what I consider light distros. If you stick with these you will not have any problems. Once you start spinning off in to Linux land looking at less supported distros, it is never ending and you will never find a happy medium.

Also what graphics chip does your laptop have, if your laptop has Nvidia your laughing.

Mint
https://www.linuxmint.com/

Lubuntu
http://lubuntu.net/

Xubuntu
https://xubuntu.org/

Ubuntu Mate
https://ubuntu-mate.org/
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. Will probably go to Mint for now then seeing as that seems the overwhelming recommendation from the thread so far.

Yes, Nvidia Gforce graphics. Good to hear that should help.
 


D

Deleted member 22389

Guest
1066familyman said:
Thanks for that. Will probably go to Mint for now then seeing as that seems the overwhelming recommendation from the thread so far.

Yes, Nvidia Gforce graphics. Good to hear that should help.
Click to expand...

You can install nvidia driver through mint with a couple of clicks. When you get to that point let me know. Nvidia drivers have improved massively over the last few years for Linux. ATI and Intel can be a bit more involved.
 


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