Sherri is a Cat
Well-Known Member
My frustrating experiences trying to get up and running with Linux may be helpful to someone so I leaving it here along with some initial comments on Linux as a new user
I'm not positive which of the things I did that finally got Linux going on this old Lenovo laptop, but it happened! AND I finally get to post in "Getting Started" instead of ranting in "Off Topic" about the seemingly endless obstacles standing in my way.
Persistence, determination and a dash of stubbornness. I'm a happy girl today!
I worked for an entire day trying to get Linux going on this laptop with no luck. The Giant and Lenovo put a lot of obstacles in the way of getting into UEFI or BIOS. All I'll say on that is this. There is a very, very small, secret, hidden button with what looks headphones on it that you have to push to get there. And it only works when everything is shut down. After I got into BIOS, I enabled USB boot. I never found an option to show a boot list at start up. None of the numerous methods I found actually worked. After a day of failure, I was exhausted. I picked my brain up off the floor and went to bed. I was too damn tired to take a shower.
The next day I resigned myself to the idea that at least for now I'm still a prisoner.
This is the part that could be helpful to anyone having the problems I was having.
This laptop was left here by #4, (my affectionate name for the ex). I've kept it as a back up in case there are issues with my preferred PC. That happened which is why I'm using the Lenovo instead of my Asus. It hasn't been used for close to 4 years. Massive amounts of useless files, unnecessary software and bloatware, including two different security programs and very much in need of updates, a lot of updates. Yesterday was dedicated to cleaning up this laptop and installing my must have apps. And MORE cleaning. Oh my GAWD! The registry errors!! That took the better part of a day! BIOS updates were mentioned in another thread as an obstacle to booting from a pen drive. I didn't get that far so apparently it wasn't necessary. I quit for the day and put the Lenovo in sleep mode.
A few hours ago and with deflated love for technology, I finally came to visit with the Lenovo. When I clicked the mouse to wake it up, I ran into errors trying to sign in. So I restarted it. I got a whiny message from Windows about some problem booting up. The mouse wasn't working so I couldn't hit the "OK" prompt. I restarted it again. Same message. Still no mouse. Then I got the brilliant idea to hit "Enter" instead of using my mouse. (Actually I just forgot you have to hit "Enter" on the keyboard.The message changed. I thought it was just more attitude from Windows. I hit enter again. Then I noticed the messages were about the USB drive. So I kept going. Finally, I got to the option to boot from the pen drive. There were four options to boot into Linux. I picked the first one.
It worked! I am writing this post with a PC using Linux!!!
Yesterday, I chose to wait to restart the system after one of the driver updates.I must have forgot about it. Sometimes if you're not there to put it off longer, it automatically updates itself. I disabled Windows Updates so I don't think it was that. (I disabled it because they can take a LONG TIME. I don't plan to use Windows and I didn't have time to look at what the updates were for. Some of them aren't actually necessary. Some of them cause problems. In my opinion, the Giant does that to force people to upgrade. Uninstalling hidden updates usually fixes the problem. I've also seen posts that the Giant intentionally interferes, causes problems to force upgrades. The Giant hijacked PC's when they were pushing Windows 10. I have no reason to doubt they would do it again.
Hopefully this will all be helpful to someone else having trouble.
So now my first impressions!
1. It's not intimidating at all. Using a new OS was my biggest concern. That was what I was afraid of. I already have a lot of questions, but think I will be fine. When I first started using computers, I couldn't figure out how to do ANYTHING. I was on the phone with a friend trying to get help. He kept telling me to look at the bottom left side of my monitor where it said "Start". The power on button, the switch that turns on the monitor happened to be right under the start menu. I don't know how many times I said, "I ALREADY turned it on. I was completely clueless! But by within a year I was fixing everyone else's computer.
2. The first thing that really impressed me is how FAST it starts up. I haven't put a single app on it yet, but this is an old PC that hardly compares to the ASUS. It already took a while to start up. Since support for Windows 8.1 ended, and even though cleaning the system is schedule to run everyday, it takes forever! That's one of the reasons I put it sleep mode instead of shutting it down.
3. The internet speed is FAST! And again, this is on the old Lenovo. I can't wait to see how it is on my ASUS. I use a VPN with a lot servers around the world. I've been told that VPN's usually slow down internet speeds. My VPN makes my connection much, much faster. I don't have it installed yet either. I expect to have an even faster connection when I do.
So that's about it for now. If you're reading this and as frustrated as I've been, just keep at it. So far, it looks like it's definitely going to be worth the tears and heart ache it took to get here! This is the time to be stubborn!
