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End of 10: Upgrade your old Windows 10 computer to Linux

283 points by doener 1y ago

trapatsas 1y ago
Haven’t been involved with Windows for quite a while but what happened to the “evergreen” promise? Weren’t they meant to be the “last version of Windows”?
deterministic 1y ago
Windows 10 security updates will continue until 2028 so no need to do anything until then.
mrweasel 1y ago
One thing I've noticed is that the price of used hardware has gone up in my area. Sadly it seems like the Windows 10 only hardware is getting scrapped, rather than getting price dumped.
- mathattack 1y ago
  Perhaps it's getting repurposed? Think about the demand and supply curves of calculations (or computation). For most of history, they moved in tandem, with supply moving slightly faster, so computers would always do more at slightly lower costs. Now both curves are speeding up, but demand is moving faster, so the costs of hardware are going up. And when high end servers (with GPUs) are unavailable, people hold onto the older ones longer.
- WorldPeas 1y ago
  everyone has a phone nowadays, I think the expectation that the e-waste cycle would continue was a misjudgement. For most normal people I know, windows 7 was their last "laptop generation"(10 at the latest) before they could have switched entirely to their phones or tablets. They also don't really bother getting rid of this gear by sale, most of the prior generation's machines were priced in the thousands and were towers so it made more sense to resell them, that generation(to my perception) was mostly thin plastic units with almost no durability. Most people I've seen hold onto them "just in case", as they wouldn't sell in their condition.
subjectsigma 1y ago
Clean, clear, compelling. I’m not a huge fan of desktop Linux and I’ve posted that several times, but I can still find joy in other people’s success. This is the kind of marketing work that operating systems like Mint and Ubuntu need! Thanks for posting and/or making this.
- juujian 1y ago
  With three or four major GUIs out there, that's a bit of a sweeping statement, no? What's the negative that applies to all distros?
  - deleted 1y ago
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  - all2 1y ago
    Probably, yes. A lot is plug and play, but not all. Having set one parent up on Mint, I can say categorically that it is still a bit of a config nightmare.
  - jonfw 1y ago
    Two negatives that are actively made worse by the the fact that there are a variety of distros- 1. Nothing is googleable. People have to google how to do things like adjust the layout of external monitors, and it's significantly harder to do that on linux. 2. There are a lot of different ways to install applications, and different options are available depending on which distro or application you're targeting
    - anon7000 1y ago
      1. What? It works nearly the same way as Mac or windows? Just a section in the settings app 2. Most distros have an App Store that’s easy to find these days. Works great for non-cli tools
      - deleted 1y ago
        [deleted]
Frenchgeek 1y ago
I've been mainly on Linux for 20 years now (damn already?), what started as a cheap computer with second-hand parts with a more powerful windows machine mostly for games is now a powerful machine in its own rights with an outdated windows one gathering dust right beside it... It's not perfect, but I don't have to spend half an hour removing everything useless I can. (Or have Microsoft assume I have nothing better to do than watch a full presentation on how edgy their new browser is. I'm not going to forgive that one.)
- isk517 1y ago
  >>Or have Microsoft assume I have nothing better to do than watch a full presentation on how edgy their new browser is As someone who has setting up new computers regularly dumped on them, having to click thru all of those dumb screens before being allowed to start using the browser has been the biggest contributor in my decision to ditch Windows
p_ing 1y ago
Repeatedly posted over the past two months: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=https%3A%2F%2Fendof10.org%2F https://hn.algolia.com/?q=https%3A%2F%2Fendof10.org%2F
- WalterGR 1y ago
  Every 4.75 days, by my reckoning. This is the first post to get substantial conversation, though. The impression I get is that on-topic reposts are fine until such time as they get traction - provided that they a. aren’t self-promotion and b. are made by different users.
xnx 1y ago
I will share this ChromeOS Flex link every chance since I was delighted how easy it was to install: https://support.google.com/chromeosflex/answer/11552529 https://support.google.com/chromeosflex/answer/11552529 I only wish the process/instructions were a little more friendly for normies.
- bxparks 1y ago
  It's great in theory. In practice, it may not work properly even on their "supported" models. For example, sound does not work on my Dell E7270. Secondly, you must be willing use the Chrome browser. I will not because Chrome no longer has the option to always show the scrollbars. I am convinced that modern UX/UI designers hate their users.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
bearjaws 1y ago
I just wish anti-cheat would work on Linux, Windows has become an absolute mess, the search is barely usable now, everything has ads and product placement.
- omnimus 1y ago
  Which in particular? Many online games run fine.
  - evanextreme 1y ago
    areweanticheatyet.com has a good list
  - imhoguy 1y ago
    Roblox doesn't work under Linux. There are some workarounds with Wine but they stop working pretty quickly.
    - Aeolun 1y ago
      Sober has more or less consistently worked for me. Except for a short time during some special Roblox event.
- charcircuit 1y ago
  Linux distros could work to create an API for anticheat to use that could verify their program's integrity, then work to have various anticheat to integrate it. This would avoid the issue of Linux not having a stable ABI for kernel drivers. For example Vanguard anticheat doesn't need to be a kernel driver since macos has good enough protection. If Linux could become competitive on security they wouldn't need kernel mode anticheat either. I'm not holding my breath for this to happen though.
