Ready to DUMP windows

Fuzzy

I recently learned that microsoft has made an agreement with Intel and AMD to only run Win 10 on their new cpu's. They never mentioned Linux. Will go out on a limb and assume that if true it will not affect Linux. With that said I'm ready to dump Windows, something I should have done a long time ago. Having never used Linux I have done a little research on the different operating systems. It looks like Ubuntu 15.10 or Mint 17.3 will be a good starting point for me. I will have to learn the new OS first then show my wife how to use it. What i want to do is load Linux on my second hard drive keeping Win 7 as the primary OS booting with Win 7 then switching to Linux.

My current computer consists of an I7 3770K CPU, 16 gig of high speed ram and a G-Force GTX 760 graphics card. I do plan on doing some gaming on the computer as well as my wife who's gaming consists of playing on Pogo.com. Other than that its making purchases on the web, paying bills, banking and other tasks.

I believe either of the Linux OS are new user friendly, but how compatible are they with my current system? Any thoughts on that?

cswann1

Fuzzy wrote:

I recently learned that microsoft has made an agreement with Intel and AMD to only run Win 10 on their new cpu's. They never mentioned Linux. Will go out on a limb and assume that if true it will not affect Linux. With that said I'm ready to dump Windows, something I should have done a long time ago. Having never used Linux I have done a little research on the different operating systems. It looks like Ubuntu 15.10 or Mint 17.3 will be a good starting point for me. I will have to learn the new OS first then show my wife how to use it. What i want to do is load Linux on my second hard drive keeping Win 7 as the primary OS booting with Win 7 then switching to Linux.
My current computer consists of an I7 3770K CPU, 16 gig of high speed ram and a G-Force GTX 760 graphics card. I do plan on doing some gaming on the computer as well as my wife who's gaming consists of playing on Pogo.com. Other than that its making purchases on the web, paying bills, banking and other tasks.
I believe either of the Linux OS are new user friendly, but how compatible are they with my current system? Any thoughts on that?

From my own experience (I'm very new to Linux also, but have tinkered with it off and on for years) Linux Mint is much easier for Windows users to adopt than Ubuntu.

For your gaming rig I suggest this: Make an image of your Windows OS volume and game files volume (if separate). Pull your Windows drive, and install a new blank HDD/SSD and install Linux. Get up and running so that you are functional with regard to network, internet and hardware drivers. Then install Virtual box and make a new VM of sufficient parameters for your gaming needs and use your images from your Windows machine to build up your VM.
Another option is to run a dual-boot but I've heard that may cause headaches.

Although Steam is doing a lot for the Linux gaming community there's still a long way to go with regard to hardware support. I use All Logitech input (G13 game pad, G110 KB, G502 Mouse) which relies on the Logitech Gaming Software. According to my research running LGS under Wine isn't working out, so that pretty much limits me to Windows for my gaming needs.

Best of luck.

andrewj720

Mint and Ubuntu are both worth checking out (in fact, Mint is based on Ubuntu), and are highly likely to install and run fine on your system.

A tip: even though you plan on installing on a second hdd, i recommend backing up your Windows install first, just in case something goes wrong. The install programs are very good, and should pick up on your Windows installation, offering you the ability to install alongside Windows. However, disk naming conventions are different in Windows than *nix and accidents can happen!

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by how things work out the box with Linux - no drivers to install etc.

Games are plenty these days. Check out gog.com, desura, humble bundle and steam.

If you want something with a similar look to Windows 7, try Zorin, too.

saqman2060

Fuzzy wrote:

I recently learned that microsoft has made an agreement with Intel and AMD to only run Win 10 on their new cpu's. They never mentioned Linux. Will go out on a limb and assume that if true it will not affect Linux. With that said I'm ready to dump Windows, something I should have done a long time ago. Having never used Linux I have done a little research on the different operating systems. It looks like Ubuntu 15.10 or Mint 17.3 will be a good starting point for me. I will have to learn the new OS first then show my wife how to use it. What i want to do is load Linux on my second hard drive keeping Win 7 as the primary OS booting with Win 7 then switching to Linux.
My current computer consists of an I7 3770K CPU, 16 gig of high speed ram and a G-Force GTX 760 graphics card. I do plan on doing some gaming on the computer as well as my wife who's gaming consists of playing on Pogo.com. Other than that its making purchases on the web, paying bills, banking and other tasks.
I believe either of the Linux OS are new user friendly, but how compatible are they with my current system? Any thoughts on that?

