Linux USB doesn't do anything ...

 

No offense, but you guys are making it too complicated.

 I agree.

 Yes, jargos, a 30 GB stick is fine.  Or drive.  You can always clone it later after you've configured it, using Clonezilla.

PS, brainout, I just the link in your post above. I note you said 64Gig size stick is appropriate. OK, will have to go buy one.

 

I note you also said boot from a DVD not a USB. Why is that ? I currently have the Linux trail on a USB stick, and am running it from there, and the installation to the HD was going fine from there (until I got stuck in the partitioning as discussed above).

 

Thanks

I picked 64 GB sticks because I had a lot of them around at the time.  Pick ANY external drive you have.  If you've got something smaller right now, use that.  You can always go from smaller to bigger, with no hassle.  Else, there's hassle.  So if you've only got some old 20 GB drive laying around, use it.

Now that I know what Linux has to offer, I instead just bought three 128 GB sticks, and will be cloning the 64GBs to 128's.  Because, I now want to download almost every Linux program there is (over 100,000 of them).  I'm greedy, k. 

As for why DVD, it's easier to just burn the iso to DVD rather than go through the extra steps to create the 'liveUSB' installer.  Granted, if your machine doesn't have a DVD internal or external, then you'd have to create the usb.  I'm all for AS FEW STEPS AS POSSIBLE, which is why I rail against anything post-XP. 

Edited by brainout, 05 August 2015 - 12:40 AM.

@jargos

A good thing to do at this point would be to provide us with more of an idea of your operating environment, via your profile, and/or creating a signature.

See my signature below, and click my avatar (picture) to above left, and you will see what I mean.

We are not interested in age, gender, location if you wish to keep those private - but with the rest, they will travel with you and we can see what you have, in order to better advise you on what will work or not under your circumstances.

@brainout

Does this mean tax time is under control? Sing out (via email) if/when you want to try TimNet - my PM box is full.

 

Because, I now want to download almost every Linux program there is.  I'm greedy, k. 

Join the club. There are between 500 and 1,000 of them, depending on flavours you choose of the same OS. Hope I can live to the age of a Galapagos tortoise - 200 years or so.

Wizard

 

 

No offense, but you guys are making it too complicated.

 I agree.

 

I was providing what the OP was asking for, how is that making things more complicated?  I'm out!

Well, I filed over 100 extensions, so I could master this Win10 thingy.  In case it was safer (and it's not, won't be adopting it). So now I've got to actually do the work.  Yet I am reading your wonderful, educating posts!  You guys are doing much more sophisticated things than I know how to do, so maybe after October 15 (the next and final deadline for Forms 5500) I'll have learned enough watching y'all to be useful in testing beloved (golly I love this name) TimNet.

@brainout

 

Does this mean tax time is under control? Sing out (via email) if/when you want to try TimNet...

Have you seen House of Silver (Chinese movie, period piece from Boxer Rebellion days)....

 

 

 

No offense, but you guys are making it too complicated.

 I agree.

 

I was providing what the OP was asking for, how is that making things more complicated?  I'm out!

 

OH darling, I wasn't meaning YOU, just the idea.  I never mean criticism of any particular person, but only of an idea.

You're real into it, and that's great.  Think though how you used to be so overwhelmed.  That's all I was talking to, the issue of a newbie being overwhelmed, as I once was.  You're really valuable, and I've learned so much from reading your posts!

You're not out, you're IN! 

Edited by brainout, 05 August 2015 - 12:57 AM.

 Yes, jargos, a 30 GB stick is fine.  Or drive.  You can always clone it later after you've configured it, using Clonezilla.

 

 

PS, brainout, I just the link in your post above. I note you said 64Gig size stick is appropriate. OK, will have to go buy one.

 

I note you also said boot from a DVD not a USB. Why is that ? I currently have the Linux trail on a USB stick, and am running it from there, and the installation to the HD was going fine from there (until I got stuck in the partitioning as discussed above).

 

Thanks

 

I picked 64 GB sticks because I had a lot of them around at the time.  Pick ANY external drive you have.  If you've got something smaller right now, use that.  You can always go from smaller to bigger, with no hassle.  Else, there's hassle.  So if you've only got some old 20 GB drive laying around, use it.

 

Now that I know what Linux has to offer, I instead just bought three 128 GB sticks, and will be cloning the 64GBs to 128's.  Because, I now want to download almost every Linux program there is (over 100,000 of them).  I'm greedy, k. 

 

As for why DVD, it's easier to just burn the iso to DVD rather than go through the extra steps to create the 'liveUSB' installer.  Granted, if your machine doesn't have a DVD internal or external, then you'd have to create the usb.  I'm all for AS FEW STEPS AS POSSIBLE, which is why I rail against anything post-XP. 

Hi brainout.

1)  No, I certainly do have a DVD player / burner, however, I have already created a USB flash with Linux on it, from which I boot the trial version. And I have the ISO in my 'Dowloads' in my Win 7 hard drive.

So, if I'm reading all this right, I will use my existing USB with the Linux trail version, to install Linux onto a new, bigger (say 30 or 64Gb) USB flash drive. Right ?