  - p_ing 1y ago
    Apple doesn't allow kext without the end user jumping through hoops, hence no kext. Riot doesn't really have much of a choice in what direction they take. https://support.apple.com/guide/security/securely-extending-the-kernel-sec8e454101b/web https://support.apple.com/guide/security/securely-extending-... But with Linux being open, they certainly would produce a loadable module if there was enough install base to justify it.
Spivak 1y ago
I like it, I think it's a good way to encourage people who otherwise may have not given the linux desktop a chance. I think one of the big hurdles he's going to be getting new users used to the command line. Because I know there's lots of discussion about like how everything should be done with the GUI but when you need help or get support with Linux it's most often going to take the form of a command that you can copy and paste into your terminal and will do what you want. You don't have to have guides with 50 screenshots of what settings to tweak. It's just a line or two of text. In a way I kind of wish this was how more windows support was handled just because PowerShell is so uhh... powerful. It might be that Linux is less capable for your use case, but people seem to be generally content with ChromeOS and I think that the standard Fedora desktop install is more capable than that so I think the market exists.
etbebl 1y ago
This is awesome. I'd be interested in helping if I could find some extra time. At the same time, we still have a major problem at work if Microsoft goes through with this. I work in a research lab with 10s of 1000s of dollars worth of Windows 10 workstations that cannot be upgraded. We use Windows remote desktop and plenty of other software that is Windows only. The hardware is still pretty new and capable. With NIH cuts the last thing we need now is to have to spend money and lots of time to replace all that for no good reason.
- p_ing 1y ago
  This isn't an "if". And this shouldn't be shocking to anyone as Microsoft has EOL'ed all of it's previous OSes with a deadline. You can buy extended support for orgs like yours that require it - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/whats-new/extended-security-updates https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/whats-new/extended...
  - anonymars 1y ago
    Has Microsoft ever EOLed an OS that was 1. in higher use than its successors 2. only had one possible successor 3. the successor did not support hardware in use at the time ? I'm sure it won't stop them, as you say, but really Microsoft, as someone who used to be a (relatively rare at the time) defender of yours, get fucked. The Raymond Chen camp is truly dead (https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2004/06/13/how-microsoft-lost-the-api-war/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2004/06/13/how-microsoft-lost...)
    - wat10000 1y ago
      That article is an interesting time capsule. Microsoft (well, the Windows part) is looking more and more like the Apple and Sun in that article. It’s the #2 or #3 user-facing OS these days. The fancy new programming environment happened and most stuff moved there, but it’s JavaScript and the browser rather than C# and .NET. Running old software is becoming a niche and getting more so by the day.
      - 1y ago
jonplackett 1y ago
I feel shallow for admitting it, but Linux is just a bit too ugly looking for me. This website has similar lack of attention to design. I guess it’s just an open source thing. You can’t expect so much attention to detail for free.
- anon7000 1y ago
  There are dozens of OS designs available for Linux. Unlike windows or Mac, you could change most things you think are ugly. There are large parts of windows I think are ugly, for example. Gnome isn’t ugly at all, and actually performs many times better than windows (and sometimes mac). Bad performance is ugly to me. There are a huge number of examples here: https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/ https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/
  - jitl 1y ago
    Linux is beautiful if you have time, energy, and inclination to make it beautiful. Otherwise, like macOS and Windows, it's just some defaults picked by the Adwaita team 2 years ago when the distro cut its stable release. I used to use Openbox and compile my own freetype with patches but these days want to spend my time on other things, so I'm just using macOS which has the best out of the box experience with the lowest TODO list when setting up a new computer.
- globular-toast 1y ago
  Compared to Windows? Really? This? https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-working-major-update-file-explorer-windows-10/ https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-working-major-update-file-... It's hard for me to imagine anything uglier than the above, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say.
- atomicnumber3 1y ago
  What desktop env are you using when you try linux? And what non-linux UI are you used to? I've found Ubuntu's default, and "vanilla gnome shell" to both be pretty cohesive and "modern". And at the same time, I've never really felt like Windows or Mac actually end up with a more cohesive UI than the various linux desktop envs. For every Qt/GTK theming mismatch, I find a Windows mismatch between apps due to Windows being 12+ generations of design languages and toolkits built on top of each other. (e.g. the 3+ distinct "current" windows control panel looks (11, then 10, then 7, then XP as you keep digging into more and more obscure settings). And apps typically "freeze" at the UI design when they're born. e.g. XP apps still look XP, and so on. And on Mac, you have the (relatively!) small number of apps actually artfully designed for macos. And then you have all the other ones - electron, java-based, cross-platform Qt apps (which naturally look like Qt apps... just like on KDE/gnome). There's of course various quibbles over font render, that have existed since time immemorial. I don't think any one platform really wins hands-down here, though it's my understanding that mac typically does the best (as long as none of the non-mac-native apps manage to mess it up). I really think people just have double-standards at this point, where their "home" platform's flaws are minor, and candidates to replace it must be flawless. (I'll also admit I'm the same, though NATURALLY I think I'm right - i figure if everything is electron and mismatched anyway, I might as well have a free-as-in-freedom operating system under it. Nobody is putting ads in my start menu or advertising xbox game pass to me in my notifications.
