Installing Linux on XP Home system

I am currently running XP Home on my pc, which is a few years old. I have recently noticed an overall performance drop that Windows is notorious for after a few years of use. I've been thinking of installing Linux (Ubuntu) on my system instead. I want to completely remove XP from my system, then install Linux. My questions are when I install Linux, will it remove the previous install of XP for me ? Also, will I have to reinstall all of my drivers, and will the new Linux install work with all of my current peripherals (printer,etc.) Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. (XP Home, 1G RAM, 80G HD)

 

When you go to install, it will remove XP as part of the installation. Linux uses a different filesystem than XP, so anything that is in XP (documents, bookmarks, etc) will be gone.

It may be helpful for you to take note of all hardware installed in your system prior to removing Windows. This includes sound cards, video cards, modems, ethernet cards, wireless cards, everything, as you may need to manually locate drivers for the few things that Ubuntu doesn't install automatically. You may want to check with each manufacturer's website prior to making the switch to ensure that they have drivers, but Linux does come with a large base of drivers, so it makes it hard to say Yes or No it will not have what you need.

You may also need to find Linux alternatives to software you use everyday. Microsoft Office doesn't work natively (not sure if it works in an emulator), but there are alternatives. Not all programs have an alternative, therefore it may be beneficial to have both XP and Linux installed, but sharing the hard drive so that you still have everything you need to use.

If you need more assistance, post back, and someone will help.

 

Seconded. Check that your hardware is supported under Ubuntu before you switch over. Finding yourself without an internet connection because there are no native Linux drives, and the hacks you need to make the windows drivers work are not on your Linux CD, is painful, to say the least.

 

Thanks Noahawk and Mimsy for the quick reply. I'm sure your suggestions will prove vey helpful, especially since I have little knowledge about computers in general, and absolutely zero about the Linux OS. Thanks again.

 

As a Linux newbie and XP 'veteran' I would say this is 1. a good choice 2. a lot to bite off for a first foray, as previous posts indicate 3. possibly useful to install into a separate partition to get L running before ditching XP.

MG forums abound with procedures to get WinX to recapture some of its original vitality - one recent one can be caught by a search in MG for "sluggish"
(http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=141552&highlight=sluggish)

 

hi,

a possable way to find out if you need anything extra would be to try a live cd, this way you can test the distro to see if you like it without having to install,

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

you can also install off the cd if you wish

 

Just want to echo what others have said about keeping XP on and installing Linux too.

1> When I installed Linux (openSUSE 10.2 - a nice Distro I think) I found it very helpful to have a working XP connection in order to get help when things went wrong and I couldn't get online with Linux.

2> You'll also have a chance to try several distros. I tried both Ubuntu (Edgy eft) and openSUSE 10.2 before deciding to go with openSUSE.
Live CDs are good - but if you're dual-booting (you get an option to start XP or Linux when you turn the computer on) you'll be able to set up a Linux install and see how you find it, then try another if you want to. It is a bit different using a hard drive install to using a live CD as there you're actually interacting with the OS while trying to set it up properly.


Just one more point to make... Ubuntu has a short release cycle - which means the distro you install might be unsupported after a short while...
However - I believe Ubuntu 8.04 ("Hardy Heron") will be a "long term support" release meaning it will be supported (patches and security updates) for three years after release.

That's due out in April 2008 if you can (or want to) wait that long.