Took forever to boot, sometimes would pop a blue screen forcing a reboot whether I was online, in the middle of a forum story I had not saved , or sometimes right after windows launch. So much Dell bullshit loading then the master dump of Microsoft bullshit and together the poor thing would barely run. Thought about going to Linux a while back but didn't want to lose all of my saved favorites, then the day came. After a week of Recovery of the Operating System with Dell support I pulled the plug and loaded Linux Mint 21.1. Forgot to save my favorites but I'm Microsoft free and my laptop runs like it was new!! Shout out to @sec_monkey for encouraging me to make the move.
You're not the only one...pulled out an old Acer notebook - took 5 minutes to load up. It'll be getting a Linux upgrade this weekend.
PhoenixLite Windows 10, or 11, is free to download if you search. Boots, or should I say reboots, my amd minipc in less than 10s, and that's back to idle with everything loaded. Updates fine and zero driver issues or unknown devices. Fastest booting OS I ever ran. No cortana, tpm, secureboot etc etc, and the first boot requires no login of anykind! I run MX Linux with sysvinit (no systemd). Coolest thing about MX is you can create a bootable iso of your running system and install it to any other system. I used the iso from my intel laptop and put it on my amd desktop. Saved a ton of time.
I get free laptops from time to time, they get Mint installed. Several I have given away over the years are still running, 1 is from the early 2000's, and still fast. All the overhead in Windoze is crap.
Everything I have that doesn't require Windows runs on Mint. I have found free versions of all the software I use with the exception of CAD that is every bit as good or better than the Windows versions, and the performance is much better.
Mint is just ubuntu with a prettier gui. That's it. The day ubuntu partnered with canonical was the day they died for me. MX is and has been the #1 distro for a long time now. Updates at least once a week and runs great. I run a single, actually 2, flatpaks in MX. Tube Converter and Flatseal. I'm actually on the liqourix kernel v6.2.7-1 for advanced hardware support. But yeah the last time i introduced linux I put mint in and as far as i know they are still running it. Doesn't matter what distro you use it only matters that it works for you.
When I threw out spawn of gates about 15 years ago I went to linux and after I went through a few of the million or so distro versions available I settled on both Mint and Ubuntu. What I found from a noob 1s and 0s challenged old fart view was Ubuntu was easier to use and navigate than Mint for a beginner. If you start with more savvy the Mint is the better choice. I stay with Ubuntu because it's been more than 10 or so years and I've learned the tweaks and addons to make it comfortable for me. YMMV of course. I bet there are some here that even tried Tin Foil Hat Linux.
Canonical. When Ubuntu merged with canonical is when they forced an 'ap store' into the OS, and that includes the ads. First off, I'm not buying anything just to run linux. Nor do I install linux because I'm considering on buying something. Secondly, if they force me to look at payed ads of any kind, software especially, it is the opposite of 'free and open source'. The main reason to run linux in the 1st fckng place. I control it, not the other way around like windows. And if I wanted to buy something, I sure as hell am not going to mix the process itself with the 'free' OS and then bake it into the computer like a tard. Don't get me wrong but buntu can make all the money they want. I don't have issue with that I have issue with them forcing the software into the OS. Killed it. Just like systemD. Who in the f decided that systemd should be on every distro ever. F systemd. I look at canonical like I do yahoo. Don't need it, don't want it near me either.
