New Computer Out of Old – Part 1: Installing Linux Mint
Filed Under: Do It Yourself, Susatainable Living on October 27, 2010
Last week (or maybe the week before, it’s been busy around here), I promised to begin taking you through the steps of making an old computer run like new again. My mother-in-law sent us her old notebook (a Dell Inspiron) and I promised to show you how to take an old computer (this one is about 5 years old) and make it run like a champ again. I have a computer that has been running for over 8 years now and doing great.
Here’s the specs on the notebook used in this demonstration:
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You can easily find these on your own Windows system from the Control Panel.
Even where I could have taken screen shots instead of photographs with a camera, I’m sticking with the camera. Mostly for continuity and because I had it primed for the whole project anyway. The photos should be clear enough that you can see what’s happening.
What Most People Need
95% of computer users out there need only three things out of their home computer:
- Simple office tools like a word processor and spreadsheet.
- The ability to get on the Internet and surf the Web, send/receive email, and use chat or VOIP tools like Skype.
- Access to Farmville.
You need neither Windows or Mac to do all those things. In fact, you can do all of those and a lot more quite easily for free, without ever paying for software – including your operating system. Plus, your computer will run safer and be more secure than it could be with either of those two operating systems. That will be by default, even, without having to know a lot of geek speak. No buying virus scanners or firewalls.
What is Linux?
Linux is a free, open source operating system based on the Unix platform (like the Mac OS, which isn’t free). The majority of the Web servers you’re accessing everyday when you surf the ‘Net are also Linux-based. In the past two or three years, an explosion of user-friendly desktop operating systems based on Linux have become available.
The most popular of those are openSUSE, Ubuntu, and Debian. The one we’ll be installing in this demo is Mint, a smaller and more compact version of Ubuntu, which is arguably the easiest Linux desktop to use for those not familiar with using this operating system (OS).
How We’ll Fulfill the 3 Requirements
Those three requirements will be fulfilled using Mint quite handily. That’s not all that’s possible with it, of course, and many other software packages (all free) are available to do all kinds of great things like audio/visual/graphics editing, games, programming and development, and even running Windows applications through Linux.
In this setup today, I’ll show you how to do the following:
- Back up your current operating system (we’re assuming Windows).
- Install Linux Mint and bring it up to date.
- Get on the Internet in Linux.
- Find new software for your Mint installation and easily install it by just clicking and downloading.
- Install a great office suite that replaces MS Office and can use its files.
- Get to Farmville.
These five steps are easy and will take about 2-3 hours depending on the speed of your system and how much backup you have to do. A full backup (mirror of the hard drive) may take much longer. That doesn’t include “play testing” for step 6..
Back Up Windows XP (Vista, 7)
There are two basic steps for backing up Windows XP (or Vista or 7): making boot/install disks and backing up your data. Creating boot/install disks will not be explained here, since every computer manufacturer with pre-installed Windows has a different setup for doing it. HP has their own tools (located in Control Panel>>System Tools) while Dell has their own as well (usually in the All Programs>>Dell Setup). The laptop I’m using in this demonstration had Windows installed by the previous owner, so there is no Dell system in there. Often, the computer comes with the original Windows disc or backup/installs.
Make sure they work – just put it in the drive and reboot the computer. If the disk boots the computer, then it’s probably OK. If you can, make a copy for safe keeping. These install disks will be your life line should you decide you don’t like Mint for some reason. I can’t fathom why you won’t, but it’s better safe than sorry.
Next, you’ll need to make a backup of your data. You can do this by mirroring the whole drive using a backup utility like Norton or Acronis. These are paid software suites, but if you’re using Windows, they’re almost mandatory. You can also use the built-in (but limited) data backup system in Windows XP and Vista.
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The menu tree illustrated above is how you get to the backup app. Programs>>Accessories>>System Tools>>Backup
This little app allows you to back up your data files – mostly those located in the “Program Files” folder as well as user settings and similar. It’s not a very complete backup, but it will help you re-instate Windows if you decide to install it again later.
