OS to replace W10 on my notebook /lappy.

Nealh

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As per the title any suggestions for a OS to install in place of W10.
Current system has ;
8GB ram.
2.6GHZ CPU
32MB graphic card.
466GB Storage.

I don't play games or do anything special, just web browsing , email , forums and share dealing.

Have heard of Linux and some the various sub linux OS systems, any suggestions for something better then windows for a OS that does browsing and email still with security etc.
 
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guerney

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Many people I know use Linux Mint.



Best deactivate Windows 10 beforehand, in case you want it back for some reason, or to sell it to someone else in future.




...and of course all of the above, after backing up all important files.
 
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guerney

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guerney

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Mint is easier to use for ex-Windows dudes, but these days pretty much all Linuxi are easy to install:


 

Nealh

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I will have a look .
 

guerney

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The tricky bit for most, is making booting from USB top priority in the boot order. How to is in the laptop manual.
 

Nealh

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Had some time to play today , managed to download the Mint iso and iso uploading files. After a few headaches fathomed out why I wasn't able to download the iso to the usb .
Put it to bed for today and next step is to get mint set up on the laptop now that I have a bootable device ready.

Like all PC stuff it is easy if you are tech savvy , unfortunately I'm not esp with the terminology. Somehow I get there in the end ( or do sometimes).
 
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guerney

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If you've written the .ISO file to the USB drive correctly, all you need to do is make your laptop boot from USB. Best watch video in post #4 from beginning to end. It's well worth watching all of the linked videos, despite none being as good as Ben Hur (for most people). It's amazing how much useful nerdy stuff there is on Youtube.

Route(1) Sometimes it's as easy as pressing a particular key repeatdly immediately after switching the laptop on (can be any F key, eg F8, F7. See video in post 4 - sometimes this information is onscreen after power on, unless fast boot is enabled, which reduces screen info and disables RAM check) and selecting the USB drive from the available drive choices presented. Sometimes this option is omitted for security reasons (can allow any dude with Linux to read unencrypted files or cause other mayhem), or isn't present because the laptop's BIOS is too old, or doesn't have that option, or because boot options have been disabled in BIOS.

Route(2) If Route(1) isn't an option (see manual), you may need to get into the BIOS (Basic Input Output System - this firmware loads before the OS, from memory on the motherboard) to select USB as the first boot option, which can be "DEL" or an F key. At 3.40s in the video above, he shows what he would have seen, had he pressed F2 to enter BIOS setup instead of F7. He then shows how to change the boot order in BIOS, to make your USB installation drive is first in the boot order. If the first drive isn't present, booting the second option in the boot order is tried, etc. Remember to save BIOS changes.

Which keypress you need for either way to boot using USB, is in your laptop manual.

Here's another explanatory video about how to boot from USB:


 
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guerney

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1. Sometimes it's as easy as pressing a particular key repeatdly immediately after switching the laptop on (can be any F key, eg F8, F7. See video in post 4 - sometimes this information is onscreen after power on, unless fast boot is enabled, which reduces screen info and disables RAM check) and selecting the USB drive from the available drive choices presented. Sometimes this option is omitted for security reasons (can allow any dude with Linux to read unencrypted files or cause other mayhem), or isn't present because the laptop's BIOS is too old, or doesn't have that option, or because boot options have been disabled in BIOS.
If it's your newer laptop containing an AMD Sempron (I don't recall the laptop model number), I'd be very surprised if Route(1) above wasn't an option. More convenient than Route(2) because you don't have to go into BIOS setup, to change the boot order to make USB top priority, and save settings.
 
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guerney

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I like Ventoy...


https://www.ventoy.net/en/doc_start.html

...because if you have a really big USB drive, you can copy a whole bunch of .ISO files to boot from. Ver ver useful.




If I don't know which F key provides boot up device selection, I simply power on the PC/laptop, I try F7 or F8 or F11 or F12 etc. and if that key doesn't work very soon after, to provide boot drive selection, I quickly press ALT-CRTL-DEL keys together to quickly reboot before the OS starts to load, and try another F key. If none of the above F keys work, I try DEL or F2 after rebooting, or other F keys to get into BIOS setup, to set booting from USB top priority in the boot order.

There are fewer issues when booting from USB 2.0 drives than USB 3.0.
 
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