My Linux Laptop

LXer Feature: 08-May-2022 After all my adventures I ended up with a really cool Linux laptop, wait..that's what I wanted in the first place!

So I bought a laptop that of course came with Windows on it. I figured I would just boot into a Linux distro from a jump drive and see how that goes. It had its ups and downs but I got it to work.

Then I decided I would try and dual boot Linux and Windows which is where I ran into a boot sector issue. I couldn't get Linux to install even after trying several different popular versions including SuSE, PCLinuxOS, Linux Mint and Ubuntu.

By luck or mere happenstance I finally came across the version of Linux that I needed to get past the install error. I really don't know why but the install program in Garuda Linux was able to write to the hard drive without issue and I was actually able to install Linux onto my laptop!

I really like the look and feel of the desktop and the effects that are already enabled. It's KDE with a twist or two. If you get a chance, go to distrotest.net and try it out for yourself. In the different versions, there is one called "KDE Dragonized". That is the one I have installed on my machine.

I finally got Linux to install but I quickly found out that I couldn't log into Windows anymore. I could choose to boot into it first from the boot menu and get to the login screen but when I entered either my pin or password I would get a "Invalid Credentials" error. So I could boot into Linux but not Windows.

I did some research and found only a few others that had my issue with credential errors logging into Windows from a dual booting computer with no real fixes that I could find. I thought about it and realized why do I want to dual boot anyway? My friend Donny asked me why even bother keeping it around? I'm never going to use my Windows install anyway. And he's right, I won't.

Ok, so here I am with a laptop that I finally got Linux to install too and now it won't boot into the Windows install it came with. I was only wanting to keep Windows around for some hypothetical reason that I might need it someday for some reason I could never think of if you really asked me. Donny was right, why keep it around if I'm not even going to use it?

Well, I quickly got up the courage and booted into the jump drive and from there installed Garuda Linux over everything including Windows. I only have Linux on my laptop now. Woo Hoo! It has been a few months now and everything works. Every time I have needed it to do something it has been able to do it. Internet, bluetooth, camera etc.

I have been experimenting with Linux commands on the command line and learning about the changes and modifications I can do from there, I'm no guru but I am doing my best to learn and keep learning. I have not had any issues with programs running like they are supposed to or getting errors even though Garuda is a 'rolling release' distro. The system prompts me to update every week or so, I update, the system works.

It's a beautiful thing. It's My Linux Laptop.