Do I need to know anything about download mirrors when I go to download the iso? Is it all taken care of by the mint download link?

I thought that UNetBootin can automatically download the ISO for you.

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Here is my breakdown on what I think I need to do on the mac, and my questions:

Download unetbootin: http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

Run it. Choose to download mint 11 or 10. Unetbootin will put it onto stick.

md5 file
where is it?

Download md5 checker: http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Security/MD5-Checker.shtml

Run it. Will it know what two copies of md5 need to be compared?

If comparison fails, repeat from run unetbootin until it succeeds.



Any comments? Specifically, does the md5 checker know where to get both copies of md5? Will it just be a choice on a list?

When using UNetBootin to download the ISOs, forget about MD5.

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Hey glenellynboy - I'm glad to see you're looking to replace Linpus. Both Ubuntu and Mint should work just fine. I'd go for either the XFCE (Xubuntu of Mint XFCE) or LXDE (Lubuntu or Mint LXDE) desktop. XFCE is definitely more full-featured than LXDE and would probably be a good compromise with respect to resouce-demand vs. ease of use. I have both Fedora and Ubuntu loaded on my Aspire One's hard drive; both running LXDE desktops.

One thing you won't get with any distro other than Linpus is the use of an SD card in the left slot as an extension of your SSD's 8GB. However, if you're going to keep an SD card permanently in one of the slots, you can put /home on it to free up some space on the SSD.

If unetbootin won't automatically download the appropriate iso file (you want the 32-bit file!), you can download it manually, then use unetbootin to write it in a bootable manner to a 1GB or larger flash drive.

Good luck!

When I install the new OS, will I lose Firefox? If so, how do I back it up? Is there one file I can back up that will take care of it?

Also, how can I back up all my notes? Do I have to put each one into a writer file?

That looks like the number that I was referring to.

I'd be careful running any Ubuntu, or LinuxMint unless its a Debian edition, on a small machine like you have. Ubuntu is, and so are the LinuxMint variants, a resource hog and can quickly overpower your machine IF you don't know what you are doing. Debian, and the LinuxMint Debian variants, are better suited to low powered and low resource machines.

It probably can; will it also verify the md5sum in that case? If not, I prefer the manual download.

All of your Firefox data is contained in the (hidden) .mozilla directory within your home directory. I routinely copy my .mozilla from one Linux installation to another without problems. I'm not sure what Linpus uses for note-taking, but I suspect it stores its data in an file or subdirectory with a name similar to the name of the application itself. Which brings up the following point: when replacing one Linux distro with another, it's a very, very, very good idea to backup your old home directory before proceeding with the replacement. That way, if nothing else, you can restore files and/or subdirectories contained therein as needed.

So I assume the way to backup home is to somehow make it appear as an icon and then drag it and drop it into my backup vehicle. Is that correct? If so, how do I get home to appear as an icon. Is there an alternative procedure to do the backup?

I don't know.

But personally I never check the md5sum and never had any issues.

Two options
1)
Do you still have the original user interface with the four blocks (connect, work, fun, files)?
1a)
If so, click (or double click, I don't know) the little right arrow in 'files' and next open 'my files'. Does it open a file browser? I think that that will display your home directory; contents should be 'my documents', 'my videos', 'my downloads' etc.
1b)
Close the file browser. Right click 'my files'; is there an option to copy? If so, select it. If not, open the 'my files' again and find a way to display hidden files and folders (probably a menu option). Next select all files and folders, right click and select 'copy'.
1c)
Insert a USB memory stick; it should open a file browser displaying the content of the memory stick. Paste what you have copied at the end of 1b.
1d)
Safely remove the memory stick and check its contents on your brothers computer.

2)
You need 2 memory sticks, one with the distro and one to store the data that you want to save (can you borrow one from your brother?).
2a)
Insert the live USB memory stick with the distro and switch on the Aspire One. Press <F12> when the Acer Splash screen shows to change the boot order to boot from USB (or external HD; not sure what the term is); follow instructions on the screen
2b)
Once booted, find a way to access your internal HD and navigate to the home directory on the internal disk; people with experience with Mint can tell you how it must be done
2c)
There will be a directory with your user name. Right click it and select copy.
2d)
Insert your second USB memory stick and wait for it to show; it will probably open in a file browser. Paste the copied 'data'
2e)
Safely remove the memory stick and check its contents on your brothers computer.

If you get stuck with anny of the steps, let us know.

Note
The memory stick where you're going to copy the data to can be replaced by a memory card as used in photo cameras; empty it first. Make sure you have a 4GB one or bigger.

One other note related to earlier posts as you mention a mac. The mac can not boot from the usb stick that is created with unetbootin (according to the documentation of unetbootin).

Ok. I opened Files. The displayed files and folders were called "my disk". I selected all files. I copied them. I inserted my empty 4 GB stick.

But when I displayed the stick's contents and clicked paste I got this message:

"Failed to copy "/mnt/home/libssl3.so" to "/media/Lexar/libssl3.so"."

and:

"Failed to create symbolic link "/media/Lexar/libssl3.so" (Operation not permitted)."

The only file that copied in was mozilla.pdf.

There were some other messages that appeared before and were immediately covered up by the one I showed above.

I think you're copying too much. I guess 'my disk' is the whole disk. See if you don't have a directory called home in there. Select it and copy that to memory stick.

Failing that, I'm a bit at a loss. Let us know.