Solved Trying out Linux Mint

[acreguy]

All excellent advice, thanks guys.

Mz...I'll see what the speed is like after the full install. My big concern is being able to use Mint in a similar fashion to Windows but without all the bloat. Running it from the USB stick was a real pleasure. I was able to figure out most of the settings by simple inspection. There were no "multiple menus" to drill down through to find what you need. Windows is HORRIBLE for that.

Brick...I suspect Mint will run fine but I'll monitor the fan speed. That could be a warning sign. I didn't realize I could just use the Grub menu to select which OS I want to boot. That's incredibly convenient because it spares me the bother of setting up a partition for Mint, correct?

Am I also correct in assuming I can just click Mint/Debian and the Mint OS will boot. That's it? No fancy hoops to jump through?

 

[Brickwizard]

When you start to install you will come to partitioning and will be asked, do you want to use the whole disc [this will delete everything on do you wish to partition manually , or do something else, BUT IN THAT LIST will be install alongside other operating systems, this is what i recommend, and let the installer make its own partitions , further on you will be asked if you want to install grub to sb** say yes.

 

[Brickwizard]

below is an image of a multi boot GRUB screen, you will see many options, but the basic ones on this demo are
Ubuntu
Manjaro
Fedora
Linux mint

Ubuntu is the default distribution, once this screen appears you have around 10 seconds to choose one of the other systems to boot before Ubuntu auto-boots

 

[acreguy]

Thanks, Brick. You wrote,

.....let the installer make its own partitions , further on you will be asked if you want to install grub to sb** say yes.

What is sb**?

 

[Brickwizard]

first a typo should be sd
it is how the drives and partitions are listed see below

so each drive is identified as sda, sdb, sdc and so on, then each drive has its petitions, so sda1
sda2 and so on

 

[acreguy]

Got it, thanks Brick. To summarize,

1. I boot Linux from my USB drive.
2. In the upper left corner, click Install Linux Mint (or whatever the exact wording is).
3. Choose the Install Linux alongside the Windows boot manager option.
4. When it offers to encrypt the Home folder, I may not do that. I'm sick to death of passwords!

I assume after the restart, I have about 10 seconds to choose Linux Mint from the grub menu. Am I missing anything? Can it be that easy?

 

[tpkusr]

I assume after the restart, I have about 10 seconds to choose Linux Mint from the grub menu. Am I missing anything? Can it be that easy?

If everything goes well, Linux mint will be first choice, if you do nothing it will automatically boot mint after 10 sec, or you can simply press enter to boot into Linux mint.

 

[acreguy]

Thanks, Tp...so if I want to boot W7, it will be on the list so I can select it within 10 secs instead?

 

[tpkusr]

so if I want to boot W7, it will be on the list so I can select it within 10 secs instead?

Yes you can select w7 within 10 seconds.

 

[acreguy]

Thanks! I'm going to do the install today.

 

[tpkusr]

Thanks! I'm going to do the install today.

You are welcome, wish you best of luck.

 

[acreguy]

You are welcome, wish you best of luck.

Thanks! I'll report back when done. I always like to do that after so many people have volunteered their time to help me .

 

[acreguy]

I'm installing Mint and have a question about partitioning. I chose to install Mint alongside W7. The default partition size is showing in the pic below. Can I accept that as okay?

 

[tpkusr]

Yes you can accept this. It will be ok.

 

[acreguy]

Thanks, tp!

 

[acreguy]

I assume this is okay to accept?

 

[tpkusr]

Yes ok to accept.

 

[acreguy]

You're a life saver, tp! Thanks. This is somewhat new to me .

 

[acreguy]

All's well. Just need to address this high speed fan issue. Shall I start a new thread?

 

[tpkusr]

Congrats! Yes it's better to start new thread.