Anyone used Linux on an HP2000 laptop?

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Windows 8 essentially sucks, as far as I'm concerned. I've never liked how proprietary HP laptops are and I'm

considering putting a Linux distro on this pile of junk. Am I going to need any patches for an HP 2000 AMD?

I remember having to visit HP's site on another laptop for a variety of patches, but that was years ago. Win8

came on this thing and I gues I'll try a dual boot unless someone has some experience and can guide me

down the path to salvation before I screw this thing up. :D

 

Any help will be greatly appreciated. My experience with Linux, in the past, has been primarily with Red Hat,

but am open to suggestions. I can get through command lining things eventually, but I ain't one of those guys

by choice, only necessity.

[Photoguy67]

You can down load a distro and just boot to cd and see if everything works okay before an entire install.

[enfield]

I've run Linux Mint on a Compaq Presario V2000, AMD processor.  Runs just fine, no problems installing.  Just make sure you get the AMD version.  I installed it on a separate drive, and can change from Windows to Linux by swapping drives.  Running XP at the moment because the weather station software I need to run is a windows app.

 

You should be able to install both OS's on a single drive.  Make sure that Windows is the first OS installed, then install the linux distro of your choice in a new partition.  If GRUB works correctly (not always a given), you should get a startup menu where you can choose your OS for the session.  I've installed dual-boot several times, most of the time it works just fine.

[RodMyers]

[quote name="6.8 AR" post="1097199" timestamp="1390064529"]Windows 8 essentially sucks, as far as I'm concerned. I've never liked how proprietary HP laptops are and I'm considering putting a Linux distro on this pile of junk. Am I going to need any patches for an HP 2000 AMD? I remember having to visit HP's site on another laptop for a variety of patches, but that was years ago. Win8 came on this thing and I gues I'll try a dual boot unless someone has some experience and can guide me down the path to salvation before I screw this thing up. :D Any help will be greatly appreciated. My experience with Linux, in the past, has been primarily with Red Hat, but am open to suggestions. I can get through command lining things eventually, but I ain't one of those guys by choice, only necessity.[/quote] Grab Linux mint live dvd. Making sure you're wireless connection is working Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I appreciate it. I've put Linux on boxes I built
and liked it, but have had problems with a missing
driver or two on some proprietary branded stuff,
like HP. Linux mint it is. I've done the dual boot
installing before. I'll do that, thanks. I just wanted
to make sure the HP was good for it.

I never did any programming or used Linux for
anything more than a hobby, but it's time to play,
once again.

[tnguy]

If you're a Windows guy, you could consider rolling back to 7. Linux is pretty good with drivers these days though and I found nothing missing in the last few installs I've done.

[mikegideon]

If you're a Windows guy, you could consider rolling back to 7. Linux is pretty good with drivers these days though and I found nothing missing in the last few installs I've done.

 

Right! Windows 8 really does suck. We're holding on Windows 7, which is just fine. If fact, I like it a lot. We passed on Vista as well. 

 

When it comes to Linux, we're only using it on some embedded platforms, where we never really see the OS. Those boxes are as stable as it gets. With that said, I don't have enough anarchist in me to try to use Linux on a day-to-day machine. I use a good version of Winders, and keep it patched and backed up.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I still use XP. I have plenty of anarchy in me. :D

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I still use XP. I have plenty of anarchy in me. :D

[JohnC]

I bought a new Dell desktop with Windows 8 Pro. I felt Windows 8 sucked bad, too.

But after I updated to Windows 8.1, it got tolerable. I stay on the desktop and avoid the metro/apps side of Windows 8.1.

Did you update to Windows 8.1 yet?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/features#personalize=startscreen

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/meet

[mikegideon]

I still use XP. I have plenty of anarchy in me. :D

 

Most of my boxes are still on XP

[tnguy]

Unfortunately, I had a couple of semi-forced upgrades but I'd still be on win2k if I could.

[jgradyc]

I too got totally disgusted with Windows 8 after upgrading from Windows 7 on a nearly new Lenovo E430. I installed Linux Mint on it. I also have Linux Mint on an old HP nc8430. It runs fine. 

