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tysonwarrior2

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I wanted to ask what OS to put on my laptop that I am putting back together. It is a HP 6830s with a core 2 duo @ 2 GHZ, and 4 GB of ram.

Windows Vista is what came on the laptop in the first place, but it sucks.

Windows XP is the best choice for me since I can downgrade the product code on the bottom of the machine to get it, and it is stable enough to use.

I want to put Windows 7 on it, but Micro$oft wants too much money for it.

Now what I want to do is multi-boot some form of windows and some form of Linux. Can you suggest what Linux would be the best?

Thanks in advance for the replies :D
 
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You may find Debian problematic if you're relying on a USB Wi-Fi adapter for internet access. Debian uses the libre kernel, meaning no proprietary drivers to support hardware. Open source drivers are available for very few USB Wi-Fi adapters, which makes it pretty useless for me. I liked it back when I was using wired internet though. Second only to Ubuntu, Kubuntu etc interms of stability and lack of bugs. In a VM via XP, your internet would be fine on it regardless.

If you think Ubuntu LTS is buggy though, I don't think you're gonna be impressed by the alternatives. I found Mint to be pretty buggy, Fedora was extremely glitchy and unstable and SUSE wouldn't even boot (not even a live boot straight from DVD). That's on a modern...
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crazyg0053

crazyg0053

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When you install Windows XP, there is a built-in feature that lets you format and partition your hard disk. Simply create two partitions and install XP on one and Linux on the other. You can also download software like partition magic or similar to do this but since your reinstalling windows you might as well do it then.

For the Linux Distro it comes down to taste. For a Beginner I would check out Linux Mint which is based off Ubuntu. Ubuntu itself is also a nice choice.

If you've used Linux before or are comfortable with Red Hat based distros check out Fedora. It is "bleeding edge" or at least as close as you can get with stable releases.
 
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tysonwarrior2

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When you install Windows XP, there is a built-in feature that lets you format and partition your hard disk. Simply create two partitions and install XP on one and Linux on the other. You can also download software like partition magic or similar to do this but since your reinstalling windows you might as well do it then.

For the Linux Distro it comes down to taste. For a Beginner I would check out Linux Mint which is based off Ubuntu. Ubuntu itself is also a nice choice.

If you've used Linux before or are comfortable with Red Hat based distros check out Fedora. It is "bleeding edge" or at least as close as you can get with stable releases.
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Thanks. Ive use a distro called parted magic as a rescue disc to revive dead windows machines. BTW, has microsoft lowered the price of windows 7 since they released windows 8?

P.S. I,m on the laptop in question running ubuntu off of an external hdd :lol:
 
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crazyg0053

crazyg0053

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Not that I know of. Microsoft wants people to buy Windows 8 and if they drop the price on Windows 7 no one will. They could increase the price on Windows 7 and I would still buy it over windows 8 ;)
 
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tysonwarrior2

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Not that I know of. Microsoft wants people to buy Windows 8 and if they drop the price on Windows 7 no one will. They could increase the price on Windows 7 and I would still buy it over windows 8 ;)
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I know that's right! Windows 8 is an EPIC FAILURE. But $300 for windows 7 is ridiculous, no matter which angle you look at it. So that rules windows 7 and 8 out. now I like XP, but it is quite dated, but windows vista sucks. Now if someone can desuckify Vista then I might use that.
 
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crazyg0053

crazyg0053

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What specifically do you dislike about Vista? When it launched it got a bad rep because retailers were selling it on machines with 512MB of RAM when the OS requires 1GB (That and Apple spend millions of dollars on their ad campaign to shame it), but on modern 4GB+ systems this is irrelevant. As for the actual OS it was a drastic improvement over XP in regards to stability and allows you to run DX10.

Vista does have a handful of annoyances but all can be fixed in 5-10 min, and most of these (such as UAC) are also present in Windows 7.
 
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Brett928S2

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XP I can get by downgrading the Vista key on the bottom of the laptop, now what would be a nice idea is to upgrade from vista to 7. Can that be done without putting $$$ into it?
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Hi :)

There IS a Windows 7 UPGRADE package... it WILL upgrade Vista or allow a clean install once it checks Vista is legal...

We sell it in my shops in the UK for £99 so you should find it in the US...(Assuming thats where you are lol)

All the best Brett :)
 
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tysonwarrior2

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Hi :)

There IS a Windows 7 UPGRADE package... it WILL upgrade Vista or allow a clean install once it checks Vista is legal...

