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Gateway Laptop

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Infrasonic
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Re: Gateway Laptop

#7348

Postby Infrasonic » November 21st, 2016, 12:25 pm

If you are using Open Office why not just stick Linux on it?
There are quite a few distros that are lean and mean that will work with 2GB of RAM OK.

Even better would be to swap the HDD for an SSD and then any swap file/page file activity would speed up considerably (you might even find W7 works OK with an SSD in place), negating some of the RAM shortcomings.

I appreciate you don't want to blow any more money on an old laptop, but if you shop around and wait for a deal you could get a decent 120GB SSD for under thirty quid.
The current HDD could be put in a USB caddy and used as a backup drive externally, or if you have a router with a USB output you could network the drive.

chas49
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Re: Gateway Laptop

#7352

Postby chas49 » November 21st, 2016, 12:34 pm

I would suggest that you still have a valid licence for Vista (assuming you still have a record of the product key - which should be on the COA sticker). Replacing the HDD doesn't invalidate the licence.

So if you haven't got the installation media, buying it on eBay for a few quid and using your previous licence details should work (and would be legal). Using the details provided by an unknown eBay seller might work but might not be legal.

HOWEVER, Vista ended Mainstream Support back in 2012, and ends extended support in April next year (11 Apr 2017).

W7 ended Mainstream Support in January 2015 but will stay in extended support until Jan 2020

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/hel ... fact-sheet

So - you could go back to Vista but you won't be getting any security fixes after the Spring. Your laptop will run W7 but as you've found, it may not really be up to the job now (it must be at least 6 years old as Vista went off-sale in October 2010??)

Perhaps it is time for a new one?

kiloran
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Re: Gateway Laptop

#7375

Postby kiloran » November 21st, 2016, 1:15 pm

Snorvey wrote:1. How do I get W7 off my 'new' hard drive and start again?
2. How do I get a copy of Linux (and which version?) (and how do I get it on to the machine (USB stick like I did with W7?))
3. My Open Office and and Mozilla browser will work?
4. What about all the device drivers and stuff for the laptop?
5. Thank you again.


Scrub the above (I think). I'm on the 'What is Linux' page....it looks like fun (really!)

https://www.linux.com/what-is-linux

So it looks like Linux Ubunto instalation will take care of Point 1, 2,3, 4 and well, 5 I guess.

Right, I'll report back later!

Since you are new to Linux, I think you'll find Linux Mint rather more Windows-like than Ubuntu. But I'm sure you'll get on well with either.
My spare laptop is a Vista machine, and Linux has transformed it. It's far faster than it has ever been under Windows.

--kiloran

Tymeric
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Re: Gateway Laptop

#7379

Postby Tymeric » November 21st, 2016, 1:21 pm

So it looks like Linux Ubunto instalation will take care of Point 1, 2,3, 4 and well, 5 I guess.

...and the great thing is...if you don't like the layout...you can try another flavour.

Personally I'm a fan of Linux Mint but there are plenty of choices here....

https://distrowatch.com/

with the list of popular downloads on the right....

Infrasonic
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Re: Gateway Laptop

#7382

Postby Infrasonic » November 21st, 2016, 1:29 pm

kiloran wrote:
Snorvey wrote:1. How do I get W7 off my 'new' hard drive and start again?
2. How do I get a copy of Linux (and which version?) (and how do I get it on to the machine (USB stick like I did with W7?))
3. My Open Office and and Mozilla browser will work?
4. What about all the device drivers and stuff for the laptop?
5. Thank you again.


Scrub the above (I think). I'm on the 'What is Linux' page....it looks like fun (really!)

https://www.linux.com/what-is-linux

So it looks like Linux Ubunto instalation will take care of Point 1, 2,3, 4 and well, 5 I guess.

Right, I'll report back later!

Since you are new to Linux, I think you'll find Linux Mint rather more Windows-like than Ubuntu. But I'm sure you'll get on well with either.

--kiloran


I agree, try Mint first as it has all the 'drivers' as part of the download, so less chance of keyboard and trackpad problems when installing on an old laptop.

Google your specific laptop model number first with a linux distro and see if there are any installation issues. There are quite a few databases out there of old hardware that has been successfully 'Linuxed'.

Read up on it all first. Or even better, go on to Youtube and watch some of the better video tutorials about installing Linux on older hardware.
When you see the procedure in real time it makes following written instructions much simpler I have found.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EAes8D ... vlKSp7KHmy

Some of the best written tutorials are here...http://www.howtogeek.com/search/?q=inst ... old+laptop

kiloran
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Re: Gateway Laptop

#7738

Postby kiloran » November 22nd, 2016, 1:35 pm

Snorvey wrote:...and here we are. The Gateway lives!

Wow. Very impressive with Firefox. Very impressive indeed.

Thank you all very much.

Excellent news, Snorvey. Linux really does give a new lease of life to hardware which can be unusable with Windows. It seems so quick and responsive. One of these days, I might treat myself to a new laptop with an SSD. I'm sure it would really fly with Linux.

--kiloran

Infrasonic
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Re: Gateway Laptop

#7788

Postby Infrasonic » November 22nd, 2016, 3:06 pm

Snorvey wrote:[i]

One thing is for sure, I've noticed a few systems are sold without an operating system and I would normally steer well clear of these. Not any more. I'd be quite happy loading Mint on a new machine
.


As a general point just do a bit of research first, as some of the more recent laptop / hybrids aren't great with Linux straight after release.
It's mostly driver related touchscreen, keyboard and trackpad issues, but there are a few machines where even getting Linux to boot is an issue.

It gets sorted eventually but many of the manufacturers work on the basis that Windows is going to be installed and tweak accordingly.
Dell and a few other majors have Linux factory installed options like the Dell XPS 'developer' edition, which are Linux optimised.

Ubuntu is generally regarded as a good fit across the board if you need touch screen capability as well as standard keyboard/mouse and trackpad (laptop) compatibility, say if you had several devices and wanted to rationalise to one Linux distro across all of them.

Infrasonic
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Re: Gateway Laptop

#8362

Postby Infrasonic » November 23rd, 2016, 10:00 pm

Probably the WiFi chipset drivers need updating.

Google the laptop make / model number and 'linux mint wifi drivers' together as one search term, you should get some Linux forum hits showing you various solutions.
Or search for the specific chipset in the laptop and combine that with the 'Linux mint wifi drivers' bit.

Tymeric
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Re: Gateway Laptop

#8438

Postby Tymeric » November 24th, 2016, 7:52 am

The only thing is I can't seem to get it to connect wirelessly

Linux Mint have their own forums where you may find help with this.....

https://forums.linuxmint.com/

You could consider starting a new topic here.....

In the meantime, you could go to the terminal and type...

lspci

scroll down to network controller which should give you the wireless chipset...mine is a Broadcom BCM4312 (that has exhausted my knowledge)

then have a Google..?


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