Say Goodbye to Windows XP - StartUbuntu Project

[amjjawad]

Hi,

StartUbuntu Project is a Project for ALL Ubuntu Communities (Ubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, Ubuntu Studio, Edubuntu, Mythubuntu and UbuntuKylin) and the one and only aim is to introduce the best choice for Windows XP Users and make their migration to Linux as smooth and easy as possible. It is a Community Project that IMHO, everyone should be part of this and spread the word, just as we used to do. After all, as a Linux User, you may want to give back something for Linux. What could be better than this?

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StartUbuntu


Windows XP EOL will be April, 2014. There is no much time left. There are some users who have joined already (as this is not a recent project) and they are contributing already but the more, the better. Each user of any Ubuntu Flavour needs to promote for his best flavour and invite his Windows XP Friends to have a look at Linux and that Linux is Ubuntu or any official Flavour and we do know for a fact that Ubuntu and its official flavours are simply the best

Artwork (banner) is done by Rafael, Lubuntu Artwork Team Leader who is helping a lot with this project but creating such amazing banners and artwork which is needed.

Thank you!

[John_McCourt]

I'm not sure that the current version Ubuntu is suitable for all old windows XP machines. Yes it will run, but very slowly. P4 and below would be barely useable, even with Lubuntu or Xbuntu which both have a high overhead. A big part of that is that tabbed browsers use alot of memory. When XP came out there were no tabbed browsers, so people browsed the web more sensibly.

In my opinion now is the time to start getting rid of the old PC's. Maybe giving them to people in poor countries is an option, but not for anything in the first world.

[amjjawad]

Hello and welcome to Ubuntu Forums

Thank you for posting!

I'm not sure that the current version Ubuntu is suitable for all old windows XP machines.

While indeed the campaign called StartUbuntu but if you take a look at the Wiki Page, you will find that we are actually offering more than one option if Ubuntu can't be installed, there are other alternatives
Lubuntu
Xubuntu

Both work on old machines.

Yes it will run, but very slowly.

We have no idea what kind of machines those users are having. May I remind you that so many users could have good hardware but they insist to use Windows XP for some reason (for them, they just love it). So, if Ubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, Kubuntu, etc will not work on that hardware, we do have Lubuntu and Xubuntu

P4 and below would be barely useable, even with Lubuntu or Xbuntu which both have a high overhead.

Being an active tester for both of what you mentioned for the last 3 years, I have never ever faced any issue with these machines and yes, I have two different machines, both with P4 and yes, one of them have even less than 512MB RAM and yes, even on 256MB RAM, Lubuntu worked

Let's remember something. It depends on what you are doing. Of course, if you are willing to open 10 tabs, you obviously need a machine that can handle that so it has nothing to do with the system you use in that case.

And, with old machine and low RAM, there is a bit of a trick:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install zram-config

Lubuntu 13.10 by default will be shipped with that option installed.

A big part of that is that tabbed browsers use alot of memory.

No doubt about that

When XP came out there were no tabbed browsers, so people browsed the web more sensibly.

True but yet again, no one knows what kind of hardware they have? guessing they didn't upgrade their machines (hardware) and they are using +10 years old machines, all of those users? is, IMHO, incorrect and wrong guess.

In my opinion now is the time to start getting rid of the old PC's.

I disagree
If it is not broken, why to get rid of it?

Maybe giving them to people in poor countries is an option, but not for anything in the first world.

Not really off-topic but what really makes the poor people in poor countries less humans than those living in rich countries? humans are humans and everyone should be treated equally and even though you want to send that to the poor countries, what system are you proposing to be installed? XP? the outdated forsaken version of Microsoft? hmm, I don't think so

If you are suggesting to get rid of these machines (very old machines), then no one should use it.
There are 5-6 years old machines can be sent to the poor people.

Thanks!

[makitso]

amjjawad,

Some planning tips:

First, remember the audience that this effort is aimed at, i.e. it's not for hard core linux/ubuntu fans but windows XP users? Since there still on XP, that suggests that something has prevented them from upgrading?
What are the requirements that is driving your effort? Suggest you focus on 5 items as key success factors.
What outcome are you expecting from this effort?

[amjjawad]

amjjawad,

Hi makitso,

Long time no see

Some planning tips:

First, remember the audience that this effort is aimed at, i.e. it's not for hard core linux/ubuntu fans but windows XP users?

