Author Topic: Linux for dummies  (Read 8669 times)

HectoJ

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Re: Linux for dummies
« Reply #50 on: 12 July, 2022, 04:22:47 pm »
Explain it like I'm 5! Seriously I've read people have extended the life of computers by installing Linux. What is it about Linux that makes it run better on older computers than Windows? How to swap from Windows to Linux on an old PC? What are the benefits? Who does it suit most? Everyone?

It does extend the life of a computer. It works by putting much less demand on the hardware in order to run (it is not always trying to send data back to some server somewhere either). That being said, if you are using a computer to do image editing or video editing, it will also tank on the Linux machine, just not as soon as if you were running Windows with the same hardware.

Who does it suit? There are so many different flavours of Linux you can find one for any level of Linux user. For first time users, I would recommend Mint (Debian). Ubuntu has been caught skimming user data in the past. You may or may not need to install Ubuntu first to get past the BIOS security on your PC, then wipe that and install Mint (Debian). Although you might not need to do this now. You can find guides on Youtube that will explain how to get past the BIOS security.

My partner brought her old laptops home from work and there's 5 to 8 year old laptops that I'm wondering if Linux on them might make them OK for my 9 year old son to use.  He's likely to just use for games and YouTube.  Would Linux be a good idea? Are there any games for Linux? Will the old laptop run at an OK speed? I don't suppose there's minecraft for Linux too?

In general, Linux is not nearly as "friendly" to use as Mac OS or even Windows. There exist a lot of "similar" apps to what you can find on WIndows and MAc, but they tend to be slightly "clunky" to use. For example, GIMP and Inkscape are free versions of Photoshop and Illustrator (sort of), but they can be really hard to use if you are just starting out or coming from Adobe. However, if all you want to do is surf the web and get your email and listen to Spotify, then Linux should be perfect for you. So, in short, there is a learning curve. How quickly could your son pick it up? At his age it might not take much time for him to become fluent (I started on DOS, and look how well I turned out  :facepalm: )

Linux games do exist, but there are not as many as your would find for Windows. Minecraft does exist for Linux (Debian and Arch).


Finally how easy is it to install Linux on an old Windows laptop? I'm not into the nitty gritty of IT. I can pick up programs like the various office ones quote easily but not into the techy stuff that much.

It depends on what flavour you choose. If you pick Ubuntu or Mint, it should be a rather painless install.

Libre Office (which is an MS Office clone) works perfectly and can open and save .docx, .xslx files with ease. It is also one of the only apps that can let you open a file format across Windows, Mac and PC without exploding the file. Usually, LibreOffice is installed by default, as is FireFox as the browser.

I will say that just about everything in Linux looks like a 10 year old version of the program compared to what you see in Windows / Mac, for instance MS Office went over to the "Ribbon" interface, where LibreOffice kept the forest of icons. I prefer the forest of icons rather than nested menus that make no sense (like you find in MS Office now).

My advice to you: take the plunge, download the .iso of Ubuntu and install it no one of the PCs. See if you / your son can live with it, and go from there. You will learn more as you go and can venture into different flavours as you go. This is what I did, and now I prefer to run Linux rather than Mac or Windows.

Re: Linux for dummies
« Reply #51 on: 20 February, 2023, 11:37:42 am »
New question.

I have a HP Envy 15-151sa with AMD A10-8700P withR6 Radeon 1.8GHz 2MB Cache, 8GB DDR3L SDRAM, 1TB SATA HDD 5400rpm and a battery that is goosed and won't charge so I use it on cable.

Is this a prime candidate for Linux or is it better to say swap out the HDD for SSD and get it cleaned up a bit?

As a background i ditched it and got an i3 lenovo because in our old house the network driver kept going down and needing resetting so it was unreliable with wifi. Since then it got written off especially since my newer laptop has SSD and is a lot faster to do anything. After trying it again I found out that the battery is dead but it has reliable internet which suggests to me that the old house wifi had a hand in my wifi connection issues with it.

Anyway, I find it slower than my smaller, lenovo ideapad 330S-141KB i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz   1.80 GHz, 8GB RAM but could this be the SSD vs 5400rpm HDD? If I read it right the i5 has a lower frequency than the A10 but i'm guessing intel i series are faster or better performing than AMD equivalents in a lot of cases.

So is Linux going to give me benefits or a switch to a SSD if possible going to help rather than an inexperienced non IT guy without support making the OS switch? I would get a techie to do the switch which i guess i cheaper than paying for a techie to do the OS switch.

Any opinions on this? Note non-IT guy here. I have the basics but even 15 plus years ago when I helped the IT manager dealing with an NT server I only had the basics. I've forgotten more since. If I try myself to do this it will cost more to then take it somewhere I reckon.

Re: Linux for dummies
« Reply #52 on: 20 February, 2023, 01:21:54 pm »
It completely depends on what you want to use this laptop for.

<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: Linux for dummies
« Reply #53 on: 20 February, 2023, 02:48:58 pm »
Probably very little. Word processing, saving in a word format. Web browsing, forum or two and minor things like tapping into Garmin app I suppose. Videos and possibly online courses too. General home stuff.

The older laptop has a separate number pad which I think is better for spreadsheets too. I really find top row numbers inefficient for data entry. I did data entry straight out of uni as a stopgap until I got something better and in those days it was all number codes and pounds/pence (not old enough for shillings too). The Envy has reasonable speakers (B&O) for a laptop and the screen is pretty reasonable considering how old it is.

One thing I wonder about, how easy would it be to revert back to windows if you failed to see a benefit or wanted windows back for some reason? Is it really only one way?

Re: Linux for dummies
« Reply #54 on: 20 February, 2023, 05:50:36 pm »
I'd like to learn Linux. I've installed it several times, using different distributions, on older machines, but always drifted away from it again. Whilst I don't do games, and browsers and even office applications (LibreOffice etc.) are no problem, I tend to run into things that aren't easily run on Linux - for example Zwift, the password manager that I also use on my phone, Garmin software, and various specialist stuff. I've tried WINE, but it seems a bit daft going Linux and then spending all my effort on pretending I'm on Windows again, and that side of things has never worked smoothly for me. So I've drifted back again, rather against my will.

Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: Linux for dummies
« Reply #55 on: 20 February, 2023, 06:37:45 pm »
One thing I wonder about, how easy would it be to revert back to windows if you failed to see a benefit or wanted windows back for some reason? Is it really only one way?

I can't see how it's one-way.
You can flatten the Linux box and just re-install windows any time you like.
Win10 will automatically re-activate itself if installed on the same hardware, so no need to mess around with product keys etc.