yapyap 1y ago
Honestly the biggest drawback of Linux for new people is IMO the massive amounts of distros, that choice alone between dozens of distros is enough friction to turn someone off the idea
- WorldPeas 1y ago
  this. This fracture also causes issues due to configuration differences between distros and DEs(for example with a screen capture utility I could download from apt registries, it wouldn't work on kde, only gnome, and it's hard to explain that to a parent). The current skirmishes with packaging mechanisms apt/snap/flatpak and Wayland V. X11 only make this more challenging.
- xtracto 1y ago
  And then the stupid "solutions" that people propose when something doesn't work in one distro: "have you tried Y distro". And then the new people install it, their original problem solved, but THAT distro has new problems.
globular-toast 1y ago
Installing Linux is easy. The problem that inevitably arises is moving all of their data across. Things like their browser bookmarks and email inboxes etc. Is there a fool proof way to do this? If they knew where all their data was then they'd be half way to being able to install Linux themselves.
- herbst 1y ago
  You just login into chrome again
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    [deleted]
- mystified5016 1y ago
  All browsers I've used (chromium and Firefox based) store your profile in AppData. This directory can be dropped into a linux install at the appropriate location and you get all your history, plugins, cookies transferred. Completely seamless if you're willing to go through some simple steps. Then again plenty of modern browsers have some type of profile syncing built in, which does all this for you. > email inboxes Please don't use POP3. Your inbox should live on a remote server and simply follow your account. Storing your inbox exclusively on your PC will make you very sad some day.
  - em-bee 1y ago
    Your inbox should live on a remote server most cheaper/free email providers have a storage limit. besides, i disagree conceptually. if i want to reduce the risk of my email being read or handed to someone i don't trust, then removing it from the server is a good idea. i can make my own backups.
- CactusRocket 1y ago
  That's a problem with every computer update right? Not limited to Linux.
- TheBicPen 1y ago
pentagrama 1y ago
This is great, but one UX issue I’ve always seen when trying to get regular Windows users to switch to Linux is the whole USB flash drive process and needing external tools like Rufus. Take Ubuntu, for example. It’s one of the most popular and recommended distros for non-techy users, but just look at the install process: https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-ubuntu-desktop#1-overview https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-ubuntu-desktop#1-overvi... Let’s be honest, I don’t think most people would actually go through with that. One idea to fix this and get more people to switch would be for Ubuntu to offer a Windows app that handles everything. It could download the ISO in the background, format the flash drive, install Ubuntu in dual boot with Windows by default, and clearly explain each step so users know how to start using Ubuntu or go back to Windows.
- artemonster 1y ago
  Take a look at a default emacs and how long it has been this way and you can quickly generate 200 plausible theories why everything sucks do much around this ecosystem. Tried 5 times going to u ubuntu in last 15 years. Everytime switched back because it sucked. Spending godless amounts of times googling obsucure problems that apprear out of thin air. No thanks. And with wsl2 I never have to look back
  - fr4nkr 1y ago
    ...what does Emacs have to do with any of this? And how does running Linux in a Hyper-V virtual machine magically make it better?
    - artemonster 1y ago
      I thought it was a rather clear and obvious analogy how opinionated nerds hinder mass adoption of good FOSS products because user experience is dogshit. „Running Linux in VM“ as you have put it, is miles better because it works all the time with 0 friction, driver issues, random freezes, reboots, etc.
      - 1y ago
gadders 1y ago
"At this point you will overwrite all data on the computer, so have a back up of the files you want to keep." Can't help thinking that should be in a bigger font. It's a shame there doesn't seem to be a away to install Linux and keep your Documents directory at least. Is that due to file systems? [Yes, yes, backup to memory stick/external drive but I'm talking about for your average person on the street]
- fuzzy2 1y ago
  This is entirely possible in many ways. You could keep the NTFS partition, shrink it, eventually copy data off of it, … So long as enough contiguous space is available to install the desired Linux distro.
- MyOutfitIsVague 1y ago
  Linux has to install somewhere, and it needs a filesystem that supports POSIX permissions, so you need a partition formatted for it. If NTFS is taking up the entire drive and can't be shrunk, where does Linux install? You can't do this all on the same drive, because you need a place to copy the documents directory to. You need to delete the NTFS partition to create the place to copy the files to, but by the time you've done that, the Documents are inaccessible. You could do it in memory, feasibly, if you create a RAMdisk and are lucky enough to have enough memory for all your documents, but then you're still gambling on not running out of memory during the install. So it is possible to copy the documents on the same device, and it's possible to even automate the process, but it's not possible to do it reliably or safely, and the reliability is so low that it's not worth even offering the possibility. If somebody has a handful of gigabytes of documents, it's already a nonstarter. To be safe you'd demand the user make a backup onto another device anyway, in which case they might as well do that and then copy the files into a fresh install themselves
