Linux is installed. That was easier than expected.
It wasn't obvious I needed to force a hard shutdown on the laptop (by holding the power button) before I could load the BIOS menu. For my particular laptop (specs below) I had to tap the F2 button on startup to load the menu.
Acer Aspire V3-571G Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3210M CPU @ 2.50GHz 2.50 GHz Installed RAM 4.00 GB (3.82 GB usable)
I basically followed these instructions from around 7:20 in the vid:
YouTube: Linux for the Absolute Beginner!
This was the vid I noticed a hard shutdown:
YouTube: Boot acer laptop using bootable usb drive
Once I had the USB selected I pressed F10 which restarted the laptop, booting Linux Mint from the stick. I then ran the Install Mint icon on the desktop, which gave me the option to remove my existing Windows 10 OS and install this one in its place. I didn't do any advanced encryption options, but I did set up a password. I could then remove the USB stick.
So that's it. I'm in. I don't have Windows. I am running Linux Mint 21.3 "Virginia" Cinnamon Edition. It comes with LibreOffice, which must be the MS Office equivalent, and a number of other small applications.
I connected to Wi-Fi.
I want to learn command line interface (CLI) - I just learnt what CLI is - so why not start now? The fella in the video above showed me the delightful <ctrl><alt><t> shortcut to open the terminal. I then installed Vivaldi# web browser from there. I just followed these steps:
Installing Vivaldi on Ubuntu and Debian from the command line
I put my hood on, turned up Carpenter Brut, and typed it out character by character.
† Carpenter Brut † TURBO KILLER † Directed by Seth Ickerman † Official Video †
Done!
I also liked this intro to command lines:
Introduction to Linux and Basic Linux Commands for Beginners
Next steps? Figure out internet security and blocking etc.
#Why Vivaldi? I'm not crazy on keeping up with the technical details, but I've noticed people are starting to get peeved with ethics surrounding Mozilla. Rather than wonder, I had a quick play with Vivaldi and am understanding why folks are predominantly moving to this one. I particularly like the tiling of tabs so I can see 2 side-by-side. I'll see how it holds up. If its too slow on my old laptop I'll look at something else. I installed Dillo as well which is CRAZY light, but I couldn't log into smol.pub on it.
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