New User Progress

I came to Ubuntu as a new Linux user. Didn’t know much about it but wanted to try it as an alternative to Microsoft on an oldish netbook struggling to cope under Windows Starter 7.
I’d give 8 out of 10 for the ease of obtaining the system: I suspect that if you weren’t computer literate even that stage could be problematic. User instructions seem to be written by the experienced for the experienced.
My initial experience was somewhat mixed. Once I understood the process, installation was easy though slow. But then, building on it - installation of a printer and Dropbox and email accounts weren’t easily accomplished. There were system problems, too with bootup and restart. The Community has been a great help in solving these problems and I thank everyone who contributed.
Things did seem to settle down but, today, I struggled to even bootup. Consequently, I reinstalled Ubuntu-Mate from scratch. It took a long time, but now I’m confident that I have a stable system - it’s working fast and consistently. I’ve rebooted several times without fail and applications respond quickly. And, because of what I learned, installing a printer and Dropbox was a doddle.

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Hi GrahamR

This is the place to come to for questions.

I can understand a netbook being slow to load, just lacks the horse power. But sounds like you now have a fast and stable system. Good show.

Enjoy :slight_smile:

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I’d be curious to know what you found suboptimal there, can you tell us more?
Cheers

Hallo

Netbook…

I have a curious netbook. It’s made by Hewlet-Packard and has 2 boot buttons. One to boot into W7 Starter the other to boot into a stripped-down Fedora Linux. It was bought for a specific purpose which no longer needs its services. Oh joy, I was able to install Ubuntu-Mate on it. :slight_smile:

But…
It has an Intel Atom processor and 1GB RAM. It worked and was stable. I did, however, avoid installing any software packages that I do not need.

A cheap way to make things better…

The RAM. If the RAM on a computer is too small any operating system will perform at less than its best.
See:

So I increased the amount of RAM. The good thing is that this is usually easily done, providing you can open the bottom of the netbook and gain access to the RAM cards. And. it is the cheapest way to improve the performance of a low specification computer. My RAM upgrade cost the equivalent of around $20.
So I upgraded the RAM from 1GB to 2GB. Ubntu-Mate is enjoying the improvement, and so am I.

How do you upgrade the RAM?
See:
http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/memory-info?cm_re=top-nav--flyout-memory--us-memory
This will allow you to check if the company “Crucial” sells RAM cards that you could use to upgrade your specific computer.

For a step-by-step guide see:

And for a video that shows it being done see:

Avoiding problems from static electricity
This is important.
A discharge of static electricity when you’re handling the RAM cards and/or touching the insides of your computer is a good way of “frying” your computer and turning it into an expensive paper-weight.

  • Try to avoid wearing any synthetic clothing (clothing containing plastic) when you perform the upgrade.
  • Do not have a plastic floor covering under your feet.
  • Doing this bare-foot is a good idea.
  • Before and after unpacking the RAM you’ve bought, and before and after removing the back cover from your computer - touch a cold water tap with both hands.

I’ve found these simple precautions to be sufficient for occasional use. Professionals often work with a “grounding-chain” attached to their wrists.

I hope this will help you to get the best Linux experience out of your netbook. :slight_smile:

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