  - TheBicPen 1y ago
    I imagine it wouldn't be that hard to 1) check the size of the documents directory and the existing NTFS partition on windows and 2) if the existing partition is < (1/2 the disk size - the size of the Linux installation), give the user the option to shrink the partition and copy the relevant files over to the new /home. This is assuming the tool is going to install a dual-boot configuration anyway, at which point this isn't significantly more work. If the idea is to completely overwrite the existing installation then this would make the process significantly more complicated. But I imagine that for a tool intended for less-technical users, dual-boot installation is the way to go to give them assurance that their existing setup will continue to work.
Jaxan 1y ago
I tried installing Ubuntu on my surface pro 4. But the support for touch and stylus is bad. Also it didn’t properly shut down and emptied the battery that way. It’s still a great device, it just sucks I’m stuck with windows (10).
- repler 1y ago
  Did you try Linux Surface? https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface
  - xtracto 1y ago
    LOL, I can just imagine someone installing Ubuntu in their Surface, then seeing that several things don't work. Then they go to this repo, which is "scary" in itself for non-technical people, and then they click on the "detailed installation guide" at https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Installation-and-Setup https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Installa... And that's it, they are lost and tired at that point. They will just go back to Windows.
  - Jaxan 1y ago
    Yes of course. Without it you simply have no support for touch and stylus. It’s a great effort, but unfortunately not there yet (for SP4)
- ponector 1y ago
  To be honest, win10 also usually does not properly shuts down or goes to sleep. You need manually set up a hibernation on lid close to be sure it will not awake in your bag to become a noisy heater there.
  - Jaxan 1y ago
    I only had these problems in the first year (2015-2016). But they fixed it back then and never had problems after.
cosmicgadget 1y ago
"Just use Linux." Great solution. Except I already have a Linux boot. Still need a Windows boot.
- theandrewbailey 1y ago
  I think that using a Linux boot and a Windows boot at the same time would be uncomfortable. Get two of each.
  - cosmicgadget 1y ago
    What am I, some sort of boot tycoon? Love your blog btw.
    - theandrewbailey 1y ago
      Thank you.
npteljes 1y ago
I don't think any amount of grassroots anything will make the year of the Linux desktop happen. What could work is what Valve does: providing a valuable device with Linux preinstalled. Microsoft's backdoor bundle won't be defeated from below.
sgt 1y ago
I don't fully understand. Is Windows 10 completely dead in the water due to lack of security updates? You can just keep using an old Windows 10 PC and take your chances. The browser will be a barrier, and the built in firewall and anti malware as well. Not perfect, but a solution.
- bee_rider 1y ago
  It’s actually really wild that OS vendors apparently sell software that is so defective that it is assumed unsafe without ongoing updates, and then use the threat of not providing updates to spur adoption of their subsequent products. In a more reasonable world they’d owe their customers a recall.
  - dsp_person 1y ago
    would you be happy running a few years old linux kernel missing security patches?
    - ssl-3 1y ago
      Good point. As a response to the kernel's various SNAFUs, I've gone ahead and refunded to myself all of the money I've spent on Linux kernels over the past several decades -- and updated my install to the new version for free.
    - bee_rider 1y ago
      Not really, but 1) there’s no implied warranty of merchantability with the hobbyist system 2) the “business model” (such as it is) of open source doesn’t push distros to hide security updates behind a pathway 3) generally Linux is usually getting better so I want to update anyway
    - const_cast 1y ago
      I mean... people do it with Android phones all the time.
    - josephcsible 1y ago
dave333 1y ago
Is it possible to upgrade your hardware so that it becomes upgradable to Windows 11?
- dave333 1y ago
  Answering my own question via AI: Yes, it is often possible to upgrade your PC hardware to make it compatible with Windows 11, but the feasibility and cost depend heavily on which specific requirements your current PC fails to meet. Windows 11 has stricter hardware requirements than Windows 10, primarily focusing on security and modern capabilities. The key hurdles for older PCs are usually: CPU (Processor) Compatibility: Requirement: 1 GHz or faster with 2 or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor. Microsoft maintains a list of approved CPUs. Generally, this means Intel 8th Gen (Coffee Lake) or newer, and AMD Ryzen 2000 series or newer. Upgradability: This is often the trickiest and most expensive upgrade. If your CPU isn't on the list, you would likely need to replace your motherboard AND CPU (and possibly RAM, as newer motherboards often require different RAM types). This is essentially building a new core system and might not be cost-effective for an older PC. TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 2.0: Requirement: TPM version 2.0. This is a hardware security module that stores cryptographic keys. Upgradability: Enable in BIOS/UEFI: Many PCs manufactured in the last 5-7 years actually have TPM 2.0 (or fTPM/PTT, firmware-based TPM) but it might be disabled in the BIOS/UEFI settings. This is the easiest fix – just enable it. Add a TPM Module: Some older motherboards (typically from around the Intel 6th/7th gen or similar AMD era) have a TPM header where you can purchase and install a physical TPM 2.0 module. This is a relatively