Revived laptop

[No Nicolaitans]

1 hour ago, Invicta said:

I would like to change the compose key to the WIN key.  I had a page which told you how to do it, but I managed to close the page down while I was trying to follow the instructions

Okay, I think this will work...I hope! LOLOLOL!!!

1. Open the Keyboard Layout Handler (right-click on it)

2. In the space under Advanced setxkbmap Options, enter this...(you can copy and paste this code)...

compose:lwin

3. Then close that window.

I think you'll possibly have to reboot before it takes effect.

[Invicta]

Thanks bro,

I tried that and it didn't work. I tried rebooting to no avail. I also tried rwin and also just win but neither of those worked either. So I will just be happy with using SHIFT and ALT GR..

Do you know what the key Net  to the right CTRL is called and what it does, it is a box with 3 horizontal lines in it?  I looked on an old keyboard and it looks slightly different on that. That has an extra smaller box above making it look similar to a calculator with a curved arrow going from the bottom to the top box.

 

[No Nicolaitans]

10 hours ago, Invicta said:

Thanks bro,

I tried that and it didn't work. I tried rebooting to no avail. I also tried rwin and also just win but neither of those worked either. So I will just be happy with using SHIFT and ALT GR..

Do you know what the key Net  to the right CTRL is called and what it does, it is a box with 3 horizontal lines in it?  I looked on an old keyboard and it looks slightly different on that. That has an extra smaller box above making it look similar to a calculator with a curved arrow going from the bottom to the top box.

 

 

The key you're asking about is the "Menu" key that opens context menus...similar to using the right mouse button. Here's a more in-depth description of it...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menu_key

Edited September 12, 2017 by No Nicolaitans

[Invicta]

Thanks Bro I never even noticed it before.

[No Nicolaitans]

3 hours ago, Invicta said:

Thanks Bro I never even noticed it before.

Well, I've noticed it, but I've never used it...not once...never pressed it that I know of. LOL! 

[Invicta]

I Have never noticed it but if I had I probably would not have pressed it in case it did soemthing I didn't want it to.  

Some years ago I got Ubuntu on a PC magazine cover disk.  You could set it up to run from a DVD or install it on a PC or dual boot with Windows.  I tried the first and last.  Both seemed to work, but having done that I had no idea how to operate it, so I could only use the apps that came with it, Open Office etc.  But I did not know about drivers, for printer etc, or how to install extra sofware and had no one I could ask.  I tried looking on Linux Forums but it all seemed too technical for me, so I eventually gave up.  I just remembered I have  an old desktop running XP media edition, I was going to ditch it but may see if I can get Linux  running on that.  

 

[No Nicolaitans]

On 9/13/2017 at 11:26 AM, Invicta said:

I Have never noticed it but if I had I probably would not have pressed it in case it did soemthing I didn't want it to.  

Some years ago I got Ubuntu on a PC magazine cover disk.  You could set it up to run from a DVD or install it on a PC or dual boot with Windows.  I tried the first and last.  Both seemed to work, but having done that I had no idea how to operate it, so I could only use the apps that came with it, Open Office etc.  But I did not know about drivers, for printer etc, or how to install extra sofware and had no one I could ask.  I tried looking on Linux Forums but it all seemed too technical for me, so I eventually gave up.  I just remembered I have  an old desktop running XP media edition, I was going to ditch it but may see if I can get Linux  running on that.  

 

I tried to respond to this yesterday, but the forum wouldn't let me quote or post anything for some reason. I would say that the old computer can run Linux as long as the computer itself is still operational. There are many Linux operating systems that will work with that "era" of PCs. However, it seems like there has been a trend in Linux lately...Linux operating systems that require higher resources. They definitely look nice and pretty, but they require newer hardware to run decently. There are still plenty of Linux OSs that should work though...Lubuntu "should" work, but there are others that will work too.

[Invicta]

I can't try it yet as the output is DV and I gave my DV to HDMI cable to our church for connection to the Projector. I will try and borrow it back. 

It has 2 video ports but I don't have the drivers for them. I used my TV as the monitor.