The members who posted before me offered some great advice. Ubuntu, Mint, Zorin are good Linux distros for new linux beginners. You are able to hit the ground running. However, and I will always say this, everyone has a particular preference. I started my journey on Linux using Ubuntu and was able to transition to Fedora 23 and CentOS.

From research, Ubuntu-based Linux systems are of the favorites to begin testing out the Linux waters. You can share files between Linux and Windows. You can even access your windows partitions from linux just not the other way around. Application compatibility is still in the laboratory. Some apps from windows work on Linux. However, if you are planning to use only windows based apps on Linux or expect the same functionality you gotten from MS apps from open source apps, you are better off sticking with windows. In the Linux world, you must be willing to adapt the open source mindset.

Gaming is fun, just as much as trying to get a working gaming system built. Steam offers an all-in-one box for games that can run on PCs, Macs and Linux. However, building your own gaming system to be compatible with steam and all its features can be a major headache. Steam, lucky, offers pre-built steam gaming machines for this purpose. It has all the required hardware and game pads. You might want to check out their site.

Good luck!!

http://store.steampowered.com/hardware/#Machines

bootneck02

Hi Fuzzy, have just recently saw the light and converted to Linux from W10 and have been running Linux Mint Cinnamon 17.3 63bit. The transition was easy and I found that Mint is ideal as a transfer from Microsoft to a Linux distro. As far as your concerns about the agreement with Microsoft and Intel and AMD you have to think that they would not want to lose custom as many of the big commercial customers who have thousands of PC's in their offices and work places use Linux operating systems as well as their servers so availability will still be there, infact the majority of servers in use are Linux servers. I am not a PC geek and have had Microsoft operating systems from XP to Windows 10 and until I changed to Mint at Christmas time had used nothing else so don't be shy there is plenty of help here and other sites who will help you.

Fuzzy

Thank You for the info. I did purchase a new Samsung 256gig 850 pro...love those SSDs. I plan on installing Mint on that hard drive leaving Win7 on the primary hard drive. The reading I have done so far tells me when I install Mint that If I install it along side of windows that when boot my computer I will have the option of which OS I want to start. I don't know how this will work with Mint on a separate drive. Has anybody tried that yet?

bootneck02

I am a new Linux Mint 17.3 64bit user since the 15th December 2015, my reason to ditch Windows 10 was quite simple lost trust in Microsoft over the dater mining and I did not like the fact that I was running the purchased Windows 8.1 and every time I booted They wanted me to download W10. Any way to cut a long story short I reformatted my hard drive and and downloaded Mint. The reason I did NOT dual boot was because quite simple I knew if I came a problem I would reboot into W10 and NOT work the problem out. My advice to you would not to dual boot but remove the drive with Windows 7 and replace the C drive with your new drive and then download Mint. Mint is easy to use and very stable it is ideal for the new user. All I did was back up my pictures download them onto Mint and haven't looked back since, It is a great OS and ideal for the beginner, and I hope you are as satisfied with it as I am.

andrewj720

Installing Mint on a second drive in a dual-boot setup will will be straightforward. The advanced partitioning tool in the installer should recognise that one drive is in use, and the other is free space, and offer to install Mint there. If you're unsure that's what you want, you can click on 'something else' and set up partitions manually. Either way, leaving the drive with Windows in place will make GRUB setup far easier.

Before you do anything - back up Windows; as easy and reliable as dual-boot installations are these days, there is always the potential for errors, human or otherwise, resulting in data loss.

Fuzzy

Thank You Andrewj720 That was the answer I was hoping for. This will take me a while because of the 12hr day shift/night shift hours I work. I will let you know how things go once I can get a completely free day to do this. Backing up the Win7 is good advice. I use Nova for my back up software. Never had to do a restore as of yet but as a general rule I do a clean install every year or so. So if I make a mistake I should be able to recover with out to much trouble.

Fuzzy

Received the Linux mint install/live DVD and the new SSD. I installed the SSD and formatted it,NTFS so explorer recognizes the drive. When I put the DVD into the DVD player a pop-up screen comes up and gives me 3 options, Import pictures and videos, Play using windows media player, and open folder to view files. With media player I get the Linux Mint splash screen then it says it cannot play the file. Might not support the file type or codec used to compress the file. What's the next step I need to do to install the OS?

bootneck02

Fuzzy wrote:

Thank You for the info. I did purchase a new Samsung 256gig 850 pro...love those SSDs. I plan on installing Mint on that hard drive leaving Win7 on the primary hard drive. The reading I have done so far tells me when I install Mint that If I install it along side of windows that when boot my computer I will have the option of which OS I want to start. I don't know how this will work with Mint on a separate drive. Has anybody tried that yet?[

bootneck02

Fuzzy wrote:

Thank You for the info. I did purchase a new Samsung 256gig 850 pro...love those SSDs. I plan on installing Mint on that hard drive leaving Win7 on the primary hard drive. The reading I have done so far tells me when I install Mint that If I install it along side of windows that when boot my computer I will have the option of which OS I want to start. I don't know how this will work with Mint on a separate drive. Has anybody tried that yet?