inexpensive upgrade if your motherboard supports it. Motherboard Replacement: If your motherboard doesn't have an integrated fTPM/PTT and lacks a TPM header, you would need to replace the motherboard (which usually means a new CPU and RAM too). UEFI Firmware with Secure Boot Capability: Requirement: Your system firmware must be UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, a modern BIOS replacement) and Secure Boot capable. Upgradability: Enable in BIOS/UEFI: Similar to TPM, many modern PCs are UEFI-capable but might be running in "Legacy BIOS" or "CSM" (Compatibility Support Module) mode. You can often switch to UEFI mode in your BIOS/UEFI settings. Enable Secure Boot: Once in UEFI mode, you can usually enable Secure Boot from within the BIOS/UEFI settings. Motherboard Limitation: Very old PCs might only support Legacy BIOS and not UEFI at all. In this case, a motherboard replacement would be necessary. RAM (Memory): Requirement: 4 GB or greater. Upgradability: This is usually the easiest and cheapest upgrade. Most desktops and many laptops allow you to add more RAM. Storage: Requirement: 64 GB or larger storage device. Upgradability: Easily upgradable. You can replace a smaller HDD/SSD with a larger one. Graphics Card: Requirement: Compatible with DirectX 12 or later with WDDM 2.0 driver. Upgradability: Most integrated and dedicated graphics cards from the last several years meet this. If yours doesn't, you could install a new graphics card (for desktops) or be out of luck (for laptops). How to Check Your PC's Compatibility: The best way to determine what specifically is holding your PC back is to use Microsoft's PC Health Check app. It will tell you exactly which requirements your system meets and which it doesn't. Summary of Upgrade Possibilities: Most Common & Easiest: Enabling TPM 2.0 in BIOS/UEFI. Enabling Secure Boot in BIOS/UEFI (after switching to UEFI mode if needed). Adding more RAM (if less than 4GB). Upgrading storage drive size. More Involved & Potentially Costly: Adding a physical TPM 2.0 module (if your motherboard has the header). Upgrading the CPU (often requires a new motherboard and RAM too). Replacing the motherboard (almost always requires new CPU and RAM). Upgrading the graphics card (for desktops). Is it worth it? For older PCs that require a new CPU and motherboard, it often makes more sense financially to purchase a new PC that comes with Windows 11 pre-installed or is fully compatible out-of-the-box. The cost of individual component upgrades can quickly add up, and you'll end up with a system that's still fundamentally older than a brand-new one. However, if you only need to enable TPM/Secure Boot in BIOS or add RAM, it's definitely a viable and cheap way to get on Windows 11.
aduwah 1y ago
Can't play a lot of mainstream games on Linux is the issue
- xtracto 1y ago
  Can't play a lot of mainstream games in old windows computers also. Which what this website is about. So what?
  - aduwah 1y ago
    League is mentioned further above. That's 131 million players right there. It runs on a crap box too. It is a fact that having an old PC AND using Linux further limits the options compared to using an old box with a windows with extended support. I think one of the main issues with the Linux world is that people pretend that it is easy to get on the bandwagon. "The is xyz distro that makes it really simple and it is 90% the same". Well that's a lot of bull. It results in people believing you and then silently running away never to come back again. I work with linux and mac for about 15 years and I will definitely not give up my gaming PC with windows 10 because I would lose access to some games I am playing plus there is a performance hit that would bug me to no end (which would end up putting me in a optimization loop where I spend more time tuning the PC than actually playing).
- rubyn00bie 1y ago
  You’d be surprised how many games you can. It’s a pretty common misconception at this point. The only things that you can’t are some highly competitive multiplayer games like League of Legends or iRacing. I haven’t had a game not work in years, just smash the install button on steam and be done with it. Even a large amount of MMOs just work. I play SWTOR and even have StarParse (stats overlay working perfectly). And if enough people move to Linux even those holdouts will eventually have to support it. The Steam deck has been the gateway drug to Linux for the masses, and I’m stoked for it. Moving to Linux for my desktop gaming machine was the single best decision I made 5 years ago, and I haven’t used Windows since. It’s more stable than Windows ever was, and I also don’t have an errant update break a game, the system, or cause a reboot at the worst possible time.
timetraveller26 1y ago
Funny enough I've been on Linux +10 years, and I've seen the same arguments, it's ugly, games don't run, etc. There's been ton of progress, thankfully people keep using linux besides the very vocal frustrated "failed" migrations.
29athrowaway 1y ago
If you are curious and work in software, you will at some point install Linux or other operating systems and have an informed opinion about what OS you like the most and use that. If you are not driven by curiosity, most of the time the driver is either money, a vision of software as only an occupation, work life balance, etc. Which is usually the kind of people that is not excited by software, doesn't have a passion for it and even take passion away from others.
frollogaston 1y ago
This website is great, but the first turnoff a normal user will hit is that they don't know what "Linux distribution" means, and even if they do, it doesn't recommend one. Even if it said go install Ubuntu or something... Very few people think of a kernel and OS as separate things. Hardware and software separation is already sketchy enough. Instead of people interjecting for a moment, can there just be a penguin-branded "Linux" OS already?
- kattagarian 1y ago
  No? Nobody in their right mind would claim that they are building the official Linux OS without turning the whole community against them. And it's not as if the average user need to use linux. If developers move from windows 10 to linux, the impact would be huge.
