I've done so and it says I have a laptop resolution of 1024x768 with no other options.

In Windows I have a 1920x1280 resolution, but it also has a driver installed for the GPU.

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George

Mike, I don't know if you got this so I'm repeating it:

From : https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/install.html

The live session is similar to a normal session (i.e. to Linux Mint once it is permanently installed on the computer), but with the following exceptions:

The Live session is slower (it is loaded from a USB stick or DVD as opposed to a SSD or HDD).
Changes you make in the live session are not permanent. They are not written to the USB stick (or DVD) and they do not impact the system installed by the installer.
Some applications work differently (or not at all) in the live session (Timeshift, Flatpak, Update Manager, Welcome Screen..etc.).


That sort of answers my question... but then, Mike, how do you run Linux on a USB stick?

Help.....?

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George

You should go back to square one and make the Mint installation with persistent storage if you intend to run your Linux installation permanently from the USB stick for running BOINC.

Follow the steps on this website:
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/14912/create-a-persistent-bootable-ubuntu-usb-flash-drive/

---

Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

I've done so and it says I have a laptop resolution of 1024x768 with no other options.

In Windows I have a 1920x1280 resolution, but it also has a driver installed for the GPU.

You need to find out your monitors Horizontal and Vertical refresh frequencies. You can edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and change the refresh frequencies to what are the published specs for your monitor in the Monitor section of the file. For example this is what my monitor is set for 1920 X 1280 desktop resolution.

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "HP 27xw"
HorizSync 28.0 - 33.0
VertRefresh 43.0 - 72.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

I suspect your VertRefresh frequencies are very low and why you only have the one resolution.

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Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

Really, you should just purchase a small 128GB SSD drive for $25 and install Linux permanently to the SSD using the Live USB stick. Makes things so much easier and a heckuva lot faster.

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Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

Keith Meyers wrote:

Really, you should just purchase a small 128GB SSD drive for $25 and install Linux permanently to the SSD using the Live USB stick. Makes things so much easier and a heckuva lot faster.

That sounds like good advice... as usual... I think I will do that. But...

Now comes the dumb question of the day!

When I do install a small SSD into my Windows 10 machine and install Linux unto it, will this create a dual-boot system where I choose at start-up whether I want Windows10 or Linux? Or maybe since Windows is supporting Linux now I can run Linux inside Windows? Or... do I get to play with the insides and unplug the drive I don't want?

I know, I'm just full of dumb questions.

---

George

I use Antix linux and persistence,
I am playing with other versions
mint, zorin, pepermint etc

---

Mike Bader
BOINC V7.16.5
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/team_join_form.php?id=5 - Join Our International Team
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Mint and windows should install dual-boot

---

Mike Bader
BOINC V7.16.5
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/team_join_form.php?id=5 - Join Our International Team
[img]http://boinc.mundayweb.com/one/stats.php?

So to be clear, when I install Linux as it's own OS on my new SSD, separate from Windows, and boot it will give me a dual boot option before going to Windows?

---

George

https://download.tuxfamily.org/antix/docs-antiX-17/FAQ/persistence.html

---

Mike Bader
BOINC V7.16.5
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/team_join_form.php?id=5 - Join Our International Team
[img]http://boinc.mundayweb.com/one/stats.php?

WSL - Windows Subsystem for Linux

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10

---

Mike Bader
BOINC V7.16.5
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/team_join_form.php?id=5 - Join Our International Team
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No I would not install as a dual boot system. I would install the Linux OS just to the new SSD. You can either just select which OS you want to boot from the BIOS splash screen when booting or you can run the OS-prober in the Linux grub system to add the Windows installation to the grub menu. Dual booting usually ends up a headache as each OS wants to step on the boot partition of the opposing OS and screws things up and makes it very difficult to recover. Booting separate drives that never touch each other is simpler and safer in my opinion.

You don't have to physically unplug any drive. Most modern BIOS have a boot option menu that you can choose the priority order of which OS to boot first. And then either via direct selection in the BIOS you can do a boot override as to which OS you want to boot. The same way you choose to boot the LiveUSB stick. Normally you can hit F10 at the BIOS splash screen to make your choice then as to which OS you want to boot.

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Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

I assume your USB is 3.0 3.1 3.2

---

Mike Bader
BOINC V7.16.5
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/team_join_form.php?id=5 - Join Our International Team
[img]http://boinc.mundayweb.com/one/stats.php?

So to be clear, when I install Linux as it's own OS on my new SSD, separate from Windows, and boot it will give me a dual boot option before going to Windows?

No, dual boot by definition puts both OS on the same physical hard drive by repartitioning the hard drive by shrinking the existing Windows installation to make room for the Linux partition. And then the grub installer makes its own partition to boot to give you the grub boot menu which then allows you to boot your desired OS.

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Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

dual boot means it shares the same bootloader. you can have the OS files on separate drives, but only sharing the bootloader.

but I agree that it's best to just keep things 100% separate with separate bootloaders.