Oops pressed the wrong button there. Well I will tell what I did because I am a lazy person I just uninstalled Windows 10 as I knew if I got into difficulties with Linux I would just go back to W10 and not bother, so what I did was back up my files,photo's etc formatted a spare drive and installed Linux Mint Cinnamon 17.3 64 bit and too be quite honest haven't been back to Windows since. I originally installed 17.2 and then 17.3 when that came out and have not been happier I love Mint it is so easy to use and now would not go back to Windows 10. This is my first attempt to go away from Microsoft and will never return to it.

andrewj720

Fuzzy wrote:

Received the Linux mint install/live DVD and the new SSD. I installed the SSD and formatted it,NTFS so explorer recognizes the drive. When I put the DVD into the DVD player a pop-up screen comes up and gives me 3 options, Import pictures and videos, Play using windows media player, and open folder to view files. With media player I get the Linux Mint splash screen then it says it cannot play the file. Might not support the file type or codec used to compress the file. What's the next step I need to do to install the OS?

Fuzzy - what you need to is reboot your machine with the dvd inserted in the dvd drive. One of two things should happen: 1. PC will start the Mint install program. Simply follow the instructions; or 2. PC will boot into Windows. If so, you need to change the boot order, so that the motherboard looks on your DVD drive before it looks on your hard drive, for a bootable system. You can amend it in BIOS. To access BIOS reboot PC again. In those few seconds before machine boots up again you need to repeatedly press a key to tell motherboard to boot to BIOS control program. Often the key is del, some motherboards use F2, others Esc, or F9 or F12. You may need to reboot several times to try each key to find out, but start with del. Once you get into BIOS you usually move around with cursor keys and are looking for boot options, and you want to move your DVD drive above your hard drive. Then save and restart, and PC should boot into the Mint install program, and you just need to follow the instructions on screen.

Fuzzy

Thanks Andrew. I got so focused with installing the SSD and getting windows to recognize the new drive that I forgot to shutdown and restart with the DVD in the DVD player. The installer saw the Western Digital HDD but not the 850pro SSD so I disconnected the HDD and rebooted. It saw both of my SSD's so I put Mint on the 850pro. All is well with Mint so far. I have not checked all of the functions on Mint as of yet but will get around to it. One thing I did find is when I had my wife go to her game site, POGO.com she could not play any games, Adobe flash is not up to date was the message. I seem to remember something about flash not being supported anymore. If so I guess she will be stuck with windows unless there is a work around.
On another note can you suggest any books for Mint that will give me a good overview of Mint and will also walk me through the terminal commands. I can see that I will have to become somewhat proficient using the terminal which I am not.

KGIII

"I recently learned that microsoft has made an agreement with Intel and AMD to only run Win 10 on their new cpu's."

Color me skeptical but I'd suspect that such an act would get both chip vendors hammered on by trade commissions, regulatory bodies, consumer protection agencies, and more - all across the globe.

I don't suppose you've got a source for that?

Anyhow, I read that you just dumped Windows. I actually recommend that, instead of dual booting. With dual booting, people have the tendency to just revert to the OS that they're mot familiar with rather than resolve their issues. Skipping that and just using Linux is the way to go.

A couple of things...

Linux is not Windows. It's not meant to be Windows. It will never be Windows. Presumably, you switched because you wanted something different. This is different. Keep that in mind. Once you get it figured out, you'll find that it is actually a bit easier (in my opinion) and there's a lot less work for you to do.

You're going to break stuff and have problems. That's okay. It's to be expected. Don't give up, stick with it. The problem is almost always resolvable - it just depends on how much effort you're willing to put into it. Truth be told, it's not a lot of effort - once you get things figured out. In fact, I day say that windows "just works" right out of the box, at least it does so the vast majority of time.

Remember, your OS is there to take care of you and not the other way around. You shouldn't really even need to notice it. You shouldn't have to tinker, tweak, poke, or configure things constantly. You can, but you shouldn't have to. The great thing about Linus is that you *can* do so if you want. You also don't have to do so.

