I was given a computer that is called Wow! computer for seniors. This is a Linux OS I believe its a TINYCORE Linux OS but has been seriously locked up by the Wow people. I cannot download anything, I cant even get into the hard drive! I really need help getting this crap formatted and off this computer! Id like to replace it with Zorin but I dont have a clue how to even start! If there is anyone who can help I would really appreciate it! Thanks!

This don't sound a big task! Just download your desired OS, and install it using a CD-ROM or USB.
If you need steps, then go though following thread for USB boot option and steps:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-a-4175433929/
Hopw this will help!

In order to help you I have a few questions.

Is this computer a desk top pc or a laptop?
Do you know what the size of the hard drive is?
How much RAM does it have?

If you want to install Zorin on this computer just go to the Zorin site, download the ISO image and burn that image onto a brand new DVD/CD. But since you can't download anything on this computer you will have to use another computer. I hope that you can use a friends computer to do this or worse case you could go to your local library and use their computers.

Here's the 'Wow' webpages for this computer hope it helps-
http://www.mywowcomputer.com/
http://www.firststreetonline.com/Ele...W+Computer.axd

These links may give you additional support:
http://zorin-os.com/
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=zorin

From what I read on the WOW website you can't download anything because the OS is designed with everything it needs.

The only other thing I can think of is try to access the hard drive and install another distro of your choice-
Good Luck!

Wow, $1K US for a 20'' 1600x900 touchscreen, AMD E-350 CPU, 2GB and 500GB HDD?

As long as you can get into the BIOS and its not totally locked down, it should be possible to install some other OS. The touchscreen could be a huge PITA.

I'm sorry but IMO this is taking advantage of senior citizens-

Yes! They absolutely are! My mother is now in a nursing home and she never even touched it. But I couldn't believe it when my brother. ( a network administrator) helped her to buy it! Its the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen! But any way, yes you can get into the bios. But its so locked down you get into Very little. I've set it to where it is supposed to only boot from the DVD but it ignores the command. I was hoping there was a way to Force the boot, but I'm not savvy enough to figure that out. Is it possible to force a OS? Or, is there a way to wipe the drive?

eljeffe11234:

The only thing I can think of (and it sounds like you already did this) is put the DVD in the drive. Turn off the computer right away. Turn the computer back on ( 30 seconds later) and it should start to read the DVD and start the installation process.

Other than that there is a process called a 'zero fill' It's a way to compleately empty files and filesystems off of a hard drive permanently but I'm pretty sure it takes a long time.
http://gizmodo.com/5494427/leave-no-...d-thumb-drives
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_formatting

If this method doesn't work; than I am totally stumped for any other idea's-

Good Luck!

Can you get to a tty with Ctrl-Alt-F1???

Also,... many BIOSes have a boot order selection hotkey...

Where F2 is regular BIOS and F12 is boot menu...

You can try a USB flash drive as well. Or JasePs suggestion, try checking for some boot order hotkeys.

Pity I dont know who made the system, or else I might have a better idea about possible hotkeys.

If its possible to get into the system, and you have another system that takes the same sort of HDD as in the wow system, you can pull the HDD, install it in your other computer, install an OS, remove it and reinstall it into the wow system.

Its a lot of sodding around, and getting into the case might be a real pain, but if you cant get a CD/DVD or USB to load, its an option.