Suggestions for Low-end (<$300) Laptop for PCLOS?

[OMSkates]

OK, went with the Dell. Now I want to be sure I do the install correctly, and not trash Win7 (I may need it for certain peripherals in future), so am proceeding cautiously at this point.

Will Check topic headers here for possible help on that ...

Thanks!

Glad you found one   Since this is a fresh install of Win7 you're dual boot install will go much smoother than on an older Win system.

[Ferdes Fides]

OK, went with the Dell. Now I want to be sure I do the install correctly, and not trash Win7

One last question, do you have a backup copy of W7 on a DVD, portable or flashdrive ?
If you do you can relax about losing it somehow.   Probably need a new thread to go into
that and then proceed to the PCL Linux install.

[OldProfessorBear]

Well, I got the machine. Made the Win7 restore DVDs (2 DVDs? Why?) and installed PCLOS 2011.9 from LiveCD, resizing Win7 OS partition to fairly small, then let LiveCD install have it's way with it. Seems to have worked fine (though I did have to fool around with the video settings because of the 1366x768 screen). Just turned it on and let Win7 run chkdsk, then booted into Linux.

Hopefuly, that ought to be enough insurance(?). I assume I'd have to undo it all if I need warranty service. And then redo it when I get the thing back. (I'm pretty good at fixing desktop hardware, but much less so with laptops.)

Now the fun part: installing packages and trying to duplicate my preferred settings, esp. for Firefox. Last time I switched machines, I used the MyLiveCD method(?), but had to futz around with it because I already had too much stuff on my filesystem. What I'd like to do now is "clone" my usual user (which I haven't yet set up on the laptop, just a "guest" account) to preserve the settings. Would also be nice to be able to keep it in sync. I probably won't be installing all the packages I have on the desktop, but will probably install a few that I don't. Where they coincide, I'd prefer to keep them as similar as possible.

Thanks for all the help.

[Ferdes Fides]

Well, I got the machine. Made the Win7 restore DVDs (2 DVDs? Why?) and installed
PCLOS 2011.9 from LiveCD

Yes, that's pretty well installed then.   Once you have W7 restore DVD's made you
can always install PCL and resize things around till they're perfect.   I wish my
computer needed replacing, missing a few good deals at the store.

Have a good one.

FF

[T6]

"Well, I got the machine. Made the Win7 restore DVDs (2 DVDs? Why?)"

last year i installed some stuff on a new toshiba, the restore tool wasted 3 dvds, 1 hour of my life wasted

the fun part is that this restoration image wipes hard disk completely, it doesn't install the os, just copies everything, i hate that stuff, it is better to have the installation disc

[Crow]

Now get rid of all the demo software and make an image of the partition, otherwise it will erase the pclinux partition in case you need to reinstall win7 someday, which I have no doubt you will 

[OldProfessorBear]

Now get rid of all the demo software and make an image of the partition, otherwise it will erase the pclinux partition in case you need to reinstall win7 someday, which I have no doubt you will 

Using the same system recovery method or something else (I don't know Windows >2000)?

[Crow]

There are several options to make an image and probably someone with more experience than me could help.
Maybe start another thread.

[rvinfo]

I felt the same way about experimenting with PCLOS and not wanting to damage Windows till I was ready to "burn the bridge".

Got on ebay and bought a 20GB hard drive and caddy to fit my laptop, then downloaded YUMI from pendrivelinux dot com and installed PCLOS 2011.7 to a 2GB flash drive. Pulled the working hard drive and set it aside so I couldn't mess it up, then booted with the flash drive and installed PCLOS on the 20GB drive. All of that for less than $40. It's easy to shut down, change hard drives and come back another day...

[praxis]

Quote from: OldProfessorBear on September 23, 2011, 06:03:21 PM

I'm inclined to disregard the eMachine, mainly because of the higher weight. The computers are strikingly similar in many respects, so it's hard to figure out the best deal among them (remember, my hardware knowledge is years out of date, and I never even heard of some of these CPUs).


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I hope this helps.