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How do I change my os to Linux
I would like to use a different os than the one I have. windows xp. I have a compac preario sr1214nx 512mb which I doubled, and 80gb 9 years old. Have just discovered Linux, and the free down load offer.If I can do this, I would like to be rid of windows completly. I have tried to put my stuff on a cd-r with no luck. Needful. what do I need to do? Thank-you!
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I don't know what is going on.
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You should probably learn a little about GNU/Linux and the many options open to you.
A good place to start might be http://distrowatch.com/. Your remark about the "free download offer" is confusing, as there are literally hundreds of free Linux download options. For an older machine like yours you might consider Tiny-Core Linux or Damn Small Linux, although some of the more full featured Linuces would probably work OK with a light weight desktop like Xfce or Fluxbox. If you have the ability to burn a CD then you should easily be able to find something that you can install. |
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https://cdburnerxp.se/ |
According to this link, the RAM can be expanded to 2 GB. If you could slap some more RAM in that thing, it should run just about any contemporary Linux distro with AMD support.
As to which distro to start with, that is very much a matter of taste. Mint may be the easiest transition for someone who wants something with a desktop that sort of looks like Windows. OpenSuse gets good reports for ease of use, and Mageia is also quite nice. I started with Slackware, quite by accident, and am glad I did. It's not the easiest distro for your first time out, but it's a damned fine teacher. Most mainstream Linux distros have easy-to-use installers; the designers know that they might be used by persons who have never installed an OS before. They also generally have detailed installation instructions on their websites. (Slackware is not one of those distros, as it expects you to format the HDD yourself; it does not offer an auto-format option on install. Once you get past that point, the install is pretty straight-forward.) Why not burn some Live CDs of distros you are interested in and boot to the CDs? You can explore the distros without installing them to your HDD. Then pick one that you think you will be comfortable with. |
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Get a hold of a "Live CD" version of a distro and give it a try on your hardware before you decide to totally ditch Windows XP. Before you do ANYTHING then make sure you have a backup of movies, music, pictures, documents etc. |
Typically, you will burn the iso image to the cd or dvd, restart your computer, and make sure that the bios is set to boot off of CD/DVD/Optical drive before the hard drive. Then it will boot up into linux, which you can then install into a hard drive, or continue using as a livecd without it doing anything to your hard drive.
I want to make sure you understand this part. Doing a typical linux install erases everything from the hard drive, windows os, pictures, documents, bookmarks, movies. I believe the installers for some distro's allow you to easily resize partitions, and install linux in the new partition created in the free space. However; resizing partitions can lead to data corruption and you lose everything on your hard drive anywas, so please backup everything you want to keep. A lot of linux distro's are also able to boot into a full usable desktop environment from a CD, dvd, or usb flash drive. It will run a little slower, as hard drives are typically faster than any of those, but it is great for trying out new linux distro's. I also would suggest dual booting with windows if you don't have a second computer handy. Theres nothing like having to do some stuff for work or school on your computer that is due the next day and realizing that you now have to learn how to do it in a new and different program because windows programs dont run on linux. Don't worry, there are alternative programs for most things, and if you install wine, it will allow some windows programs to run on linux, but sometimes they are buggy. Dependent on what you want, I would try out a couple different ones. Below are some of my personal opinions. For stuff that just works, try ubuntu or fedora. (the livecd for both of these boots into a full desktop environment) If you are wanting to be forced to learn more about the inner workings of linux and manually edit config files, and use the command line, look into slackware or arch. But be sure you have time to commit to learning, if you don't have the time to teach yourself how to manually do the things that other distro's may do automatically for you, they can be very fustrating. |
Over the years I've used, tested, or tried 112 distros, so let's see which one will suit you!
You said you doubled the memory: so you have 1GB? If so, that's fine and gives you a computer very like the one I'm using. If you only had 512MB that would restrict you, as 64MB of your RAM is actually unavailable: grabbed for video. For almost all distros, you can get them as live disks: that enables you to run Linux and the applications provided off a DVD or USB stick. It's slow to load, but it let's you try it and see if it's OK for you. If you find something you like, then you can create separate partitions for Linux alongside Windows — double booting — until you get used to the Linux way of doing things. One of the easiest distros is Linux Mint. You can get the documentation which explains it and how to install here http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/20 and get the download here http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php Get the Mate version, not the Cinnamon, which would be slow with your video. If you only had 512MB, you'd need the Xfce version: Mate, Cinnamon, and Xfce are different user interfaces with different styles and hardware requirements. Mint is updated twice a year, and gives you the latest versions of things. If you have the /home directory on a separate partition, you can just overwrite the old with the new, and your personal files remain untouched. If you'd like something less changeable, consider Salix (Xfce version), which comes out in alternate years: http://docs.salixos.org/wiki/Salix_Startup_Guide http://www.salixos.org/download.html To find Linux equivalents to Windows programs, look here http://linuxappfinder.com/alternatives |
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If you're German it might be better to ask in German it would be clearer. You should Google Richard Stallman, and Linus Torvalds it will give you a feel for the idea of GNU/Linux What you should do depends on how much work you're willing to put in. |
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If you're worried about your machine's power versus what the OS needs, I think you might want to try Lubuntu. It looks and feels somewhat similar to XP, but is much faster. I had an old computer. Off a fresh install of XP, it was still pretty slow. Then I installed Lubuntu. The startup time went from 3-4 mins to about 1 min. Shutdown time went down to about 5 secs. (Since the newer releases, the shutdown time has gone up, but it was still much better.)
The desktop interface is a little plain, but it looks very similar to XP. And it comes with the "Lubuntu Software Center" as a method of easily finding and installing programs. If you're new to Linux (like I was when I found it) it is close enough to Windows to get along with, but also exposes you to some Linux elements, such as its method of accessing CDs/flash drives/other external storage as a folder in a single filesystem. Keep in mind that Lubuntu is the only version of Linux that I've tried (so far), so there might be a better option out there. |
Hi, check my sig... ;)
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You can try also AntiX.. it is sutable for old hardware..google for it
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