Good Windows forums?

[t0p]

I have used Ubuntu for a long long time. But now I am stuck with a HP laptop that won't let me install Ubuntu. So for the foreseeable future I am a Windows user.

Can anyone suggest a good Windows forum that can help me with Windows 8.1 in a similar way to how Ubuntuforums.org has helped me with Ubuntu all these years? After a long time dealing with things in a *nix way, Windows is a puzzle. I can't even successfully install wget4windows!

Thanks!

[sonicwind]

Try the www.bleepingcomputer.com forums. They have a forum specifically for Windows 8, along with many other help forums for non-OS issues.

[bearlake]

There's a good Windows Eight forum here.


https://www.eightforums.com/

[ajgreeny]

However, if you really want Ubuntu on it you may be able to get it to work.

HP likes to make things difficult by using a non-standard UEFI firmware that does not follow the agreed standards of manufacturers, and without a bit of a work-around will boot only to Windows.

I think, however, that it is is always possible to overcome this by renaming the bootloader files for Ubuntu UEFI, which you can read about following information on such problems kindly gathered together by our forum colleague oldfred in a thread at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295

See if that helps and you may be able to get back to using Ubuntu after all.

[mörgæs]

It looks like the thread https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2346722 is waiting for a response from you.

Though HP is making life hard for free software it's still possible to get Ubuntu running. If you get 16.04.1 running now you will not have to worry again through 2021.

[verymadpip]

Hi there.
I gave up in the end, mainly because I had another issue with my HP touchscreen laptop, not because I couldn't get Ubuntu installed. (My machine froze every time I tried to shut it down or reboot requiring a hold & press the power button to get anywhere - not healthy).
I had a shonky workaround to boot into Ubuntu, but I could get there. This is the thread:

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2257290

I swore I'd never buy HP again, but I have as I got a good deal on a Windows 10 laptop.
I can happily use Windows although I do really like (probably prefer TBH) my L/X/Ubuntus :)
Good luck sir

[1clue]

Please don't consider this a woulda-coulda-shoulda post. I had this scenario play out and had a "consider how much trouble I'm having right now, compared to hand picking components and buying what I know works" sort of epiphany, for planning my future purchases.

I know this is not helpful to your current situation, but years ago (almost 2 decades I think) I bought an HP desktop and had similar problems getting anything at all to work with Linux, any flavor I had access to. Back then you bought a magazine from a bookstore which had a CD in it, or even floppies. Or you downloaded something from a BBS over a 2400 baud modem. I managed to get it booted up (with Debian?) but almost none of the built-in hardware worked, and I had no money to get more hardware. In spite of all that time I distinctly remember my frustration all those years ago. My solution at the time was to sell the PC and buy components. I hope you can manage better. That was before the cut-throat PC building market came into full swing, and I knew a guy who was aware of my Linux interest and had actually offered to buy the PC from me since he was looking at the same exact hardware for Windows. I got lucky, and as it turned out I could make a better PC hand-built than what I had bought pre-assembled. That's not really possible anymore.

That was the last time I bought anything at all from HP, and also the last time I bought a fully assembled desktop computer. Since then I've generally:

Decided my requirements
Found an appropriate cpu/motherboard combination known to work well with Linux
Found appropriate components known to work well with Linux
Bought/ordered it all
Assembled it myself.


Again I know this doesn't help with your current setup, and I apologize for the noise in that respect. Ever since my HP debacle I've been a strong proponent of building your own hardware especially for Linux. I hope you see this post as food for thought rather than something negative.

Good luck.

[Geoffrey_Arndt]

There are now "many" small to medium size companies and hardware consolidators that put together some great laptops and desktops (and AIO's too) that already come with Linux preinstalled. So, that opens the door to doing several things:

> Order a pre-built dual boot system (4 o 5 of the vendors on the following list will do that for a charge). Foolproof, but can be costly ($500 - $1500 range depending on HW specs you choose).
> Order a basic Linux friendly unit (often the small NUC type size like System76 Meerkat) are reasonable - - if equipping with 8 GiB or more of ram, then can run any Windows in a VM (no need for dual boot unless you're a gamer)
> Order a basic Linux friendly unit but replace Linux with a Windows install, and then install Linux afterwards for a traditional dual-boot (most of this hardware is traditional bios)

https://linuxpreloaded.com/

[1clue]

System76.com has some seriously good hardware in the high end. I haven't really looked at small systems but their high-end laptop and the top couple of desktops kick some serious @$$ and for very competitive prices if you try to build the hardware yourself.

Up to the time I saw it on system76.com I hadn't realized that there were laptops with dual m.2 NVMe SSDs as an option, let alone with two internal SATA drives in addition. This is the first time in years that I've lusted after a laptop.

I originally looked for a high-end desktop, had no idea they offered up to 44 cores and 1tb RAM. Way out of my budget but there's absolutely no doubt they have quick options.

I bet the lower-end stuff is equally tasty.