I'm not positive which of the things I did that finally got Linux going on this old Lenovo laptop, but it happened! AND I finally get to post in "Getting Started" instead of ranting in "Off Topic" about the seemingly endless obstacles standing in my way.
Persistence, determination and a dash of stubbornness. I'm a happy girl today!
I worked for an entire day trying to get Linux going on this laptop with no luck. The Giant and Lenovo put a lot of obstacles in the way of getting into UEFI or BIOS. All I'll say on that is this. There is a very, very small, secret, hidden button with what looks headphones on it that you have to push to get there. And it only works when everything is shut down. After I got into BIOS, I enabled USB boot. I never found an option to show a boot list at start up. None of the numerous methods I found actually worked. After a day of failure, I was exhausted. I picked my brain up off the floor and went to bed. I was too damn tired to take a shower.
The next day I resigned myself to the idea that at least for now I'm still a prisoner.
This is the part that could be helpful to anyone having the problems I was having.
This laptop was left here by #4, (my affectionate name for the ex). I've kept it as a back up in case there are issues with my preferred PC. That happened which is why I'm using the Lenovo instead of my Asus. It hasn't been used for close to 4 years. Massive amounts of useless files, unnecessary software and bloatware, including two different security programs and very much in need of updates, a lot of updates. Yesterday was dedicated to cleaning up this laptop and installing my must have apps. And MORE cleaning. Oh my GAWD! The registry errors!! That took the better part of a day! BIOS updates were mentioned in another thread as an obstacle to booting from a pen drive. I didn't get that far so apparently it wasn't necessary. I quit for the day and put the Lenovo in sleep mode.
A few hours ago and with deflated love for technology, I finally came to visit with the Lenovo. When I clicked the mouse to wake it up, I ran into errors trying to sign in. So I restarted it. I got a whiny message from Windows about some problem booting up. The mouse wasn't working so I couldn't hit the "OK" prompt. I restarted it again. Same message. Still no mouse. Then I got the brilliant idea to hit "Enter" instead of using my mouse. (Actually I just forgot you have to hit "Enter" on the keyboard.The message changed. I thought it was just more attitude from Windows. I hit enter again. Then I noticed the messages were about the USB drive. So I kept going. Finally, I got to the option to boot from the pen drive. There were four options to boot into Linux. I picked the first one.
It worked! I am writing this post with a PC using Linux!!!
Yesterday, I chose to wait to restart the system after one of the driver updates.I must have forgot about it. Sometimes if you're not there to put it off longer, it automatically updates itself. I disabled Windows Updates so I don't think it was that. (I disabled it because they can take a LONG TIME. I don't plan to use Windows and I didn't have time to look at what the updates were for. Some of them aren't actually necessary. Some of them cause problems. In my opinion, the Giant does that to force people to upgrade. Uninstalling hidden updates usually fixes the problem. I've also seen posts that the Giant intentionally interferes, causes problems to force upgrades. The Giant hijacked PC's when they were pushing Windows 10. I have no reason to doubt they would do it again.
Hopefully this will all be helpful to someone else having trouble.
So now my first impressions!
1. It's not intimidating at all. Using a new OS was my biggest concern. That was what I was afraid of. I already have a lot of questions, but think I will be fine. When I first started using computers, I couldn't figure out how to do ANYTHING. I was on the phone with a friend trying to get help. He kept telling me to look at the bottom left side of my monitor where it said "Start". The power on button, the switch that turns on the monitor happened to be right under the start menu. I don't know how many times I said, "I ALREADY turned it on. I was completely clueless! But by within a year I was fixing everyone else's computer.
2. The first thing that really impressed me is how FAST it starts up. I haven't put a single app on it yet, but this is an old PC that hardly compares to the ASUS. It already took a while to start up. Since support for Windows 8.1 ended, and even though cleaning the system is schedule to run everyday, it takes forever! That's one of the reasons I put it sleep mode instead of shutting it down.
3. The internet speed is FAST! And again, this is on the old Lenovo. I can't wait to see how it is on my ASUS. I use a VPN with a lot servers around the world. I've been told that VPN's usually slow down internet speeds. My VPN makes my connection much, much faster. I don't have it installed yet either. I expect to have an even faster connection when I do.
So that's about it for now. If you're reading this and as frustrated as I've been, just keep at it. So far, it looks like it's definitely going to be worth the tears and heart ache it took to get here! This is the time to be stubborn!
