Hello - can anyone help me out before I download Robolinux please. I have a laptop with linux Mint and I'm currently trying to find my way around the operating system. I'm very comfy using windows xp, don't like "Vista" or "7" and not going any further up the Microsoft way, but I'm aware of the security problems with Windows OS. I currently have 2 pc's - one running Windows 7, and 1 running Windows xp. I wanted to try Robolinux because it says I can run Windows within the Virtual desktop software. I've looked at the website, and it's all "double dutch" to me! Do I download Mate, Cinnamon or XFCE? I'm unsure of what that means and need some good advice please. Thank you in anticipation.

Any Linux distro can run Windows in a virtual environment - install Virtualbox and find the instructions on Google. You're already running Mint and it will work as well as any.

To do so in Robolinux - you have to give them $$$ to get a piece of the program they left out. I've never seen a single review of Robolinux - except them blowing their own horn - which makes me very wary of this distro...

i second that.

every distro is able to do what robolinux promises.
whether it's the whole distro or their "stealth vm", they are just trying to catch hapless users like you, with meaningless phrases like "run windows xp & 7 virus free inside any linux environment".
it's about as meaningful as claiming that "our milk is 100percent dairy".

you're much better off installing a beginner distro like linux mint or ubuntu (one that is not trying to rip you off), get aquainted with it (really, take it slow. there's a few things which are handled differently, and it just needs a while to settle), and then eventually install virtualbox, and ultimately install windows inside a virtual machine.

which desktop environment you choose (mate, xfce, cinnamon, gnome, unity...) is of secondary nature, provided your hardware isn't much older than a few years.

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@JanHickson -- knowing your hardware specs would be helpful. One sounds like an older XP machine. How much RAM is now installed in each, for starts?

I'd like to thank you all for the reply to my post\question. In my innocence, I thought I could install robolinux into a new build, then compress the hard drive from my failed windows 7 computer. I didn't understand that the linux would have had to be installed into the same computer that I had had windows 7 on. With that in mind, I have been so busy over christmas that I haven't done anything much with computers. My brother has given me a motherboard to start off with as I can use the old case, with new psu (that's what fried my board)so as soon as I'm building a pc for linux, I will be back with questions. Again, sincere thanks to all of you.

Hi Sidzen - and thank you. Currently the laptop with linux mint on it is an old Dell D410. I suppose it's really a netbook as the optical drive is separate.... It's got a 1.8 processor, 2 gb ram and runs quite well... my new "build" is currently " work in progress" as the power supply fried my motherboard, so as soon as I have all necessary parts, I will be up and running with a desktop\tower soon.

JanHickson,

Welcome to LQ and the world of Linux.

NGIB and ondoho are perfectly correct in their assessment of Robolinux. Avoid it like the plague.

IF you happen to have a genuine product key for W7, then you could always install VirtualBox on your “new” Linux PC and then install W7 inside VirtualBox.

Personally I wouldn't bother. Just stick to Linux and wave Windows World goodbye.

As you gain experience, you will probably want to experiment with using other Linux distros.
You do not necessarily have to install them. You can boot them from DVD/USB and simply try them.

Alternatively install VirtualBox and install them there for testing purposes.

A good mid-weight distro is MX-15, which would be ideal for your old Dell 410 and maybe make it run a bit faster:

http://www.mepiscommunity.org/mx

MX-15 Features:

http://www.mepiscommunity.org/features

Installation:

http://mepiscommunity.org/videos/installing-mx14

2 reviews of the earlier MX-14:

http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.co.uk...iew-truly.html

http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/82166.html

I use MX-15 on my Samsung netbook, plus Linux Mint MATE and Ubuntu MATE on other machines. Note that the Cinnamon version is generally more demanding than MATE and can cause problems with video on certain machines.

Do let us know when your desktop PC is up and running.