Linux laptop - is it worth it?

Advice needed, any opinions or thoughts welcome.
I'm considering buying a cheap laptop - in particular, a new Lenovo G40 or G50 which can be had for only $250. I know, I could save a little bit getting a used laptop, but for the price difference I'd rather have my own, unused laptop. What I want to do though is install a linux os, probably Mint or Ubuntu. I've always wanted to learn how to use linux operating systems. I can't really foresee any other use for it than just playing around with linux and maybe using it for occasional away-from-home schoolwork. Even then, it's not necessary.
So... Is it worth it to buy a laptop just to fiddle around with linux? Why or why not?

Why not just dual boot with the computer you have now?

a reply to: trollz

Oh it's totally worth it.

Mint is a wonderful OS.

I can hardly find anything with it, that I can't do in Windows or MAC. Sure there's often a bit more configuration required, but as you learn it becomes easier.

And you'll thank yourself for the knowledge down the road.

I do agree with the post above, you could just dual boot the drive and then play all you'd like off it.

~Tenth

Download linux puppy www.puppylinux.com... stick it on a usb stick as others say just duelboot

distrowatch.com...

Download the live dvd of Mint, and Ubuntu first, and boot your pc from each, and test them out. That's really the simplest way to 'mess' around with Linux without causing any potential issues to your existing PC, and determining which one you like. It will also aid in your decision on whether or not it's worthwhile to purchase a superfluous laptop.

Download and install VirtualBox, then install the Linux distro of your choice. This way you don't have to spend any money to learn Linux and can get a dedicated host machine if/when you decide to do that.

I currently am running Red Hat as a NAT server, three instances of Kali (Debian) Linux, a MetaSploit Box, and an Ubuntu box through VirtualBox in my test (penetration) environment.

www.virtualbox.org...

a reply to: trollz

As some others have said, you can just download the Mint or Ubuntu ISO and burn it to a DVD (Live CD/DVD option), or you can create a bootable USB stick (Live USB option) with it, and play with Linux all you want without changing anything on your hard drive, or having to buy another computer.

Using a Live DVD/CD or USB stick is the easiest way to go. Dual-boot with Windows installed first, then Linux is the second best thing. If your laptop has more than one hard disk drive slot, you could install a separate OS on each disk drive.

A Live CD or dual boot is nice, but if you use a hypervisor you can play with multiple distros simultaneously, and you can also learn how to configure a network in Linux.

Linux Network Admins are in high demand. =]

originally posted by: TinkerHaus
Download and install VirtualBox, then install the Linux distro of your choice. This way you don't have to spend any money to learn Linux and can get a dedicated host machine if/when you decide to do that.

This is a great suggestion!

I'm running Win 7 with a few different flavors of Linux in Vbox even though I have a full Cisco lab in my house with a dedicated VMware server.. LOL! (overkill)

It really doesn't get much easier and is just as good of a learning experience as Vbox and the OS of your choice.

a reply to: opethPA

I run a MS network on VMWare - keep my Linux stuff in VirtualBox.

I'm working on getting my Cisco lab up and running.. I have GNS3 and some.. borrowed images in place of actual hardware right now. =(

originally posted by: TinkerHaus
a reply to: opethPA

I run a MS network on VMWare - keep my Linux stuff in VirtualBox.

I'm working on getting my Cisco lab up and running.. I have GNS3 and some.. borrowed images in place of actual hardware right now. =(

Nice..let me know if you want some help!

GNS3 and Packet Tracer are great tools for sure ,VIRL is pretty amazing also.

I am a UC engineer(CCNA Voice-Video-Wireless) so running CME on a few different routers along with various switches. I also have a full blown install of a CUCM cluster running on on my VMWare server with about 5-6 different phones. Even though you can sim voice with both GNS3 and PT nothing beats having it right int front of you.

Of course my house pretty much glows and hums all the time right now but that is okay!

Greetings,

I've tried to down load mint, in fact, I bought a cd, but to no avail. The cd said I needed an ISO, so I down loaded a free copy, but don't how use it to open the cd.
I want to load to a flash drive and try it from there.

I'm running win seven computer.
Any simple instructions for a newbie?

Thanks

originally posted by: GeorgeH
Greetings,

I've tried to down load mint, in fact, I bought a cd, but to no avail. The cd said I needed an ISO, so I down loaded a free copy, but don't how use it to open the cd.
I want to load to a flash drive and try it from there.

I'm running win seven computer.
Any simple instructions for a newbie?

Thanks

You'll need a program like Imgburn - www.imgburn.com... to burn the ISO to the DVD (CD will be too small, unless you get the lightweight version of Mint).

When the ISO is finished burning, leave it in your DVD drive, and reboot your computer.

While your PC is booting back up, if you do not see a prompt that says 'Press any key to boot from DVD', you may need to press the key that will bring you to your PC's boot options (F8, F5, F2, sometimes delete) you may have to look up your PC to find out which one it is.

Once you've entered the Boot Options menu, select your DVD drive from the list provided, and you should be good to go.

The screen will ask you to 'Press any key to boot from DVD', do so, and you will be taken to the Linux Mint boot screen, from which you select the option that allows you to run Mint from the DVD.

*EDIT TO ADD*
I wrote that from memory, so you may want to do a quick google to make sure I haven't missed anything.

a reply to: GeorgeH

There are easy installers, Pendrivel comes to mind. Here is a link to their product.

It's as easy as selecting your ISO from a drop down image, selecting your USB port and letting it install a bootable interface. Once you get Linux loaded you simply choose install and it goes from there. If you're dual booting, or not, the partition program, G-Parted is pretty intuitive.

If you're not totally computer literate, you might want a friend to help to make sure you don't wipe out any partitions if you're choosing dual boot.

Oh and addressing the OP. I have an old Dell laptop that runs Win 7 and Linux 17 in a dual boot and I rarely bother with the Windows partition. I only kept it because there are games and some software that are Win native.

My PC has Ubuntu Gnome and Win 7 in dual boot. A lot of people dislike the Gnome desktop environment, but for running dual monitors ( and with a couple of tweaks ) it's hard to find anything prettier that runs smoother.

a reply to: trollz

Yes, it's worth it to have Linux, but you don't need a new laptop to do that. Dual booting with Windows is a great option.

However, be aware that If your laptop has UEFI/secure boot then you will want to read up about overcoming intallation issues, before you actually commit to performing one. It seems like most of the problems are resolvable, but you don't want to go into it in the same way you would with a laptop that does not have it. I also recently read something about laptops with Win 8 now ask about partitioning drives with GPT or MBR? I haven't really looked into what that is, but if it is something that comes into play with the new laptop you buy, you would want to know. Cheers and more Cheers.

You will also probably want to trya few different distros (there will definately be a difference in what you prefer) I've found it's much easier to experiment with live USB (or vitualbox) but in general, stick with the newer releases if you have a newer laptop. I prefer Linux Mint (Mint Xfce 17 at the moment) that's just my plug, though I admit to trying nearly all of the major ones and many of the smaller ones at one time or another. I always disliked Ubuntu-proper but distros based on Ubuntu are all very easy to learn. I also really liked Linux Lite but there are so many options it does create a certain level of commitment-phobia for a bit, hehe

Distro-hopping start point

a reply to: TinkerHaus

This is the best and most useable option. VirtualBox is awesome and free. Use it until you learn and then move on from there.