  - frollogaston 1y ago
    This website seems directed at average users. There aren't a whole lot of devs, but even then, many devs want things to just work cause time is money. Nobody is upset that there's an official Linux kernel. Of course it takes Linus Torvalds to declare it, and he's understandably not interested in designating an official OS, but this is a consequence.
    - kattagarian 1y ago
      > Nobody is upset that there's an official Linux kernel. Because he was literally the creator of the whole thing. And the word "official" means little in the open source community. Yt-dlp took the crown out of youtube-dl hands when it comes to downloading videos. Is yt-dlp official? What official even means? And that's fine that many devs want things that just work. Little by little, everyone is noticing that windows not only not improving but taking direct action to make the experience worse. The balance is tilting in favor of linux not only because linux is getting better but because windows is also getting worse
      - 1y ago
rubyn00bie 1y ago
To everyone saying you can’t play games on Linux. You can. You can play an amazing amount of games, even on launch day, with nothing more than a click of the install button on Steam. I smashed install for Clair Obscur last night and it works great. If you don’t play highly competitive online games like League of Legends then you’ll be fine. Anecdata— a mate of mine plays Hell Divers 2, and thought he couldn’t play it or it wouldn’t work well. I told I had played it and it worked fine. Two days later, he’s using Linux and getting better performance than he was on Windows. It has been five years of gaming exclusively on Linux, and I have yet to find a game I can’t play with the only exceptions (for me) being League of Legends and iRacing. But I can live without them. If you don’t play extremely competitive online games you can probably play it. My rule of thumb is, “are there IRL pro tournaments for money?” if there aren’t it’ll very likely just work. My only tip is just use something like common. Ubuntu, Mint, PopOS, Arch, ZorinOS, Kubuntu… all will probably work with zero effort. Don’t go mucking about with weird distros, and bizarre tweaks, and you’re more than likely gonna have the most stable system you’ve ever used. I cannot recommend Linux highly enough. Five years ago I was skeptical and unsure but tired of Windows bullshit and here I am— still loving it. I’ve fully upgraded the system recently, except for the GPU (because 5090 prices are ridiculous and I don’t want less VRAM than my 3090 has) and it even booted from my old install and just worked. Try Linux, friends. It’s pretty freaking great these days.
eviks 1y ago
> But what if you could make your current one fast and secure again? At a fraction of time spent following this guide you can extend win 10 by a few more years by switching to ltsc or go win11 bypassing all software restrictions
whiterook6 1y ago
I am not getting rid of windows 10 for several years at least. Too many of my workflows require windows apps, and windows 11 is incoherent, full of ads, and way too controlling.
- prmoustache 1y ago
  Isn't the pro version exempt of Ads? I understand there are still home, pro, enterprise licenses right? The win11 I have on my pro laptop doesn't seem to have ads so it looks it is either not included in that licensed version OR it can be desactivated by GPOs.
2Gkashmiri 1y ago
I have successfult migrated 30% of my office to Linux (KDE neon) and im not seeing any much working difference. Granted we use remote desktop but still.
brushfoot 1y ago
Linux has gotten in the way every time I've tried various distros over the years. And I'm a system administrator turned software engineer. I can't imagine the headaches for less technical users. Examples: - Screensharing in Teams. There was a gaussian blur over everything. I had this happen during a work call. - Nvidia. I kept getting screen-tearing. I went through various guides, installed drivers and so on, but it never worked properly. - Office. LibreOffice slaughters my Office docs. The formatting is wrong, things are broken. - Media. I had issues watching things that I could just watch on Windows. Those kinds of issues were fun to me 20 years ago; they were part of the adventure of roughing it and sticking it to the man. Today, I don't have the time or energy. I'd rather use an OS that Just Works. When I need Linux, WSL has worked great.
- legacynl 1y ago
  I can't recommend Arch enough. It's specifically the install process that I think helped me understand everything much more clearly, and helped me break the cycle of installing a distro, encountering problems, and weekends of googling around. My friend jokingly referred encountering an problem during remodeling his new home to installing a linux distro. Like he just wants to be done with this remodeling already, but these problems lead him to spending his free weekends on some problem that shouldn't even have been there. But arch basically starts you with nothing and you build up, you'll exactly know what software does what, and when problems arise you know where the problem is coming from. That being said, I've never had a system that is as stable and 'just works' like my current arch install, and besides from twice needing manual intervention after not updating for a while, it's been going 8 years. I'm currently at the state that whenever something is not working (adb not recognizing my phone, external usb-harddrive bay not being properly recognized) I always know that those things will just work as soon as I reboot my machine into arch. Although on win10 most things 'just work' as well, so those moment's aren't that common. As a side note Arch has some very good informative wiki pages on basically any software you might want to use on linux. Even if you're not using arch it's very useful for basically any linux user, and it often has a section with known issues and workarounds.
southernplaces7 1y ago
Or just go download and run Windows 10 LTSC and celebrate with a fresh hot cup of coffee for saving yourself all kinds of headaches, with both microsoft's bullshit and with navigating Linux distros.

