Today I decided to make my second computer, Caristiona, into a Linux machine without Windows at all. I wasn't having any success getting it to boot from the Mint disk. I thought there was something wrong with the CD drive until I put a different CD in and it was visible. I wasted some time by downloading Mint again and burning a second disk, then I discovered I had the computer's boot sequence set wrong. It was set to boot from a floppy first (yeah, this one's old enough that I built in a floppy drive), then the hard drive, then the CD-ROM. I reversed the order and it booted from the CD.
My 120 GB drive was partitioned into two equal parts, but the stuff on the D: drive just barely fit onto a second 80 GB drive. Once I'd moved stuff, I did the Mint installation so Linux occupies the whole C: drive.
One thing I've noticed it I can now run both Sileas and Caristiona without the network connection dropping, so I can access the internet from both computers. Under Windows, the connection would drop within a half hour of starting up the second computer, and it didn't matter which one I started first.
Network connections seem kind of off and on, so I probably need to learn some stuff to make it more reliable. I wanted to copy over the files for my home page from Sileas to Caristiona, but couldn't make it work. So I copied the files onto my 160 GB Seagate USB external drive, unplugged it from Sileas and plugged it into Caristiona. Then I copied the folder onto the 120 GB drive and set it up as my Firefox home page. That saved me from having to edit things so all the icons show up because I'd already fixed it.
I'm finding that I'm not going back to Windows on Sileas very much at all. I suppose I'll keep the Windows partition on that machine for a while. I do have some programs that might prove useful now and then.
One very nice thing about Linux is I don't have to be concerned about viruses. Overall, I'm pleased that I finally got to making the switch on a computer I normally use. I may be using Caristiona more often too. I'm writing this post on that machine, for instance.
Several years ago when I bought Sileas, I didn't really need another computer, but she's faster and the price was right since she's a refurbished HP machine. Caristiona, one I built, was only about two years old at the time I got Sileas, so I expect there's a lot of life left in her.
The name Caristiona comes from an album by George Jackson and Maggie MacInnes. It's the title track from the album which came out in 1984.
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