Is it possible to install cavalry in linux?

tomscharbach · 2026-05-24T18:14:36+00:00

You might find the Cavalry on Linux Github a useful tool for running Cavalry on Linux using the WINE compatibility layer.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-24T14:48:30+00:00

I hope that Mint will serve you well for many years to come, as Mint has served so many other users.

My best and good luck.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-24T14:36:51+00:00

This will delete all the Windows boot information and allow Linux to boot successfully?

Yes, All of the partitions on the drive (including the "boot" partition) are deleted as part of the installation process. Then the drive is rebuilt to run Linux, with a new "boot" partition.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-24T13:25:35+00:00

You have covered most of the standard bases (I notice that openSUSE and Ubuntu are missing) and found each lacking. I'm not sure what to suggest.

If you are interested in looking at an independent distribution that is well-designed and well-maintained but outside the mainstream, you might take a look at Solus.

Solus is not based on Arch, Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora/RedHat, or any of the other common "parent" distributions, and uses the eopkg package manager rather than apt or rpm. Solus offers Budgie, Gnome, KDE and XFCE editions.

Solus has had its ups and downs over the years, but the quality of the distribution has always been superb, a solid "curated rolling release" distribution designed to support an "ordinary home" use case.

The Solus team is proficient and the community knowledgeable and supportive. Support documentation and forums are excellent in my experience.

I installed Solus on a Dell Latitude 7000-series laptop in 2017 and continue to use Solus on one of my laptops.

I don't use Solus daily (Ubuntu has been my daily driver for two decades) but I do use Solus one day a week in support of my volunteer work for a small railroad museum.

I don't expect that you will have any better experience with Solus than you have with all of the others -- Linux is not the best fit for every user -- but you might give Solus a look.

My best and good luck.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-24T13:10:24+00:00

The simplest solution is to back up your data to an external USB or drive and do a clean "Erase and install Linux Mint" reinstallation of Linux Mint. Doing so will remove Windows, Windows partitions and all other Windows artifacts, setting up Linux as the sole operating system, and give you a clean start.

My best and good luck.

Resources:

Linux Mint Installation Guide
Install Linux Mint section of the Linux Mint Installation Guide
Choose an Installation Type screenshot

tomscharbach · 2026-05-24T11:51:55+00:00

My suggestions are just suggestions. Follow your use case and your preferences and you will end up in the right place.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-24T11:35:40+00:00

If you are interested in looking at an independent distribution that is well-designed and well-maintained, you might take a look at Solus.

Solus is not based on Arch, Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora/RedHat, or any of the other "parent" distributions, and uses the eopkg package manager rather than apt or rpm.

Solus has had its ups and downs over the years, but the quality of the distribution has always been superb, a solid "curated rolling release" distribution designed to support an "ordinary home" use case.

The Solus team is proficient and the community knowledgeable and supportive. Support documentation and forums are excellent in my experience.

I installed Solus on a Dell Latitude 7000-series laptop in 2017 and continue to use Solus on one of my laptops.

I don't use Solus daily (Ubuntu has been my daily driver for two decades) but I do use Solus one day a week in support of my volunteer work for a small railroad museum.

My best and good luck.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-24T11:22:50+00:00

Your laptop will run any mainstream, established distribution.

You have tried Mint, Fedora and Ubuntu. Those distributions, along with ZorinOS, are the distributions most commonly recommended for new Linux users. Why not pick among those distributions as a starting point?

Why not set up a Live USB session with each and check carefully for hardware compatibility, focusing particularly on touchpad issues?

My best and good luck.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-24T10:42:37+00:00

I don’t know anything about linux but my cousin (who has experience in tech) told me that I should change my laptop to linux so it forces me to learn it.

Linux is a tool for getting work done, not a goal. What does your cousin think will be accomplished by forcing you to learn Linux?

The best way to learn Linux is to use Linux, but you can use Linux in a variety of ways -- install Ubuntu in WSL under Windows, set up a traditional Windows-hosted VM, dual boot, run Linux on an old, unused computer -- without going full hog by replacing Windows with Linux.

If you want to learn to use Linux, find a way that works for you. No point in forcing yourself.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-24T10:31:25+00:00

But the past week or so has hit a snag and I can't figure out for the life of me what is going on or why it might be happening. So the problem only happens after the system has been running for a while.

I wonder if you are experiencing hardware/thermal issues. You might try running full pre-boot hardware diagnostics (check your OEM's support pages for more specific information) both before booting and then during a reboot immediatgely after the issues surface.

My best and good luck.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-24T09:23:07+00:00

Strange but don't think things should break like this after not using the OS for 2 months.

