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Linux to replace w10

Yllen1 Posted messages 3 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   -  
brucine Posted messages 24848 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   -

Hello everyone

Hoping to anticipate a "failure" of Windows 10, I would like to install Linux on my old laptop (Toshiba TIH0041200A).

I have managed to create a partition of 181 GB.

Now I would like to know how to install Linux (which I have used before) and be able to choose at startup between Windows 10 (C drive) or Linux (Y drive).

Thank you in advance for your solutions, and I'll respond to any details I may have missed.

1 answer

  1.
    Winux01 Posted messages 263 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   17
     

    Hello,

    You don't seem to have a grasp of the basics; there are errors in your statements.

    Linux is a kernel; when referring to Linux as an operating system, we're talking about "Linux distributions" by naming the one you want to install.

    Moreover, we do not create a partition for disks; you're mistaking it with what Windows tells you, which doesn't use technical language.

    The installation of Windows creates several partitions on a disk; what you falsely refer to as a C: drive is a partition named by Windows, readable by its file explorer; Linux has nothing to do with it. However, what you refer to as a Y: drive is still a partition named Y formatted by Windows that needs to be deleted and assigned to the partitions dedicated to your Linux distribution during its installation.

    Linux does not name things the same way. For example, dev/sda is a Linux disk name.

    To boot into Windows or Linux, Linux distributions sometimes offer to automatically create everything, including partitioning with the amount of data allocated as you wish, but there will no longer be the Windows bootable sector, replaced by the grub of Linux, so be careful; if you delete the Linux partitions, you will need to recreate the Windows boot partition.

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    1. Winux01 Posted messages 263 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   17
       

      But also, what is stopping you from reinstalling Windows and making a bootable USB instead, if you want to anticipate a "breakdown," rather than opting for a Linux distribution if it's too complicated? It's basic to know how to format Windows.

      If it's a hardware problem, it won't help either; by the way, you haven't given the actual model reference of your Toshiba, I can't find anything concrete online with your number.

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    2. brucine Posted messages 24848 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   4 169
       

      Hello,

      Aside from a hardware issue, we will eventually have to abandon Windows 10 if we take security updates into account.

      A boot key is irrelevant; we should always have one at home regardless.

      The question isn't more or less technical on either side, but paradoxically the dual boot as mentioned does not remove Windows. However, for most Linux distributions and for beginners, it doesn’t matter how the partitioning will be seen by Windows or Linux, except that we will need to start by creating a new partition (so under Windows) to host Linux.

      Formally, the Grub boot manager of Linux does not make the Windows one disappear but takes control over it, so indeed, if we change our mind, we cannot simply delete the Linux partition without having removed it beforehand.

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    3. Winux01 Posted messages 263 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   17 > brucine Posted messages 24848 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention  
       

      Hello brucine,

      Yes indeed, if he has heard online about the end of security support for Windows 10, it is better for him to switch to a Linux distribution.

      Thank you for the details about grub and dual boot.

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    4. Winux01 Posted messages 263 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   17 > Yllen1 Posted messages 3 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention  
       

      What, without a bootable key? On an online site?

      https://distrosea.com/fr/

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    5. brucine Posted messages 24848 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   4 169 > Yllen1 Posted messages 3 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention  
       

      There is nothing to check; you can install a Linux distribution on any computer. The only contingencies are the hardware capabilities of that computer, although even modern Linux versions are less demanding than Windows, and there are distributions tailored for limited hardware (and, incidentally, the peripherals to be used).

      We don’t see what used to be possible and is no longer today, except that very old computers may not have USB ports or a BIOS that allows booting from them.

      It has always, but why make it simple when you can make it complicated, been possible to start the installation from a burned CD/DVD when there is a drive, but of course you have to burn it; from a PXE network when there is another computer on the network and the BIOS allows it; or by mounting an ISO, which becomes less simple if the starting operating system doesn’t do it automatically.

      The different "manual" ways of proceeding are more technical; if you adopt a distribution and an installation method that do not automatically allow for dual-boot, it will not be enough to create one partition, but it will need to be an extn and to create several dedicated subpartitions, then manually create the boot sector.

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