2) You said ..

and will be cloning the 64GBs to 128's

by cloning, do you simply mean copying over, ie, making exact copies, ie, copy - paste ?

3) One of the reasons I am so attracted to Linux is the superb software that comes with it, or is readily downloadable. I had a look thru some of the 100,000, and was simply flabergasted !!! And all free and compatible !!!

OK, I'm going to do it - that is, a full installation on a good USB as you said earlier. I do feel however, that I will still definitely want to load it onto my HDD and eventually exorcise (heh ..) Win 7 completely. So I'm still going to have to get over my 'total inorance of partitions' hurdle, and what's more, learn how to do what I gotta do. As I see it, I got to do something to the C drive whilst in Win 7, then do something more when I'm running the Install Linux program from the trail USB. But I need a step by step, non techie aid for this. Any idea where I can get this ? I've looked around but the amount of answers, and differences therein, are bewildering.

Thanks for your help so far.

Edited by jargos, 05 August 2015 - 02:35 AM.

@jargos

 

A good thing to do at this point would be to provide us with more of an idea of your operating environment, via your profile, and/or creating a signature.

 

See my signature below, and click my avatar (picture) to above left, and you will see what I mean.

 

We are not interested in age, gender, location if you wish to keep those private - but with the rest, they will travel with you and we can see what you have, in order to better advise you on what will work or not under your circumstances.

 

Wizard

Hi wiz, OK, well first I too am from Oz, but not a wiz - at computers, anyway. I shall do as you say in the next couple of days. Thanks.

 

 

 

No offense, but you guys are making it too complicated.

 I agree.

 

I was providing what the OP was asking for, how is that making things more complicated?  I'm out!

 

You were. You did. And you were very helpful man.

You may have missunderstood the other posters and my ensuing comments. Thank you for your earlier help. I'm a work in progress, and you helped me :-)

@jargos

 

Hi wiz, OK, well first I too am from Oz, but not a wiz - at computers, anyway. I shall do as you say in the next couple of days. Thanks.

... I wondered, with the proximity of time zone, not Norfolk Island sounds like Noumea but won't pry.

I do feel however, that I will still definitely want to load it onto my HDD and eventually exorcise (heh ..) Win 7 completely.

 

 

 

You'd be following in my footsteps then. My Acer shipped with Win 7 which I quite enjoyed, but once getting a glimpse of what Linux had to offer (initially in the form of Ubuntu 14.04 aka Trusty Tahr), I burned my bridges, blew away Windows and embraced a totally Linux lifestyle - never looked back. Currently running Linux Mint Mate (Qiana) 17.0 64-bit, Zorin OS9 64-bit, and my hybrid Ubuntu-Zorin mix, TimNet. My wife runs Peach OSI BB (Bare Bones) 32-bit on a laptop with 512 MB RAM and 60GB HDD and finds she can surf the Net 5 times as fast as she could under XP (my old favourite).

The world is your oyster with Linux - enjoy an alternative to The Dark Side of the Force!  

Wiz

Edited by wizardfromoz, 05 August 2015 - 03:22 AM.

My replies are in teal, interspersed below, inside your quote...

Hi brainout.

 

1)  No, I certainly do have a DVD player / burner, however, I have already created a USB flash with Linux on it, from which I boot the trial version. And I have the ISO in my 'Dowloads' in my Win 7 hard drive.

So, if I'm reading all this right, I will use my existing USB with the Linux trail version, to install Linux onto a new, bigger (say 30 or 64Gb) USB flash drive. Right ?\

Right.  Whether external hard drive or stick.

 

2) You said ..

and will be cloning the 64GBs to 128's

by cloning, do you simply mean copying over, ie, making exact copies, ie, copy - paste ?  Cloning means to make an exact bootable 'twin' of the drive you're cloning FROM.  Click here to get Clonezilla (which will also be in Mint, but I can't get it to work).  Use Windows Method B to make it on its own stick (4gb but can be bigger, and can have other stuff on there if you like).

 

3) One of the reasons I am so attracted to Linux is the superb software that comes with it, or is readily downloadable. I had a look thru some of the 100,000, and was simply flabergasted !!! And all free and compatible !!!  Oh yeah. I can spend whole days in the Software Manager 'store', forgetting to eat or sleep.  Look for redglass and blueglass 'x-cursors'.  (You can download them in Mint's Mouse Pointers 'get themes'.)  I really wish Windows had them.  Or Kazam, best onscreen video recorder (makes a Logitech webcam sound perfect), and can record both monitors at once.  I can just see wonderful pcpunk creating tutorials with it.   For desktops, KDE (though Linux purists shun it, and Mate is pretty durn nice).  I want to use several different distros but have them all with the same basic interface as my Windows machines.  KDE offers that.  Then there's Wine (so I can run MS Office 2003, as Linux Office knockoffs are not helpful for intense word processing), or Crossover (just purchased) or WordPerfect for Linux (also priced, native, but I can't figure out how to install it).  TONS of packages.