Solely and Purely, this is aimed for Windows XP Users, for the time being
If this campaign will make any success, we can go even further but for now, Mission 1 is to reach to as many Windows XP Users as possible and offer them something they have never heard nor dreamed about.

Since there still on XP, that suggests that something has prevented them from upgrading?

Yes, most likely, here is why:

1- They have never ever heard about Linux
2- They have heard about Linux but because the lack of beginner support, they perhaps had tried it and decided to stay with Windows.
3- They don't really care whether Windows XP will no longer be supported or not so they will keep using it - yes, I am serious, I know some
4- They will listen to Microsoft and either buy new hardware or go for upgrade to Windows 7 or Windows 8

The first 2 groups are easy target.
The last 2 groups are a bit hard, specially type 3. However, nothing is impossible

What are the requirements that is driving your effort?

There is one and only thing that is driving me, that is Linux. Linux should not be kept on desks inside laptops or PC, Linux MUST be around the world, everywhere. That is my personal opinion and that is something I'd like to achieve.

Suggest you focus on 5 items as key success factors.

Hm, but this is not a personal project and its success of failure will back to me, this is a huge community project that, IMHO, most if not everyone should really participate in, that of course if he/she is willing to spread Linux and not just using it

What outcome are you expecting from this effort?

One and only outcome = Windows XP Users (whether 1% of them or 99% of them - does not matter IMHO) to drop Windows once and for all and StartUbuntu

That is all in mind right now!

Thanks a lot

[iulian X]

While indeed the campaign called StartUbuntu but if you take a look at the Wiki Page, you will find that we are actually offering more than one option if Ubuntu can't be installed, there are other alternatives
Lubuntu
Xubuntu
Both work on old machines.Thanks!

There are 2 other distro based on Ubuntu that can be used to on old computers.
Bodhi Linux and Madbox Linux

Here in Romania we also try to tell people about the expiration on Windows Xp.
In schols and public administration there are a lot of old computers runing Xp, when xp will expire the old computeres must be changed but with this financial crisis and all there are not much money.

[Alex Eagle]

I paraphrase:

there are other alternatives
Lubuntu
Xubuntu

Both work on old machines.


if Ubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, Kubuntu, etc will not work on that hardware, we do have Lubuntu and Xubuntu



On machines that have even less than 512MB RAM and yes, even on 256MB RAM, Lubuntu worked



Lubuntu 13.10 by default will be shipped with that option installed.

Let's also not forget (without taking away from the 'buntus) that there are other distros of Linux. For example, Debian, even Raspian (designed specially for the Raspberry Pi, which has very small RAM, no HHD, a small processor - I think - and runs the OS off of an SD card as small as 4GB). There are many distros of Linux, and consequently Ubuntu, that require very little.

This is a great project, Windows sucks, and I don't see any problem with StartUbuntu.

Thank you, and goodnight!

[stalkingwolf]

I'm not sure that the current version Ubuntu is suitable for all old windows XP machines. Yes it will run, but very slowly. P4 and below would be barely useable, even with Lubuntu or Xbuntu which both have a high overhead. A big part of that is that tabbed browsers use alot of memory. When XP came out there were no tabbed browsers, so people browsed the web more sensibly.

In my opinion now is the time to start getting rid of the old PC's. Maybe giving them to people in poor countries is an option, but not for anything in the first world.

in my home there are 2 hp mini110's, a whitebox , 2 hp 5000 series towers and an emachines. all of the p4 class dual core, with 1 -3 gb of ram. they all do very well with mint 13 . I run firefox as the default with crome and epiphany as alternates. and the mate desktop. I also maintain several others all with mint 13 with no problems. 3 of them former windows users and two that are owned by 11 year olds with the edubuntu packages added. They took off wiht them and havent looked back.

[LT1Caprice57L]

A big part of that is that tabbed browsers use alot of memory. When XP came out there were no tabbed browsers, so people browsed the web more sensibly.

No we didn't. We just had a zillion browser windows open at once, instead of tabs. (And crashed the browser ten times as often, due to the lack of memory.)

[codingman]

I'm not sure that the current version Ubuntu is suitable for all old windows XP machines. Yes it will run, but very slowly. P4 and below would be barely useable, even with Lubuntu or Xbuntu which both have a high overhead. A big part of that is that tabbed browsers use alot of memory. When XP came out there were no tabbed browsers, so people browsed the web more sensibly.

In my opinion now is the time to start getting rid of the old PC's. Maybe giving them to people in poor countries is an option, but not for anything in the first world.

Answer: w3m or links.