Vista to Linux

cheeZ · 05-05-2008, 07:14 PM

Hey, I'm thinking of switching my main OS to Linux rather than Vista... 1. because Vista is really, REALLY, slooooow, (takes about ten minutes to boot up, and that's with 4-freakin'-GB of ReadyBoost!!!) 2. because I hear a lot of good things about Linux, and 3. because I have two 30 GB hard drives in my computer, one of which I don't even use, so there's really no harm in installing a secondary OS, especially if it turns out to be better than my current one.

Now, I did a bunch of googling and researching to find out which Linux Distribution (or "Distro," as I think some people like to call it) is right for me, but I just can't find one that fits my needs (well, okay - "wants") most. I'm sure there's one out there, and well... that's why I'm asking you guys.

One major thing I'd like this 'distro' to support is games. And not just retail games either. In fact, pretty much 99% of my games I have are freeware games (just plain old .EXE's). So I'd of course need it to support those type of games (if that even makes a difference) DON'T LAUGH AT ME IM A N00B!!!

I'd also like this distro to be very (if not, somewhat) customizable. I don't want it to have a repetitive look and feel, I want to be able to change it around a little, like the color scheme or background (of course that's pretty basic but you know what I mean). Oh and I would also want the overall interface to look at least a little bit fancy, like Vista fancy or... maybe even... *gulp* Mac Leopard fancy! (I think I'm going to regret saying that later on...)

The third, and pretty much one of the most important things I need it to be is FAST. It doesn't have to be super-rocket-fast (because then it would have to be UGLY), but just fast enough to keep me from screaming "JUST LOAD FIREFOX ALREADY, DANG IT!!!"

So fast, fancy, customizable, and 'made-for-gaming'... any suggestions?

runtohell121 · 05-05-2008, 07:17 PM

i would say go with vista for primary OS then use Linux for the other OS/dual boot

Hostile · 05-05-2008, 07:26 PM

Yeah you might want to consider dual booting until you get used to it. If you jump into linux right away you could be very overwhelmed. For your first distro I'd probably recommend Ubuntu because there is just so much information/tutorials/help online available for Ubuntu users. Also relating to you complaining about vista's boot up time, ReadyBoost can actually slow down boot up times.

cheeZ · 05-05-2008, 07:33 PM

That's what I mean, I want to dual boot, I just don't know which Linux distro I should choose.

And I tested my computer's bootup time without ReadyBoost, and it was 12 minutes, and with ReadyBoost it was lowered down to 8 minutes, but even that's still too slow for me...

runtohell121 · 05-05-2008, 07:35 PM

what the heck... boot up time takes 8 minutes for vista? how is that possible? :S lol only takes like 30 sec to boot

cheeZ · 05-05-2008, 07:37 PM

bought my laptop for $350... that's how.

runtohell121 · 05-05-2008, 07:38 PM

>.< my laptop was $404 and boots vista in 45 sec... lol

cheeZ · 05-05-2008, 07:39 PM

Where did you buy it from?!?!?!

Cloud Strife · 05-05-2008, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheeZ

That's what I mean, I want to dual boot, I just don't know which Linux distro I should choose.

And I tested my computer's bootup time without ReadyBoost, and it was 12 minutes, and with ReadyBoost it was lowered down to 8 minutes, but even that's still too slow for me...

On behalf of me, I recommend Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com)

runtohell121 · 05-05-2008, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheeZ

Where did you buy it from?!?!?!

Bestbuy.. Compaq V6719NR AMD TK-57 (1.9ghz), 1gb ram, 160gb hard drive, 7150m graphics, dvd+rw lightscribe, etc... was pretty good... and now lets get back on topic... just stay with vista.. or downgrade it to window xp.

Hostile · 05-05-2008, 09:18 PM

Honestly, I don't care how much you payed for the laptop, 8 minutes to boot vista suggests there is serious problems. I've used Vista, it's not THAT slow. I think it has a lot of unnecessary software installed, that probably came with the computer. You should try cleaning off the unused software. Also you can look into this software called TweakVI, its used to tweak some Vista settings to speed it up. I used it when I ran Vista and it helped, just read up and know what you are changing because you can break things.

