Can I just get rid of XP and install Linux instead?

 

And I can always add more RAM later, right?

You sure can, Puppy is a great distro I think you will love it.

@cooljay:-

Are you still with us, or have you lost interest? 

Mike. 

@cooljay:-

As I said, with not having an optical drive, the next best option (in my view), is to use a LiveUSB instead. I've used UNetbootin ever since I started out with Linux, in 2014; it's always worked for me.

When you first open UNetbootin, you'll get a screen something like this:-

There's two methods of installing with UNetbootin; you can download a distro from the drop-down list at the top (not recommended nowadays, since the remote database is rather old, and hasn't been updated for a while). The second method, at the bottom, is to use an ISO file that is stored locally. This is the method we'll use today, so make sure to click the radio button for 'Disk Image' at the bottom.

Then, make sure that 'ISO' is selected (not 'Floppy'!) Next step is to use the browse button indicated to locate the Puppy ISO image you downloaded earlier. After this, ensure 'USB Drive' is selected.

Finally, make absolutely sure that you select the correct USB drive to install to. I know this looks confusing; the drive label is a Linux one, but I believe the Windows version of this will present the drive labels in a way that you will understand..!

After checking everything over again (to make sure it's all correct), finish up by clicking on 'OK'.....then just sit back and wait for UNetbootin to work its magic. It'll not take long; for Puppy, probably two or three minutes at most.

At the end, you'll be asked if you want to re-boot straight away, or end right there. If you decide you want to leave it at that point, just click on 'Finish'. UNetbootin has installed a bootloader to the USB drive (syslinux, I believe); when you're ready to boot, you just need to plug the drive in, then by use of your Boot Menu (or going into the BIOS; it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer), merely select which drive you wish to boot from.

It's that simple.

Mike. 

Edited by Mike_Walsh, 17 January 2017 - 03:24 PM.

Thanks Mike! I am still cleaning out documents etc that I want to save.

No, I haven't lost interest, lol. I just scheduled a lot of doctor appointments this week before I lose my health insurance.

No worries. That's one thing we Brits don't have to worry about as yet..!

Take your time; there's no rush. You do want to make sure you've got all your important personal stuff saved. I have copies of stuff all over the place, on CD's, DVD's, flash drives, USB hard drives.....you name it, I've got at least one of every type of storage medium stashed away somewhere or another. Flash drives, I've got drawers full of the things!

Let us know when you're ready to go for it, and we'll take it from there.

Mike. 

Cat, actually I referred to 1.2 GB in error, from memory. It's actually 1 GB and it's RAM. But I was unnerved by what I saw when I looked at "System Information" where it says there is 1,024 MB of total physical memory. And Total VIRTUAL memory is 2 GB.

 

I have never seen the numbers that Speccy brought up and I don't even claim to understand them, lol.

cooljay, that's OK, with so many computer configuration as I see on here & in my work on these when able, I can't recall the specs of every PC by memory myself.

Everything is OK, now that you know what you have, glad that you were able to grab those Speccy specs to share with us, really helps a lot when we all know what we're working with. I'll leave the rest with Mike, he's now our main Puppy hand onboard.

I have all the confidence in the world that if you allow Mike to guide you, at some point, you'll be passing the knowledge of Puppy to others.

Cat

Mike, I'm still here, and still interested, lol. There's a lot going on here right now, got my hands full.

I know you like unetbootin but is that necessary? I once, quite a while ago, downloaded Ubuntu on a USB drive. I never installed it, I was going to make a partition in my everyday laptop, an idea I now shy away from. So in other words, I never installed Ubuntu, so I don't know if this actually would have worked with this USB. But if that is an acceptable method, can I overwrite Ubuntu with a puppy? Or first erase, then download? Or better get a new USB?

Hi again, cooljay. Nice to see you back.

Well, now... The reason I've suggested using UNetbootin is for two very good reasons.

1) It's one of the very few cross-platform USB installation tools that will work with Pup's unique file-system layout, and

2) You'll need to have a working 'Live' version of Puppy to be able to do either

a ) A 'full' install to your internal drive, or

b ) A 'frugal' install to a second USB drive.

If you re-format your USB drive (FAT32 is fine for this), it will not only delete all the Ubuntu stuff, but it will also, at the same time, prepare it ready for a new UNetbootin install of Puppy.....does that make sense? Just deleting doesn't really get rid of all the previous data; it only deletes the file-system 'pointers' so that the data can no longer be found. When you then over-write with new data, there's a chance that the old data can sometimes 'leak through', and corrupt what you're attempting to do.

This is why it's always preferable to re-format to a new, clean file-system; less chance of things going wrong! After you've spent a little while in the Linux world, you soon find that re-formatting becomes second nature; it's something that occurs quite regularly.....especially if you 'distro-hop', until you find the one Linux OS that really works for you. It's a phase most of us eventually grow out of.....

