Sunday, July 14, 2024
Trying Linux from Windows
Old threads unwind, a chance to start anew,
Like leaves in fall, a canvas fresh with dew.
How to start a Linux adventure? It's not easy, especially if you come as a long-time Windows user with "hard-wired" habits of using the Windows operating system interface. After frustrations due to the impossibility of adaptation very few people continue to use Linux. But if you take a little more time to adjust, you might get used to it.
Why would anyone use Linux?
Linux is free! Download the ISO, install, update, all for free, without viruses and ads. In addition, Linux is faster and uses less system resources, it doesn't track you, it doesn't profile you and then monetize your data without your consent (or buried in huge terms of use). Simply put, Linux is a modern and better designed operating system. Linux (as a kernel) is used on 80% of web servers and in all Android smartphones. It is a safe and proven technology.
Acquiring prior knowledge before installation
VirtualBox is, as its name suggests, a virtual box (PC). With this program, it is possible to create a virtual PC, assign a certain amount of your memory and hard disk to it, and after adjusting the settings, install the Linux ISO. We use VirtualBox here as a platform on which it is possible to install Linux distributions in Windows without messing with the partition of your Windows installation.
After that, you can start with the old hardware. Almost everyone has a last generation laptop or bucket that you can install Linux on. Another option is to get an additional hard drive and install a new OS on it without worry. The installation procedure is the same, except that you use Rufus like this, then in the bios set the boot from USB stick. Basically, here we will deal with VirtualBox and with Rufus maybe later.
First, download and install
Oracle Virtualbox, and then download
Manjaro Linux XFCE ISO (~2GB file).
We start the application and select "New".
We select Type: 'Linux' and Version: 'Other Linux (64-bit)'.
We occupy 2048 MB of memory.
'Create virtual hard disk' and select 'VDI hard disk type'.
Dynamically allocated.
8GB.
Go to Settings/Display and set 'Video Memory' to 64 MB.
Go to Settings/Storage.
Choose to download Manjaro ISO.
Click start, to exit the Virtualbox window press the right CTRL key.
Boot with proprietary drivers.
Sometimes the boot gets stuck because of the VirtualBox network, so turn it off:
We will be greeted by the 'Welcome' window. You can turn it off and explore our new operating system a bit.
This is only a temporary boot, which means that the OS is not installed. Temporary boot is like a 'rescue system', it means a system with which we can repair the installation or save data.
GParted
...is a tool for formatting your hard disk partitions. We open it by typing "gparted" in the start menu. We can see our 8GB partition from VirtualBox. First we have to create a 'partition table', so click on 'Create Partition Table...'.
We select the MSDOS table:
Then we create a partition, click on the menu 'Partition->New':
Then ‘Add’.
Click on the 'Apply' icon.
If everything is fine, then we'll just add the 'boot' flag:
At the end, just confirm everything again with the Apply icon and we can close Gparted:
Installation
There is an 'Install Manjaro Linux' icon on the desktop, so click it.
First you will be greeted by the choice of installation language. We leave 'American English' set.
Next is the selection of the location where we are.
So choosing a keyboard:
After preparing the partitions, we select manual:
We click on 'Edit'. Then we set, '/' as mount point.
We set up the user. 'abcd' is our username and password.
In the end, you just need to click on the 'Install' button.
The installation itself takes ~5 minutes.
Click the 'Done' button.
Click on the icon below to remove the ISO.
After that do a 'Shutdown' from Manjaro.
Now just start your virtual Manjaro.
There, feel free to explore our new operating system. If something goes wrong, just reinstall. If something is not clear to you, you can always search on the search engine or ask on the forums.
You can try other distributions in the same way. Among the more interesting ones, we recommend
xubuntu and
artix.