If you still want to dual boot linux, like I said before, Ubuntu is great until you learn more about linux.

Gow616 · 05-05-2008, 10:55 PM

Ubuntu is nice and on May 13 or so Fedora 9 will be out. Depending on the wireless card, PCLinuxOS and Linux Mint 4 are also good choices.

I would only suggest Ubuntu over Linux Mint and PCLinuxOS if you have an Intel 4965 WiFi card and/or want to use a 64 bit system.

Sounds like junk is all up in your Vista distro if the boot is that long. On my desktop with 4gb DDR2 Ram it takes less than 25 seconds and on the notebook 25-30 seconds. When I only had 1gb DDR2 Ram in my notebook because I was getting the RAM through Crucial, Vista would boot up in 40-50 seconds, still nowhere near 8 minutes.

Can you add more RAM to the notebook?

Hostile · 05-06-2008, 10:34 AM

I use to run Vista on my old Pentium 4 with 768mb of RAM and it did NOT take 8 minutes to boot up. So yeah, I don't know the whole spyware situation on Vista. If it was XP I would totally tell you its spyware, but I don't know if spyware is a problem on vista or not. Also for Linux I'd stay away from RPM based distros (Fedora, openSuSE, Mandriva, etc) because they tend to be very bloated and can give tons of dependency problems. Linux Mint looks good to me too.

cheeZ · 05-06-2008, 12:02 PM

well, I know it doesn't have anything to do with spyware, because I just recently got a spyware infection, but luckily had all my important files stored on an external hard drive. So, I did the safest thing possible: wiped my entire computer clean, my whole hard drive, and restored my computer to factory default using a program that came built into my laptop. So any spyware that was there is gone for good.

Also, it can't have anything to do with spyware because it took about 8 minutes to boot up when I first bought it. So yeah, it could be because my computer came with too many un-needed programs, or because my computer has very very slow proccesor speed. After all, it was 350 bucks NEW, I don't expect it to be super fast. But after researching about Vista, I found that it uses up a LOT of system rescourses, so even though I may have a slow proccesor, Vista is pushing that proccesor to the max because of all it's requirements to run. That's when I researched Linux, and found that Linux uses up a LOT LESS system rescourses, which would make everything a lot faster, including boot-up time. That's why I'm thinking Linux will be better.

So I guess for now I'll just go with Ubuntu by burning a live CD. That way I don't even have to install it, or partition my drive or any of that. At least then I can get the hang of it before I decide I want to install it or not. Plus, I'm hearing a lot of good things about Ubuntu (from random people on the internet, and also from you, Hostile), how it's great for Linux-n00bs like me, so that's probably the better choice.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Hostile · 05-06-2008, 12:16 PM

Yeah I forgot to mention about how Ubuntu is a live CD. Download the live cd and play with that for a while. Then you can decide if you like it, and if you are comfortable using it full time. Also many other distros have live cds. Another thing you might want to do before installing a linux distro is google like "Your laptop model ubuntu" and see if other people are running a particular distribution on that same model laptop.

Robb4248 · 05-06-2008, 12:31 PM

Fedora Core is the best solution for novice users... take this from a Linux professional

I am certified in Linux administration, and let me tell you, changing your OS like that is not a good idea. Dual boot for a while and see how you like it. As for RAM, if you are going to run the GUI, you need minimum 512MB of RAM with a 1GB swap partition (remember: swap partition = 200% of total RAM).

Edit: Check your BIOS settings to see if USB Legacy is enabled, that could be a problem... that or Vista doesn't utilize readyboost until it is fully booted.

