The first surprise? After downloading the distribution’s 1.8GB ISO file, I discovered that the installation instructions included one step that I wasn’t expecting: “Verify your ISO image.” Downloads Must Be Verified But somehow I kept being pulled forward by the call of open source Linux… Looking back, I was hoping it’d be easier, and I very nearly gave up. What exactly happens when you move from a consumer-oriented technology, and try to cross over to the Linux-y world of open source, and a whole new ecosystem of free software? Or, to put it another way, what happens when an installation newbie confronts the details and nuances of a more technical world? Along the way, I documented every step, creating a step-by-step tutorial of how to make it all happen, and capturing all the new and interesting things I’ve learned, since in a way it’s not just a change of operating systems, but a change of cultures. So I set about following the Installation Guide’s download instructions. The line in the user guide that really intrigued me was its promise of “a fully-functional operating system which you can try without affecting your PC.” Everything stays on the USB stick. How hard would it be to convert it into a Linux laptop?Īfter some research, I’d thought I’d discovered the perfect distribution: Linux Mint. I’ve got a basic Dell Inspilaptop running Windows 10 that I’d bought in the summer of 2018 for $328. Just keep in mind that there’ll be a huge performance boost when fully installed on your PC.Sooner or later, I had to find out. Granted, it’ll run extremely slow because it’s not installed on your PC, but you’ll still get to poke around and see what it’s like. It’ll boot the new operating system off of that USB drive. Once you do that, you should actually be able to preview Linux Mint before committing to an install. In some cases, you can just press F12 to go straight into Boot options and select that USB disk. From there, use your keyboard to change the boot order so that the USB disk is before anything else. Please consult your motherboard manual for specifics). Once there, you’ll need to use your keyboard keys to navigate to the “Boot” tab (or similar depending on your system in some systems the option might be called “Boot Order”.

Just restart your computer and press F2 (some other common keys are F1 and Delete, sometimes F12 even). To do this, you’ll need to open your BIOS. Now, we need to change it so that your PC boots off of the USB disk and not the hard drive. Next, plug your USB drive into your computer.

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