I have decided to try out Linux Mint for the very first time. I am going to go through the steps involved to install Linux Mint from USB. Universal Serial Bus is normally faster than Digital Versatile Disc. You will need a spare computer and USB flash drive.
You then need to download Linux Mint from the link above. Currently there are four different variations of Linux Mint 18.3 that you can install.
* Cinnamon
* KDE
* Mate
* Xfce
There are x86 32 bit and x64 64 bit versions available for download. I choose to install Linux Mint 18.3 Xfce because I have used this window manager before and it is quite lightweight compared the other three window managers. Once you download the .iso file then you will need to burn it to either DVD or flash it to USB.
You will need a program like Rufus or Etcher. I was not able to flash successfully a Linux Mint 18.3 USB drive with Rufus so I used Etcher instead. Etcher is recommended on Linux Mint’s website.
Now once your flash drive is ready, then you can attach it to a USB port on your computer. Any laptop or desktop computer will work. I would recommend a computer with at least 1 gigahertz processor, 1 megabytes Random Access Memory, and 20 gigabytes hard drive space.
Also, recommended is to connect your computer to the Internet before starting the install. You do NOT have to have Internet connection to complete the install. Another tip is that you can test Linux Mint 18.3 on your hardware before installing.
The USB flash drive boots a demonstration version of Linux Mint 18.3. On my Dell Inspiron 530 I had to make sure that the Basic Input Output System detected the USB flash drive. Also, I made certain that I enabled “Removable Media” as a boot choice.
On Dell computers you can press F2 to enter the BIOS and F12 to enter a boot menu. This boot menu allows you to choose what device to boot from. Your computer might detect this USB flash drive as a USB HDD.
This is normal and you would select this device to boot from. Once you boot off the Linux Mint 18.3 media, you will be logged into a desktop. You can test Linux Mint 18.3.
Double click on an installation icon on the desktop to begin the installation. You can accept the default settings, which is what I recommend if you are new to Linux. You will be asked to choose your language, keyboard type and city location.
Then you will be asked to choose your type of installation. I recommend that you choose the top one which is choosen by default. All of the partition settings will be chosen for you.
You do NOT need to know how to partition using Gparted in order to get Linux Mint installed and working. However, you can choose to encrypt your hard drive, configure Logical Volume Management and even choose a custom install. I have been using different Linux distributions for over 15 years now and I rarely fuck with partitioning, logical volume management, encryption, and custom installs.
Finally, you will be asked to enter in a name, username, password, verify password, and computer name. You do NOT need to enter in a name. You must enter in a username, password, and computer name I think.
You can change your password later or even blank it. You can also choose to have Linux Mint 18.3 automatically login each time. You can change this later.
Linux Mint 18.3 will download some updates from the Internet if you connected your computer to an Interne connection. If not it will begin to load files from the media you created. It took around ten minutes to install Linux Mint rrom USB on my dual core Dell 530 Inspiron with 4 gigabytes of memory.
Once Linux Mint 18.3 installation is finished it will warn you to remove your installation media. Remove your installation media ie. DVD, USB flash drive, etc. and then hit enter. Now Linux Mint 18.3 will boot for the first time.
Depending on how you decided to enter your desktop, you will either see your desktop or have to login with your username and password. Now that you are finished with your installation you deserve to enjoy a mint, a Linux Mint.