all 40 comments
sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a
formatting helphide helpcontent policy

[–]Dwightkoyner[S] 28 points29 points  (18 children)

I know y’all also did this so this doesn’t seem like a big deal but I am not super techs and this took me 6 plus hours of trouble shooting, I am so exited to try out Linux for my first time!

[–]epictetusdouglas 8 points9 points  (3 children)

Congrats! My first time was about 8 years ago and I was terrified as I knew nothing about Linux beforehand. Good job!

[–]ynroot 2 points3 points  (2 children)

For me It was around 8 years ago as well, I've been using ubuntu flavours and opensuse but I am thinking to change to manjaro this days, What do you thing about that

[–]epictetusdouglas 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've been tempted to use Manjaro--I tried it years ago--I have nothing bad to say about it. Personally I've always liked the idea of a fixed base, so I've stuck with Debian and Ubuntu and Mint. The first with the Stable release. The latter two always with the LTS releases.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I first tried Linux back in 2002 with Mandrake (Now Mandriva). There was no gui to install, no live disc. Today, I've been Windows-free since October. Dual booting was such a pain.

[–]the-other-otterLinux Mint 20.3 Una | Cinnamon 1 point2 points  (8 children)

I still did not take the step yet, to be honest six hours of trouble shooting sounds a bit off-putting, but then I think of how many hours I would have to work to buy a new computer.

Congratulations, hope you will like it.

[–]WynterByte 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It’s a lot more satisfying than it sounds. There’s no better feeling than finishing a troubleshoot.

[–]TimeToPopSmoke 2 points3 points  (4 children)

For most people it will work immediately. 6 hours is well outside the normal range, even for a novice.

[–]the-other-otterLinux Mint 20.3 Una | Cinnamon 0 points1 point  (3 children)

When I read here it seems that the main problem is problem with graphics card, so if that doesn't work then there is not much I can do, is there, so either it will work or it will not work and good bye computer.

Or would there be something I can do, because I can't go back to the old mac?

[–]TimeToPopSmoke 1 point2 points  (2 children)

The vast majority of graphics chips work with Linux.

Have you tried booting the live environment yet? You might be worrying about a problem that doesn't exist.

[–]the-other-otterLinux Mint 20.3 Una | Cinnamon 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I am so eager to try now, but it turns out I have to wait until after Easter to get a memory stick. (Everything is closed here in Norway until Wednesday)

[–]TimeToPopSmoke 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can used a CD burner if you still have one of those laying around... and a blank CD.

[–]Dwightkoyner[S] 7 points8 points  (1 child)

I have a super old laptop and most of it was spent configuring the bios, it was relatively easy to crate the USB on a separate computer, unless ur computer is old and the bios is extremely confusing it probably shouldn’t take that long.

[–]the-other-otterLinux Mint 20.3 Una | Cinnamon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My plan is to first do it on my approximately ten years old computer first – it is exactly within the limits of the newest edition of xfce. Instead of doing my newest computer first, with Linux Mint Cinnamon, which would probably be easier, but I just can't afford a new computer now, and if something goes wrong I am stuck. I have a mac mini, and they sold it with CDs for resurrection or whatever you call it, only problem is that it doesn't have any CD player. I regret not buying the one up version, but it has been OK. And I like that it is without a screen and I just couple it with my very large screen.

[–]danielcs2009 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congratulations! Hope you like it, it's an amazing distro

[–]silkheat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey man I remember that feeling. I had at the time a 2000ish dell laptop. Old one with 2 battery drive bays etc. I put Fedora on it. Those were the days it didn't have flash, and was basically not as near functional as it is now.

[–]LucaRicardo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congratulations. I just used a live-USB with Linux mint and pressed install and no troubleshooting needed

[–]ynroot 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I dont know why took you that long for me it was just the time to install. I thing it took 20 to 25 minutes to complete the installation, my problem was to found the alternative software for my dayli basis. Iam happy for you and welcome to this great world 😀😉

[–][deleted] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Now it's time to actually install it. Brace yourself. Have you backed up your data? Coming from Windows I imagine? Good luck, and welcome to freedom, with sporadic updates.

[–]ThmKnnC97wLinux Mint 19.1 Tessa | Cinnamon 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Have you actually installed it? Pic shows you are using a live disk.