Edited September 14, 2017 by Invicta

[Invicta]

I would like to try the USB stick to boot on my revived laptop, but although it is set to boot from USB it doesn't.  It seems that some windows laptops from Win 8-10 expect a USB hard drive when boot from USB is set.  It seems I have to adjust the settings to Legacy or EFI or UEFI, but that is greyed out in the boot menu. Any Idea what I can do next,  I would like to access the files on my hard disk.  I would also like to use Linux on my newer laptop, Alternately can I network Linux with my Windows laptop?

[No Nicolaitans]

4 hours ago, Invicta said:

I would like to try the USB stick to boot on my revived laptop, but although it is set to boot from USB it doesn't.  It seems that some windows laptops from Win 8-10 expect a USB hard drive when boot from USB is set.  It seems I have to adjust the settings to Legacy or EFI or UEFI, but that is greyed out in the boot menu. Any Idea what I can do next,  I would like to access the files on my hard disk.  I would also like to use Linux on my newer laptop, Alternately can I network Linux with my Windows laptop?

If I remember correctly, the laptop is operating well again? Does anything else (like a mouse) work in the USB port? Just wondering if perhaps the USB port is still affected by the spill.

Other than that, I'm not too sure. I haven't tried booting Linux on our Windows 8 computer. You may know more about it than me, but I seem to remember reading that you have to turn "Secure Boot" off to be able to boot from the USB or CD/DVD drive. It's just a guess, but perhaps that's why those options are grayed out? In other words, I wonder if they aren't accessible unless Secure Boot is turned off.

There is something called Samba that people use to network between Linux and Windows. Unfortunately, I have no experience with it...from what I've read, you will need to install samba and system-config-samba

sudo apt-get install samba system-config-samba

That second package (system-config-samba) should give you a GUI to use.

[Invicta]

1 hour ago, No Nicolaitans said:

If I remember correctly, the laptop is operating well again? Does anything else (like a mouse) work in the USB port? Just wondering if perhaps the USB port is still affected by the spill.

Other than that, I'm not too sure. I haven't tried booting Linux on our Windows 8 computer. You may know more about it than me, but I seem to remember reading that you have to turn "Secure Boot" off to be able to boot from the USB or CD/DVD drive. It's just a guess, but perhaps that's why those options are grayed out? In other words, I wonder if they aren't accessible unless Secure Boot is turned off.

There is something called Samba that people use to network between Linux and Windows. Unfortunately, I have no experience with it...from what I've read, you will need to install samba and system-config-samba

sudo apt-get install samba system-config-samba

That second package (system-config-samba) should give you a GUI to use.

Thanks Bro

I have not used my Windows laptop for over a week.  I am getting attached to Linux.  Yes the mouse and memory cards work and when I go into the bios setup it shows the USB as a Sandisk. It is top of the boot menu.

A strange thing I have found is that my mouse usually has one USB port where it doesn't work.  I have noticed that on a number of laptops over the last few years,

I have not been too well this week so not been doing too much. 

We also have our house on the market and we have most of our work cut out to try and keep it clean and tidy for viewings,  We have had a number but we chose not to be in when at the time and prefer to let the agent show them around. 

[Invicta]

Well, I found Secure Boot hidden away under advanced settings, I then chanced UEFI  to the other option which was something like CRM, and it booted but I couldn't connect to the internet,  I closed it down  took the Linux card out rebooted  but wouldn't boot into windows until I changed back to UEFI.  I assume that that laptop had the same wireless card as this one.

I also followed your instructions re Samba and have it on the menu under System Tools.  When I click on it  I get a popup which says

The application "System-Config-Samba" lets you modify essential parts of your system.  Password   ............  When I enter the password it just dusappears.

 

Edited September 23, 2017 by Invicta

[No Nicolaitans]

16 minutes ago, Invicta said:

Well, I found Secure Boot hidden away under advanced settings, I then chanced UEFI  to the other option which was something like CRM, and it booted but I couldn't connect to the internet,  I closed it down  took the Linux card out rebooted  but wouldn't boot into windows until I changed back to UEFI.  I assume that that laptop had the same wireless card as this one.

I also followed your instructions re Samba and have it on the menu under System Tools.  When I click on it  I get a popup which says

The application "System-Config-Samba" lets you modify essential parts of your system.  Password   ............  When I enter the password it just dusappears.

 

It's beyond me David...sorry.

Regarding Samba, as I said, I have no experience with it. However, let's try this...open your Terminal, and enter the following command

sudo system-config-samba

You'll have to enter your password after that, but let's see if that will open it for you.