How to install Linux on your PC

Newsfeed

Newsfeed

MyBroadband Newsfeed
Staff member
Joined
Jun 28, 2017
Messages
6,805
Reaction score
648
How to install Linux on your PC

If you are building a new system or upgrading an existing PC, installing Linux as the OS may not be the first option you considered.

Linux is the underlying structure used to power operating system distributions which are similar to the software most users are familiar with – Windows.
 
anyone using the desktop version of Android?
 
Is secureboot not a issue on new hardware? I have not had to overcome it myself as my hardware ... Laptop and hp microserver for the TV is old and does not have it...but I have heard it prevents users from installing anything other than the windows it came with??
 
About to get a lot of hate for this.

What if I want to install Windows again after discovering Linux is ****?
 
Ockie said:
Is secureboot not a issue on new hardware? I have not had to overcome it myself as my hardware ... Laptop and hp microserver for the TV is old and does not have it...but I have heard it prevents users from installing anything other than the windows it came with??
Click to expand...
So far on all new machines I have installed Linux on the BIOS allowed for secure boot to be disabled.

Existing windows installs would need reinstall ofcourse but that is no biggie.

This includes HP/Dell and Lenovo machines.
 
Genisys said:
About to get a lot of hate for this.

What if I want to install Windows again after discovering Linux is ****?
Click to expand...
If machine previously had win10 then just boot from USB/optical and install from scratch (no activation required if previously activated)
 
OCP said:
If machine previously had win10 then just boot from USB/optical and install from scratch (no activation required if previously activated)
Click to expand...

Ok, but can I get an install guide on Arch linux? It looks like its more popular than some of the linuxes in the article.
 
Genisys said:
Ok, but can I get an install guide on Arch linux? It looks like its more popular than some of the linuxes in the article.
Click to expand...
Not following

You want to reinstall windows but want a guide on Arch?

If you are new to Linux you would be best starting with Ubuntu/Mint/CentOS and learn from there.

Arch is great but requires a lot of base knowledge and tweaking to get it just the way you want it.
 
Genisys said:
Ok, but can I get an install guide on Arch linux? It looks like its more popular than some of the linuxes in the article.
Click to expand...

You’ll never enjoy or like Linux if you start by making it as hard as possible.

Especially not for desktop use.
 
Long time Arch user here. Please don't make Arch your first Linux experience :o
 
Genisys said:
Ok, but can I get an install guide on Arch linux? It looks like its more popular than some of the linuxes in the article.
Click to expand...

This is gonna be harsh. The fact that you even have to ask that tells me you don't understand what Arch is and you'll probably battle your ass off just trying to get a base system up and running.

Anyway here you go https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_guide that will get you going with an absolute minimal base system which is command line only....

I love Arch and been using it for 15 odd years but trust me when I say it's probably not for a beginner but if you are keen for a learning curve go for it.
 
Last edited:
Elementary is another good option for a Linux introduction...it's also so pretty :)
 
Nuro said:
Long time Arch user here. Please don't make Arch your first Linux experience :o
Click to expand...

Sanity prevails.

I was fearful an Arch die hard would walk in and tell OP it’s all easy and he should do it to learn etc.
 
ponder said:
This is gonna be harsh. The fact that you even have to ask that tells me you don't understand what Arch is and you'll probably battle your ass off just trying to get a base system up and running.

Anyway here you go https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_guide that will get you going with an absolute minimal base system which is command line only....

I love Arch and been using it for 15 odd years but trust me when I say it's probably not for a beginner but if you are keen for a learning curve go for it.
Click to expand...

Nuro said:
Long time Arch user here. Please don't make Arch your first Linux experience :o
Click to expand...

SauRoNZA said:
You’ll never enjoy or like Linux if you start by making it as hard as possible.

Especially not for desktop use.
Click to expand...

Wasabee! said:
Mint 19 is amazing with the Cinnamon desktop.
Click to expand...

OCP said:
Not following

You want to reinstall windows but want a guide on Arch?

If you are new to Linux you would be best starting with Ubuntu/Mint/CentOS and learn from there.

Arch is great but requires a lot of base knowledge and tweaking to get it just the way you want it.
Click to expand...

Now that we have that out of the way, I've been using Linux distros for 8 years plus now. I started on KUbuntu 9.10, moved to Ubuntu, to Fedora, to CentOS, to Debian (Pretty much the most stable Distro I've used), to Mint and all the way back to Ubuntu in this time span. Only major distro I haven't tried is Arch (Just haven't gotten around to trying it). I run at least 10 physical linux installs at home. Really, I'm not a "noob" like you all would think by reading that question.