Gow616 · 05-06-2008, 12:50 PM

I think if you uninstall the junkware (not spyware but junk programs you that came preinstalled) and try some of the optimization tips posted here: http://www.zuneboards.com/forums/tec...rformance.html

Also, for info on dual booting: http://www.zuneboards.com/forums/tec...custom-pc.html

05-05-2008, 07:14 PM	#1 (permalink)
cheeZ Zuner Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Location, Location. Posts: 55 Reputation: 13	Vista to Linux Hey, I'm thinking of switching my main OS to Linux rather than Vista... 1. because Vista is really, REALLY, slooooow, (takes about ten minutes to boot up, and that's with 4-freakin'-GB of ReadyBoost!!!) 2. because I hear a lot of good things about Linux, and 3. because I have two 30 GB hard drives in my computer, one of which I don't even use, so there's really no harm in installing a secondary OS, especially if it turns out to be better than my current one. Now, I did a bunch of googling and researching to find out which Linux Distribution (or "Distro," as I think some people like to call it) is right for me, but I just can't find one that fits my needs (well, okay - "wants") most. I'm sure there's one out there, and well... that's why I'm asking you guys. One major thing I'd like this 'distro' to support is games. And not just retail games either. In fact, pretty much 99% of my games I have are freeware games (just plain old .EXE's). So I'd of course need it to support those type of games (if that even makes a difference) DON'T LAUGH AT ME IM A N00B!!! I'd also like this distro to be very (if not, somewhat) customizable. I don't want it to have a repetitive look and feel, I want to be able to change it around a little, like the color scheme or background (of course that's pretty basic but you know what I mean). Oh and I would also want the overall interface to look at least a little bit fancy, like Vista fancy or... maybe even... gulp Mac Leopard fancy! (I think I'm going to regret saying that later on...) The third, and pretty much one of the most important things I need it to be is FAST. It doesn't have to be super-rocket-fast (because then it would have to be UGLY), but just fast enough to keep me from screaming "JUST LOAD FIREFOX ALREADY, DANG IT!!!" So fast, fancy, customizable, and 'made-for-gaming'... any suggestions? __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. *To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.* To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

05-05-2008, 07:33 PM	#4 (permalink)
cheeZ Zuner Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Location, Location. Posts: 55 Reputation: 13	That's what I mean, I want to dual boot, I just don't know which Linux distro I should choose. And I tested my computer's bootup time without ReadyBoost, and it was 12 minutes, and with ReadyBoost it was lowered down to 8 minutes, but even that's still too slow for me... __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. *To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.* To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

05-05-2008, 07:37 PM	#6 (permalink)
cheeZ Zuner Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Location, Location. Posts: 55 Reputation: 13	bought my laptop for $350... that's how. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. *To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.* To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

05-05-2008, 07:39 PM	#8 (permalink)
cheeZ Zuner Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Location, Location. Posts: 55 Reputation: 13	Where did you buy it from?!?!?! __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. *To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.* To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

05-05-2008, 10:55 PM	#12 (permalink)
Gow616 <Genre Unbound> Support Team Premium Member Section Staff Elite Zuner Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Fort Wayne, IN, USA Posts: 2,121 Reputation: 588 Awards Showcase Total Awards: 1	Ubuntu is nice and on May 13 or so Fedora 9 will be out. Depending on the wireless card, PCLinuxOS and Linux Mint 4 are also good choices. I would only suggest Ubuntu over Linux Mint and PCLinuxOS if you have an Intel 4965 WiFi card and/or want to use a 64 bit system. Sounds like junk is all up in your Vista distro if the boot is that long. On my desktop with 4gb DDR2 Ram it takes less than 25 seconds and on the notebook 25-30 seconds. When I only had 1gb DDR2 Ram in my notebook because I was getting the RAM through Crucial, Vista would boot up in 40-50 seconds, still nowhere near 8 minutes. Can you add more RAM to the notebook? __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Gow now ships with Trogdor created profile picture and Munke, STKR, Volpe sig. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

05-05-2008, 07:26 PM	#3 (permalink)
Hostile Jr. Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Michigan Posts: 269 Reputation: 29	Yeah you might want to consider dual booting until you get used to it. If you jump into linux right away you could be very overwhelmed. For your first distro I'd probably recommend Ubuntu because there is just so much information/tutorials/help online available for Ubuntu users. Also relating to you complaining about vista's boot up time, ReadyBoost can actually slow down boot up times.

05-05-2008, 09:18 PM	#11 (permalink)
Hostile Jr. Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Michigan Posts: 269 Reputation: 29	Honestly, I don't care how much you payed for the laptop, 8 minutes to boot vista suggests there is serious problems. I've used Vista, it's not THAT slow. I think it has a lot of unnecessary software installed, that probably came with the computer. You should try cleaning off the unused software. Also you can look into this software called TweakVI, its used to tweak some Vista settings to speed it up. I used it when I ran Vista and it helped, just read up and know what you are changing because you can break things. If you still want to dual boot linux, like I said before, Ubuntu is great until you learn more about linux.

