Trying to get Ubuntu on Windows Xp laptop.

I have a 2006 Dell laptop. I'm trying to get Ubuntu on there, but not working. I'm going on a trip later this year, and I plan to take my laptop with me.  I'm using a desktop at home. It has Windows Vista. I had problems using the laptop to download Linux, at the Linux website. The page would close, when it got to the website. So I used the desktop to download, and burn it. But it did a scan after the download, and then it said the file couldn't download. Then I usede the laptop to download it at the Ubuntu website. It worked, but then it used Roxi to run it. But only Roxi came up. So I removed Roxi. and then try to run it again. It is now asking for a program to run it. But I don't know what to use, or how to install.

My desktop is 2008 Dell desktop. It has Windows Vista.

I hope I'm in the right room.

Sam Gunn

There should be someone here later tonight to help you out so come back okay.  I am a bit of a noob but will try to get you up to speed until then.  

In the meantime-it would be good to post your system specs, as much as possible.  Or, and even the model of your laptop.  This all seems complicated at first but we will guide you through it, it's easy.  If you are good with this stuff and want to attempt it - this is a great site to get all your specs, but don't feel obligated to do so.  You will have to be able to follow the directions: http://www.piriform.com/speccy  Or if you know how to do it in Vista then that is fine.

Also check out this Thread: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/539766/community-standards-properly-giving-receiving-gnulinux-support/

1. For now, provide the download link you tried as there are many.  Once we know what you are trying to download we will point you to the proper md5sum hash for that distro if it is not already on the same page.

2. It would be wise to look into an extension called downthemall that you get in Firefox browser here: http://www.downthemall.net/  This tool allows you to download the iso without issues as when your internet connection is not the best and has many more advanced functions.  It also let's you check the md5sum hash if you include it while setting up the download.  I'll let cat1092 add more about downthemall, as he will probably be in later tonight.  Don't feel obligated to use this either but as you advance this tool will be indispensable.

3. If not using the DownThemAll extension, download and use this md5sum hash checker, but scan it before executing/installing: http://download.cnet.com/MD5-SHA-Checksum-Utility/3000-2092_4-10911445.html  Or someone else might suggest to not worry about this if they provide the site to download and you have a good internet connection, this would be easier if you feel overwhelmed.

3. I don't know about Roxio, or if it is capable of "Burning an ISO Image" as that is what you need to do.  I looked at it but the info was not great.  A preferred tool is Imageburn for free here: http://www.filehippo.com/search?q=imgburn  You can download this and use it easily to Burn the Image to a DVD-R or RW, a CD will be too small.

If you got the ISO downloaded and checked the md5sum hash > then put a DVD in > Open Imageburn > choose Burn Image > choose the folder where the ISO is > Then the ISO you want to burn and start the program.

Hi Sam.

Lets sort a few things out.
 

So I used the desktop to download, and burn it

What Operating system is on that desktop? You may not need any software to burn the ISO.

 

In the meantime-it would be good to post your system specs, as much as possible.  Or, and even the model of your laptop.  This all seems complicated at first but we will guide you through it, it's easy.  If you are good with this stuff and want to attempt it - this is a great site to get all your specs, but don't feel obligated to do so.  You will have to be able to follow the directions: http://www.piriform.com/speccy  Or if you know how to do it in Vista then that is fine.

If you could give us some specs to that laptop.

How to burn an ISO in Windows 7 and 8

Notice:  This applies only to Windows 7 and Windows 8, earlier versions do not have this.
 
1.  Place a blank CD or DVD in the tray of your optical drive and close the tray.
 
2.  After you have downloaded the ISO image you want to burn right click on the Start orb, then choose Windows Explorer.
 
3.  When Explorer opens click on Downloads in the left pane.  Scroll down till you find the ISO file you want and double click on it.  Click on Burn Disk Image.
 
4.  In the image below you will see Disk burner:, this should be set to the optical drive you want to use.  Click on Verify disc after burning if you want to Windows to verity the disc image after burn.  Click on burn.
 

 
5.  In the image below you can see that the green progress bar, when the image is finished burning the bar will be filled.
 

 
6.  After the image has completed being burned click on Close.

My desktop is Windows Vista. The laptop is Xp. I tried downloading it on the laptop, but it did a scan after the download, and it said that the download failed. I did it several times. I then did it on the laptop. It worked. But I could get it to come up. I even copied it to a flash card, and then put that in the desktop. I then burned it on a DVD. It is too big for a CD. I downlowed it from this site.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

I chose the 32 bit. Since it is for the laptop. The laptop is an Inspiron 1501 Dell laptop. It says Turion 64. Does that mean it is 64 bit? I thought it was a 32 bit. For the DVD burner on my desktop, I used InfraRecorder. My desktop is a Windows Vista Home Premium. Model is Inspiron 530. It is a 32 bit. Not sure about the laptop. I thought it was 32 bit.

Before I did the download, I read this first.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/burn-a-dvd-on-windows

I removed Roxio from the laptop.

We had a Dell inspiron 1501 a few years back...which ran  a linux OS though which one is lost in the mists of time..but it could have been Mepis...???  i do remember it was a bit low on Ram for anything too heavy.. and it also was problematic getting a WiFi driver...i seem to think it was a Dell made one...though probably that issue will have been sorted out many times ...

Maybe Ubuntu will be too much for it ..but one of the lighter ubuntu variants will work ....Peppermint, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, or a Puppy 

1.  First off, it appears to be a 64bit, which is good but the components might not be super.  Here is how you can tell, do this first okay, unless one of the B.C. Staff tells you different.  

