So, I have an old desktop (Lenovo Erazer X310) that has been gathering dust for a while now. It runs Windows 10, and since I know support will be ending this year, I’ve decided to switch Linux and see if I can get some more use out of it. After doing a bit of research, I think that, as a complete noob, Mint is the right choice for me. After watching a few tutorials, I think I have a good understanding of how to install and set up Linux, but I have a couple of questions before I take the plunge. If anyone has a few minutes to answer them, I’d be very grateful.

  1. I think Cinnamon is the version of Mint I should start with, but I’ve read that it might be better to go with MATE or Xfce for older machines. My Desktop is almost 11 years old now, but based on what I’ve read, I think it should still be able to comfortably run Cinnamon; 8 GB RAM, AMD A8-7600 Radeon r7 processor (4 cores, 3.1 GHz), and I’m 90% sure it has an SSHD. Is that good enough for Cinnamon?

  2. Would those specs be good enough if I wanted to dual boot? I actually don’t hate Windows 10 (it’s certainly better than 11), and I’d like to keep it as an option for at least for the last few months it has support. I just reset Windows 10 and wiped all my files, and it’s now running fairly quickly. Do you think it’s capable of dual booting?

  3. This may be a dumb question, but I can’t actually find the answer anywhere; if I decide that I want to remove Windows 10 later, how difficult will that be? It’s seems pretty easy to just delete it when I set up Linux, but will it be a hassle to remove once I’ve got Mint up and running?

Those are my big questions. I think I have a pretty good understand of how to install Linux from the BIOS, but I haven’t actually installed an operating system since Windows 98 (and my dad helped me with that), so if anyone has any additional tips they think I should know I would welcome them. Thanks!

Edit: Thanks for the replies! It sounds like I should be able to run Cinnamon with no problem, but I’ll probably test Cinnamon and MATE from a USB first and see which I like better. I really appreciate the advice!

  • Habahnow
    7·
    22 hours ago

    Hey, welcome to the Linux family! I think you’re overthinking things a bit.

    1. try Cinnamon and all version if you like. Load them on a USB and run them from there. You’ll get an idea of how will they run. Whichever you like, install in your PC.

    2. my understanding is dual boot only needs space for the OSs. They aren’t running at the same time, so you should be fine.

    3. tbh I don’t know. My recollection is it wasn’t as easy as I wanted because in order to dual boot you basically are utilizing something from Windows, meaning if you delete it, you will have problems.

    In my computer I have Windows 8 dual booted. I didn’t use it but I’m to lazy to remove it lol

    • incogtino@lemmy.zipEnglish
      4·
      21 hours ago

      For point 3, it should be easy the way OP has described as they have Windows installed first, so the bootloader will be overwritten and set Linux as the default and shouldn’t be bothered by a missing Windows partition