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[pisskop]

How do?  Im worried most about installing it and then finding a reason to use it or worse, screwing something up in my comfy windows.

Im putting it onto a relatively functional computer, but what should I be doing?

[Reelya]

Well you can do a few this:

- ghost the whole OS, back that up (include boot partition), then replace with linux. The advantage is that this is pretty simple, the disadvantage is that you can't flick back to windows when bored.

- dual-boot arrangement, which leaves your comfy windows intact. This is the best in terms of convenience and performance (since either OS is using 100% of the computer at once).

- run a virtual machine, and install different linux builds inside of that. I'd recommend this option to start out. The advantage is being able to flick between any number of operating systems on the fly, the disadvantage is that the emulated OS's are slower and might not have full graphics card access.

[itisnotlogical]

If you don't mind dropping some cash (or if you have one handy) you can get a bottom-of-the-barrel netbook and replace whatever is on that with a Linux. That's what I did (although the netbook happened to be my main computer at the time )

[ChairmanPoo]

Install linux on your main PC.

No seriously. I did that the first time. Most basic functions come easily enough so it shouldnt cripple you. And you'll likely be motivated to know some of the inner workings in order to install wine and/or linux native games.

I like linux well enough. The only reason I'm not running it now is that my current hardware is unconventional and does not play nice with it.

[Aklyon]

I'd recommend a virtual machine too, unless you want to figure out dual booting as well.

[Grimlocke]

Install Arch Linux on a VM.

Arch basically requires you do OS install manually, and through command line. The basic install is as barebones as it gets: You even get to install your own boot manager, desktop environment, and then add on whatever else you need.

The reason I suggest this is that having to install all the basic components and inevitably breaking them some way or another, will be hugely helpful in making your familiar with how Linux in general works.

Arch also has excellent documentation and installation guides, if your familiar with the basics of Unix command line you could pretty easily get away with just typing over commands from the beginner's guide.

Also if don't load it up with too much rubbish it starts crazy fast! You could get cheap machine and show it outpacing much bigger Windows boxes just to brag 

[pisskop]

Thanks!  I would like to dual-install it, i think, so that I can force myself into one system or the other.

Im looking over the install doodads now.  I feel lost, but we'll see.


If I cant figure out how to dual install it the virtual system sounds like itll be the best way to go.

[Grimlocke]

I would recommend trying it out on a VM first, since if something gets botched you can easily restore it with snapshots (remember to make those), its also easier to try out a couple other distros and/or desktop environments (gnome, cinnamon, plasma, etc) to see which one suits your fancy.

[pisskop]

Which linux?

Somebody said Mint, but I dont know if I can learn the command line with something that is trying to mimic windows.

[ChairmanPoo]

I'd recommend either Mint with XKFCE or Kubuntu. IIRC  LXDE is actually MORE lightweight than XFCE, but not by much, and it's far less user-friendly as far as customization is concerned (and more likely than not you'll want to customize your user interface. One of linux's strenghts. Not possible in Unity, of course *grumble*)

[Cthulufaic]

*cough*Relevant xkcd*cough*

But yeah I'd recommend putting it onto a less-important computer like a laptop first before committing to putting it on your main pc.

[pisskop]

:|

so I managed to put the linuxes on a flash drive and load it.  Then promptly fail to assign the partitions or do much else other than figure out how to shut it down.

this is a success.  I guess what I partitioned in windows doesnt count?

[Kraetzin]

What do you mean by failing to assign partitions? Were you able to shrink a partition from within windows? After you've shrunk it you can tell Linux to install to the space that's been freed up. Make sure you don't "format" that space (within Windows) after you've shrunk it, otherwise Linux won't be able to use it.

[Starver]

*cough*Relevant xkcd*cough*

Also https://xkcd.com/349/


Might be said by now, or irrelevent, but most distro installers, that hand-hold you at all, let you resize your Windows partition down and do a boot manager thing that works by choosing the defaults 99% of the time, but backups before you start aren't a bad idea.

In fact, get a install-onna-stick distro something like CloneZilla on a USB stick and make an image of your system (on spare space on that stick or other media bought to be big enough for the purpose). You need to make sure you don't overwrite C: with the (blank) media image, but reading dialogues carefully will help, before clicking away.

The bootable stick will have a (basic, and slightly dedicated to disc imaging) Linux system that you can try shell ('command line') stuff in, if nothing else, and you have the means to backup and restore (if necessary! ...with caveats about losing newer data/etc) your system whenever you like.

Or just get yourself a more general linux-onna-stick flavour, and don't worry about dual-booting or VMing in any way that interferes with your main machine's drive at all, at the cost of a little system speed while you're trying it out.



ETA: Ah, should have read further, work is in progress already. So, windows has iinbuilt partition-management (post-install) these days? Surprised. But then I've long used GParted (or one of its kin, either a dedicated bootable or through a general linux install) over and above anything like Norton Tools.

[pisskop]

ummm.  Well.  My windows bios may or not be corrupt or just gone.

So Ill be skipping the part where I fumble around command lines and grabbing a windows-like linux.


Im gonna go look now, hopefully find one that easier than not to do off a flash drive and without a bios