I installed linux on an old laptop and I am very proud of myself.

[Anonymous]

I have an old dell laptop that was no longer getting security updates from Windows on my old laptop that I mainly use for browsing and watching tv, and sometimes, doing my taxes! I really didn't want a new laptop! So I did something pretty out there for me- I installed linux. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be and it made the computer very zippy- it's like a brand new laptop!!! This is just one of those goofy nice surprises in life that I can't share with anybody else in my life (no one in my circle is nerdy quite like this) so I am sharing it with you, internet stranger. I highly recommend!

[Anonymous]

That is cool! Now I kinda want to try this. How did you do it?

[Anonymous]

Good job!!! ⭐m in the same boat here and om not tech savvy can you walk me through?

[Anonymous]

I love this thread title, and I’m proud of you too! I doubt I will be able to replicate this achievement, but will follow along.

[Anonymous]

I'm proud of you too.

Linux saved my senior citizen dad's relatively new laptop from going to the garbage heap.

He had a Microsoft Windows account fail due to a corrupt PIN. My parents and I were able to get back into his Windows account. However, due to lapse of the paid Windows subscription and him never having a textable phone line plus losing the Outlook account associated with the subscription, there was no way to recover his data. I tried asking for help on Microsoft forums and Microsoft AI blocked me from posting. It said my questions violated ToS. There were no accessible human help lines.

I'm done with paying for Windows until they go back to the buy once strategy and provide some actual customer service.

My teen son took the computer and Linuxed it and my Dad got a Chromebook to do e-mail and browse the Internet. We are living happily ever after without contributing more $$ to Microsoft.

[Anonymous]

It was easier than I thought it would be. I asked ChatGPT which version of Linux it recommended for my particular machine, because there are so many, and then I went on that operating system’s website and followed their instructions.

You do need a USB key to make a boot up disk, and then you need another program to format the usb key and install the software on the key. Once I installed the “image” onto that usb key (it was very easy and I just followed the instructions), I plugged in the USB key and restarted my machine. That was it. From there it was just like installing any other software. If I knew you, I would give you my USB stick ready to go!

I installed Linux mint cinnamon version on a geriatric dell latitude laptop that was probably well over $2k a decade ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good job!!! ⭐m in the same boat here and om not tech savvy can you walk me through?

I posted what I did- it is EXTREMELY easy! You can even use ChatGPT to walk you through it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm proud of you too.

Linux saved my senior citizen dad's relatively new laptop from going to the garbage heap.

He had a Microsoft Windows account fail due to a corrupt PIN. My parents and I were able to get back into his Windows account. However, due to lapse of the paid Windows subscription and him never having a textable phone line plus losing the Outlook account associated with the subscription, there was no way to recover his data. I tried asking for help on Microsoft forums and Microsoft AI blocked me from posting. It said my questions violated ToS. There were no accessible human help lines.

I'm done with paying for Windows until they go back to the buy once strategy and provide some actual customer service.

My teen son took the computer and Linuxed it and my Dad got a Chromebook to do e-mail and browse the Internet. We are living happily ever after without contributing more $$ to Microsoft.

This was part of my reasoning too.

I just bought my son a very expensive laptop and it is so overloaded with bloatware it’s outrageous. Using it is extremely annoying and there are constant pop ups. This is probably also on the computer company itself but I am blaming Microsoft too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was easier than I thought it would be. I asked ChatGPT which version of Linux it recommended for my particular machine, because there are so many, and then I went on that operating system’s website and followed their instructions.

You do need a USB key to make a boot up disk, and then you need another program to format the usb key and install the software on the key. Once I installed the “image” onto that usb key (it was very easy and I just followed the instructions), I plugged in the USB key and restarted my machine. That was it. From there it was just like installing any other software. If I knew you, I would give you my USB stick ready to go!

I installed Linux mint cinnamon version on a geriatric dell latitude laptop that was probably well over $2k a decade ago.

Thank you for posting the instructions. I have only ever used Windows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was easier than I thought it would be. I asked ChatGPT which version of Linux it recommended for my particular machine, because there are so many, and then I went on that operating system’s website and followed their instructions.

You do need a USB key to make a boot up disk, and then you need another program to format the usb key and install the software on the key. Once I installed the “image” onto that usb key (it was very easy and I just followed the instructions), I plugged in the USB key and restarted my machine. That was it. From there it was just like installing any other software. If I knew you, I would give you my USB stick ready to go!

I installed Linux mint cinnamon version on a geriatric dell latitude laptop that was probably well over $2k a decade ago.

