Alternative Operating System

814man

Got an old laptop I'd like to try using a different OS to windows on. System is 6 year old Toshiba with 55Gb HDD, 2Gb RAM, 1.73 Intel Celeron processer.
Recent install of Windows Vista Home Basic and no data I need on it.
Tried reading some of the tech sites about this but whilst they start making it sound easy they often very quickly get into tech speak.
Is it really possible to download and install an OS such as Linux that will just work without spending days trying to work out coding and suchlike?
Any advice please?

Pinkypants

I've managed to do a dual boot system, without too much trouble or indeed any coding.

Have you tried Linux yet at all? Why not download it and burn it do disc 1st and run it from that disc. Have a play around and see if that's what you want.

From what I remember when I installed it was very straight forward with little tech speak. If even asks you if you want to replace you current operating system or keep the two together. The only tech speak I remember was partitioning of the hard drive. If you know what that is then you should be fine.

Having said that I have hardly had the time to try out my Linux fully. Just installed it tired the web and very little else so far. But if you have time on your hands give it ago.

Good luck.

stilltheone

Toshiba Satellite L30?

XP Drivers here

Toshiba XP disc in your inbox.

Will run nicely with XP and like a two legged dog with Vista.

Install it first and then you can install Ubuntu(Linux) afterwards. Then you can choose to boot into either at your leisure.

Owain_Moneysaver

Probably easier to install Linux than Windows. All the drivers and apps you need are usually in the Package Manager so you don't have to go hunting round the internet downloading stuff by hand.

There are lots of versions now you can try without installing - they boot and run off the CD without changing your hard drive. They are mega-slow compared to installing, because everything has to be loaded off the CD and expanded in memory, but useful for having a go and seeing how things run before committing to an install.

stilltheone

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

Probably easier to install Linux than Windows. All the drivers and apps you need are usually in the Package Manager so you don't have to go hunting round the internet downloading stuff by hand.

There are lots of versions now you can try without installing - they boot and run off the CD without changing your hard drive. They are mega-slow compared to installing, because everything has to be loaded off the CD and expanded in memory, but useful for having a go and seeing how things run before committing to an install.

I think having both is the best idea. Everything familiar will be at hand with XP SP3, but they will be able to play with Ubuntu at their leisure.

No inconvenience in having a Dual Boot system.

Kernel_Sanders

stilltheone wrote: »

Will run nicely with XP and like a two legged dog with Vista.

:laugh:

I've noticed that some Windows machines are being sold dual booting with Android. Is this OS really suitable for non-touchscreen hardware?

stilltheone wrote: »

No inconvenience in having a Dual Boot system.

Indeed, and I've read that Linux can boot up much faster than XP too.

Kernel_Sanders

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

There are lots of versions now you can try without installing - they boot and run off the CD without changing your hard drive.

And for we netbook owners, they can even be run off a USB stick.

stilltheone

Kernel_Sanders wrote: »

:laugh:

I've noticed that some Windows machines are being sold dual booting with Android. Is this OS really suitable for non-touchscreen hardware?

Indeed, and I've read that Linux can boot up much faster than XP too.

Haven't the foggiest.

Yes, iUbuntu is ready to go much more quickly.

I dual boot XP and Ubuntu on my Netbook. No issues.

S0litaire

Android without a touch screen is workable, but can be a total pain.
If you go with Ubnutu it would be best to use Ubunut 10.04 or 10.10 (10.04 is LTS = Long Term Support version meaning it's updates for 3-5 years where as others are only updated for 18 months.)
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LTS

10.04 & 10.10 will be faster than the latest version (due to the new version uses a new desktop manager "Unity")

or try Xubuntu it's slightly different and less resource hungry than Ubuntu and I think it's better suited to older hardware.

Kernel_Sanders

S0litaire wrote: »

Android without a touch screen is workable, but can be a total pain.
If you go with Ubnutu it would be best to use Ubunut 10.04 or 10.10 (10.04 is LTS = Long Term Support version meaning it's updates for 3-5 years where as others are only updated for 18 months.)
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LTS
10.04 & 10.10 will be faster than the latest version (due to the new version uses a new desktop manager "Unity")
or try Xubuntu it's slightly different and less resource hungry than Ubuntu and I think it's better suited to older hardware.

OK then, you two have inspired me to install Ubuntu on my Asus Eee!
Do I need to make a third partition? My 160GB HDD's C Drive is 80GB (55GB free space) but D is only 62.1GB (I presume the netbook is using the other 17.9GB when automatically backing up).

Tesco Direct is selling a 3G netbook dual-booting with Android for a remarkable £149 (it appears it qualifies for the £50 off deal for laptops selling for £200+). It's got a 250GB HDD plus DDR3, although only one slot.
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.212-4507.aspx

esuhl

I run Arch Linux myself (on a Core i7 desktop and Asus EEE netbook) and it'd be perfect for your 6-year old Toshiba laptop... but it does require a basic knowledge of Linux and a fair bit of technical tweaking and manually editing text files to get it installed, so probably not what you're looking for.

I just read this article on TuxRadar, and Unity Linux might be worth a go. Apparently it's easy to install and lightweight although booting was a bit slow.