I recently installed the latest Linux Mint on an old laptop today, alongside XP, just for shits and giggles. The machine is, of course, not capable of running 7 and up, despite the claims that a minimal install of 10 can run on 1 GIG of RAM. Uh huh...sure it can.

For those that have used Linux, what are your thoughts? How steep did you find the learning curve to be?

Other than making the bootable USB flash drive with Rufus (which required 7 to do, thank you Zdnet for the LYING directions!) and getting the laptop to boot off of it, it was very easy to install. Windows could only fantasize about an installation so smooth, I think.

I mainly did this as I am convinced that Windows 10 and all the code therein was written by Satan and his Minions. We have also decided that we will shut down our business and apply for food stamps before we allow another computer with 10 on it in the building.

So far, I am not having very many problems with it myself. It's close enough to a ''funny-skinned'' version of Windows Classic look for me to work with, but it's not quite close enough that I think I can teach the owner how to use it. He still can't find his way around XP, you know. Then again, it was well over 5 years before he noticed that the main lab computer was running 7 in classic mode.

Anyway, I am just curious how many have tried this OS and how you like it.

Thanks.

Paolo wrote: Sat Jan 11, 2020 4:58 pm I recently installed the latest Linux Mint on an old laptop today, alongside XP, just for shits and giggles. The machine is, of course, not capable of running 7 and up, despite the claims that a minimal install of 10 can run on 1 GIG of RAM. Uh huh...sure it can.

For those that have used Linux, what are your thoughts? How steep did you find the learning curve to be?

Other than making the bootable USB flash drive with Rufus (which required 7 to do, thank you Zdnet for the LYING directions!) and getting the laptop to boot off of it, it was very easy to install. Windows could only fantasize about an installation so smooth, I think.

I mainly did this as I am convinced that Windows 10 and all the code therein was written by Satan and his Minions. We have also decided that we will shut down our business and apply for food stamps before we allow another computer with 10 on it in the building.

So far, I am not having very many problems with it myself. It's close enough to a ''funny-skinned'' version of Windows Classic look for me to work with, but it's not quite close enough that I think I can teach the owner how to use it. He still can't find his way around XP, you know. Then again, it was well over 5 years before he noticed that the main lab computer was running 7 in classic mode.

Anyway, I am just curious how many have tried this OS and how you like it.

Thanks.

Mint is based on Ubuntu, so the curve shouldn't be too steep. I played a bit with older version on an old laptop. Generally I am in the Debian camp . And I use Ubuntu Mate at work (it kinda happened, but it works).

For the most part - Ubuntu derivatives tend to 'just work', unless you either want something really strange, start messing REALLY deeply with software or have unsupported hardware. (I still have flashbacks about trying to do a live update from 32 bit to 64 bit system).

PS. Parents machine runs Debian (with Xfce), sister's - Ubuntu Mate. Both manage pretty well, I'd say?

PPS. You can, probably, also use either Balena Etcher or UNetbootin to write the OS image on the USB drive.

Actually - one thing I remember - Mint uses display compositing as a default, so if you have unsupported or slow video card, things will get VERY slow and you should search for different distribution, or different desktop environment.

The laptop is fairly old. It's got a Radeon 200M series 1 GIG video card. I have noticed that it's annoyingly slow in even getting folders open.

Mint seems to work well for older folks who don't do more than e-mail and social networking and the occasional banking stuff. The Mint 19 seems to render movies well for the same folks. For sure it will need less memory than any of the newer microdoze systems

I totally understand the hate for Windows 10, as I've had capable friends have horrible trouble with it.

I also understand people not liking Acer computers.

But man... I've got a 6 year old Acer that auto-upgraded (after I resisted for months) to Windows 10. It CHOKED on it as it went down; the computer just kept doing stuff and restarting for 15 HOURS STRAIGHT.

I was sure it failed.

Then... Windows sounds. And... it was like magic.

EVERYTHING WORKED. It all just... worked. Everything was where I left it, and to this day, as I type this post on it, it's literally never failed me. Okay... one sudden, out of the blue hard restart for no reason, once, and a blue screen of death exactly once. Full recover after restart both times.

I'm so impressed. I even run a server for a terabyte of shows for the rest of the house with it.

I must be just lucky!

I have never had any problems with windows 10 - on my cutomer's computers or my own.

I do sell/service/repair/program computers!

In fact, from my expience, Window 10 is the best Microsoft have produced

I could see that. But I can also understand my issues.

Problem 1. You get used to doing things one way in 7 and then 10 does it another way. I got the hang, but it was a slow and painful couple of weeks. Like having good luck with a Chevy, so you buy another one and the steering wheel is on the right. You have to ask yourself - WHY. There is no good answer except forced change to make you pay.

Problem 2. I use my laptop for (low tech) technical analyses, communication and reports. When the whole digital thing came together with digital photos, spreadsheets, WORD, Powerpoint, etc. it was revolutionary for me. Windows 10 is not revolutionary for me. I will grant that the font is crisper and Snip & Sketch gives clearer results, but aside from that for my use it is a case of changing shit so they can charge you for changing shit. Unlike the digital revolution, I have not found a single feature on 10 that is useful for me that I could not do with 7.

Problem 3. The whole Microsoft password bullshit. They are really fond of making you have an account and a password. Then 'for your own security' they periodically make you change your password. And it had better not be similar to any of the passwords your have used thru all the years. I got so frustrated with everything that came to mind being like something I had used before that my current passwords are Jodejode and Fuckyoumicro. Those are ok because I had never used them before. They bought SKYPE and I got into a whole down the rabbit hole and around and around we go with that. You get in this loop of continual rejection. I called tech support and the guy walked me once thru it and then assured me the change was done although my screen wanted me to put in a new password. What kind of a tech company cannot even make passwords simple and straight forward?

Thanks for getting me started on Microsoft and ruining my day (sort of and half way joking).

over 20 years a Linux user. Mint is a very nice distro. I used RH products for years, but I use Mint daily at home these days. Clean and smooth package with easy updates. No more issues with video cards and drivers everytime a new kernel comes out. I control the experience and do not share my info openly with anyone. I would provide you a thumbs up for it over Fedora these days.

I have used Linux for many years and find it works well. Windows often gets in the way. Also, you can make Windows 10 more like Windows 7 with Open Shell (https://www.techspot.com/downloads/7103-open-shell.html).