Migrating to Linux thread

[flightsimmer]

It should run Linux Mint just fine. Look back where Pudly and I were discussing it with DoggyDaddy. I posted a link to a Live USB creator, which will let you create a boot USB drive to run Linux Mint (or another distro) to test it out, no installation required. If you don't like it, you're only out a bit of time. The laptop I'm typing this up on is an old Gateway gaming laptop with 4MB of RAM. It's a little newer than what you have, as it came with Vista. I've been running it with Linux Mint the last couple of years and I've been very happy with it.

I see it, (post # 76) but I'll have to get a bigger thumb drive (8 gig I see) then I'll give it a try.
I have an external hard drive also as a backup.
I like it that I can try it first without changing my present system.

 

[wtburnette]

I see it, (post # 76) but I'll have to get a bigger thumb drive (8 gig I see) then I'll give it a try.
I have an external hard drive also as a backup.
I like it that I can try it first without changing my present system.

That's one of the great things about it, yes. Also, if you have a 4GB USB drive, you might try that. I could swear that's what I used.

 

[pudly]

I see it, (post # 76) but I'll have to get a bigger thumb drive (8 gig I see) then I'll give it a try.
I have an external hard drive also as a backup.
I like it that I can try it first without changing my present system.

You don't need anything beyond the thumb drive to test drive Linux. No need for a spare hard drive.

 

[chezuki]

 

[wtburnette]

We decided to make this a separate thread to move it away from the Windows 10 discussion.

 

[miguel]

Did someone say Linux?

 

[Lebowski]

Did someone say Linux?

Nice. Been rocking Linux at home for about ten years now and have made a career out of supporting Linux based web servers. I plain ol' love Linux.

Debian master race!

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Thanks for splitting this out Pudly (and Churchmouse!) I know I was guilty of some threadjacking in the original...

 

[flightsimmer]

That's one of the great things about it, yes. Also, if you have a 4GB USB drive, you might try that. I could swear that's what I used.

The only one I have right now is a 256 mb.

 

[Magneto]

I have a four year old laptop that I use most of the time. The hard drive is molasses slow,so I found a used SSD and will be installing using Linux Mint when it arrives in a few days. I have never used Linux more than a few days at a time, so I am excited to see how this goes.

 

[wtburnette]

The only one I have right now is a 256 mb.

Yeah, that won't work. Get a 4GB or 8GB drive and you'll be set.

I have a four year old laptop that I use most of the time. The hard drive is molasses slow,so I found a used SSD and will be installing using Linux Mint when it arrives in a few days. I have never used Linux more than a few days at a time, so I am excited to see how this goes.

Mint is very easy to use. I think you'll be happy with it.

 

[pudly]

Cool. Report back and let us know how it goes. The SSD will speed things up, but it won't turn an old machine into a speed demon.

 

[Expat]

 

[Lebowski]

The great thing about Linux is the community based support. Have an issue? An error? Google it! Most things you can resolve yourself quite quickly if you encounter an issue. Otherwise you can hop on the official IRC channel for whatever distribution you're using and someone there can probably help you out as well.

That is also what I love about Linux server management. Can copy/paste an error or parts of an error from the terminal if you're messing around via CLI or from the error dialog box into Google and usually find the solution quickly as it's probably been reported by someone else or can just read documentation otherwise.

It's really come a long way over the years and driver support is so much better than it used to be. I honestly can not remember the last piece of (desktop) software I paid for... everything I need for a desktop computer at home is free, fast, and secure.

 

[oldpink]

Doggy, I think you'll find yourself loving Linux more the longer you use it.
The nice thing is that you can even keep your Windows partition there and set up with dual boot.
btw...I've been a Linux user for right at twenty years straight now, currently with Slackware64-bit on my Asus laptop.
I still have a Windows partition for the very rare software that hasn't been ported to Linux, but I almost never boot to it, and my default is auto boot to Linux.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Doggy, I think you'll find yourself loving Linux more the longer you use it.
The nice thing is that you can even keep your Windows partition there and set up with dual boot.
btw...I've been a Linux user for right at twenty years straight now, currently with Slackware64-bit on my Asus laptop.
I still have a Windows partition for the very rare software that hasn't been ported to Linux, but I almost never boot to it, and my default is auto boot to Linux.

I'm 99% sure this is the way I'm going to go. On a related note, I have a lot of bookmarks (gun, reloading, assembly/disassembly stuff) on my Firefox browser in Windows. Does anyone know if there is a way to export those bookmarks from my Windows version to my Linux version? Or am I just going to have to copy/paste them into an email to myself and add them to the Linux version manually?

 

[wtburnette]

I'm 99% sure this is the way I'm going to go. On a related note, I have a lot of bookmarks (gun, reloading, assembly/disassembly stuff) on my Firefox browser in Windows. Does anyone know if there is a way to export those bookmarks from my Windows version to my Linux version? Or am I just going to have to copy/paste them into an email to myself and add them to the Linux version manually?

I don't recall where the firefox bookmarks are stored, but if you enable sync on firefox under windows, when you login to linux and enable it, I believe it will bring over all of your bookmarks.

Just did a Google search and found this, hopefully one of the options helps:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/restore-bookmarks-from-backup-or-move-them

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I don't recall where the firefox bookmarks are stored, but if you enable sync on firefox under windows, when you login to linux and enable it, I believe it will bring over all of your bookmarks.

Just did a Google search and found this, hopefully one of the options helps:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/restore-bookmarks-from-backup-or-move-them

Thanks! I'm trying it now. I'm in Linux at the moment, so I will check to see if they make it over here or if I need to go back to Windows to finish the process.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Back from Windows and all synced up! Thanks again!

 

[wtburnette]

Back from Windows and all synced up! Thanks again!

You're welcome, glad it worked out