05-06-2008, 10:34 AM	#13 (permalink)
Hostile Jr. Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Michigan Posts: 269 Reputation: 29	I use to run Vista on my old Pentium 4 with 768mb of RAM and it did NOT take 8 minutes to boot up. So yeah, I don't know the whole spyware situation on Vista. If it was XP I would totally tell you its spyware, but I don't know if spyware is a problem on vista or not. Also for Linux I'd stay away from RPM based distros (Fedora, openSuSE, Mandriva, etc) because they tend to be very bloated and can give tons of dependency problems. Linux Mint looks good to me too. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

05-06-2008, 12:02 PM	#14 (permalink)
cheeZ Zuner Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Location, Location. Posts: 55 Reputation: 13	well, I know it doesn't have anything to do with spyware, because I just recently got a spyware infection, but luckily had all my important files stored on an external hard drive. So, I did the safest thing possible: wiped my entire computer clean, my whole hard drive, and restored my computer to factory default using a program that came built into my laptop. So any spyware that was there is gone for good. Also, it can't have anything to do with spyware because it took about 8 minutes to boot up when I first bought it. So yeah, it could be because my computer came with too many un-needed programs, or because my computer has very very slow proccesor speed. After all, it was 350 bucks NEW, I don't expect it to be super fast. But after researching about Vista, I found that it uses up a LOT of system rescourses, so even though I may have a slow proccesor, Vista is pushing that proccesor to the max because of all it's requirements to run. That's when I researched Linux, and found that Linux uses up a LOT LESS system rescourses, which would make everything a lot faster, including boot-up time. That's why I'm thinking Linux will be better. So I guess for now I'll just go with Ubuntu by burning a live CD. That way I don't even have to install it, or partition my drive or any of that. At least then I can get the hang of it before I decide I want to install it or not. Plus, I'm hearing a lot of good things about Ubuntu (from random people on the internet, and also from you, Hostile), how it's great for Linux-n00bs like me, so that's probably the better choice. Thanks everyone for your help. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. *To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.* To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

05-06-2008, 12:16 PM	#15 (permalink)
Hostile Jr. Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Michigan Posts: 269 Reputation: 29	Yeah I forgot to mention about how Ubuntu is a live CD. Download the live cd and play with that for a while. Then you can decide if you like it, and if you are comfortable using it full time. Also many other distros have live cds. Another thing you might want to do before installing a linux distro is google like "Your laptop model ubuntu" and see if other people are running a particular distribution on that same model laptop. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

05-06-2008, 12:31 PM	#16 (permalink)
Robb4248 DR. Bitches, PHD zB Programmer Zune Freak Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Harrisburg, Pa Posts: 1,063 Reputation: 63	Fedora Core is the best solution for novice users... take this from a Linux professional I am certified in Linux administration, and let me tell you, changing your OS like that is not a good idea. Dual boot for a while and see how you like it. As for RAM, if you are going to run the GUI, you need minimum 512MB of RAM with a 1GB swap partition (remember: swap partition = 200% of total RAM). Edit: Check your BIOS settings to see if USB Legacy is enabled, that could be a problem... that or Vista doesn't utilize readyboost until it is fully booted. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Check out me 0wnage New Tech Site: To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Vote for my site in the To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

05-06-2008, 12:50 PM	#17 (permalink)
Gow616 <Genre Unbound> Support Team Premium Member Section Staff Elite Zuner Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Fort Wayne, IN, USA Posts: 2,121 Reputation: 588 Awards Showcase Total Awards: 1	I think if you uninstall the junkware (not spyware but junk programs you that came preinstalled) and try some of the optimization tips posted here: http://www.zuneboards.com/forums/tec...rformance.html Also, for info on dual booting: http://www.zuneboards.com/forums/tec...custom-pc.html __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Gow now ships with Trogdor created profile picture and Munke, STKR, Volpe sig. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

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