complete newbie .. looking at Linux will all eagerness, but wondering what it takes ?‏

TxLonghorn · 04-25-2016, 06:58 AM

Regarding hardware - my impression from reading forums is that an Asus motherboard and Intel CPU provide good compatibility for linux. I think the i3 is a good choice for normal use.
I am currently using an old Gigabyte motherboard with an AMD A8 CPU with integrated graphics, which works for me. I don't have intensive graphics needs, so I don't need a separate graphics card.

beachboy2 · 04-25-2016, 08:34 AM

subulnx,

Two more possibilities here:

http://www.amazon.com/Asus-Flagship-...ct_top?ie=UTF8
which has 802.11b/g/n wifi.

http://www.amazon.com/F555LA-AB31-15...37YRQ0Q5ZYVX1E
which has 802.11ac wifi.

I have no idea what router you have or whether these wifi cards are Linux friendly.

You would need to find the exact technical specs and then use Google to see if there any particular problems in Linux.

TxLonghorn · 04-25-2016, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beachboy2

http://www.amazon.com/F555LA-AB31-15...37YRQ0Q5ZYVX1E

Wow, that Windows Start menu is ugly! Is that designed for children?

Emerson · 04-25-2016, 09:02 AM

I'm not into laptops, but sometimes I need one. When my trusty T23 died 2 years ago I went to eBay, found a refurb i5 T410 for $200. Refurbished means they are selling used leased equipment. When it arrived I peeled off the Windows license and put it back on ebay, someone purchased it for $50. So I got an i5 with 4 GiB of RAM (more than I ever need, when the GUI comes up it shows 85 MiB of RAM usage) for $150 total.

beachboy2 · 04-25-2016, 09:24 AM

subulnx,

A refurbished Lenovo T420 from Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834318222

Scroll down for similar units.

subulnx · 04-26-2016, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emerson

I'm not into laptops, but sometimes I need one. When my trusty T23 died 2 years ago I went to eBay, found a refurb i5 T410 for $200. Refurbished means they are selling used leased equipment. When it arrived I peeled off the Windows license and put it back on ebay, someone purchased it for $50. So I got an i5 with 4 GiB of RAM (more than I ever need, when the GUI comes up it shows 85 MiB of RAM usage) for $150 total.

thanks

how good has this refurbished laptop been so far ? Is there certain seller rating to check ? or something else to check b4 buying

regards
subu

subulnx · 04-26-2016, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beachboy2

subulnx,
Two more possibilities here:
http://www.amazon.com/Asus-Flagship-...ct_top?ie=UTF8
which has 802.11b/g/n wifi.
http://www.amazon.com/F555LA-AB31-15...37YRQ0Q5ZYVX1E
which has 802.11ac wifi.
I have no idea what router you have or whether these wifi cards are Linux friendly.
You would need to find the exact technical specs and then use Google to see if there any particular problems in Linux.

thanks for those laptop suggestions ! much appreciated... Will consider them while buying
Honestly, I have never worried about my router so far, or about the PC / laptop not recognising the router
Let me check my router specs and post here

regards
subu

subulnx · 04-26-2016, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hazel

Regarding the use of disks:
You need to distinguish between just reading data off a disk, modifying that data, and actually running Linux. The Linux kernel can read the Windows NTFS filesystem just fine, so the data on your external drive will be accessible without any changes at all. As with any other disk, you just need to mount it first, but distros like Ubuntu have a graphical tool for that.
To write to an NTFS disk, I think you need to have a specific tool installed. That's not a problem because installing software in Linux is easy-peasy. You just ask your package manager to fetch it for you from the distro's repository.
To run Linux, you need a root partition with a native Linux filesystem, not NTFS. That is why the installer does not just copy the files over but first shrinks the Windows partition. It will ask you how much of the whole drive you want to keep for Windows. Once the partition has been shrunk, a new Linux partition is created in the cleared space and Linux is installed into this. So then you will have Windows and Linux side by side, each on its own partition, though of course you can only run one of them at a time.
Don't worry about file formats. All Windows file formats are readable in Linux, though the reverse is often not the case. For example Word documents and Excel spreadsheets are readable in LibreOffice, and there are lots of different image and pdf readers.

Thanks for this Very encouraging post !! Especially the bit where you said ////The Linux kernel can read the Windows NTFS filesystem just fine, so the data on your external drive will be accessible without any changes at all. //// and ////All Windows file formats are readable in Linux,////

That's one headache less

regards
subu

Emerson · 04-26-2016, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by subulnx

thanks

how good has this refurbished laptop been so far ? Is there certain seller rating to check ? or something else to check b4 buying

regards
subu

No complaints whatsoever, even the battery is as strong as new. Please do not use text speak, not appreciated here.

Raybrite · 05-13-2016, 12:25 PM

Or you could just buy one with Ubuntu installed. If you don't want to download, just order a DVD with Ubuntu 16.04 for about $10 with postage.
As for the age, I just started using Linux about a month ago. I will be 76 in a few weeks.
Enjoy the journey.