283 points by doener 1y ago

Haven’t been involved with Windows for quite a while but what happened to the “evergreen” promise? Weren’t they meant to be the “last version of Windows”?

deterministic 1y ago

Windows 10 security updates will continue until 2028 so no need to do anything until then.

mrweasel 1y ago

One thing I've noticed is that the price of used hardware has gone up in my area. Sadly it seems like the Windows 10 only hardware is getting scrapped, rather than getting price dumped.

mathattack 1y ago
Perhaps it's getting repurposed? Think about the demand and supply curves of calculations (or computation). For most of history, they moved in tandem, with supply moving slightly faster, so computers would always do more at slightly lower costs. Now both curves are speeding up, but demand is moving faster, so the costs of hardware are going up. And when high end servers (with GPUs) are unavailable, people hold onto the older ones longer.
WorldPeas 1y ago
everyone has a phone nowadays, I think the expectation that the e-waste cycle would continue was a misjudgement. For most normal people I know, windows 7 was their last "laptop generation"(10 at the latest) before they could have switched entirely to their phones or tablets. They also don't really bother getting rid of this gear by sale, most of the prior generation's machines were priced in the thousands and were towers so it made more sense to resell them, that generation(to my perception) was mostly thin plastic units with almost no durability. Most people I've seen hold onto them "just in case", as they wouldn't sell in their condition.