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Seti@Home classic workunits: 29,492 CPU time: 134,419 hours

No I would not install as a dual boot system. I would install the Linux OS just to the new SSD. You can either just select which OS you want to boot from the BIOS splash screen when booting or you can run the OS-prober in the Linux grub system to add the Windows installation to the grub menu. Dual booting usually ends up a headache as each OS wants to step on the boot partition of the opposing OS and screws things up and makes it very difficult to recover. Booting separate drives that never touch each other is simpler and safer in my opinion.

You don't have to physically unplug any drive. Most modern BIOS have a boot option menu that you can choose the priority order of which OS to boot first. And then either via direct selection in the BIOS you can do a boot override as to which OS you want to boot. The same way you choose to boot the LiveUSB stick. Normally you can hit F10 at the BIOS splash screen to make your choice then as to which OS you want to boot.

Well, let me get an SSD first and then I'll get back to you.

Remember, I'm using an old computer (at least for now) including an old MB and BIOS. It is an ASUS Sabertooth x58 and though I have gone into the BIOS many times, I never have gone into it with hitting the F10 key. Maybe you're thinking of a UEFI BIOS? Regardless, let's not get ahead of ourselves. One thing at a time.

---

George

Yes, a 3.1

---

George

No I would not install as a dual boot system. I would install the Linux OS just to the new SSD. You can either just select which OS you want to boot from the BIOS splash screen when booting or you can run the OS-prober in the Linux grub system to add the Windows installation to the grub menu. Dual booting usually ends up a headache as each OS wants to step on the boot partition of the opposing OS and screws things up and makes it very difficult to recover. Booting separate drives that never touch each other is simpler and safer in my opinion.

You don't have to physically unplug any drive. Most modern BIOS have a boot option menu that you can choose the priority order of which OS to boot first. And then either via direct selection in the BIOS you can do a boot override as to which OS you want to boot. The same way you choose to boot the LiveUSB stick. Normally you can hit F10 at the BIOS splash screen to make your choice then as to which OS you want to boot.

Well, let me get an SSD first and then I'll get back to you.

Remember, I'm using an old computer (at least for now) including an old MB and BIOS. It is an ASUS Sabertooth x58 and though I have gone into the BIOS many times, I never have gone into it with hitting the F10 key. Maybe you're thinking of a UEFI BIOS? Regardless, let's not get ahead of ourselves. One thing at a time.

No, I am not saying you hit F10 to enter the BIOS. Normally you use F2 or commonly DEL to enter the BIOS. What I am saying is that on the BIOS splash screen, the one that pops up just before the OS load and tells you your processor type, memory and cpu speeds and BIOS number, there is a menu at the bottom of the screen that shows briefly for doing simple tasks like booting to another drive and such. How are you selecting to boot from the USB stick instead of the Windows partition? Either you are making a choice to boot the USB stick at the splash screen or you have your BIOS configure to boot from a USB stick if it is detected first instead of the normal Windows disk. Same difference. Just select the new SSD with the Linux OS on it to boot instead of the Windows OS. You can either choose in the BOOT menu with a Override selection or at the splash screen.

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Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

There are two sets of drivers deployed by Mint during installation, and these are both built into the kernel. What you (sometimes) have to do is swap them over, which is much more painful think about than do... Using the GUI, not the command line, in the main menu look for the item called "Drivers", select that one, now look for display drivers and select that - you will see two drivers listed, the one in use (probably "nouveau" or something like that) and the one not in use (something like "nvidia 4.30.x) simply click on that one, you will be prompted with a "do you really want to change driver things may go wrong" message - of course you do, you need to use the nvida driver to be operating so you can run SETI.
Now, if BOINC wasn't running before you did all that start BOINC and look at the first couple of lines, where you should see that your GPU(s) are detected.
Only once is a couple of dozen Mint installations have I been prompted to re-boot, so I normally carry on with getting other stuff installed then do a tidy-up re-boot before using the computer in anger.

With older versions (long way pre 18.x from memory) it was possible to install Linux in such a way that it created a weird sort of hybrid - half the OS was on the stick, but half on a new partition on the hard disk, but from what I've seen the current install does a tidy installation on the stick and leaves the HDD unmolested.

One thing has just crossed my mind - when you created the USB stick did you create a "live trial" version, or an "installation" version, or a "deployment" version - to run properly off the USB stick you need to have done the latter as both the other two result in "strange" installations that don't have everything fully working. The l"live trial" version is OK, but the installation version has tools aimed at installing not running Linux and most of the "goodies" are in a compressed format.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

I use Antix linux and persistence,
I am playing with other versions
mint, zorin, pepermint etc

I've been testing Peppermint and I really like it. Very light-weight and stable. I may start shifting to that when I rebuild machines. Lubuntu is also good, but a couple of missing dependencies make the BOINC install a nuisance.

I also played around with Puppy for half a day. What a nightmare! It's a neat little OS, though.