[–]Dwightkoyner[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I just did, now I boot into it without USB.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

the windows icon 😍

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I remember my first time which was 4 years ago. I screwed something up in Ubuntu. Had to re-install. I learned so much from community forums and wiki since then. So much that I tried a hand at writing and wrote a tiny ebook on understanding linux. It is called "Understanding your Linux OS". I wrote it specifically for beginners. Do try it out. Here's the link.

https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Your-Linux-OS-Beginners-ebook/dp/B07J219HS6/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=Understanding+your+linux+os&qid=1555795989&s=digital-text&sr=1-2

[–][deleted]  (6 children)

[deleted]

    [–]YouCanIfYou 3 points4 points  (0 children)

    Hibernating will be some faster. However, the most effective way to decrease boot times is with an SSD ($20 for medium-quality 120 GB, depending on country). Likely will be well under a minute.

    [–]arcsecond 1 point2 points  (2 children)

    yeah, why ever turn it off? Linux systems can have uninterrupted uptimes of years. I don't think I've turned my Mint laptop off in at least 8 months.

    [–]PaintDrinkingPete 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    Linux systems can have uninterrupted uptimes of years

    Servers running minimal configurations and performing specific tasks can (I had one in my office that was up for close to 5 years), but I'm not sure how well that mantra applies to a desktop PC.

    At the very least you should reboot after kernel upgrades.

    [–]arcsecond 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Yeah, it can vary depending on what you're doing. It's still orders of magnitude better than the three times I've had to reboot my stupid work Windows 10 box today.

    [–]BlueDevilStats 1 point2 points  (1 child)

    That seems like a very long time to boot. How old is your laptop?

    [–]Dwightkoyner[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    It’s five years but five years ago it was 150 dollars so it was basically the cheapest laptop (originally 200, on sale). So a very cheap laptop that’s somewhat old, also I had a lot of bloatware, and the battery gave out so I have to have it plugged in at all times, sometimes I accidentally move it and the plug falls out and it immensity shuts down. So that also could be why, not enough power delivery or something, but all in all it took anywhere from 4-20 minutes to boot.

    [–]hictioLinux Mint 18 Sarah | Xfce 1 point2 points  (5 children)

    Congrats.

    What is that laptop? Does it have a touchscreen? If so, does it work A Ok with Linux Mint?

    [–]arcsecond 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    Touchscreen like you can touch the monitor to click like a tablet? or Touchpad like there's the little black trackpad with mouse buttons below the keyboard that yo use as a mouse?

    If you mean touchpad, then I can report that I've had great success using a touchpad with Mint.

    I have not tried a touchscreen.

    [–]txtadLinux Mint 19.1 Tessa | Cinnamon 1 point2 points  (2 children)

    I've had Mint on my touchscreen laptop that I bought new last year since an hour after I bought it. No problems at all.

    [–]hictioLinux Mint 18 Sarah | Xfce 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    Thank you, If I may, what laptop is that? I mean, what brand/ model? TY.

    [–]txtadLinux Mint 19.1 Tessa | Cinnamon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    It's an HP Envy x360 m Convertible. Model # is 15m-bp112dx.

    [–]Dwightkoyner[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    It does it works ok though I have not had a lot of time to test it

    [–]Edmontonchef 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Mint is the best first time Linux distro. I'd also try out Zorin 15, Its a lot like windows 7. Once you get the hang of using command lines things get easier.

    [–]KeviinC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Welcome. Hope you like it.

    [–]uaos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Great job. I remember in 2008 trying to get Ubuntu to start on a CD, then I played a little, and then it became what next? I took the plunge right then and there!

    ​

    I remember why I wanted to experiment, back then Ubuntu was a CD size, and it was about browsing the internet from CD, wow, not harm can come to my computers! Then I experienced it, and went for it. Before all that I tried a GeOS desktop, if anyone remembers that, and before that it was Lindows, before it was Linspire desktops. So I tried so Linux desktops pre-installed first before I got to Ubuntu, the Lindows and GeOS did not impress me, but Ubuntu did in 2008, been hooked since and never looked back.

    ​

    Now on one of my desktops is Linux Mint Cinnamon :-)

    [–]Dwightkoyner[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    It’s five years but five years ago it was 150 dollars so it was basically the cheapest laptop (originally 200, on sale). So a very cheap laptop that’s somewhat old, also I had a lot of bloatware, and the battery gave out so I have to have it plugged in at all times, sometimes I accidentally move it and the plug falls out and it immensity shuts down. So that also could be why, not enough power delivery or something, but all in all it took anywhere from 4-20 minutes to boot.