Easiest and simplest way to switch to Linux

Easiest and simplest way to switch to Linux

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MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,552 posts

174 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
Right, I'm looking for the easiest, simplest way to swap (dual boot for now) to Linux on an old Dell Djmension desktop.

Open office or preferably MSOffice, Spotify, BBC iPlayer/flash, Firefox

I don't need the "best", just functionality, quick boot and faster than XP, off possible.

It might need setting up, but I don't want to spend 6 weeks configuring it.

My wife doesn't want to learn Unix to use it and if it feels like XP, even better.

Thanks.

sunbeam alpine

6,936 posts

187 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
I'm a big fan of Mint linux as easy to install and configure, without a high level of technical knowledge.

chris1roll

1,689 posts

243 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
My wife and I have been using Ubuntu on our laptops since Christmas.
She's been using libreoffice which come packaged with it for her coursework with no problems.
So far, haven't looked back.

ZesPak

24,421 posts

195 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
I now have experience with Ubuntu, Lubuntu and Mint.

The former is the most complete and visually most pleasing, the other two are more lightweight for ancient hardware (think 6 years +).

I've had little to no issues in recent years installing them on all sorts of hardware. The only thing you have to look out for is relatively specific stuff, such as older webcams, fingerprint readers,...

I would advise any of these. Very easy to install and having a go.

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,552 posts

174 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
Is installing Spotify, Flash and the like straight-forward?

What is the best(ok, MS-alike) Linux "Office" software? Wife sometimes uses it for work spreadsheets and doesn't really want to learn a non-Excel package.

Thanks

ZesPak

24,421 posts

195 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
MC Bodge said:
Is installing Spotify, Flash and the like straight-forward?

What is the best(ok, MS-alike) Linux "Office" software? Wife sometimes uses it for work spreadsheets and doesn't really want to learn a non-Excel package.

Thanks
Don't have experience with Spotify, the web client should work perfectly fine I imagine? I had some troubles with flash some 4 years ago, but my installs in the last years all had it included in chrome without any worries.

For office I usually use LibreOffice, it's also included in Ubuntu iirc. For even lighter work, I don't see why google's spreadsheet wouldn't do it.

chris1roll

1,689 posts

243 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
We haven't got the internet for spotify these days so hadn't tried it...
Theres an unsupported development release at the moment:
https://www.spotify.com/uk/download/previews/
if enough people download it they should keep developing it.

Edit: Now tried it, and the webplayer version is currently working fine for me, even automatically logged in via my facebook and all my playlists from the last time I used it over 3 years ago were still there.

Edited by chris1roll on Monday 25th August 14:34

Corso Marche

1,716 posts

200 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
LibreOffice is very like the Microsoft suite, albeit with the traditional user interface rather than the 2007/2010 style.

It's as much as most homes and small enterprises will likely need.

Spotify development release mentioned above works fine, I've never had issues personally, and would use the Spotify service daily.

But as mentioned above the web player is what I usually go with.

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,552 posts

174 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
Thanks all for the useful advice

Nimbus

1,176 posts

227 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
One of the older versions of Mint, eg release 13 would do the job admirably.

Very stable, and security updates until 2017..

http://www.linuxmint.com/release.php?id=18

I'd suggest the cinammon version, the others are the same underlying system, just different window managers.

I'd recommend downloading, and trying from a usb or cd rom first, so it has no effect on your current set up, and so you can see if you like what it does, but...

MC Bodge said:
My wife doesn't want to learn Unix to use it and if it feels like XP, even better.
Whatever you change to, win 7 / 8, mac, or linux, its going to be different to win xp, so if she's not going to go into it with an open mind, and prepared for at least a bit of a learning curve then you are wasting your time, and might as well stick with xp.

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,552 posts

174 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
Nimbus said:
Whatever you change to, win 7 / 8, mac, or linux, its going to be different to win xp, so if she's not going to go into it with an open mind, and prepared for at least a bit of a learning curve then you are wasting your time, and might as well stick with xp.
I agree.

She uses WinXP in classic mode, Win7 and occasionally Win8(that I've added a retro windows shell to).

My point was basically that the fewer the differences the better, to reduce the amount of learning for her (and for me to help with).

skelters

423 posts

133 months

Monday 25th August 2014
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skelters

423 posts

133 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
Here's how you Dual Boot XP and Linux....

http://apcmag.com/how_to_dual_boot_windows_xp_and_...

dcb

5,834 posts

264 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
skelters said:
Oh no !

There are hundreds, because there is severe fragmentation in the Linux world.

Suggest pick one of the major vendors, not some distribution cobbled
together in some student's bedroom.

On the rpm side, I'd recommend Fedora if you fancy something American and openSuse
if you fancy something German. On the Debian side, I dunno, but Mint gets a lot of mentions.

Back at the original question of making the journey from all MS to
all Linux, there is of course a half way house of running something like
libreOffice on MS operating systems, before fully committing to Linux.

Some of my MS based customers like the idea of never buying MS Office or Excel
ever again. The libreOffice price is right (free) and the licensing (you can
give copies of it away to your mates) is pretty good too.



MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,552 posts

174 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
Nimbus said:
One of the older versions of Mint, eg release 13 would do the job admirably.

Very stable, and security updates until 2017..

http://www.linuxmint.com/release.php?id=18

I'd suggest the cinammon version, the others are the same underlying system, just different window managers.
Booting the .iso from a USB stick resulted in display problems.

The start menu was not showing properly and all windows were blue, with no text.

I'm now going to try the KDE version.

Edit: That isn't even reaching the desktop. This is beginning to display all the signs of my previous abortive attempts at Linux.

Admittedly, there appears to be less command line work than there was in the past.





Edited by MC Bodge on Monday 25th August 22:10

Martin4x4

6,506 posts

131 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all

Use UNetbootin to install it on a USB flash drive.

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

Enable USB Boot from BIOS.

Win.


MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,552 posts

174 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
I have used that.

It appears to be a graphics issue.

I've now re-tried using advice on here http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&amp...

I have a black screen with a mouse pointer and nothing else. I'm going to leave the PC to think about it.

The Cinnamon version got further, but didn't display properly.

TheRealFingers99

1,996 posts

127 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
As I said, try Knoppix CD to usb/flash card (boot Knoppix on a Desktop from the DVD in order to do the copying) and -- if your laptop allows, boot from that. No need for anything else as a rule.

Forum is useful, too.

But laptops are notoriously difficult.

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,552 posts

174 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
It is a desktop.

I'll gave to re-visit this when I have time again to tinker next week.

I was hoping for something "plug and play", but that was probably a little optimistic.

TheRealFingers99

1,996 posts

127 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
MC Bodge said:
It is a desktop.

I'll gave to re-visit this when I have time again to tinker next week.

I was hoping for something "plug and play", but that was probably a little optimistic.
Only desktop I've ever had issues with was an ancient P2. Will run older versions of Knoppix fairly well, just too damn slow for a modern one. XP runs at a snail's pace.

Knoppix should run fine from DVD or CD (and boot from it). If it works OK, you can install it from the same DVD or CD. Debian based, so upgrades/updates are easy peasy.