Anything I should do before installing Linux Mint?

[Cy-Fy]

Hello guys, my mom's laptop is really old and is running Windows 7 Starter. It is very slow and full of pictures and files. I have started to back up all important files in order to format the hard drive and install Linux Mint 17 on the computer.

Is there anything I should do before formatting Windows? What about wifi drivers etc??

Thank you very much for your help!!!

[Enderman]

format the drive before installing

also you should put your notebooks drivers (found on the manufacturer website) on a USB drive so you can install them after installing the OS

[Cy-Fy]

format the drive before installing

also you should put your notebooks drivers (found on the manufacturer website) on a USB drive so you can install them after installing the OS

thank you but I really doubt it that the manufacturer's website will have drivers for Linux...

[Cy-Fy]

You should be fine with the wifi driver. Linux Mint comes packed with tons of drivers, so yours are bound to be on there. You can always run the the distro from a Live USB before installing to make sure the wifi works.

Other than backing up your work, you're good to go

I will do that, thank you man. In fact I have done it and the only problem I found was the touchpad not working, any idea why?

[Enderman]

thank you but I really doubt it that the manufacturer's website will have drivers for Linux...

well you will need to find the individual (possibly 3rd party) drivers for each individual component of your notebook, including GPU drivers, LAN+WLAN drivers, as well as any other proprietary hardware your notebook has.

[Cy-Fy]

Most are going to work out of the box. No need to install drivers unless he's going to game or has a touch screen.

Probably need a driver for that. What model notebook is it?

hi man, sorry for late reply: it is a Dell inspiron 1018. Thank you.

[martlart]

I installed Mint on a laptop and didn't have to worry about drivers at all as they were already included when I installed it.

[Enderman]

Most are going to work out of the box. No need to install drivers unless he's going to game or has a touch screen.

 

Probably need a driver for that. What model notebook is it?

lan drivers are needed if he wants the motherboard to connect to the internet

gpu drivers are needed if he wants to have a properly sized image on the screen

pointer drivers are needed if he wants to use the trackpad and buttons

then theres the other stuff like battery management, wireless card, usb, external connectivity, etc...

 

it is NOT as simple as 'just install linux and it works'

[Cy-Fy]

*sigh

Yes I know that, but what I'm saying is that most distros already have all of those drivers you listed pre-installed. I didn't have to install any drivers on my HP laptop when I installed Xubuntu since everything worked perfectly fine out of the box.

So yes, unless you are building a gaming machine or have a touchscreen like I previously stated above, it is that simple. The built in drivers work fine and I know this because I am speaking from personal experience.

Gracias man, I have tried testing this using a live USB with Linux Mint 17 and everything including wifi seems to work. The only problem I found was that the touchpad didn't work, except for when I boot into Linux with an external mouse connected. It is just then that the touchpad works flawlessly...

[Cy-Fy]

That's weird, but I'm glad you figured it out. Hopefully you're fine with using an external USB mouse for a while, or at least while you need the touchscreen

yeah very weird, but thanks

[Sicarius]

I'd load the drivers on a USB if possible, in my experience most distro's come with support for most hardware devices but always handy.

[Opcode]

lan drivers are needed if he wants the motherboard to connect to the internet

gpu drivers are needed if he wants to have a properly sized image on the screen

pointer drivers are needed if he wants to use the trackpad and buttons

then theres the other stuff like battery management, wireless card, usb, external connectivity, etc...

 

it is NOT as simple as 'just install linux and it works'

Actually it is as simple as "just install Linux and it works". Unlike Windows where drivers come from 3rd party installations Linux bakes it's drivers directly into the kernel. You may face some regressions where hardware is not supported out of the box but for the most part a majority of hardware is. Per example my signature rig works 100% out of the box with Ubuntu. Not one single driver needed to be installed.

[Cy-Fy]

Actually it is as simple as "just install Linux and it works". Unlike Windows where drivers come from 3rd party installations Linux bakes it's drivers directly into the kernel. You may face some regressions where hardware is not supported out of the box but for the most part a majority of hardware is. Per example my signature rig works 100% out of the box with Ubuntu. Not one single driver needed to be installed.

Thanks for the help!!