Load Windows on Linux laptop

I needed to change my laptop back to a Windows 7 laptop from Linux Mint because I am swapping laptops with my daughter. Not Windows 8. She is very clear about the fact she does not want Windows 8. Each to their own.  I’ll then be loading her laptop with Linux Mint. Loading Linux onto a Windows laptop is easy. You get the iso for the Linux Mint version you want and away you go. Doing the reverse is easy too but only if you know how. If you do a search for loading Windows onto a Linux laptop then you get way too much information about fdisking and this code and that code and dos boxes. All this is possible if you like doing it. Most people want easy. The video here shows the easiest way of doing it by using the Windows installation disk and using the custom set up. Works like a charm and makes it all very straightforward. The video can be back tracked if you didn’t quite catch the set of instructions because he does go quickly. Prefer that over someone who goes far too slowly with instructions. I then use Advanced System Care to get the drivers. Otherwise you have to wait for Windows to bring them to your machine or go out looking for them yourself. I don’t dual boot. I prefer to have just one operating system on each computer I have. Windows 8 doesn’t like to dual boot at all and other versions of Windows will dual boot  far better if Windows is loaded first.

GParted is a winner

Remember my MacBook had killed my Toshiba portable drive? And my WD drive. I wrote about it here. In that post I was saying I wasn’t sure what I was now going to do with my little Toshiba portable drive. Well, truth is, I have resurrected it thanks to Linux Mint and GParted. You can actually download it from the package manager on Linux if it is not already installed. My Toshiba was dead. Windows, Mac and Linux refused to mount it so it was useless. I got GParted out at the weekend on my Linux Mint laptop and looked at the drive. You have to know what you are doing or you might be looking at the wrong drive. To be certain, look at what is available on GParted, disconnect the portable drive, notice what is missing and then reconnect it. Windows could see it too. Just couldn’t do anything with it. With GParted I chose the option to partition the drive and selected the FAT 32 file system. I could have chosen other systems but FAT 32 seemed to be the best one since I could work between my operating systems. It will not be going back onto my MacBook. I have reformatted it which took about 5 mins and then I saved files onto it from Linux and have saved more files from Windows. It is running quietly and smoothly and plugs directly into the USB ports on both computers. It would only connect to the MacBook via a USB hub. So, I am happy now and have so much storage to back up files I’m glad. It  is small enough to  easily use in my car so I could shift my music and podcasts onto it and just use it for travelling. Main thing is GParted solved my problem effectively. All you need is the right tool for the job. I never tie myself to one operating system because that way I have options for problem solving.

Linux Mint 15 – Olivia

I said I would come back to give Linux Mint 15 a proper review. It was just unfortunate or ill-advised that I’d decided to install it when I had internet treacle. That previous review couldn’t do it justice because I was dealing with internet issues and extreme heat weatherwise which had been affecting my Toshiba Satellite A500. It’s a credit to the operating system that I could rescue it from its crippled installation without having to resort to a completely new installation. I repaired the MergeList mess through Terminal. The only thing I haven’t been able to achieve as yet is get the TV going. It won’t work from a stick and it won’t work from the card. It may be to do with the fact Adelaide shifted channels when it went 100% digital and it may also be to do with the fact that the card and stick are hybrid tuners. It’s annoying because the first thing which has always worked on Linux Mint is the TV tuner. I’ll persevere. I have loaded everything I can think of , searched and used that help. Still nothing. I use Brasero for my music because I can also incorporate and look for podcasts. I use Firefox as the browser and Thunderbird as my email client because it automatically blocks images for security reasons. I have dressed up my desktop nicely with all the customising features available. On a good laptop Linux Mint 15 just goes. It runs everything (except TV), it is remarkably smooth and it’s not resource intensive. It can also run Flash respectably. Linux is usually hopeless on Flash and there is a horribly lag between clicking and action. It is painful normally. Not so with Linux Mint 15. It copes very well but will start pushing the processor after a little while. As I have said before, I come on Linux Mint to get away from it all. I am not bothered by anything, it’s very stable and just goes. Olivia is a very smooth operator and has some nice features in the menu so that you can easily manage , access and shift what you want. It also has some nice additions to the bottom taskbar so that you can keep up to date with settings and notifications. Linux likes to help you keep the desktop tidy. This means the load time is very fast. I am just about on Linux Mint 15 as soon as I have switched my laptop on. Compares well with Windows 8 in that respect. My latest and best find is Polly , a Twitter client which is very similar to TweetDeck. It loads quickly and is very efficient. I can now say that Linux Mint 15 is a classy, efficient version of Linux Mint and I enjoy using it.

