Dumping Windows SP3 to install Ubuntu Linux

[avc]

I purchased a used machine, the seller had preloaded Windows XP pro on the computer, well you know the story, I got it home, plugged it into the internet and M$ started auto updating to SP 3 and I had no way to block it like I did with an XP blocking script as I did in the past with another Windows box.

Needless to say the machine could not handle IE 8 and SP 3, so I ordered a Ubuntu CD, now the mission is to install that and remove the Windows OS.

I need your help as the only thing I ever ran in Linux was Mepis 3.3 from the CD without installing it to hard drive.

I want to simply have Ubuntu running with no dual boot or partitions on this old used machine.

How do I convert this machine and successfully install Ubuntu and remove Windows XP pro SP 3 and IE 8 without screwing everything up ??

[Rubberman]

Get/burn a live CD/DVD for Ubuntu and install it. It will ask if you want to use the entire disc, or allow you to specify the size of partitions (/boot, swap, /, /home) to use. It will happily blow away xp for you (or not if you so desire).

[techieMoe]

I purchased a used machine, the seller had preloaded Windows XP pro on the computer, well you know the story, I got it home, plugged it into the internet and M$ started auto updating to SP 3 and I had no way to block it like I did with an XP blocking script as I did in the past with another Windows box.

Needless to say the machine could not handle IE 8 and SP 3, so I ordered a Ubuntu CD, now the mission is to install that and remove the Windows OS.

I need your help as the only thing I ever ran in Linux was Mepis 3.3 from the CD without installing it to hard drive.

I want to simply have Ubuntu running with no dual boot or partitions on this old used machine.

How do I convert this machine and successfully install Ubuntu and remove Windows XP pro SP 3 and IE 8 without screwing everything up ??

Your situation (straight Linux, no dual-boots) is perhaps the simplest one to do. All you need to do is pop in your Ubuntu CD, boot from it, and tell the installer to "Use entire drive," which will erase anything on there like your XP install and give you a fresh Linux-only box.

The only difficulty you might run into is getting the CD to boot, which can usually be accomplished by modifying your boot order with F12 or F1 when you hear the computer beep (right after you turn it on).

[avc]

Yes, that is what I have been wanting to do for years, "Blow away Windows", but I have been stuck with boxes full of files that I could not risk, that is always the problem with Windows users.

But with a new (old) machine with no files on it, I have nothing to lose.

I thank you both for the confidence I now have, I am hoping it is as easy as you say once I get the install CD !!!

PS: Do I have to worry about malware and anti-virus systems straight away once this machine is running Linux OS ?

[techieMoe]

PS: Do I have to worry about malware and anti-virus systems straight away once this machine is running Linux OS ?

Not really. There are good firewall and antivirus apps for Linux (gufw and ClamAV are my favorites, respectively) but they're more for keeping your computer from passing on Windows viruses than mitigating any threats on Linux itself. Just keep your system up to date and you should be fine.

[avc]

This is great, because running Windows XP pro with SP 3 and IE 8 along with an AV made this machine frustratingly slow.

Does this OS run good on older machines with lower memory and slow CPU's than what is in the stores today ?

[techieMoe]

Does this OS run good on older machines with lower memory and slow CPU's than what is in the stores today ?

That depends entirely on what you run on it. The default set of services and apps on Ubuntu works fine on a machine that's a few years old (my laptop is from 2007). If you're talking 5+ years then you're likely to see some slowdown. You can speed things up by using a different desktop GUI, like swapping out the default GNOME for LXDE. I'd only tweak stuff if you notice things not behaving well in the default configuration though.

[avc]

Is it easy to swap out the GUI also ?

[Rubberman]

Is it easy to swap out the GUI also ?

You can install multiple GUI's with Linux and then choose which one you want to run when you login. That's because there might be more than one user of the computer, and not all of them will necessarily want to run the same desktop UI. Some might want KDE, others Gnome, and others might want something else, even an old UI such as the Motif Window Manager.

[coopstah13]

maybe even some people might want to just use X with no wm

Reminds me of some of the matlab unix boxes at my old university. All it had was xdm and then log right in to an x session with no WM. Very archaic.