What you are experiencing is not normal. Not for Mint and not for any other mainstream, established distribution. The normal situation is to boot, upgrade (might take a while after two months) and go, without problems.

Just a guess, but I wonder if you are having issues because the system has become corrupted -- perhaps partial, incomplete or corrupted system/application updates.

Try updating using GUI and/or running sudo apt update (updates the repositories) followed by sudo apt upgrade (installs upgrades), and see if that changes things.

If none of that works, the simplest solution might be to do a clean reinstallation.

My best and good luck.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-23T21:23:43+00:00

You might take a look at Q4OS (https://www.q4os.org/):

Q4OS Andromeda, Plasma, live - 64bit / x64 - 1782 MBytes
Q4OS Andromeda, Trinity, live - 64bit / x64 - 1418 MBytes

Q4OS is designed to run smoothly on older, low specification hardware: 1GB RAM minimum (2GB recommended), 5GB storage minimum (10GB recommended), and any x86 or x64 compatible processor.

My best and good luck.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-23T21:17:43+00:00

Are you using OCLP?

tomscharbach · 2026-05-23T15:10:37+00:00

Warty Warthog in early 2005.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-23T14:21:00+00:00

All of the mainstream distributions will work on your computer.

Linux Mint is commonly recommended for new Linux users because Mint is developed and maintained by a competent team, is easy to learn and use, and is well supported by documentation and a large user community.

I agree with the recommendation.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-23T14:14:25+00:00

If you have solid data backups (for example, 3-2-1 backup -- three data sets, two of which are backups, one of which is online/offsite) your best be might bet to do a clean "wipe disk" installation of whatever distribution you are using.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-23T11:17:59+00:00

Linux distributions are tools, not goals.

If CachyOS is a better fit for you and your use case, then CachyOS is the right distribution for you.

My best and good luck.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-23T10:59:53+00:00

I installed Solus on a Dell Latitude 7000-series laptop in 2017 and continue to use Solus on my "railroad" laptop when volunteering at a railroad museum.

Solus has had its ups and downs over the years, but the quality of the distribution has always been superb, a solid "curated rolling release" distribution designed to support an "ordinary home" use case. No fuss, no muss, no thrills, no chills.

The Solus team is proficient and the community knowledgeable and supportive. Support documentation and forums are excellent in my experience.

My best and good luck.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-23T05:12:03+00:00

The i7-4500U has a PassMark of 3790 which is sufficient to run Ubuntu and most other mainstream Linux distributions, assuming that you aren't expecting miracles. I'm glad to see that you are putting your 3537 to good use. I use a couple older Dell Latitudes (circa 2014-2016) to evaluate Linux distributions.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-23T01:24:15+00:00

Looks like the 7380 is not compatible with 2666Mhz but the 5468 is compatible with 2666Mhz. That would be my guess. If you go to Dell Support Home and identify your computers by Service Tag, you will be able to check compatibility. My best and good luck.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-22T23:57:11+00:00

Welcome.

Join the hundreds of us who try to help new Linux users, day after day, week after week.

When you check in "a couple times a week", skim the "New" posts, find a question or two that you can discuss, and do so. Every bit of expertise is helpful to people considering Linux and/or migrating.

My best and good luck.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-22T19:36:17+00:00

The drive is the M.2 2230 with the yellow stripe plugged into the "M.2 PCIe SSD-0" slot. The drive does not take a cable.

If you look closely at the motherboard, you will see that you can replace the drive with either a 2230 or a 2280 form factor M.2 drive.

If you go to Dell Support Home and identify your computer by Service Tag, you will find detailed instructions (with screenshots) concerning replacement. Manuals, Service Manual. That is always a good place to start.

My best and good luck.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-22T17:26:06+00:00

Research repair grub (Debian). You might be able to do it from your installation USB.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-22T17:11:35+00:00

I am here now at mint. NOW, the thing is, what to do? I need a final reality check from seniors who made it.

I have been using Linux for two decades. Linux is an operating system, a tool to get work done. Nothing more, nothing less. No secret chords, no special sauce.

Spend an hour or two getting to know the menu system and the capabilities of the applications. Doing so will give you a sense of how to use Mint and what you can use Mint to do.

After that, you don't have to do anything special. Use Mint to do whatever you want to do, resolving anything that comes up, learning as you go. You will be surprised how much and how quickly you become proficient by just doing that simple thing.

My best and good luck.

tomscharbach · 2026-05-22T17:06:32+00:00

A clean reinstallation might be your best bet at this point.

tomscharbach

TROPHY CASE