My question was hinting that people can do a Google search for a distro, see Arch, and get stuck in the tedious install process. The general consensus is that linux is a command line based os with no UI, only think the Arch install does is make new users think that that can be true and they will run away from Linux again. As someone new to this whole Linux distro thing I won't even know what kde, gnome or the like is to start off with.

One more thing that should be most important here is, if you want Windows, get Windows, don't think of Linux as a replacement for Windows, it just isn't. There are lots of places Windows outshines linux, and lots of places linux out shines Windows.
 
Just did this - coming from Windows I tried numerous distros.
Settled on Mint XFCE and very happy
 
Genisys said:
Now that we have that out of the way, I've been using Linux distros for 8 years plus now. I started on KUbuntu 9.10, moved to Ubuntu, to Fedora, to CentOS, to Debian (Pretty much the most stable Distro I've used), to Mint and all the way back to Ubuntu in this time span. Only major distro I haven't tried is Arch (Just haven't gotten around to trying it). I run at least 10 physical linux installs at home. Really, I'm not a "noob" like you all would think by reading that question.

My question was hinting that people can do a Google search for a distro, see Arch, and get stuck in the tedious install process. The general consensus is that linux is a command line based os with no UI, only think the Arch install does is make new users think that that can be true and they will run away from Linux again. As someone new to this whole Linux distro thing I won't even know what kde, gnome or the like is to start off with.

One more thing that should be most important here is, if you want Windows, get Windows, don't think of Linux as a replacement for Windows, it just isn't. There are lots of places Windows outshines linux, and lots of places linux out shines Windows.
Click to expand...

Well then I would call you a troll based on that.

In future elaborate with your original question like you did in this post otherwise there will be deep miscommunication.

I think the very reason Arch Linux works is good enough reason for it not to be included in install guides or articles like these (not that the article said anything at all).

Also all the distros you mentioned and installed are simple GUI click install distros and could still very much make you a noob.

Washing dishes for 10 years doesn’t make you more than a dishwasher etc.

And why on earth would you have 10 Linux installs at home? More so why physical ones?
 
Last edited:
SauRoNZA said:
Well then I would call you a troll based on that.

In future elaborate with your original question like you did in this post otherwise there will be deep miscommunication.

I think the very reason Arch Linux works is good enough reason for it not to be included in install guides or articles like these (not that the article said anything at all).

Also all the distros you mentioned and installed are simple GUI click install distros and could still very much make you a noob.

Washing dishes for 10 years doesn’t make you more than a dishwasher etc.
Click to expand...

Even if they are "simple to install distro's", it doesn't mean they are simple to install by any means. Linux support on certain hardware is still terrible and require us to disable and enable flags and side load drivers at install time to get the installer to go. Take installing CentsOS on a Gen 8 Microserver for example, it isn't a simple walk in the park, it takes fiddling to get it to work with the B120i fake software raid controller. The list goes on and on, even installing ESXi isn't a walk in the park either. Just because it has a Click to install GUI doesn't mean its just going to work out of the box, fiddling is still required in some cases.
 
Genisys said:
Even if they are "simple to install distro's", it doesn't mean they are simple to install by any means. Linux support on certain hardware is still terrible and require us to disable and enable flags and side load drivers at install time to get the installer to go. Take installing CentsOS on a Gen 8 Microserver for example, it isn't a simple walk in the park, it takes fiddling to get it to work with the B120i fake software raid controller. The list goes on and on, even installing ESXi isn't a walk in the park either. Just because it has a Click to install GUI doesn't mean its just going to work out of the box, fiddling is still required in some cases.
Click to expand...
A Gen 8 microtower is not exactly run of the mill hardware and fake raid is just plain crap. If you are serious about raid get a proper card or setup software raid (which will be better in a lot of instances as you are no longer tied to a specific hardware raid in case the card fails and can recover the software raid on any other similar hardware)

On commodity hardware I have not had to load drivers for years now and I have installed both Ubuntu and CentOS on a lot of machines.

The last issue I has was with Dell NIC drivers when installing pfSense (ie. Free BSD) which took a whole of 2min googling to resolve.

For the average 1st time Linux users installing Ubuntu/Mint/CentOS on hardware that is not older than 5 or 6 years the install should 99% trouble free.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X