Linux Master Thread

[grodnoking]

Im looking to wipe my laptop and run it off linux. Is there anyone that has done this and can give me resources on how to do it? Also i'd like to know the basic differences it has btwn it and windows.
TIA.

[AnonymousUser]

Im looking to wipe my laptop and run it off linux. Is there anyone that has done this and can give me resources on how to do it? Also i'd like to know the basic differences it has btwn it and windows.
TIA.

First part is easy. Any distro will give you the option to download an ISO. Burn it to a CD and boot from it. The installer so walk you through the process.
The second one is a bit open-ended. There are so many distros and each one is very different from the other. For a beginner I would suggest Ubuntu or one of its variants.

[grodnoking]

Thanks. One more question. I have Windows 8 and the laptop is to slow for it. The website gives the option for using a 32 bit os, and says for a 2gb ram. I have 4gb. What am I loosing out on with 32bit?

[shauly]

Thanks. One more question. I have Windows 8 and the laptop is to slow for it. The website gives the option for using a 32 bit os, and says for a 2gb ram. I have 4gb. What am I loosing out on with 32bit?

Is your system 32 or 64 bit?

[AnonymousUser]

Thanks. One more question. I have Windows 8 and the laptop is to slow for it. The website gives the option for using a 32 bit os, and says for a 2gb ram. I have 4gb. What am I loosing out on with 32bit?

IIRC, with 32 bit you can't use more than 4gb of RAM.

[BAHayman]

Thanks. One more question. I have Windows 8 and the laptop is to slow for it. The website gives the option for using a 32 bit os, and says for a 2gb ram. I have 4gb. What am I loosing out on with 32bit?

Install 64 bit.

There are a couple advantages to 64 bit and the biggest disadvantage is less relevant with >=4GB of RAM.

[AnonymousUser]

Install 64 bit.

There are a couple advantages to 64 bit and the biggest disadvantage is less relevant with >=4GB of RAM.

Can you elaborate?

[BAHayman]

Can you elaborate?

64 bit has a performance gain over 32 bit. It uses more memory but once you're at 4gb you have enough that I think its a non issue. A big gain over 32 bit is the removal of the ~3gb max memory per process limit. Etc.

[grodnoking]

If I download ubuntu will it effect the computer in anyway (if I have both systems running still) that Microsoft wont let me download 10 ?

[grodnoking]

Im getting this

[AnonymousUser]

If I download ubuntu will it effect the computer in anyway (if I have both systems running still) that Microsoft wont let me download 10 ?

It shouldn't.

Im getting this

Did you boot from the cd?

[grodnoking]

It shouldn't. Did you boot from the cd?

Downloaded the software from website. Thats all

[AnonymousUser]

Downloaded the software from website. Thats all

Weird. Did you try repair?

[DanH]

You got the wrong bootloader going... iirc ubuntu overrides win bootloader with grub.  maybe things changed.  you can use easybcd but be careful.  or run repair cmd, and its either fixboot or bootcfg /rebuild etc..   If you only care to have linux on the computer, and you want to wipe windows, then just wipe drive and install ubuntu fresh.

edit:
you wrote that you downloaded the software.  do you mean that you attempted to install it as well?

[grodnoking]

You got the wrong bootloader going... iirc ubuntu overrides win bootloader with grub.  maybe things changed.  you can use easybcd but be careful.  or run repair cmd, and its either fixboot or bootcfg /rebuild etc..   If you only care to have linux on the computer, and you want to wipe windows, then just wipe drive and install ubuntu fresh.

edit:
you wrote that you downloaded the software.  do you mean that you attempted to install it as well?

First of all to many words there I didnt understand. Second I still have the option to use Windows 8. The laptop boots up and then gives me the option to run windows or ubuntu. Windows continues fine but ubuntu gives me that black page saying the intsalation is missing files.

Note how that the page shown above is only when I choose ubuntu but it calls it a windows problem on the bar

[AnonymousUser]

First of all to many words there I didnt understand. Second I still have the option to use Windows 8. The laptop boots up and then gives me the option to run windows or ubuntu. Windows continues fine but ubuntu gives me that black page saying the intsalation is missing files.

Note how that the page shown above is only when I choose ubuntu but it calls it a windows problem on the bar

The bootloader is the first piece of software that runs on the computer. It finds the OS and starts it. If you're dual booting, you need to set up the bootloader so it sees both OSs and gives you a choice of which to load. Windows has its own bootloader, and GRUB is a Linux bootloader.
Take a look at this; see if it helps.

[grodnoking]

The bootloader is the first piece of software that runs on the computer. It finds the OS and starts it. If you're dual booting, you need to set up the bootloader so it sees both OSs and gives you a choice of which to load. Windows has its own bootloader, and GRUB is a Linux bootloader.
Take a look at this; see if it helps.

Thanx!

[DanH]

Thanx!

and this
https://neosmart.net/wiki/easybcd/dual-boot/linux/ubuntu/#Step-by-Step_Ubuntu_Windows_Dual-Boot_Pictorial

[jediwho]

First part is easy. Any distro will give you the option to download an ISO. Burn it to a CD and boot from it. The installer so walk you through the process.
The second one is a bit open-ended. There are so many distros and each one is very different from the other. For a beginner I would suggest Ubuntu or one of its variants.

I agree. Also, depends on which Windows you run, but you should be able to dual boot as well. I would go with Ubuntu or Mint (a variant of Ubuntu):

http://www.ubuntu.com/

http://www.linuxmint.com/

The big difference between Windows and Linux is stability. Even today, my office Windows 7 has to rebooted every day as its performance comes to a crawl by the end of the day vs. Linux, which could run for days without rebooting.

[AnonymousUser]

I agree. Also, depends on which Windows you run, but you should be able to dual boot as well. I would go with Ubuntu or Mint (a variant of Ubuntu):

http://www.ubuntu.com/

http://www.linuxmint.com/

The big difference between Windows and Linux is stability. Even today, my office Windows 7 has to rebooted every day as its performance comes to a crawl by the end of the day vs. Linux, which could run for days without rebooting.

Sounds like there's something wrong with your computer. I reboot Windows 7 approximately once a month, to install updates. This is with at least 50% of 6gb of RAM in constantly use, many times more.