Linux MInt. An Alternative to Windows.

Started by sparky, Apr 26, 2019, 20:48:53

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sparky

I just had to write this.

I have a 10yr old gaming tower PC as my home PC. It originally came with Windows Vista. I was lucky enough to get in on the cheap upgrade to Windows 7. But there the allegiance to Windows dies. I cannot upgrade to W10, I have a Canon flatbed scanner for which there are no W10 drivers, same with my graphics card. So I thinks, i'll try Linux Mint. 19.1 Mate.

Well, it just all works! It flies. I really cannot believe how far Linux Mint has come since my early, unsuccessful bash with it a few years ago. Everything I do with Windows has an open source equivalent, bar one, which is why i'm still dual booting. There is no linux version of Garmin Express. So I cannot upgrade my Sat Nav. But hey, that's not the end of the world.

I would certainly recommend that anyone who doesn't want to upgrade their old good working hardware to check out Linux Mint, you can do it with by creating a live DVD and trying it out without even making changes to your hard drive.

The current version is a secure operation system and will be fully supported until 2023, long after W7 has died.

mungo

Hi sparky

I was very interested in your post and thought I'd give it a try,downloaded cinnamon 64 bit to a DVD but don't know how to run it.All it tries to do is open in my media player,I'm at the point of giving up with it as I am clearly doing something wrong. Could you tell me how you created a DVD disk and where you downloaded the version of Linux that you speak of.I have tried a few "easy" tutorial sites but all I can say is I'd hate to see the hard ways to do it

Thank you in advance   


sparky

mungo,

Hi. OK so you download an iso image from here, https://linuxmint.com/download.php

You must download it to your hard drive. You then need to burn the iso image to dvd, I use CDBurnerxp

You should then be able to boot your pc from the dvd drive and albeit a bit slow, Mint will boot up and you can try it out.
You can choose to install it from this point as well.

mungo

thanks for the replies

Yeah, once I realized I had to burn it as an iso image to a dvd,it then became clear pretty much.
After playing around on it for most of the day I found it's just not for me at this time,I was impressed however with what it had to offer and the amount of stuff available on there. I don't have much of an attention span these days to configure everything but would highly recommend it and I may/likely give it a try in the future.

One question I would like to as is,if I were to install it on my PC, would it install over my windows 10 or will I get asked if I would like to create a partition so I can alternate between W10 and Linux?

Thanks again chaps

sparky

If you already have an operating system installed, then it will offer to install Mint as a second partition next to your current operating system, when your system boots up, you then get a menu (known as Grub) that offers you the choice of which to boot.

WARNING!  I have seen some problems reported installing it next to W10 in that some people have reported W10 updates have overwritten the Grub Boot Menu. How common that is I don't know. I didn't read much into it as I use Mint and W7. A good source of info and a place to ask questions is here https://forums.linuxmint.com/

Hope that helps.


robinc

I have been a linux user for over 20 years. Although I had to use Windows for work, our home has been linux only since 2012.

Used Mint from early days "Bea" off and on. Yes there are a few areas where windows can still be 'needed' but in most cases there are good alternatives (though LibreOffice is not one of them)

My current linux distro of choice is PCLOS - LXDE version with  Q4OS on a couple of laptops. My desktop main machine is 2014 vintage - the laptops are 2011 and 2006.

Just seen the info about Windows 10 with its 32gb space requirement - 7gb reserved for updates etc. :slap: :eek4: :facepalm: :laugh: :rant2: :dunno: :dunno:

My current OS partition usage - 5.1gb - that may creep up to 6gb in the next couple of years. :laugh:
If we tell people their brain is an app - they might actually start to use it.

Postal

Quote from: robinc on Apr 30, 2019, 07:04:44Just seen the info about Windows 10 with its 32gb space requirement - 7gb reserved for updates etc.

All part of the unholy alliance between hardware and software vendors.  The reliability of modern electronic equipment is such that there wouldn't be a lot of business about if people only bought a new piece of kit when the last one died.  It it therefore in the manufacturer's interest that software vendors keep on "improving" their product if this "improvement" outruns the capability of existing hardware.

Particularly in regard to operating systems it is also perhaps a little bit suspicious that Windows are developing a cycle of making an improvement full of tecchie bells and whistles which users have not requested (e.g. the Vista upgrade from XP and the Windows 8 upgrade from Windows 7) which then bring a further improvement (e.g. Windows 7 from Vista and Windows 10 from Windows 8).  This is sold as a benefit to their long-suffering customers rather than with an acknowledgement that the tecchie tail had been wagging the customer dog.

The mobile phone industry is going through the same sort of dilemma.  It looks as if people are not replacing/updating their handset as often as the manufacturers would like because there isn't enough "improvement" to justify binning several hundred pounds worth of kit and replacing it with several hundred more poundsworth of new kit.  That is one of the reasons why Apple are making a major drive to move into services rather than just supplying hardware.

goldberg

Hi sparky,

Noticed that you reported having a Canon scanner for which there is no longer a W10 driver.

Some years ago Hewlett Packard stopped supporting my scanner.

Then I discovered Vuescan ( https://www.hamrick.com ), and ever since have managed to delay sending yet another item of unsupported hardware to landfill.

Vuescan supports a huge number of scanners including all the main brands and models, is well-supported, and new scanner support is added on a regular basis.

I've been a satisfied user of this product ever since, and can thoroughly recommend it.

sparky

Thanks for that goldberg,

I've totally switched to Linux Mint now, not even dual booting anymore, as it all works well for me.

I'll make a note about VueScan should I ever need it in the future though.


nowster

Quote from: sparky on May 13, 2020, 13:46:16
I've totally switched to Linux Mint now, not even dual booting anymore, as it all works well for me.

Welcome to the club. I've been exclusively using Linux since about 1996. Some work stuff does require me occasionally to use Windows, but that's a very rare event.

peasblossom

Quote from: sparky on May 13, 2020, 13:46:16
Thanks for that goldberg,

I've totally switched to Linux Mint now, not even dual booting anymore, as it all works well for me.

I'll make a note about VueScan should I ever need it in the future though.


Do note, however, that if your scanner is a relic of a bygone age, it may not be supported by anything. (My scanner may have died of its own accord but it was very old.)