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Post by alexham36 on Sept 2, 2020 13:14:19 GMT
Hi,
I have a spare 160GB Hard Drive in my PC and I would like to install Ubunty Mate on it. I do not need all 160GB for Mate but the installation CD does not recognise Windows partitions and gives me the option to use the whole of the HD. It is some time since I installed Linux, so I would appreciate some guidance. By the way, there are also 2 SSDs on the same PC, both running identical copies of Windows 10. I would unplug the SSD before Linux installation to make sure that Linux does not over-write the MBR. Is that OK?
Many thanks,
Alex.
PS. Good to hear that Covid did not get you.
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Post by mikkh on Oct 23, 2020 12:09:10 GMT
The good thing about Linux is there are many choices and if one 'distro' doesn't give you what you want, then others might.
I am against anything Ubuntu based for various reasons I won't go into here, but mostly because the media has designated it 'The' Linux, when it is merely one of many choices and in no way superior to others.
I would suggest PCLinuxOS Mate edition (the default KDE version is too bloated for my taste) and it offers more install options including shrinking an existing Windows partion to make room for itself.
When using multiple drives it is important to know how Linux names them, so you don't accidentally use the wrong one. It helps if you know their sizes too for further confirmation.
In a one drive system the hard drive will be nominated as sda and the partitions on it called sda1 (C in Windows) and various numbers after that sda2, 3 and 4 are rarely used for reasons even I'm not sure of, so you will often get sda1, sda5, sda6 etc. sda(anything) means the first drive. The second drive often an external one in most systems will be called sdb, the third sdc and so on. DVD's and optical drives are given sr0, sr1 device names, so you can ignore those and cocentrate on 'sd'
To save a lot of trouble, you could simply remove both SSD's and start with just the spare hard drive in - booting Linux from USB (sdb1) or DVD (sr0)
I personally don't like multiple internal drives and prefer to put multiple OS's on different partitions of the same drive.
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Post by alexham36 on Jan 4, 2021 13:36:42 GMT
Thank you for that Mikkh and sorry for the late reply. I posted the question at the beginning of September and stopped looking for replies after a few weeks. I installed Mate edition and, in the absence of your guidance, it took the whole of the 160GB drive. However, it is never too late to follow good advice, so I will do as you suggested. By the way, if you do not like Ubuntu, could you tell us what you prefer instead?
Happy New Year and Best Wishes,
Alex
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Post by mikkh on Feb 2, 2021 23:19:32 GMT
At the moment I'm very impressed with MX Linux, it's lightweight, has plenty of useful things built in which are unique to it and make it easier to use - even for a hardened Linux user like me.
It only uses half a GB of RAM to load, meaning you could use it with as little as 2 GB RAM total. It just works as it is. Normally when I try a new Linux, I spend quite a while finding where things are and adjusting things to my taste, but apart from installing Chrome, which no Linux seems to give you by default, I barely changed a thing in it.
It's also suitable for new hardware with an AHS (Advanced Hardware Support) edition.
I actually tried it because it was top of the distrowatch charts and I thought I'd prove it wasn't there on merit. Turns out it is, can't fault it.
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Post by alexham36 on Feb 12, 2021 16:30:26 GMT
Thank you for the recommendation. I downloaded MX-19.3_KDE_x64.iso and burned it to a DVD to try. It has everything that I use and it recognized my WiFi connected printer, but not a scanner. I still have an old Canon CanoScan Lide20, which MX recognizes, so I am all set to try it. All I have to do is to alter Profiles.ini, so that the Thunderbird can use the address book and old emails in Windows10 partition. It'll be a project to keep me awake and alert in lockdown. Thanks again, much appreciated.
Alex
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Post by mikkh on Feb 13, 2021 11:05:12 GMT
Interesting you should opt for the KDE version, it's only recently been included as an option for the first time in 8 years because it goes against the whole ethos of MX Linux being a lightweight version of Linux.
KDE is the 'heaviest' desktop resource wise and can be a bit buggy and prone to the occasional crash. Or at least that's why I stopped using it years ago. No doubt they have ironed out any problems in the meantime, but the figures I quoted before (uses less than 1/2 GB RAM) only apply to the default XFCE version, which comes with a very strange setting of a side taskbar (just remembered that!) Luckily it's easily fixed with MX tweak on the welcome screen, where you can return it to it's more traditional bottom position.
I had a similar scanner issue with my wireless printer, while it will print wirelessly with no problems, it seems to need the USB cable attached before it will recognise the scanner part of the device. The same goes for the card reader if you have one on your printer.
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Post by alexham36 on Feb 18, 2021 17:20:14 GMT
I chose KDE because it was 64bit, same as my OS, but when I read your comments, I also downloaded MX-19.3_386.iso. I found an old 10GB HD; plugged it in and tried both. Neither worked well on my system. Firstly, it took just over 5 minutes to log on with KDE and the applications were very slow. Thunderbird could not be configured to use the default file where all my addresses and emails are. Neither would operate my two scanners. I compared dll.conf: epson2.conf and canon630U.conf with Mate, which works well with both. The files were identical, yet neither scanner worked. Interestingly, the WiFi printer worked instantly. It was a good experience and kept me busy for 2 days in lockdown with nothing else to do, but I have to give up because I have run out of options. Nevertheless, thank you for the recommendations and please do not hesitate of make other suggestions. Best, Alex
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Post by mikkh on Feb 21, 2021 16:16:28 GMT
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