You will also see how much RAM there is here close to bottom.

 Also see if it says "Physical Address Extension" at bottom and report back.

If your computer is running Windows XP, do the following:

I then burned it on a DVD

Edited by Al1000, 18 April 2015 - 03:49 PM.

Here is the ISO recorder from Alex Feinman, and no Open Candy or other junkware is included. 

http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/Vista.htm

Here's versions for all Windows OS's. All are adware & junkware free. 

http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm

If Ubuntu is installed, you can always use Brasero. It's easy to use. 

 

 

 The laptop is an Inspiron 1501 Dell laptop. It says Turion 64. Does that mean it is 64 bit?

Yes, that means it's a 64 bit notebook capable of running 64 bit OS's. However, RAM limitations may keep you from getting the best out of it. My recommendation if the computer is 64 bit, have 4GB (likely it's max) of RAM installed for the best experience. Though even if shipped with 2GB, with Linux there's less overhead than with Windows & you can still run a 64 bit OS fairly well, though in all honesty, I'd recommend an XFCE OS, there's Xubuntu, Linux MInt 17.1 XFCE & others. I know it to be fact that Mint has a 64 bit XFCE OS, Xubuntu is a widely used XFCE OS.  

The Turion 64 preceded the Athlon 64, the latter was my first & only experiences with AMD CPU's, one of my current PC's has an Athlon X2 64. My old Dell notebooks from the 2003-06 era had single core Intel Pentium M CPU's & 2GB of either DDR or DDR2 RAM. Generally speaking, if the CPU is dual core, there is 'X2' in the name of these, though it's possible in early builds this wasn't the case. Have never personally never seen a single core 64 bit CPU, either, though these may very well exist. Here's some reading that may be helpful in identifying what you have. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Turion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_Turion_microprocessors

EDIT: Xubuntu is an XFCE distro.

Cat

Edited by cat1092, 19 April 2015 - 11:13 PM.

Ok, it says 64 X2 Mobile. It has 1.60 of GHZ, and 896 megabytes of ram.  I don't see x64 under system. I do see Physical Address Extension.  Will Lubuntu, or another OS work?

 

Will Lubuntu, or another OS work?

Yes.

If you want to try a nice fast Linux may I suggest Puppy Linux. It's only 200 MiB download but its feature packed, Quite easy to use super fast and the best part is you do not need to install it, Just run it from a cd there are many other ways to run it but for now try the Live version.

Download this.

http://ftp.nluug.nl/ftp/pub/os/Linux/distr/puppylinux/puppy-tahr/iso/tahrpup%20-6.0-CE/tahr-6.0.2_PAE.iso

Burn it to CD as a ISO as described in the posts above.

Now you need to set your PC to boot from CD if it is not set to do so already. You do that by changing the boot order in BIOS.

Once you PC is set to boot from CD, Reboot the PC making sure that the CD is in the drive, and wait for Puppy to boot.

Enjoy. When shutting puppy down it will ask you to create a save file, Say no, PuppyLinux: SaveFile or SaveFolder you do not need 1 for now, Plus not creating a save file you cant mess anything up, and if you do just reboot. Later we can show you the many ways to run Puppy Linux.

Here's what Puppy Linux looks like.

Video not my work.

Edited by NickAu, 18 April 2015 - 08:42 PM.

No pups for noobs lol.

Can you save Puppy Linux on a hard drive? If you can, then I might copy the link, and put it on a flash card. Then download it onto the laptop.

There is a way to perform a Puppy install to HDD, yet a lot of steps are involved & you may not find it to be as fast. 

Whereas running Puppy as Nick described, it's running from the fastest component possible, your memory. That's faster than a SSD, at least in theory. 

FatDog64 screams on 64 bit capable computers, though Tahr is better supported and likely easier to use for many. 

Note that while one can run Puppy from a Flash drive, using an app to create a bootable one, it's not the recommended way to run Puppy, for security reasons. A burned Puppy CD that's finalized cannot be written to. Maybe only if there's no optical drive, as many newer notebooks doesn't have these, or the installed one is broken/worn. 

Al1000 has provided us with a tutorial on how to create a buildable Puppy, where software can be installed & saved, it's in his sig, yet I'll provide it below. 

Click here for an easy-to-follow step-by-step guide to having a secure, portable Linux operating system on a CD, with Firefox browser, that can be used on any computer.

Cat

Edited by cat1092, 19 April 2015 - 01:44 AM.

 

Can you save Puppy Linux on a hard drive? If you can, then I might copy the link, and put it on a flash card. Then download it onto the laptop.

If you have a spare 2 GiB USB stick ( anything over 1 GiB will do ) you can create a Live USB, Same principal as Live CD but on USB.

Here's a video I made on how to make a Live USB. While I am on Ubuntu Unetbooting looks and works the same in Windows.

That's all it takes to create a Live bootabe USB with Puppy Linux on it, Next you set your PC to boot from USB stick and reboot.

Edited by NickAu, 19 April 2015 - 02:47 AM.

I burned Puppy on a CD last night. I will try it later today. But I have been looking into Xubuntu.I play a browser game on the internet called Travian, and I play Second Life. For SL, I use the Singularity viewer. This is the link to the Singularity viewer website.  http://www.singularityviewer.org/

I also use Skype. But I only use it for Travian.

I will try Puppy first. And then try to get Xubuntu.