linux on toshiba satellite A75-S231

[horayforjoe]

My name is Joe, i have a toshiba satellite A75-S231 and it is very slow running windows xp. i have absolutely no experience with linux but i heard that it might help my computer run faster. I'm just wondering which version of linux will help it run the fastest without sacrificing too much performance. thanks in advance for any and all help.

[kurtl80]

f you don't want to lose your data on XP you could startup Linux from a USB drive and if that works out great you can decide to completely erase XP from your system and install a Linux distro.a popular Linux distros is Ubuntu.

[GreenSkyChris]

Or, you can install from disk like normal. I dont understand why you mention installing from a USB as his laptop has a DVD drive...

[horayforjoe]

i don't have any data on there i need. it's just my secondary computer in case my desktop dumps on me. i think i just want to go with a distro. thanks for the opinions, but i still need help on the actual install process. I'm gonna search through other threads and if i don't find anything I'll come back here and ask for help.

[GreenSkyChris]

download the version of linux you want, burn it to disk.

Put the disk in the laptop, restart and press F12 at the bios post screen to select "boot from CD/DVD" and follow the onscreen install instructions. Its pretty simple.

If the F12 does not work you will more than likely have to enter the BIOS (which is usally either F2 or DEL on startup) and change the boot order to have CD/DVD as first boot option.

[horayforjoe]

is there any specific version of ubuntu you would recommend, and if possible link me to it?

[GreenSkyChris]

Download | Ubuntu

[horayforjoe]

thanks. is there anything special i have to do in order to burn it to the disc?

[GreenSkyChris]

No, just burn it as a "disk image" which 99% of burning programs have as an option.

[horayforjoe]

okay, but this says it's a desktop version. will it still be okay on a laptop?