Get Linux Mint
Now you need to get Linux Mint so you can install it. It’s free, so all you need to do is go to the site (LinuxMint.com). There, you’ll see the mint green website with several versions of Mint available. For this demonstration, I’m using the Mint 9 KDE, but most of them are roughly the same in how they install. I prefer KDE because I am familiar with it and have used it for several years on various Linux installations.
Choose your download based on your computer’s bit rate. Most older computers will be 32-bit, but newer systems are 64-bit. Refer to the Windows screen above to see what yours is. You may also find this listed on the bottom of a notebook’s case on a sticker or on the front or back of a desktop system’s case.
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The download is about 1.3 gigabytes or so. This will take a couple of hours or more on most connections, but you can do other things while it’s happening. Spend the time writing down all of your passwords to various websites and tools you use online. You’ll need them later. Make sure you at least have your email password (and access information, if required – like the website URL) and your Facebook profile username and password (for Farmville, of course).
Once the download is complete, you’ll have an ISO file. This is a DVD “image” file that, when you click it, will probably prompt you to burn a DVD. Do that or “burn” the image to a thumb drive or other removable media. If you’re burning to DVD, I suggest doing at least two of them, just to be safe. Otherwise, if one of them has an error, you might be left out to dry with a computer that can’t do much of anything until you can find an install.
Trust me, you don’t want to have to re-install Windows just to burn a new Mint disc. Windows takes HOURS to install. Lame.
Once you have your install disc(s) ready, you can start the process. You’ll be amazed at how quick this goes!
Installing Mint
To start with, put the disc in the drive. It will probably pop up a box asking if you want to run Mint from Windows to try it or install it inside Windows. You can run it from here if you want to try it out, but you may as well just proceed to the next step, which is to reboot so your system boots directly from the DVD. It’s the same difference.
Once it reboots (it will take a few minutes because DVDs are slow), you’ll be presented with a very simple mint green screen:
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This simple screen has two basic things you’ll need in order to actually install Mint. The icon at the top-left is the Mint icon and will begin the install process. In the lower-left, you’ll see the same icon (but smaller) where the Windows Start Button would be. This functions in much the same way and lets you explore the system. Go ahead and do so if you’d like. You’ll find Firefox and at least two other browsers are pre-installed as are several simple software suites and tools.
When you’re ready to install, click the icon at the top-left and a window will open at the center of the screen. There are only a few steps towards installation, none of which make any changes to your computer until the final one is accepted.
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There are six steps before actual installation begins, but the first three are just choosing your language, time zone, and keyboard type. Fairly self-explanatory. After that, you’re presented with a screen asking about partitions.
This is how your hard drive will be laid out. There are two choices by default: add Mint as a second boot option, keeping Windows; or remove Windows and make Mint the only operating system on the computer.
Choosing the first allows you to use a slider to decide how large each partition should be. It’s very difficult to swap files between these partitions, so you know, though you can sometimes share data between common applications – that’s all for advanced users, however, so only expect to be able to do so if you’re comfortable with advanced computing. If you choose to install side-by-side with Windows, the install will also include a tool called GNU Grub. This will open up every time you boot the system, allowing you to choose Windows or Mint as your operating system for that session.
For our demonstration, and what I’d recommend on an older PC, we’re wiping away Windows and just installing Mint. This makes one hard drive partition.
Once you’ve chosen that, you’re given the second screen, which is to choose a username and password.
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Put in your name (or as much as you’d like to use) and a username is automatically entered based on that. You can change it if you wish, but it will always be all lower case. Your password should be something unique to the computer (not used anywhere else) and easy enough to remember and type without being too easy to guess.
You can install Mint so that you don’t need to type a password to log in when it boots, which is fine, but you’ll need to remember that password and sometimes the username when you make changes to the system or install new software. So make sure you remember it.
Once you’ve filled that out, you’re taken to the Summary screen. This shows a summary of your installation options. Check it over and make sure it’s what you wanted.
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Above is the setup I’ve chosen for this particular install. Yours might be somewhat different, but probably not very much so. Once you’re satisfied that this is what you want, proceed with the installation. It’s non-reversible, so make sure. If you decide you want to change something mid-install or afterwards, you can always re-install again, of course.