Once you learn the trick of keeping your /home directory separate (I'll let you find it on your own) then you'll find that it's not that bad when you break stuff or want to play around with something different. It's not your grandfather's Linux, it's just rather easy stuff these days.

saqman2060

KGIII wrote:

"I recently learned that microsoft has made an agreement with Intel and AMD to only run Win 10 on their new cpu's."

Color me skeptical but I'd suspect that such an act would get both chip vendors hammered on by trade commissions, regulatory bodies, consumer protection agencies, and more - all across the globe.

I don't suppose you've got a source for that?

Anyhow, I read that you just dumped Windows. I actually recommend that, instead of dual booting. With dual booting, people have the tendency to just revert to the OS that they're mot familiar with rather than resolve their issues. Skipping that and just using Linux is the way to go.

A couple of things...

Linux is not Windows. It's not meant to be Windows. It will never be Windows. Presumably, you switched because you wanted something different. This is different. Keep that in mind. Once you get it figured out, you'll find that it is actually a bit easier (in my opinion) and there's a lot less work for you to do.

You're going to break stuff and have problems. That's okay. It's to be expected. Don't give up, stick with it. The problem is almost always resolvable - it just depends on how much effort you're willing to put into it. Truth be told, it's not a lot of effort - once you get things figured out. In fact, I day say that windows "just works" right out of the box, at least it does so the vast majority of time.

Remember, your OS is there to take care of you and not the other way around. You shouldn't really even need to notice it. You shouldn't have to tinker, tweak, poke, or configure things constantly. You can, but you shouldn't have to. The great thing about Linus is that you *can* do so if you want. You also don't have to do so.

Once you learn the trick of keeping your /home directory separate (I'll let you find it on your own) then you'll find that it's not that bad when you break stuff or want to play around with something different. It's not your grandfather's Linux, it's just rather easy stuff these days.

Well said, we do have to be reminded that GNU/Linux is not Windows. It is an operating system that controls the computer and makes the user productive, but it is an animal of its own. Once to understand that properly, things will start to get much clearer.

I will say that learning how computers work is more adventurous with Linux. I feel like I created the system myself in regards to all the configuring and troubleshooting I had to do. It became easy to use because it became fun to own. "Unlearn the MS way" ;0)

saqman2060

bootneck02 wrote:

Fuzzy wrote:

Thank You for the info. I did purchase a new Samsung 256gig 850 pro...love those SSDs. I plan on installing Mint on that hard drive leaving Win7 on the primary hard drive. The reading I have done so far tells me when I install Mint that If I install it along side of windows that when boot my computer I will have the option of which OS I want to start. I don't know how this will work with Mint on a separate drive. Has anybody tried that yet?

Oops pressed the wrong button there. Well I will tell what I did because I am a lazy person I just uninstalled Windows 10 as I knew if I got into difficulties with Linux I would just go back to W10 and not bother, so what I did was back up my files,photo's etc formatted a spare drive and installed Linux Mint Cinnamon 17.3 64 bit and too be quite honest haven't been back to Windows since. I originally installed 17.2 and then 17.3 when that came out and have not been happier I love Mint it is so easy to use and now would not go back to Windows 10. This is my first attempt to go away from Microsoft and will never return to it.

Love stories like this. I have been using linux for several years and don't have any intention of making Windows a primary OS, only when it comes to gaming of course. Then again, we do have PS4 and XboxOne right?

Try not to demonize Windows. If it weren't for MS, some of the advancements to personal computing would not be.

mykromo

Hi Fuzzy,

I'm also new in Linux. All I can say about games from windows is to try this PlayOnLinux.

About Windows and Mint (Dual Boot). Try to check this link. It's an old post but I believe until now it's still the same instructions for new release of Linux distros especially for Mint.

saqman2060

Fuzzy wrote:

Received the Linux mint install/live DVD and the new SSD. I installed the SSD and formatted it,NTFS so explorer recognizes the drive. When I put the DVD into the DVD player a pop-up screen comes up and gives me 3 options, Import pictures and videos, Play using windows media player, and open folder to view files. With media player I get the Linux Mint splash screen then it says it cannot play the file. Might not support the file type or codec used to compress the file. What's the next step I need to do to install the OS?

Unless windows media player got a major upgrade, it won't read zip files. As far as I know, it can only read media files. After burning the iso image to the DVD, restart your computer and set your bios to boot your computer from a CD/DVD drive. Then insert your DVD disc and select the CD/DVD drive to boot. This should brind up an installer screen that will give you options to install mint.