<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">Yes, I have one SATA connector on the old laptop. I am hearing several votes in favor of Mint/Mate. Since I don't have a ton of free time, hoping maybe someone can provide a decent overview of the process. I'd like to ignore the hard drive on the laptop and try to boot off a thumb drive as we've been discussing. Basically treat the laptop as if it were already dead. I have a fully modern, fully functional desktop workstation running Win 10 for downloads and manipulations of the thumb drive. So what are the basic steps? Download to the workstation and then send files over to the thumb, or download straight to the thumb? In either case, how do I make the thumb bootable?</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div>Thanks in advance...</div><div>SO</div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Feb 17, 2020 at 9:53 AM cgs <<a href="mailto:oxygenfarm@gmail.com">oxygenfarm@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<font size="+1">Most versions of Linux are free and legal to
download; some charge for a prepared thumb drive and/or a phone
help service.<br>
I have several computers that age which will run the lighter Linux
versions. A new solid state drive (120 GB) can be found online or
at MicroCenter for $25 (be sure your old iron has SATA
connectors!)<br>
</font><br>
<div>On 2/17/20 5:20 AM, Stephen Offiler
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">Hi Phil:
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I've got a Dell from about 2009 or so, perhaps a
3000-series (?), running XP. At the time it was a
workstation-class laptop, capable of running 3D CAD
software. I don't use it much anymore, but it definitely
comes in handy sometimes. Nothing important is stored on
it. Hard drive has given me a few scares over the last
several years, but it comes back every time (on it's own; I
have not done anything heroic). This bootable thumb drive
thing is intriguing because you don't need any hard drive at
all with it. In your scenario, with the hidden partition,
you still need a functional hard drive. Plus, there's been
enough discussion of Linux here on ATIS (and elsewhere) that
I'm curious.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>SO</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>On Mon, Feb 17, 2020 at 5:08 AM Phil Auten <<a href="mailto:pga2@basicisp.net" target="_blank">pga2@basicisp.net</a>>
wrote:</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<p>Hi, Stephen,</p>
<p>I don't remember what brand of PC you have, but several
manufacturers provide a "hidden partition" on the hard
drive that can be used to restore the PC back to factory
settings. On both of my Acer laptops the <Alt-F10>
keys are pressed together during boot. This enables the
restore function. That would, however, wipe out your
files. But if there is no other alternative it would be
worth a try. The laptop I am using to type this suffered
a hard drive crash a couple of years ago. The hard drive
was no longer recognized. Using the Acer part number, I
was able to find the exact same hard drive on eBay. I
had to completely rebuild my setup, but still much less
expensive than a new laptop.</p>
<p>If that $35 thumb drive is bootable, that would still
be a good option for me.</p>
<p>My 2¢</p>
<p>Phil in TX<br>
</p>
<br>
<div>On 2/16/2020 5:44 AM, Stephen Offiler wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">Hi farmer: When you say no reason to buy
anything, I assume you refer to that $35 thumb drive
device I mentioned. As I understand it, the thumb
drive is bootable, circumventing the hard drive and
whatever OS is on the machine. The sales pitch is
that it will take a machine that's bricked and bring
it back to life. Do you have a way to accomplish that
for free?
<div><br>
</div>
<div>SO</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Feb 15, 2020
at 10:39 PM Indiana Robinson <<a href="mailto:robinson46176@gmail.com" target="_blank">robinson46176@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>No reason to buy anything, Most distributions
of Linux will read Windows files. You can copy,
paste move etc. and you can download anything
for free. I don't putter with old stuff as much
as I used to but I've used Knoppix for such
things for many years. I don't know if Windows
10 can read Linux files yet or not but I once
read that it was soon to be an option. If you
install Linux as a dual boot with Windows you
can just access your Windows files without
having to reboot back into Windows to find them
or work with them.</div>
<div>Half of the Linux learning curve is
terminology... If you have become comfortable
using Android you are half way there. Android is
just a mobile (and tablet) version of Linux.
Android is built on and running the Linux Kernel
but your desktop box won't run Android.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>.<br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Feb 15,
2020 at 9:33 AM cgs <<a href="mailto:oxygenfarm@gmail.com" target="_blank">oxygenfarm@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div> <font size="+1">Look at <u><a href="http://www.linuxandubuntu.com/home/5-best-data-recovery-tools-for-linux-to-recover-data-or-deleted-partitions" target="_blank">http://www.linuxandubuntu.com/home/5-best-data-recovery-tools-for-linux-to-recover-data-or-deleted-partitions</a></u></font><br>
<br>
<div>On 2/15/20 7:12 AM, Stephen Offiler
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">Good to hear it's all set.
I've been seeing ad's for a device called
"XtraPC" which, it turns out, is some
flavor of Linux burned onto a thumb drive
for something like $35. You can bring
back most troublesome old machines from
the grave (assuming the problem is hard
drive/boot software, not some hardware
failure of course). What I do not know is
whether you can access your Windows files
under Linux. Curious about that.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>SO</div>
<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre cols="72">--
Charlie</pre>
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-- <br>
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>-- <br>
<br>
Francis Robinson<br>
aka "farmer"<br>
Central Indiana USA<br>
<a href="mailto:robinson46176@gmail.com" target="_blank">robinson46176@gmail.com</a><br>
<br>
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