Migrating from Windows to Linux

Gillor

I am looking to revive a relative's old Dell Inspiron 3800 running XP with a Linux OS particularly now that the withdrawal of support for XP is imminent.

I have been playing around with a couple of distros on my main desktop, Pinguy and Zorin, with Zorin looking particularly interesting as it seems to bear the closest resemblance to Windows.

However I am not sure how I transfer data, such as Microsoft Office documents, photos and music, from the existing XP set up to Linux.

Is it simply a matter of copying everything across via a USB stick? Likewise with Firefox and Thunderbird profiles?

Obviously I don't have to worry too much about malware so I can forget AV software but would I need to install a third party firewall? If so any suggestions? Are firewalls that are suitable for Windows also suitable for Linux?

The more I play around with Zorin the more I am getting to like it.

googler

XP will still work after MS remove support ....

Copy data to an external drive, memory card or USB stick. Format will depend on how much data .....

victor2

As above. The end of support for XP doesn't mean it will stop working, just won't get any more updates.
As for Linux, give it a go. If you can, partition the disk for one Linux and one XP partition and you'll have the option to boot into either while you get used to Linux. I've tried installing many different flavours of Linux on my Dell box, and have settled on Ubuntu, as it supported my wireless adapter out of the box (or the downloaded image actually), where others required quite a bit of messing about with additional drivers and software.
If you dump all your existing data files onto a USB stick or similar, Ubuntu will be able to read it. You'll have no problem with MS Office files if you use LibreOffice.
There is the usual selection of free AV software available, you are less at risk with Linux, particularly if you only use a root login when needed, but not immune.

S0litaire

Depending on the version of Linux you use it should be set up for "stealth" (which means basically open ports don't automatically reply to queries externally, so look like they don't exist) it's a basic firewall.

As for documents and settings! all you need is a USB stick and copy all your documents over to your new account in Linux.

Some installers will do it for you but it's hit and miss (To be safe make a backup of your "Documents and users" folder before you do anything!)

Gillor

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

Presumably I will be able to migrate Firefox and Thunderbird profiles etc. in the same way as I would do if setting up a new Windows computer.

S0litaire

for Firefox and thunderbird it should be easy!

Just copy the profiles from c:/Users/<username>/AppData/Local/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/
and move it to
/home/<username./.mozilla/firefox/
you just need to edit a file called "profiles.ini"
In that file you just change the <randomid> bit in "PATH=<randomid>.default" to the one you copied over and save the file!

Next time you open firefox everything will be the way you left it on XP.

Not used Thunderbird in AGES! bit it should be the same procedure

Gillor

Thanks Solitaire.

Next problem.....

BIOS on the Dell Inspiron has no option to boot from USB.

It has a CD Drive only (if it works) but the Zorin ISO download is 1.5Gb so it seems I must install from DVD.

Is it possible to download Linux and install direct from the internet? If not and the only alternative is to install some lightweight cr**py lightweight programme like Puppy then I think I'll stick with XP.

patman99

Debian has a version that can be installed via the net (and Debian is what Ubuntu is actually built-on).

S0litaire

Gillor wrote: »

Thanks Solitaire.

Next problem.....

BIOS on the Dell Inspiron has no option to boot from USB.

It has a CD Drive only (if it works) but the Zorin ISO download is 1.5Gb so it seems I must install from DVD.

Is it possible to download Linux and install direct from the internet? If not and the only alternative is to install some lightweight cr**py lightweight programme like Puppy then I think I'll stick with XP.

Look for a version called "Network Install" or "Minimal CD" in some cases

here's the link to latest Network install download

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/alternative-downloads

NiftyDigits

Gillor wrote: »

Thanks Solitaire.

Next problem.....

BIOS on the Dell Inspiron has no option to boot from USB.

It has a CD Drive only (if it works) but the Zorin ISO download is 1.5Gb so it seems I must install from DVD.

Is it possible to download Linux and install direct from the internet? If not and the only alternative is to install some lightweight cr**py lightweight programme like Puppy then I think I'll stick with XP.

Don't think the laptop is up to much anyway, but if you want a more capable OS, try Xubuntu 12.10. It's not the latest version, but it fits on a CD.
Once installed. you can update to the latest version; 13.04, online.

NiftyDigits

S0litaire wrote: »

Look for a version called "Network Install" or "Minimal CD" in some cases

here's the link to latest Network install download

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/alternative-downloads

Minimal CD link to Ubuntu here

But my thinking is that Ubuntu may be heavy going for that laptop.
It only takes PC133 RAM up to a maximum of 512MB.