Re: Installing Linux on a windows hd

Wed Feb 12 16:37:26 UTC 2014

I would just tell her to backup all her data that she wants saved to an external device.....then do a clean install of Ubuntu...and then she can transfer her data back.  ....ditch WinXP altogether.....makes for an easier time when its time to support it remotely.....

----- Reply message -----
From: "Tim" <ignored_mailbox at yahoo.com.au>
To: <users at lists.fedoraproject.org>
Subject: Installing Linux on a windows hd
Date: Wed, Feb 12, 2014 9:40 am

Allegedly, on or about 12 February 2014, Roger sent:
> A friend who is not computer literate at all has a Dell 1520 laptop 
> which when new, Dell required it have xp installed.

As has already been said, XP support dies very soon.  It's not safe to
use XP on the net after then.  It was never particularly safe when XP
was being supported, anyway...  

Seen it fubared within seconds of going on-line, even saw it pop up a
warning about being fubarred, but did nothing to prevent it, nor would
anything succeed in unfubarring it.  Needed a reinstall.  How I laughed
when I watched my friend go through that three times in a row, on one
night.

It's not just XP, itself, that becomes unsupported.  It software that
can be run on XP, as *those* other coders abandon the abandoned Windows
XP over time.  Though it's probably quite likely that some anti-virus
vendors will continue to produce anti-virus software for an out-of-date
XP for some time, long after Microsoft abandons XP.  That's been the
trend with even older versions of Windows.  Some do recognise that users
are stuck with using old OSs, for whatever reason (e.g. workplace
computers might be un-upgradable).

If they are going to continue using XP, go through all the Windows
updates, now, let it update all the bug fixes that can be done, and
that'll take care of internet explorer, at the same time.  Then stop
using internet explorer, except for browsing the Microsoft site.  Use
other, safer, browsers for the www.

But it's not new, now, is it?  So the Dell *requirement* of having XP
isn't really so concrete, and that requirement is surely going to have
to change when XP is killed.  If they must use Windows, find out the
latest version that can be installed on the hardware, then install it.
Though you may have something so old that it can't support newer
releases.

> I do not know if her xp is sp1, 2 or 3 and have no way of finding out
> as all contact is by phone, she doesn't  have a clue about finding
> out, me neither, and she lives some 120 km away.

If you feel so inclined, and both of your internet is fast enough, you
can take remote control of her PC, and fix it for her yourself, rather
than play the telephone support game.  Alternatively, have the thing
posted to you, sort it out, then send it back.

There are tools that give you summaries of the installation, and the
"about this computer" option can reveal the service pack installed, at
least.  You'd need to try Windows update to see how many other things
its out-of-date with.

But I abandoned helping friends with Windows, long ago.  I tell them
that I don't use it anymore, I'm not up to date with its foibles, and
it'll take me much longer to sort it out than taking it to a computer
shop.  It's saved me no end of grief.

> I would like to run her through installing one of the Linux systems on
> the second partition but am worried that on installing it may
> overwrite the windows MBR making her windows files, folders, etc
> useless, particularly Thunderbird and Firefox. She would not be able
> to reinstall windows without me spending a day on the phone. I no
> longer have the stamina for epic phone calls.

I know that feeling.  I had one friend who would have something go wrong
with his computer, then get stupidly drunk before phoning me for help.
It was hard enough, normally, but that made it extremely painful.

The last few times that I've installed Linux (including recent/current
Fedora) on a machine with Windows already on it, it has sorted itself
out, and the boot menu lets you pick whether to boot Linux or Windows.
Depending on which distro was installed, Windows may actually appear as
Windows in the menu, or simply be referred to as "Other."  And Linux is
usually the default boot option.

Yes, it takes over the MBR, but the grub bootloader takes care of
booting up Linux or Windows, so that doesn't really matter.

It might be worth you trying out doing a multi-boot install at your own
end, to familiarise yourself with it.  It doesn't have to be a
Linux/Windows dual-boot, if you don't have a Windows install to play
with.  Make it two different Linux installations.

> This person has no confidence with computers. Over the years I have 
> talked her through windows problems but now I am lost as to how to 
> tackle this one.

Explain carefully and strongly that XP will not be supported within
about a month, that they really need to abandon it.

> I think the best linux option would be ubuntu 12.04LTS so she doesn't 
> have to update the OS.

Could be...  Or CentOS, if you're more familiar with solving problems
similar to Fedora, than dealing with Ubuntu issues.

> I would have to set aside 3-4 hours on the phone to walk her through a
> basic install before the file system updates, which can also take
> hours. 

I know your pain.  But a clean Linux install shouldn't take that long.
Only an update-install, which is based on what was previously installed
(and has to churn through assessing it and all the updates that will be
needed), should take that long to run.

-- 
[tim at localhost ~]$ uname -rsvp
Linux 3.9.10-100.fc17.x86_64 #1 SMP Sun Jul 14 01:31:27 UTC 2013 x86_64

All mail to my mailbox is automatically deleted, there is no point
trying to privately email me, I will only read messages posted to the
public lists.

George Orwell's '1984' was supposed to be a warning against tyranny, not
a set of instructions for supposedly democratic governments.

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