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Switch over to Linux Mint, it’s the spiritual successor to Windows 7 (same look and feel), but it’s also Linux which is phenomenal. Windows 7 used to be all I

Switch over to Linux Mint, it’s the spiritual successor to Windows 7 (same look and feel), but it’s also Linux which is phenomenal. Windows 7 used to be all I used, because all the latest windows versions take away too much control of my computer from me (eg Windows 10 requiring updates to be installed middle of workday at most inconvenient times.)

zozbot234 7y ago
You could run almost any desktop environment and give it that kind of look and feel. No need to limit oneself to Cinnamon or Linux Mint.
oauea 7y ago
> Windows 10 requiring updates to be installed middle of workday at most inconvenient times That just means you haven't told Windows your working hours, or you never shut down. This has literally never happened to me. It will only start to force you if you've ignored security updates for 2 days or so, which as an IT professional you should appreciate.
- aldoushuxley001 7y ago
  It's true I never told Windows my working hours, but I would shut down mostly nightly and it'd still happen. I just find it to be incredibly user-hostile to force updates in the middle of a session, starts to feel a bit more like Microsoft's computer than mine at a certain point.
  - Arainach 7y ago
    If you turn off your machine and never give it a time to install updates except during the day, that's inevitable. Security updates are more important than user convenience for the same reason that vaccines are more important than people's opinions.
    - cortic 7y ago
      I wonder when consent stopped being important? And how that was accomplished. I know the mentality from authority has always been; WE the government can stick anything into your body, cause we know best. And WE the multinational corporation can stick anything into your devices, cause we know best. But we the consumer seem to have just given up. If i wasn't averse to tinfoil hats I'd say it was something in the water.
    - mr_woozy 7y ago
      what an asinine perspective. If you remove the users autonomy from how / when that security gets applied you've now made the security situation quantifiably worse, for 2 reasons, one users will now jump through hoops to confound your mandatory process, two you're impinging on possible mission critical infrastructure which blanket policies decided arbitrarily by a software conglomerate.
    - aldoushuxley001 7y ago
      > Security updates are more important than user convenience for the same reason that vaccines are more important than people's opinions. That's exactly the attitude I'm trying to get away from.
    - Chris_Chambers 7y ago
      People like you should be killed.
  - beamatronic 7y ago
    I know the feeling, it’s like rent-seeking applied to consumer electronics.
- jotm 7y ago
  It also messes up some settings and customizations. LTSC gets security updates, antivirus updates, etc, and never even notifies or restarts. Why do you need a new Windows build every 6 months then? It's a host OS for all the useful software... Don't forget it updates when shutting down... Like, I need to take my laptop and go, wtf...
  - oauea 7y ago
    > Like, I need to take my laptop and go So take your laptop and go? It'll happily continue updating, and then shut down, on the go.
    - jotm 7y ago
      I actually did experiment with that - Core 2 Quad laptop under moderate load in a closed backpack will overheat and shutdown in around 10 minutes. Longer than I expected, and I will never try that again.
- robocat 7y ago
  I’ve had that configured, didn’t help. E.g. Windows hangs midday, so I shift click to shutdown, but still get forced updates which I have to wait for to finish. Fastest laptop I could buy and it still takes too long. Fuck that.
mister_hn 7y ago
You might want to check also Manjaro Linux, which is featured as one of the best Linux distributions (as for distrowatch.com) and it delivers always updated packages, since it's based on Arch.
- turndown 7y ago
  Is this actually suggested for first timers? I use Manjaro, but would not classify it as beginner friendly.
  - zozbot234 7y ago
    I wouldn't even classify Arch or its derivatives as something appropriate for real production use. OTOH, if you're dealing with cutting-edge hardware as OP is, installing an Arch derivative may be the easiest way of getting it to work, at least until the support makes its way to e.g. Debian's "testing" channel, and then its stable release.
    - mister_hn 7y ago
      well, if you call a MacMini 2008 "cutting edge hardware"...For Apple it was dead back to MacOS 10.7, but it works awesomely with Manjaro Linux 32 bit I've been using Manjaro Linux since 2013 for personal and production usage, on new or old hardware. It simply flies.. The Xfce variant needs only 300MB of RAM, while Gnome and KDE are hungrier. I've had multiple problems with Mint/Ubuntu/Debian, especially with nvidia drivers and kernel updates, lately also with kernel 5.3.0
  - mister_hn 7y ago
    Yes, Manjaro is first timers user-friendly, since you can manage everything graphically and kernel updates have never been so easy to update (along with drivers). There are also LTS Kernels, plus a huge selection of software. Definitively an alternative to Ubuntu/Mint, check distrowatch.com
- aldoushuxley001 7y ago
  Majaro actually looks beautiful, I'll definitely check into it, thanks for the heads up! Some part of me is tempted to make the jump to qubes too

zozbot234 7y ago

You could run almost any desktop environment and give it that kind of look and feel. No need to limit oneself to Cinnamon or Linux Mint.