The installation will take 20 minutes to an hour, depending on the speed of your computer and its components. Mine took almost 40 minutes whereas my newer system (a Quad Core AMD Athlon II) took only 20 minutes to install. Either way, it’s much faster than Windows, which can take up to three hours and requires that you be there to click on stuff and choose options for a lot of that. Mint will install automatically without any more input from you, so you can go make a sandwich if you’d like. Don’t forget the peppers.
Once it’s done, you’ll see the above box.
Now you can either keep trying out Mint from the DVD or reboot from the new install. Honestly, what’s the point of fiddling with the DVD boot when you now have the real thing ready to go?
Booting Into Linux Mint
Yay! Your’e almost in! First, the “black screen” comes up as the core system boots up. This will display for up to a minute or so, depending on how fast your computer is. On this notebook, it stays up for about 45 seconds.
You’ll see the “booting screen” with the icons showing you the various services being loaded. Unix (and Linux) treats every aspect of your computer as a separate entity, so the network connections are separate from the display which is separate from the hard drive which is separate from the… you get the idea.
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The last icon is Mint itself, showing that it’s done. This process takes another minute, depending on the speed of your system. The notebook pulls it off in almost exactly 30 seconds.
Now you’re presented with a “Hey, you’re new here” screen. This comes up because Mint realizes that it’s a fresh install, so it assumes you’re new to it. It has some helpful links on it, so don’t close it out of hand yet.
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The most important of these links will probably be the Tutorials link in the right column. This takes you to the LinuxMint.com Community where a huge number of tutorials have been written by users to help you do just about everything you can imagine doing with it. Of course, you have me, so you don’t need to start reading those yet.
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At the bottom-left, again, you’ll see the same Mint button, a long button named “Computer,” etc. Just like Windows, every open program (like the current Help window) will be on the task bar as well. At the right are a clock, some common services running in the background, and so forth. Again, much like Windows.
If you click on the Mint button, you’ll be able to begin exploring the pre-installed software that comes with Mint. This includes basic tools like a calculator, three pre-installed Web browsers (defaulting to Kommander), and so forth. Your first step is to update your install with the latest fixes and patches from the Mint community.
There will likely be several of them and it could take an hour or more, but you can continue using your computer as they download. Just click on the shield-shaped icon in the tray at the right, near the clock. Hovering over any of these buttons will tell you what they are, by the way.
Clicking on that pops up the updates screen and it quickly scans your system to see what needs upgrading. Then you’ll be given a list of all of those things needing an update. Click the green check marked “Update” and it will begin. It’s automated, so that’s all you need to do.
While that’s going on (if you can’t tell, I forgot to get a photo), let’s look at how to install new software. To fulfill one of our primary services, since we already have a Web browser and Mint should have automatically understood your network and connected you to the Internet. (If you’re using WiFi, you may need to set it up – go to the Control Center and select Hardware Drivers. It will likely automatically find them for you.)
Mint, however, doesn’t have an MS Office suite yet. Here’s how to get it.
From the Mint button, you’ll see an option called Software Manager. Select that and a box will open with several categories of software. These are the things already installed on your system or that are available from the common Linux communities. Nearly every single one of them is free.
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You can browse through these if you wish (it’s in both the Featured and Office categories), but you can also search. We know what we’re looking for, so let’s search. In the search box, type “open office” and search it. It should be one of the first to be returned. Select it and you’ll see a screen explaining what it is:
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Click the “install” button at the top-right of the window and you’ll likely be prompted for your password. Then it will begin downloading it and you’ll see a download and install progress bar at the bottom of the Software Packages window. You can continue looking for more stuff and queue it up to install if you’d like, but since you’re also downloading updates, expect delays.
This basically completes our installation of Linux and the basic tools necessary to fulfill our three requirements for the average home user. You’ll find a lot of IM and other tools already installed in Mint, by the way.
Oh Wait… Farmville
I'm addicted to stupid games! :)
Next Up
In our next segment, I’ll show you some basic tasks in Linux Mint. We’ll use our new word processor (and save in MS Word and PDF formats for portability), play some games that are made especially for Mint, and install Skype for communications (instant messaging and voice chat). We might even edit some graphics!
