Replacing Windows XP with Linux

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KCM68

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Microsoft will no longer support XP during April of this year. I am considering installing Linux. As there are different versions of Linux, I am confused which would work best for me.

The laptop in question is a Lenovo 40625DU, 2.8 GHZ Processor, 3GB Ram, 160 GB Hard Drive, Intel Duo Core. Would I have to completely remove the XP or could I run Linux and Windows XP together, using the XP for off line?

I have heard that with some laptops, the WiFi function won't work with Linux. Is this true? Thanks for any assistance.
 


I've never heard of a WiFi device that flat out won't work for Linux. There are certain issues with specific devices/distributions (I know Broadcom devices get a lot of flak) but these issues can usually be fixed with supplementary drivers or a configuration tweak.

You can have both Windows and Linux on the same system by either dual booting or running it through a virtual machine (see @arochester post for more info), but each OS will run independently so transferring files between OSes will require something like Dropbox or an external hard drive. Not a huge issue, but something to be aware of if you've never run multiple OSes on the same device.
 
Since Arch is difficult for complete beginners, I'd say go for Antergos live cd. It's only Arch with a simple installer and a single extra repository, nothing else (hardcore Arch users can kill me now, but I've also installed and configured it from scratch :p). It's really faster than ubuntu and its variants like Mint, in my opinion, and I use very recent hardware. There's also Mint Debian.

I don't know if your wifi will work out of the box, I had my big share of wifi problems on a few computers, but you can always research on how to enable/fix it.

As to multibooting, if there aren't windows-only applications you depend on, specially those you can replace with great open source alternatives, just back up and dump windows, it's a painkiller for multi-boot headaches.
 
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I used windows since 3.11 and I have to say : Take the leap step! It's so much easier than Linux's old reputation lets on. I've had several friends give me old buggy XP computers and even new windows 8 laptops to "fix". I simply put Ubuntu or Mint on them and I have yet to get complaints. In fact they seemed surprised that those OS's didn't come on more computers.

In fact, the average user only goes online with a computer (web/email). What does windows have other OS's don't.... Internet Explorer hahahaha. Maybe MS Office: http://www.libreoffice.org/ http://www.winehq.org/

If large gaming organizations like Steam are even shunning windows, that gives a lot to think about since one of Linux's biggest previous down falls was lack of gaming support: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/how-to-install-steamos/1100-6417288/

If you wanna stay corporate... go for it I guess. Otherwise trust the intelligent people that made Linux what it has become today: a free, open-source, for-the-people OS.

Go for it man; at least try a live boot.
 
Basically all I'm doing with this laptop is web, social media, and email. Occassionally I'll use it for live streaming with NetFlix. About the only thing I want to save from XP is the Microsoft Office 2007, for off line use. Pictures, Music, misc are duplicated on my Desktop with Windows 7. I use the late model Desktop for my "heavy lifting."

I see from other sites, that installation is by either CD or DVD. Any advantage over one or the other?
 
KCM68 said:
I see from other sites, that installation is by either CD or DVD. Any advantage over one or the other?
Click to expand...

The full install images used to fit on CD. Now a CD install usually means it's a "live install" via internet. So the benifit from a DVD install is that you don't need the internet while you do it. I prefer DVD, even though usb is popular, some old machines don't support usb boot. I got a cheap tower of DVDs and made some 32/64 bit iso image burns on them.

USB boot is definitely more economical and faster while running live OS's and installation. I only don't like it because of past problems I had that aren't very common. So I'll let other people reference it for ya.
 
I always burn to DVD and install from them

currently I am using Ubuntu 13.10 and it works so well


I sill have win 7 on a separate drive for software that may require it, but it isnt even hooked up, I am microsoft free...and loving it
 
Videodrome said:
Okay I'm actually curious about Antergos now lol.
Click to expand...
It's a great distribution, I installed it on an old desktop. Pure Arch with a graphical installer.

Downsides:

1- pick Gnome during installation, and only then install a new desktop environment (XFCE didn't work out of the box, it wouldn't go past the login screen, but maybe the other desktop environments to choose from also work, I didn't test them).

2- perform a full, non-custom installation (first option, wiping the disk). It's multi-boot support is not as good as mainstream distros'. I guess you noticed boot issues on some Arch-based distributions - their maintainers probably didn't figure out how to automatize different boot configurations properly.
 
Also, the Ubuntu installation process is easy for beginners, I think. And you can install Ubuntu as second OS. It's really useful because you can't find some apps for Windows but you'll got it using Linux and vice versa. Using both Windows and Linux is a great variant for intermediate and in particular for advanced level users.
 
Thanks everyone for your assistance. I'll probably do a dual boot, using Linux for online and XP for offline. If the dual boot causes problems, I'll uninstall XP, after I have one of the Linux OS up and running. For my purposes Zorin seems best. At any rate better than giving Bill Gates another $80-$120.
 
Try a few live cd's/usb's to see what suits best, I like KDE distributions as well as other OS's that were recommended to you here, so you might want to check them out. Also I would, get Windows XP on a virtual machine within Linux, therefore I would recommend one of the light distributions like: Sharp OS for example, it's a distro that is getting more and more popular and also based on LXDE Lubuntu. It's light weight but also beautifully designed. Available at: www.grasshopperos.com
 
I installed Zorin 6.4 on my windows xp computer, and I do NOT like it. Unable to download Firefox, and it runs buggy with dual boot. I want to uninstall, but can't. The instructions at the Zorin website dont work. Any body with any ideas, for a quick and dirty uninstall of Zorin.
 
ZZs said:
You can install another Linux over the partition Zorin is in.
Click to expand...

About an hour after I posted the problems I was having with Zorin, the unexpected automatic updates , 305 at 400-500 MB kicked in. After the updates completed, the computer restarted, Zorin worked fine. I'm going to keep Zorin for awhile.

One error I made during the installation was not selecting manual in order to partition. This hasn't caused any problems. Nothing was lost from the XP OS. Probably because I had over 100MB of free space before installation. Despite my installation error, and original impatience,Distro seems to be working fine. Only downside is finding out Netflix doesn't work with Linux. Not a real problem, because I have a desktop with Windows 7.
 
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