oauea 7y ago

> Windows 10 requiring updates to be installed middle of workday at most inconvenient times That just means you haven't told Windows your working hours, or you never shut down. This has literally never happened to me. It will only start to force you if you've ignored security updates for 2 days or so, which as an IT professional you should appreciate.

aldoushuxley001 7y ago
It's true I never told Windows my working hours, but I would shut down mostly nightly and it'd still happen. I just find it to be incredibly user-hostile to force updates in the middle of a session, starts to feel a bit more like Microsoft's computer than mine at a certain point.
- Arainach 7y ago
  If you turn off your machine and never give it a time to install updates except during the day, that's inevitable. Security updates are more important than user convenience for the same reason that vaccines are more important than people's opinions.
  - cortic 7y ago
    I wonder when consent stopped being important? And how that was accomplished. I know the mentality from authority has always been; WE the government can stick anything into your body, cause we know best. And WE the multinational corporation can stick anything into your devices, cause we know best. But we the consumer seem to have just given up. If i wasn't averse to tinfoil hats I'd say it was something in the water.
  - mr_woozy 7y ago
    what an asinine perspective. If you remove the users autonomy from how / when that security gets applied you've now made the security situation quantifiably worse, for 2 reasons, one users will now jump through hoops to confound your mandatory process, two you're impinging on possible mission critical infrastructure which blanket policies decided arbitrarily by a software conglomerate.
  - aldoushuxley001 7y ago
    > Security updates are more important than user convenience for the same reason that vaccines are more important than people's opinions. That's exactly the attitude I'm trying to get away from.
  - Chris_Chambers 7y ago
    People like you should be killed.
- beamatronic 7y ago
  I know the feeling, it’s like rent-seeking applied to consumer electronics.
jotm 7y ago
It also messes up some settings and customizations. LTSC gets security updates, antivirus updates, etc, and never even notifies or restarts. Why do you need a new Windows build every 6 months then? It's a host OS for all the useful software... Don't forget it updates when shutting down... Like, I need to take my laptop and go, wtf...
- oauea 7y ago
  > Like, I need to take my laptop and go So take your laptop and go? It'll happily continue updating, and then shut down, on the go.
  - jotm 7y ago
    I actually did experiment with that - Core 2 Quad laptop under moderate load in a closed backpack will overheat and shutdown in around 10 minutes. Longer than I expected, and I will never try that again.
robocat 7y ago
I’ve had that configured, didn’t help. E.g. Windows hangs midday, so I shift click to shutdown, but still get forced updates which I have to wait for to finish. Fastest laptop I could buy and it still takes too long. Fuck that.

mister_hn 7y ago

You might want to check also Manjaro Linux, which is featured as one of the best Linux distributions (as for distrowatch.com) and it delivers always updated packages, since it's based on Arch.

turndown 7y ago
Is this actually suggested for first timers? I use Manjaro, but would not classify it as beginner friendly.
- zozbot234 7y ago
  I wouldn't even classify Arch or its derivatives as something appropriate for real production use. OTOH, if you're dealing with cutting-edge hardware as OP is, installing an Arch derivative may be the easiest way of getting it to work, at least until the support makes its way to e.g. Debian's "testing" channel, and then its stable release.
  - mister_hn 7y ago
    well, if you call a MacMini 2008 "cutting edge hardware"...For Apple it was dead back to MacOS 10.7, but it works awesomely with Manjaro Linux 32 bit I've been using Manjaro Linux since 2013 for personal and production usage, on new or old hardware. It simply flies.. The Xfce variant needs only 300MB of RAM, while Gnome and KDE are hungrier. I've had multiple problems with Mint/Ubuntu/Debian, especially with nvidia drivers and kernel updates, lately also with kernel 5.3.0
- mister_hn 7y ago
  Yes, Manjaro is first timers user-friendly, since you can manage everything graphically and kernel updates have never been so easy to update (along with drivers). There are also LTS Kernels, plus a huge selection of software. Definitively an alternative to Ubuntu/Mint, check distrowatch.com
aldoushuxley001 7y ago
Majaro actually looks beautiful, I'll definitely check into it, thanks for the heads up! Some part of me is tempted to make the jump to qubes too