Re: Before Dimdows 10 Goes EOL, I'm Testing Linux To Save My Laptop From The Landfill

On Jun 25, 2025, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote
(in article <103i58h$3340l$1@dont-email.me>):

Another daily-diary article, this time trying out a few Linux distros
that might offer a less painful transition for Windows users
<https://www.tomshardware.com/news/live/before-windows-10-goes-eol-im-testing-
three-alternative-linux-distros-to-save-my-6-year-old-laptop-from-the-landfill

.

>
A lot of the time, it seems to me, the hardest step for a Windows user
is copying a bootable Linux image (either live OS or installer) onto a
USB stick. What would be a quick, easy job on Linux itself requires a
fair bit of faffing about with third-party tools on Windows.

1. You don’t have to junk Win 10 if you don’t want to. I have XP and 7
machines running, MS bailed on them a long time ago but they still work, I
just have to be careful. As most modern web browsers no longer like XP and it
would be a Very Bad Idea(™) to run IE at this late date, the XP machines
are locked away on a network which has no internet connectivity, and we take
precautions when running them. Why run them at all? because they run $150,000
imagesetters, that’s why. The imagesetters are very picky about their
drivers (not really drivers, long story, but the imagesetters won’t work
without them) and still work, and management will NOT be replacing them as
long as they work. So the XP machines live. I have a couple spare XP machines
for when one of the units in use croaks, which will happen sooner or later.
The Win 7 machines live on for similar, though less expensive, reasons. Now,
if you want to go adventuring on ye internet, you might have problems, but
you can use Win 10 locally for decades or until the hardware dies, whichever
comes along first.

2. I have built USB thumb drives on a number of distros, including Fedora,
Ubuntu, assorted Mint, and (once only) Centos. Usually the tools provided
with the distro (if any...) work well enough, just make sure that the thumb
drive is big enough, I usually use 16 or 32 GB drives. If the supplied tools
don’t work, or if there aren’t any, Rufus has always worked for me.

3. the main problems that I’ve found with modern (a.k.a. less than a decade
old) laptops is that a lot of them have Safe Boot in the BIOS/UEFI and
getting around it is a pain, and, worse, a lot of vendors (Lenovo, I’m
looking at YOU, you bastards!) have BitLocker set up be default, making life
interesting when booted from another device. Neither problem is a game-ender,
but both are annoying.

4. the other problems are drivers. Some vendors (Lenovo again, you bastards!)
have limited Linux driver support. Translation: the ‘business’ Lenovos
often have ‘most’ hardware supported on Linux, if you dig hard enough,
the ‘home’ Lenovos don’t have a bloody thing supported, not even a
camera. Guess how I know this. Check for driver support before you start.

5. Some distros work better than others on certain hardware. (Lenovo again!)
I found that Fedora and Ubuntu are better bets on certain hardware than other
distros. Have a look at the ‘user community’ fora for your hardware and
see what others have had problems with; the Lenovo fora are infested with
people who have had problems with every distro but Fedora and it’s not
necessarily smooth sailing with Fedora.

As always, YMMV. Good luck.