Linux Mint 15 – Olivia

That has to have been the buggiest install I have ever had with Linux Mint. It is not necessarily due to Linux Mint 15. I am working under duress here because there are broadband and mobile upgrades going on all around me and there are also faults in the area. Some of it may also be because of the extreme heat we have been having. It is one of the reasons I wanted to convert my Toshiba Satellite A500 laptop solely to Linux. Windows runs hard and uses a lot of system resources. When it is exceedingly hot and humid on a regular basis then you need to take the strain off the hardware. I had a copy of Linux 15 and decided to install it…and the package manager had a MergeList problem. This meant I could not select software, I could not install software and I could not get updates. My installation was broken! There is some code you can put into Terminal to rectify the situation and it worked like a charm. You type one line at a time:

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -vf
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

It took over an hour on my gluey connection but my Linux 15 works perfectly now and I am currently installing Audacity. This would normally take a couple of minutes. Not today!!

I was going to Bluetooth this

There are some nice touches to Olivia . Bottom left are settings and notifications which scroll up when you want them to. The system settings is very similar to my MacBook Pro and customising the display is much easier. The Blue tooth doesn’t want to discover my Samsung Galaxy Express but I don’t blame it. I didn’t want to know it when I first met it either. I obviously will have to go through formal introductions. Linux Mint 15 is running smoothly under a slow connection and is managing well. I shall have to come back and give it a proper write up when I have normal access. In the meantime, it is doing what I want – taking the strain off my nice laptop.

Thank you to the Ubuntu Forum for the code which helped.

Linux Mint 15 Day 2

This morning Linux Mint is working even better. Last night some of the graphics on the themes for the desktop tool bar were looking a bit too big, but that is all sorted now. The desktop toolbar seems to have a bit of a problem. It now won’t open Firefox from it and when I minimised Chrome it wouldn’t maximise again. No big deal as such because they open from the menu without a problem.I made the mistake of minimising this post and it won’t open again. I had saved the draft, fortunately. It will be resolved but it’s a silly glitch. I have checked all the settings and therein lies the display power of Linux 15. The customisations can be fine tuned well. For me it is important to have a good looking desktop.The menu can now open over the top of my screen and I can still see what is on my screen. The glass effects are excellent and my Toshiba laptop has never looked so good. Downloading the themes easily means I can get the general effect right and then can use the settings to really make my desktop function well. I have enabled the desklets (desktop widgets ) but the Accu weather one doesn’t want to pick up my location. I have also downloaded Scribus from the package installer because it is really nice desktop publishing software. This really is a good version of Linux Mint. The glitches just need to be ironed out. Initially, it didn’t pick up the wifi but considering with Linux I normally have to manually install the drivers from Terminal, all I had to do was turn the wifi off, turn it on and reboot and it picked up my wifi straight away. Olivia comes with so much already packaged and prepared for you. It is very easy to install and work with. I have also loaded Ubuntu Tweak because it is a great piece of software for easily managing Linux settings and daily routine. In one place it fixes everything and you can see your options. I can’t believe how nice this all looks and it is a very responsive OS. As a teacher I am pleased to know there is such  quality software for any school or family. That is education for everyone, no hold barred. Learning is not held up by affordability.