That's the first step, really; make the USB drive ready for using UNetbootin. I'll leave that with you; once you've got the 'groundwork' done, we can take it from there.....OK?

And remember; we'll do this at your speed; at a pace that you feel comfortable with, all right? There's no hurry; we're not trying to win a race... I've always believed in doing things once.....and doing them properly the first time around, if at all possible.

Mike.

Edited by Mike_Walsh, 30 January 2017 - 04:59 PM.

Hey Mike! I'm back, finally finished with all the junk on this EEEPC.

I am ready with a clean USB stick. unetbootin ready to install, etc.

Hi again, cooljay. Nice to see you back.

Glad to hear you've finally got your 'house-keeping' done. It's a chore, I know, but it is necessary; it's always an idea to be able to 'fall-back' to a working install of some kind, in the event of any major 'cock-up'. And personal data is the kind of thing you really don't want to lose.....

Now, then; like I said, you need to have a 'Live' version' of Puppy, to 

1 ) Work with, and 

2 ) Be able to use to actually perform the install with. 

I'm thinking you might be better to do a 'frugal' install to a USB drive, in the first instance. This way, you can 'play around', and experiment with Puppy, to allow the two of you to start getting used to each other initially. I don't think you really want to take the route I did, 3 years ago; I wiped Windows out of my life, and dived into the Linux world head-first.....all on the same night!

Just because it worked for me, it doesn't necessarily follow that that course of action will suit everybody. 

Now, it's once again getting quite late, and it won't be long before I'm heading up the wooden hill. I'm sorry I didn't find your reply earlier on; we could have got some of this out of the way by now. Can't be helped, I'm afraid; I was busy doing other stuff, anyway.

I'm going to confer with a colleague on the Puppy Forums, who's much more used to these beasts than I am; 8Geee, who I mentioned earlier on. He'll have a better idea than I will whether UNetbootin is actually the best tool for this particular job. Is that OK with you? He'll also be able to confirm whether the Pups I have in mind will work okay with your hardware.

Once again, sorry for the delay.....but, like I said, I much prefer to do things once, and do them properly. Takes less time in the long run..!

Mike. 

Hi, cooljay.

OK. Complete change of plan.

We're going to make this as easy for you as possible. One of our members, noryb009, has, for the last few years, been making versions of Puppy that actually install into Windows, via a standard .exe file.

What I suggest you do is to download one of these, and just run the exe installer. What this does is to install a self-contained Linux file-system into your XP install, with Puppy installed inside of it....okay?

Now; before you do that, there's a couple of things I want you to have a look at first.

This explains about the Puppy Windows installer, by our Wiki team:-

http://puppylinux.org/main/Download%20Latest%20Release.htm#winEXE

The Pups currently available are rather more up to date than the ones mentioned in the Wiki!

Also, have a watch of this:-

It'll give you a feel for the Puppy I'm going to recommend you try, which is Tahrpup. I've not tried Slacko 6.3.2; by all accounts, it's still rather 'buggy'. I've been using Tahrpup for nearly 2 1/2 years, and in all that time it's been rock-solid, and very stable.....which is what you want.

(I shan't win any points from the rest of the gang here for recommending this, since most of them, like Linux geeks everywhere, are of the opinion that if you want to use Linux, then best you get used to doing things the Linux way right from the word go...)

I take a more pragmatic view; if there's an easier way of doing something, why not use it? Where's the shame.....or the harm?

The other advantage is that having got Puppy running, it's so much easier to explain things to you once you have Puppy there in front of you. It's certainly easier than insisting you must do things in such-and-such a way, then crossing your fingers and praying that the other person manages to get things right.....

For those of the rest of you reading this, it's essentially the Puppy version of what used to be the Ubuntu 'Wubi.exe' installer.....long since abandoned, of course, but personally I always thought it was a very good way to get the hang of Linux in a friendly, easy-to-use way. It's the method that I myself first used to 'try Linux out'.

Mike. 

Edited by Mike_Walsh, 17 February 2017 - 02:41 PM.

(I shan't win any points from the rest of the gang here for recommending this, since most of them, like Linux geeks everywhere, are of the opinion that if you want to use Linux, then best you get used to doing things the Linux way right from the word go...)

 

I take a more pragmatic view; if there's an easier way of doing something, why not use it? Where's the shame.....or the harm?

 

Mike. 

I'll give you a if there's an easier way of doing something, why not use it. I agree.  

no argument/debate here Mike.

In any case I would leave that debate etc for the Linux Discussion area .....

Hi Mike!  I really wanted to get started so I just followed your original instructions and downloaded and installed Puppy and Tahr. If I have to redo everything, so be it. Doing and redoing is how I learn anyway.

So, it all looks good etc, BUT I have been unable to get online with it. It gives 3 options to do so but neither works because: Device Manager. I don't know what to put there.

(not my area of expertise....but....)

Have you rebooted ?