 

OK, I'm going to do it - that is, a full installation on a good USB as you said earlier. I do feel however, that I will still definitely want to load it onto my HDD and eventually exorcise (heh ..) Win 7 completely. So I'm still going to have to get over my 'total inorance of partitions' hurdle, and what's more, learn how to do what I gotta do. As I see it, I got to do something to the C drive whilst in Win 7, then do something more when I'm running the Install Linux program from the trail USB. But I need a step by step, non techie aid for this. Any idea where I can get this ? I've looked around but the amount of answers, and differences therein, are bewildering.

 

Yeah, the answers are bewildering, like learning a new language or moving to a foreign country.  That's what Windows does to us every two years, though.  What's most thrilling about Linux is YOU YOU YOU choose what YOU YOU YOU want to learn and how much.  YOU choose what interface ('desktop' or 'GUI'), and everyone has his fav teams:  KDE (my fav), MATE (another fav, now available in other distros besides Mint), Cinnamon (ditto), Xfce (simpler yet in many ways more like XP interface), Gnome (which many hate, the 'parent' of Mate and Cinnamon), then plain ol' console, blank page and all you do is type like in DOS.  PCLinuxOS offers all these 'desktops' (plus virtual desktops which only now come out in Win10, meaning extension of your single screen as if you had two).  All kinds of stuff to learn.

 

So how to best shorten that learning curve? Best, is to play.  Plug in a distro, right- or left-click in boxes and menus and left and right and middle corners, on the taskbars (which they call 'panels'), etc.  You can't hurt anything.  So play!

 

The other best thing is to come here to BC and ask questions. The Linux folks here are very savvy and quick.  And, extremely patient!  I've only been posting two months here, and have learned so much from them!  The Windows folks are great, too, not leaving them out (but we're focusing on Linux, right now).

 

Do avoid Linux for Dummies, it's a badly-organized book, way too proud of being geeky.  Instead, why not just save up and buy Linux sticks and tutorials online from Prizix (click here, I just bought that one yesterday).  That stuff has video and pdf tutorials, Mint17 and other Linux flavors for playing and comparing.  There's this famous 'bible' for Linux called the 'man pages' which will be in your setup.  You just open a terminal/console and type in 'help' plus the word you want defined, just as in DOS V-VI.  The console answers are kinda cute sometimes (whoever wrote the terminal had a sense of humor).  Better than Cortana.  So play with that.  If ever you think you're in trouble, just close the window. 

 

Thanks for your help so far.  Thank YOU for putting up with me!  My answers are always too long! 

 

Edited by brainout, 05 August 2015 - 07:20 AM.

Yeah, Wiz, you really got something going, there!  I think about you every day...

October can't come soon enough.  My due diligence with Win10 is almost done (still gotta hone down its installation mechanics), and then knock out those pension plan returns (look up Forms 5500 so you'll know what I mean, lots of actuarial mumbo-jumbo).

Edited by brainout, 05 August 2015 - 07:28 AM.

@jargos

 

 

Hi wiz, OK, well first I too am from Oz, but not a wiz - at computers, anyway. I shall do as you say in the next couple of days. Thanks.

 

... I wondered, with the proximity of time zone, not Norfolk Island sounds like Noumea but won't pry.

 

I do feel however, that I will still definitely want to load it onto my HDD and eventually exorcise (heh ..) Win 7 completely.

 

 

 

 

You'd be following in my footsteps then. My Acer shipped with Win 7 which I quite enjoyed, but once getting a glimpse of what Linux had to offer (initially in the form of Ubuntu 14.04 aka Trusty Tahr), I burned my bridges, blew away Windows and embraced a totally Linux lifestyle - never looked back. Currently running Linux Mint Mate (Qiana) 17.0 64-bit, Zorin OS9 64-bit, and my hybrid Ubuntu-Zorin mix, TimNet. My wife runs Peach OSI BB (Bare Bones) 32-bit on a laptop with 512 MB RAM and 60GB HDD and finds she can surf the Net 5 times as fast as she could under XP (my old favourite).

 

The world is your oyster with Linux - enjoy an alternative to The Dark Side of the Force!  

 

Wiz

Hi Wiz;

proximity ..

Oops, no, I just hadn't gone and tidied up my profile. I'm from Sydney. You ?

Done a bit in the profile now, and when I get to finding out my equipment specs, will incude those.

You'd be following in my footsteps ..

Yep .. and I agree with you about XP. My wifes laptop is running Win 7 and she is so comfortable with it, I'll let things be for the moment - I've only deactivated auto updates and suggested she be very careful NOT to get sucked into installing W10.

Linux - enjoy ..

You bet :-)

Edited by jargos, 05 August 2015 - 08:46 PM.

@brainout #41;

Thank YOU !

Your answers ? .. better too long than too short, but always informative and entertaining, and something always learnt.

Arrrrgh ...

Trying to post a couple of snapshots .. have them both as a LibreOffice Writer odt file, and as png screenshots. But can't do it. Any help please ?

They relate to installing Linux on HDD along Win 7 - I don't know what to do when I get to partitions.

JA

Edited by jargos, 05 August 2015 - 11:49 PM.