Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Linux Mint tour for Windows XP users

People have asked which Linux is best for XP users to upgrade to.  Your hardware is still fine but Microsoft is ending support for XP - Linux will let you keep your hardware running without spending a penny.  Granted, you don't have to spend a penny to keep XP, but you won't get any more security updates (and you know what that means for Windows).

And so here's Linux Mint, a very easy transition from XP.  The introduction:



The installation (go to Youtube if you want the video on setting up dual boot; my opinion is that dual boot is for Communists and farm animals, and you don't want to keep XP around - no security updates, right?).  Remember, you will have downloaded the Linux Mint 32 bit ISO to, say, a USB drive and double clicked the ISO:



What to do after installing:



Remember, it's minty fresh!  And Linux is magic!



11 comments:

  1. SixJanuary 15, 2014 at 8:40 PM

    My current laptop is running Vista which I hate with the hatey hate of a thousand supernovas. Will this work for me? At this point I'd try most anything never to have to work with Vista ever again. I've even considered a Mac.

    ReplyDelete
  2. BorepatchJanuary 15, 2014 at 8:48 PM

    Yup.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dave HJanuary 15, 2014 at 9:29 PM

    I'll have to give Mint a try. I went to put Ubuntu on a couple of dinosaurs here last weekend to run SETI@Home and that pig of a UI Ubuntu has now brought both machines to their knees. I wiped them both and put Ubuntu Server on them, but I'm ready to try something different.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnarchAngelJanuary 16, 2014 at 5:34 AM

    I tell folks all the time, Ubuntu used to be great, but got really stupid. Mint is like Ubuntu with the stupid taken out.

    ReplyDelete
  5. EagleJanuary 16, 2014 at 7:01 AM

    The default Ubuntu desktopis horrid: Unity is probably the worst user interface ever designed. Granted, Ubuntu is trying to be the "everywhere" Linux distro, but the Ubuntu folks took a very wrong turn with Unity.

    Hidden in the "About Us" page for Linux Mint is the teeny little print "Based on Debian and Ubuntu..."

    Don't load the default Ubuntu distro.

    DO load Xubuntu. You'll get all of the benefits of the latest Ubuntu release (kernel, drivers, program repositories, updates and patches, etc), but with the lightweight XFCE user interface.

    XFCE also allows you to run both Gnome and KDE applications on its desktop WITHOUT the overhead of either Gnome or KDE, so you get the best of all worlds.

    Take it from someone who's been running Linux longer than most: highly recommended.

    ReplyDelete
  6. DirkJanuary 16, 2014 at 8:35 AM

    I know the recommendation is to back everything up whenever you do anything major... but is it possible to install this without going that route, and still have access to whatever is on the machine already?

    The reason is that I'm now considering this for my wife's laptop, which is running Vista, and she hates it greatly.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Comrade MisfitJanuary 16, 2014 at 8:57 AM

    I have some very old programs on my XP box that still work and that I still use. Chiefly, Quicken 6, which runs on XP (but not Win 7) and is so old that current versions of Quicken can't open the data files.

    Which is why I'll end up air-gapping the damned thing,

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousJanuary 16, 2014 at 1:14 PM

    I am sold. Recommendations as from where I should download Linux Mint 15?

    ReplyDelete
  9. BorepatchJanuary 16, 2014 at 1:37 PM

    Dirk, when you install you can choose "dual boot" (either Linux or Windows). The installer will set everything up for you.

    extexanwannabe, just hit the Linux Mint web site and pick download. It will handle everything for you.

    ReplyDelete
  10. drjimJanuary 16, 2014 at 1:58 PM

    I like OpenSUSE with the KDE desktop.

    Been running it for years.....

    ReplyDelete
  11. SixJanuary 16, 2014 at 5:28 PM

    Thanks BP. I'm doing this.

    ReplyDelete

Remember your manners when you post. Anonymous comments are not allowed because of the plague of spam comments.