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I have managed 6 months on Windows 7 after purchasing a laptop with it pre-loaded.

Today I have gone back to Linux Mint..............and it's a relief.

Windows just feels like a lot of work after using Linux.

I reckon Mint is a lot easier to maintain, and it puts far less work on the laptop. I just looked to be sure but yes, I have Mint on this desktop at the moment. Very reliable.

I am having major problems though.

After setting it all up yesterday, it failed to boot later on.

I reinstalled, same again, researched on my mobile, then today at work printed off some solutions.

None of them worked ( I am not very techie)

Today I have tried other installs from DVD's laying around the house and have succeeded with an ancient copy of Solus Mate flavour, and that is how I am writing this.

It seems from my research Grub is broken and that it happens often when installing on Windows.

I have tried mending it, all to no avail.

Tried using Solus as a boot device (Sounds right) beside Mint, but the already installed Mint wasn't recognised as being installed............and then I start getting confused what exactly I have done.

Oh !! and welcome back Spot.

Solus has been updating for a long time now, keep your fingers crossed it reboots when it's done it.

Thank goodness for mobile devices.

I am confused. You installed Mint on top of Windoze?

It sounds to me like the disk access boot protections built into modern hardware at Microsoft's insistence. Something like UEFI. Godforsaken messing around with the natural order of things, I call it. Newer Microsoft Windows won't work without it, newer Linuxes have to cope with it despite having no say in what it does or what it's even for. Grub might well get cocked up in the process, yes.

I'm pretty sure I have UEFI selected rather than legacy, in my BIOS settings, but I'd not swear to it. The current Mint, 19, is running. My uname description is

Linux Dell 4.15.0-33-generic #36-Ubuntu SMP Wed Aug 15 16:00:05 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

- the Dell bit means I have a 12 year old Dell Infineon case housing the hardware but there can't be much inside that Dell provided.

That's slightly disgressive, I'm just showing what might be the current release level for vanilla Mint 19, for comparison.

Oh !! and welcome back Spot.


I'm likely to disappear again on Friday for a week, I'm being dragged off the Internet by a domestic emergency for the second time this month. Bryn's abroad too, that will leave the Boop in charge. Play nicely.

I have used Linux/Unix for years, but only in a commandline format. Never used any of the GUI stuff.

I use Windoze, simply because I have always had it, and have to for work, anyway.

As retirement begins to loom on the horizon, I've given thought about what I want to do for PC going forward.

Thinking of picking up a Tablet, or a Chromebook. I have Kindle Fire that seems pretty useful, but It will not allow easy install of Chrome or FireFox browsers, and the default browser is horrible limited.

I may consider a small laptop with Linux.

Though the gaming I enjoy tends to require a higher Horsepower PC, so that may keep me in the WinDoze Market