Installing non Windows OS

Hi,
I have an old HP pavilion laptop that came with Win ME. I upgraded to Win XP. But now there is no more room on the HDD.
It's a spare computer and thought I might experiment with other operating systems.

I have prepared a bootable Ubuntu 12.04 cd and am not sure how to proceed.
Should I save any of the HP drivers or other files.
Do I just reformat the drive and boot up with the CD installed?

Appreciate any advice.
Thanks

If you want to try experimenting with a version of Linux, I would recommend you start with something simple like Puppy Linux, which is compatible with most hardware setups, Ubuntu can sometimes be a little bit temperamental for a beginner.

I wrote a tutorial for using Puppy Linux to recover files in a non-booting Windows computer ... viewtopic.php?p=618146#p618146 ... if you follow it as far as "Phase 3" you should be able to successfully boot into Puppy Linux, and you'll be able to explore its possibilities from there.

I advise you to "play" with it for a while and get used to the differences between Linux and Windows before deciding whether you want to move onto a more developed Linux platform like Ubuntu or not.

Thank you Gary

Hi Gary,
One more post.
The computer is not capable of booting from a USB. It doesn't have a hi spd bus controller. When I try and change the boot order the USB option isn't there.

I did copy the puppy file to a cd and it did appear to boot up. It appeared to run into trouble after
Setting up the layered file system... Done
After the following line the cursor appears and affter a minute or so the caps and scroll lock indicators flash together and the fan is running.
Performing a "switch root" to the layered filesystem ... Kernel Panic - not syncin
g: attempted to kill init

Should I suspect a virus? I basically did not use this computer since 2005.

I have the HP ME system recovery disks. So I could format and reinstall. But would the Puppy Cd bootup?

Fred



!

If you're booting from a CD/DVD first of all the boot process is slow because of the data transfer rate capability of the CD/DVD, so give it plenty of time.

Also mis-reads are not uncommon with CD/DVD drives (especially if they're quite old), so try booting from it a number of times to see if the same problem occurs on all boot attempts.

If the reasons for a boot not occurring appear to change, it is likely that your CD drive may be the problem, if they remain constant it may be that your ISO file you downloaded is corrupted and therefore the CD/DVD you created from it is flawed. If so try downloading a new copy of the ISO file and burn a new CD.

If you're still having problems booting, then the most likely reason with an older machine, is that your hardware is not compatible with the requirements of Puppy. Lack of memory could also be an issue on older computers.

I don't really have enough experience with Puppy to troubleshoot hardware incompatibility issues, but you can probably get assistance on the Puppy forum ... http://murga-linux.com/puppy/

Re-formatting your hard drive will not really help, since you're not booting from your hard drive, you're booting from the CD, which is loaded directly into memory.

Hi Gary,
Just thought I would update my post regarding Puppy. I accidentally found a recent post "Windows XP - the Elephant in the room" from ASKEY127 in the "Malware Removal Tips and tricks forum. I found it very interesting. Enough that I attempted an installation again.
I managed to boot puppy lucid 5.28 from USB on my regular laptop.
I found the puppy forum requires a lot of surfing.
Fred

I'm glad you found Bob's article interesting, and that you were able to successfully boot from Puppy.

How do you find it ?

I know it's a totally different experience from using Windows, but it's surprising just how quickly you become accustomed to it once you've "played" with it for a while.

I know what you mean about the Puppy forums, the help you need is usually there somewhere, but it's not always as "to hand" as you might want it to be.

I'm still in the process of setting up. It's always fun learning new things.
It's so quiet working off the USB. Yesterday I pulled the power before puppy completely shut down. So this morning it warned me that there may be a problem booting up. Lucky I noticed that when I shut it down yesterday the screen was sort of alive but nothing on it.
I wonder what will be the best forum for keepimg up to date on any malware issues?

We don't really deal with Linux here other than in the most superficial manner, however the following forums do offer Linux support ...

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/f/11/linux-unix/
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/forum/177-linux/
http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f64/

... since these forums also offer Malware support, I presume it extends to Linux based systems, however I have to say I've not seen any actual examples of Linux based Malware removal advice at any of them, so it's my presumption only.

Thank you for the references Gary.
Fred

You're welcome.

I know its a bit late but, for others reading this post may I suggest Puppy_Linux_precise-5.7.1-retro-fatty-2014-jan-csipesz( google it as I dont know if links are allowed) It is a 3 gig download but it still boots from dvd fast (in under a minute installed to my hdd). It has everything a new person to linux will need and then some. Including Wine so you can run windows apps ( why you would want to well??) and steam for games.You will need the Steam Pet


Ps A Virus on linux??? I wouldnt worry about it you got more chance of being abducted by aliens. Antivirus on linux is for windows os users protection, mainly so we dont send you files that may already be infected. Most malware is made for Windows or Mac and cant run on linux. That may change.

"NickZ" wrote:Ps A Virus on linux??? I wouldnt worry about it you got more chance of being abducted by aliens. Antivirus on linux is for windows os users protection, mainly so we dont send you files that may already be infected. Most malware is made for Windows or Mac and cant run on linux. That may change.

You're a bit off base there I'm afraid. There are Linux infections "in the wild", and although uncommon at the moment, they are likely to become more common as Linux becomes more widespread in its use.

As an OS, Linux is no more difficult to write an infection for than any other OS, and already there are a number of cross-platform compatible Malwares which include payloads for Linux, as well as for Windows and Macs.

I like to think of Linux at the moment being in the same position as Firefox was a few years ago. At that time we had lots of people posting about how they didn't get infected because they browsed with Firefox, which they claimed was a more secure browser than IE.

Well they were wrong, Firefox became popular, and in doing so it became a target, and it turned out it was no more difficult to infect than any other browser. We now help just as many Firefox users here as we do IE users.

I expect when Linux user numbers become large enough, and they become targets, then we'll be seeing lots of them looking for help here as well.

I do agree with you.

Thats why I said Most malware, and that may change.

Like most linux users I do not use any antivirus Just ad blocker and script blocker.

And yes as linux user numbers increase more and more malware will be targeted at it, Things like The MASK/CARETO are scary.

Its all about numbers and how much money malware writers can make, At the moment its just too much effort for little reward.


Ps dont you just love our false sense of security.

It iis true that the reward gained must exceed the effort expended in order to attain the reward. However, it should not be overlooked that whereas Linux is regarded almost as an "also ran" OS in the world of personal computing, the exact opposite is true in the world of servers where Linux excels as a very, very popular OS.