Thank you for posting the instructions. I have only ever used Windows.

There used to be more of a gap between Linux and windows and Mac. Now they all are fairly intuitive and have similar features. I’ve only been using the Linux machine for a couple of hours but it feels exactly the same as windows, except faster and without annoying popups and notifications. All I’m going to do on this laptop is browse and watching tv anyway. Whenever you see someone on tv using a computer and it looks like unbranded windows or some version of windows you don’t know, it’s actually just Linux.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was easier than I thought it would be. I asked ChatGPT which version of Linux it recommended for my particular machine, because there are so many, and then I went on that operating system’s website and followed their instructions.

You do need a USB key to make a boot up disk, and then you need another program to format the usb key and install the software on the key. Once I installed the “image” onto that usb key (it was very easy and I just followed the instructions), I plugged in the USB key and restarted my machine. That was it. From there it was just like installing any other software. If I knew you, I would give you my USB stick ready to go!

I installed Linux mint cinnamon version on a geriatric dell latitude laptop that was probably well over $2k a decade ago.

Thank you for posting the instructions. I have only ever used Windows.

There used to be more of a gap between Linux and windows and Mac. Now they all are fairly intuitive and have similar features. I’ve only been using the Linux machine for a couple of hours but it feels exactly the same as windows, except faster and without annoying popups and notifications. All I’m going to do on this laptop is browse and watching tv anyway. Whenever you see someone on tv using a computer and it looks like unbranded windows or some version of windows you don’t know, it’s actually just Linux.

Was it like a totally blank computer? Did you lose all your files? (I would back mine up first, but just curious). It seems very intimidating!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was easier than I thought it would be. I asked ChatGPT which version of Linux it recommended for my particular machine, because there are so many, and then I went on that operating system’s website and followed their instructions.

You do need a USB key to make a boot up disk, and then you need another program to format the usb key and install the software on the key. Once I installed the “image” onto that usb key (it was very easy and I just followed the instructions), I plugged in the USB key and restarted my machine. That was it. From there it was just like installing any other software. If I knew you, I would give you my USB stick ready to go!

I installed Linux mint cinnamon version on a geriatric dell latitude laptop that was probably well over $2k a decade ago.

Thank you for posting the instructions. I have only ever used Windows.

There used to be more of a gap between Linux and windows and Mac. Now they all are fairly intuitive and have similar features. I’ve only been using the Linux machine for a couple of hours but it feels exactly the same as windows, except faster and without annoying popups and notifications. All I’m going to do on this laptop is browse and watching tv anyway. Whenever you see someone on tv using a computer and it looks like unbranded windows or some version of windows you don’t know, it’s actually just Linux.

Was it like a totally blank computer? Did you lose all your files? (I would back mine up first, but just curious). It seems very intimidating!

I backed up the files that I wanted, which were very few as this computer was very slow and unreliable. I had already replaced the hard drive and the battery. Basically you turn off the computer, plug in the usb, and turn it on and it starts giving you options for installation. I chose to erase everything on the machine and it was easy peasy from there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was easier than I thought it would be. I asked ChatGPT which version of Linux it recommended for my particular machine, because there are so many, and then I went on that operating system’s website and followed their instructions.

You do need a USB key to make a boot up disk, and then you need another program to format the usb key and install the software on the key. Once I installed the “image” onto that usb key (it was very easy and I just followed the instructions), I plugged in the USB key and restarted my machine. That was it. From there it was just like installing any other software. If I knew you, I would give you my USB stick ready to go!

I installed Linux mint cinnamon version on a geriatric dell latitude laptop that was probably well over $2k a decade ago.

Thank you for posting the instructions. I have only ever used Windows.

There used to be more of a gap between Linux and windows and Mac. Now they all are fairly intuitive and have similar features. I’ve only been using the Linux machine for a couple of hours but it feels exactly the same as windows, except faster and without annoying popups and notifications. All I’m going to do on this laptop is browse and watching tv anyway. Whenever you see someone on tv using a computer and it looks like unbranded windows or some version of windows you don’t know, it’s actually just Linux.

Was it like a totally blank computer? Did you lose all your files? (I would back mine up first, but just curious). It seems very intimidating!

I backed up the files that I wanted, which were very few as this computer was very slow and unreliable. I had already replaced the hard drive and the battery. Basically you turn off the computer, plug in the usb, and turn it on and it starts giving you options for installation. I chose to erase everything on the machine and it was easy peasy from there.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

So will chrome update now? I wonder if this would work for a mac?

[Anonymous]

Cool! What browser are you using? What works with this?

Anyone else try this since OP posted?