Replacing Mint

[acreguy]

Hi again, folks.

After several attempts to tame my excessive fan speeds in Mint, I've decided to try another distro. MX Linux was suggested by tpkusr (thanks tp!). I see it comes in three versions: XFCE, KDE, and Fluxbox. I believe XFCE is well suited for older hardware and may not cause my CPU and GPU fans to go crazy.

I still have Mint installed on its own partition on my Windows 7 PC. I need the exact instructions on how to replace Mint. Do I just delete the Mint partition and let XFCE create a new one? As far as I've been told, the only danger in deleting a partition is, deleting the wrong one! In the attached picture, I believe the Mint partition is the one marked as 183.80 GB. Agreed? The one marked (C) is obviously the Windows 7 partition and the remaining ones are way too small to be the Mint one.

Comments most welcome. I'm determined to make this work, as I have just learned that after October 13, the Windows 10 ESU is gone and Windows 7 is just as vulnerable to attack . So, a switch to Linux is a must. I refuse to buy a new computer just because MS says I have to!! Thanks all...

 

[kc1di]

I would say you right and no need to delete the partition before installing MX Just tell the installer to overwrite the mint partition. It should work fine. I agree the 183 gb one is most likely your mint install. Give use a little more info on your machine and we maybe able to give better guidance as to which desktop would be better. XFCE is a good one though. Good luck.

 

[acreguy]

Thanks, kc. Here are my computer details.

 

[kc1di]

with only 4 gbs of ram XFCE is most likely your best choice. Even then it' likely to run slow If you could up the ram to 8 gbs it would be better. However it should work for you. Give it a try.

 

[acreguy]

Okay, thanks for the info kc. I'll give it a go.
Mint ran pretty fast. The only annoyances were the fan speed and a few issues with Thunderbird. I hope there's a better email client that runs in Linux.

 

[kc1di]

Okay, thanks for the info kc. I'll give it a go.
Mint ran pretty fast. The only annoyances were the fan speed and a few issues with Thunderbird. I hope there's a better email client that runs in Linux.

Give betterbird a try it's a clone of TB and works pretty good. You'll have to install it as a flatpak but in MX it in their MXPI package manager.

 

[acreguy]

Thanks!

 

[acreguy]

I just downloaded the ISO file for XFCE. Do I just boot the Windows 7 computer, open the BIOS settings, make it reboot from the thumb drive, and just follow the instructions?

 

[kc1di]

I just downloaded the ISO file for XFCE. Do I just boot the Windows 7 computer, open the BIOS settings, make it reboot from the thumb drive, and just follow the instructions?

you need to burn the .iso to the usb drive using usb burning software. Etcher works well. if you still have mint install it has a usb buring software. usb writer.

 

[acreguy]

Yes! I forgot about that step. I did that for Mint. Thanks...

 

[acreguy]

Okay, all's well except the fan speeds are ramped up AGAIN!

Anyway, I'm installing now and I have an option to "Replace existing installation (Experimental)." Not sure I like the sound of that. Should I proceed? I don't mind if it ruins Mint, so long as it doesn't do anything to my Windows 7 stuff.

 

[kc1di]

Okay, all's well except the fan speeds are ramped up AGAIN!

Anyway, I'm installing now and I have an option to "Replace existing installation (Experimental)." Not sure I like the sound of that. Should I proceed? I don't mind if it ruins Mint, so long as it doesn't do anything to my Windows 7 stuff.

yes proceed it should work ok.

 

[acreguy]

Thanks!

 

[acreguy]

Darn..the mouse is frozen and I don't want to reboot. May not have any choice.

EDIT
No worries, I just reset the computer. Waiting on install.

 

[acreguy]

While I'm waiting on the install, any brilliant ideas on how to stop Linux from ramping up my fans all the time? I pulled the side cover off and there's a bit of dust present. After the install, I'll shut it down and blow out the cabinet. They say a bit of dust can bridge the heat sinks and cause a falsely high reading, which can ramp up the fans. I doubt that's it because it never happens with Windows 7. Can't hurt to try though.

 

[acreguy]

Mouse frozen again after I connected my CAT 5 internet cable .
I'm starting to feel like I'm the only user who can't get Linux to work. A lot of trap doors keep opening .

 

[dos2unix]

Run this first.

sudo sensors-detect

Then what is output of

sensors

(or sensors -f)

Some distro's have

sudo dnf install corectrl

and yet other distro's have..

sudo pwmconfig

a few have neither. Not sure about Mint.

Does it use thermald ?

systemctl list-unit-files | grep thermal

 

[acreguy]

Run this first.

sudo sensors-detect

Then what is output of

sensors

(or sensors -f)

Some distro's have

sudo dnf install corectrl

and yet other distro's have..

sudo pwmconfig

a few have neither. Not sure about Mint.

Does it use thermald ?

systemctl list-unit-files | grep thermal

I ran the sensors command and it gave me the same output as in Mint. Things like Voltages, RPMs, Temperatures. For some reason, Linux ramps up the fans, whereas Windows doesn't. This tells me the fan speeds are controllable by the OS. I wonder how many distros I need to try before one doesn't run up my fans?

The good news is, the computer is not being over driven by Linux but it is way noisier than I want. There must be an app that can be used to slow these fans down, unless Linux is very demanding on resources.

 

[kc1di]

Did you install MX?

 

[acreguy]

Yes. MX-25 Xfce