Help, just how do I get Linux to work?

[#1]

You could always try it, like I did before I made the post.

[#2]

I could, but that would require booting into the 32bit copy of Vista on my laptop, which hasn't been booted since May 2015, and is otherwise running 64bit Linux (Fedora).

[#3]

Quote from: summers

Well easier is: Quote cat /proc/cpuinfo Now the citical bit, is the flag: lm - that means its 64bit ...

Unless you have a multi-core processor, in which case the information gets repeated for each core.

[#4]

Yes I always wonder what would happen on one of those arm bigLITTLE cores, where one of them is Armv8. Do some core show up as 64 bit, and some as 32bit. Then ownder what arm kernel would you install. Though in the arm world I guess you already have the issue with anthing bigLITTLE where the two cores are different versions of armv ...

[#5]

As is the Linux way there are many ways to skin the proverbial cat:

grep -owc 'lm' /proc/cpuinfo

[#6]

I think any Intel or AMD processors old enough to not be 64bit are probably so old and slow it would be time to consider getting a new system.

[#7]

Totally frustrated!! 
Followed every step..Downloaded Ubuntu...Downloaded Burnaware.  Inserted blank dvd into laptop. Burned Ubuntu ont disc, choosing image option.  Inserted into laptop with '  boot from cd ' option on bios. Nothing happened.  Insertd disc in main (good) laptop running windows 10 to see what was on disc - HOW THE HECK DO YOU CHECK YOUR DVD DRIVE IN WINDOWS 10?. What a pile of poo windows10 is.
Went back into Burnaware, and saw the option to burn a 'bootable' disc.  Nothing ventured, I gave it a go. Exactly the same.
Tried the first routine again, but using NTI DVD burner instead of Burnaware.. No good again.
Went up the road to buy another pack of DVD's.
Tried Burnaware again, but this time chose the iso option.  Still no good.

Anyone need any cup stands?

[#8]

Burnaware has too many options.

I would try the "Make Boot ISO" - because it's in the disc images column - but no guarantees...

[#9]

Assuming the ISO file has downloaded correctly, after using "Burn Image" you could try "Verify Disc" or perhaps there's a verification option that can be enabled as part of the burning process. Perhaps try burning at a slower speed, which should be more reliable. Or even blowing any dust out of the DVD drive - my laptop's DVD drive gets used so rarely, it tends to need some dusting before it will be able to read anything.

[#10]

Download and install isorecorder from reply 18 on your Windows machine and use that to burn your disk.

[#11]

Tried 'burn image', 'Boot disc', 'Make ISI' and 'make boot ISO'. All unsuccessfuly. Somewhat frustrated now.  
Tried isorecorder but doesn't work.
Presently trying to download it onto dvd on the faulty laptop.Not really faulty, but lower spec - the one I want to install it on. Getting really frustrated now. Hot (with two laptops running and the missus asking me .."have you done it?" every two minutes.
I don't know what to try next.
I may just by the grandkids a kindle fire hd, £40 from Amazon, and get my sanity back (and probably be cheaper than keep buying blank dvds).  
Though I hate being beaten.

[#12]

I don't suppose you've got a bootable Windows or laptop recovery disc, just to test if it's the reading / booting from the disc that's the problem, rather than the burning of the disc?
The alternative would be to create a bootable USB stick. https://unetbootin.github.io/ is one program for doing that.

[#13]

Tried on both laptops just to check. I can download it. Burn it to dvd, but it won't boot.
Not sure what I'm doing wrong.
When I've downloaded it, I open the containing folder and right click ubuntu xxx, I then select send to dvd/burn to dvd and let it copy across.
If I'm using burnaware I select the option/s that I mentioned 6 posts earlier.
I can't get either dvdplayer to read the disc.  Unless I misunderstood instructions, I do not have to extract the files before recording them.
Anyone know what the world record is for throwing a laptop?

[#14]

Quote from: doris

What a pile of poo windows10 is.

It does, however, appear to have a built-in disk burning capability with little room for user error.

[#15]

Maybe it does have a built in disc burning capability, but you try putting a written disc in it then exploring it to see what's on there. Only way I can find is to open up documents, then pick disc drive and it tells you the folder, but you can't go any deeper than that.