We sell it in my shops in the UK for £99 so you should find it in the US...(Assuming thats where you are lol)

All the best Brett :)
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Right. just one problem: that cost money, which I don't have. And I do live in the US, in the state of Georgia, in fact.
 
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tysonwarrior2

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Well that solves what Windows OS to get, now for something Linux. I'm on the laptop in question with Ubuntu running off an external hdd, so I can say I have tried Ubuntu. Fedora is kinda cool, but I don't like the "panels and wigets" desktop. Too tablet directed. Once upon a time I use Tiny Core Linux to make a media file server. Other than that, I have not tried a lot of Linux stuff.
 
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Brett928S2

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Well that solves what Windows OS to get, now for something Linux. I'm on the laptop in question with Ubuntu running off an external hdd, so I can say I have tried Ubuntu. Fedora is kinda cool, but I don't like the "panels and wigets" desktop. Too tablet directed. Once upon a time I use Tiny Core Linux to make a media file server. Other than that, I have not tried a lot of Linux stuff.
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Hi :)

Linux is not my thing but I can move this thread to that forum if you wish ?

All the best Brett :)
 
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tysonwarrior2

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What specifically do you dislike about Vista? When it launched it got a bad rep because retailers were selling it on machines with 512MB of RAM when the OS requires 1GB (That and Apple spend millions of dollars on their ad campaign to shame it), but on modern 4GB+ systems this is irrelevant. As for the actual OS it was a drastic improvement over XP in regards to stability and allows you to run DX10.

Vista does have a handful of annoyances but all can be fixed in 5-10 min, and most of these (such as UAC) are also present in Windows 7.
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Vista has given me many a headache. First, it is the almost perfect ability to BSOD when you need it the most. What about UAC? in windows 7 it's not that annoying, but vista bars everything behind a UAC prompt. What about if I decide to do some hardware development? OOPS, no unsigned drivers allowed!!! Shall I continue?
 
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tysonwarrior2

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Linux and XP in dual boot mode seem to be the way to go.

You could always get the guy down the street to install Windows 7 for you for free but that would be immoral
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Yeah, let's not do that. Someone might pull off getting away with some cheesy $5 game or digital wall paper, but trying to rip off windows 7 will get micro$oft coming after you with torches and pitchforks.
 
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seriousgamer

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Vista has given me many a headache. First, it is the almost perfect ability to BSOD when you need it the most. What about UAC? in windows 7 it's not that annoying, but vista bars everything behind a UAC prompt. What about if I decide to do some hardware development? OOPS, no unsigned drivers allowed!!! Shall I continue?
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I completely agree lol. I BSOD about 3 times a day when I had Vista. I haven't had not EVEN ONE BSOD With 7. I was working on a friends laptop (Vista) a couple days ago and simply installing IE8 took me about 3 hours to restart the laptop about 8 times and what not.....
 
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tysonwarrior2

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I completely agree lol. I BSOD about 3 times a day when I had Vista. I haven't had not EVEN ONE BSOD With 7. I was working on a friends laptop (Vista) a couple days ago and simply installing IE8 took me about 3 hours to restart the laptop about 8 times and what not.....
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I know, right. So Vista is out of the question, now how about my linux options.
Any ideas?
 
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crazyg0053

crazyg0053

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Seriously for day to day use check out Linux Mint. Both Cinnamon and MATE DEs are excellent options. Its fast, simple, and reliable. It has also been the #1 distribution on DistroWatch for a few years now. I run it with MATE on my laptop. Plus since its based on Ubuntu you get access to all of the Debian/Ubuntu repositories.

http://www.linuxmint.com/
 
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tysonwarrior2

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Seriously for day to day use check out Linux Mint. Both Cinnamon and MATE DEs are excellent options. Its fast, simple, and reliable. It has also been the #1 distribution on DistroWatch for a few years now. I run it with MATE on my laptop. Plus since its based on Ubuntu you get access to all of the Debian/Ubuntu repositories.

http://www.linuxmint.com/
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Nice, so Linux mint is one option, sounds pretty good. Any others that are known good for general purposes, besides Ubuntu spinoffs? Nothing against Ubuntu but 10.04 LTS is a little buggy, not as bad as vista but not as good as ms dos (the only thing it knows is "Abort, Retry, or Fail" :lol: ). I do want the reliability of MS DOS in my machine, but I will settle for less since there is a billion and one things that can go wrong in a full blown GUI OS.
 
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