 

For what it's worth, I had problems with the dual boot and Windows 8.  When a new update comes out, Windows 8 must reboot, but I had my laptop set to default boot to Linux if I didn't make a choice. During one of these reboots, it trashed my hard drive. 

 

You can boot into Linux several ways instead of setting up a dual boot. Here is what I do.

 

If you have an old laptop (or $50 you can spare), remove that hard drive and put it in your HP and install whatever version of Linux you prefer.  Or you can get a 250GB hard drive on eBay for $40-$50.  

[mikegideon]

Unfortunately, I had a couple of semi-forced upgrades but I'd still be on win2k if I could.

 

XP was just Win2K with cartoons. 

[tnguy]

Yep. There was nothing wrong with win2k that a couple of tweaks, some security patches, the latest DirectX and a port to 64 bit couldn't have solved.

 

I wish these guys could succeed.  http://www.reactos.org/

Edited January 19, 2014 by tnguy

[mikegideon]

There was much rejoicing when they came out with 2k. Before that, I had I guy put Me on a few boxes, and I told him I would fire him if he did it again. You just can't count on M'soft to come out with an enterprise ready OS. Like I said, we completely skipped Vista. That means we wouldn't buy any hardware, desktops or laptops, that didn't have a set of XP drivers. 

 

By the time they fixed all the crap in Vista, it morphed in Win7, which is fine. I expect they'll fix Win8, since I believe it's the same core. They just have to get it business friendly. By the time it's fixed, it could turn into Win9.

[tnguy]

I believe win9 is rumored to be in the pipes.

 

I only ever had a brief 5 minute encounter with ME on a used laptop I bought. Unfortunately it did not seem to get on particularly well with a fresh install of '98. Ran Linux like a champ as my router and mail server for a year or two though.

[mikegideon]

I believe win9 is rumored to be in the pipes.

 

I only ever had a brief 5 minute encounter with ME on a used laptop I bought. Unfortunately it did not seem to get on particularly well with a fresh install of '98. Ran Linux like a champ as my router and mail server for a year or two though.

 

Me was a turd. It was Windows 98 with cartoons. Win2k was the NT core, and was much more stable. We were already using NT on high reliability machines, like audio playout servers. It just wasn't as desktop friendly as 98.

Edited January 19, 2014 by mikegideon

[Joseg]

Can some tell what you guys are experiencing with Win8? I've been running it since beta and haven't found any reason to go back to win7, btw I'm running 8.1 pro and using it just like I always did, go to desktop and work, go to the MetroUI on occasions...

[Guest 6.8 AR]

It just looks like Gate's folly into the Iphone looking way to noncomputing. Those dumb app like icons. First thing I did was put Firefox

on it. Doubt I would have ever used the rest of the junk on it. It's too cutesy pie for me.

[tnguy]

An OS should get out of the way. From what I've heard, win8 goes out of its way to get in yours. 

[mikegideon]

I'll be honest, I haven't played with it. My IT guy did, and he said it sucks. May be great on a tablet. I just do a lot of work on my machines. They should at least provide a mode to lock all that crap out.

[blueghost]

I've put Linux Mint alongside (dual boot) various Windows OS's for family & friends and they have no complaints. They especially love it when Windows acts wonky and they can pull files from Windows while in Linux. Ubuntu has a ton of support in the Linux community so that is another option. Good luck Edited January 19, 2014 by blueghost

[ironsniper1]

i love linux mint and windows 7, i am currently on a contract job for TVA doing windows 7 migrations and from all the users i have talked to they all like it and think its better than XP

Edited January 19, 2014 by luke9511

[NoBanStan]

Honestly, i don't think Windows 8 is nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be. It's different... that's why most seem to hate it.

 

As a gamer, i wouldn't use it at home for all the directx debacle... but i use a Win8 laptop for work every day (Sys Admin) and i have no issues with it.

 

As far as Linux... depends on how well you know Linux. If you're wanting a GUI and simple, there's always Ubuntu