subjectsigma 1y ago

Clean, clear, compelling. I’m not a huge fan of desktop Linux and I’ve posted that several times, but I can still find joy in other people’s success. This is the kind of marketing work that operating systems like Mint and Ubuntu need! Thanks for posting and/or making this.

juujian 1y ago
With three or four major GUIs out there, that's a bit of a sweeping statement, no? What's the negative that applies to all distros?
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- all2 1y ago
  Probably, yes. A lot is plug and play, but not all. Having set one parent up on Mint, I can say categorically that it is still a bit of a config nightmare.
- jonfw 1y ago
  Two negatives that are actively made worse by the the fact that there are a variety of distros- 1. Nothing is googleable. People have to google how to do things like adjust the layout of external monitors, and it's significantly harder to do that on linux. 2. There are a lot of different ways to install applications, and different options are available depending on which distro or application you're targeting
  - anon7000 1y ago
    1. What? It works nearly the same way as Mac or windows? Just a section in the settings app 2. Most distros have an App Store that’s easy to find these days. Works great for non-cli tools
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]

Frenchgeek 1y ago

I've been mainly on Linux for 20 years now (damn already?), what started as a cheap computer with second-hand parts with a more powerful windows machine mostly for games is now a powerful machine in its own rights with an outdated windows one gathering dust right beside it... It's not perfect, but I don't have to spend half an hour removing everything useless I can. (Or have Microsoft assume I have nothing better to do than watch a full presentation on how edgy their new browser is. I'm not going to forgive that one.)

isk517 1y ago
>>Or have Microsoft assume I have nothing better to do than watch a full presentation on how edgy their new browser is As someone who has setting up new computers regularly dumped on them, having to click thru all of those dumb screens before being allowed to start using the browser has been the biggest contributor in my decision to ditch Windows

p_ing 1y ago

Repeatedly posted over the past two months: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=https%3A%2F%2Fendof10.org%2F https://hn.algolia.com/?q=https%3A%2F%2Fendof10.org%2F

WalterGR 1y ago
Every 4.75 days, by my reckoning. This is the first post to get substantial conversation, though. The impression I get is that on-topic reposts are fine until such time as they get traction - provided that they a. aren’t self-promotion and b. are made by different users.

xnx 1y ago

I will share this ChromeOS Flex link every chance since I was delighted how easy it was to install: https://support.google.com/chromeosflex/answer/11552529 https://support.google.com/chromeosflex/answer/11552529 I only wish the process/instructions were a little more friendly for normies.

bxparks 1y ago
It's great in theory. In practice, it may not work properly even on their "supported" models. For example, sound does not work on my Dell E7270. Secondly, you must be willing use the Chrome browser. I will not because Chrome no longer has the option to always show the scrollbars. I am convinced that modern UX/UI designers hate their users.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]

bearjaws 1y ago

I just wish anti-cheat would work on Linux, Windows has become an absolute mess, the search is barely usable now, everything has ads and product placement.

omnimus 1y ago
Which in particular? Many online games run fine.
- evanextreme 1y ago
  areweanticheatyet.com has a good list
- imhoguy 1y ago
  Roblox doesn't work under Linux. There are some workarounds with Wine but they stop working pretty quickly.
  - Aeolun 1y ago
    Sober has more or less consistently worked for me. Except for a short time during some special Roblox event.
charcircuit 1y ago
Linux distros could work to create an API for anticheat to use that could verify their program's integrity, then work to have various anticheat to integrate it. This would avoid the issue of Linux not having a stable ABI for kernel drivers. For example Vanguard anticheat doesn't need to be a kernel driver since macos has good enough protection. If Linux could become competitive on security they wouldn't need kernel mode anticheat either. I'm not holding my breath for this to happen though.
- p_ing 1y ago
  Apple doesn't allow kext without the end user jumping through hoops, hence no kext. Riot doesn't really have much of a choice in what direction they take. https://support.apple.com/guide/security/securely-extending-the-kernel-sec8e454101b/web https://support.apple.com/guide/security/securely-extending-... But with Linux being open, they certainly would produce a loadable module if there was enough install base to justify it.

Spivak 1y ago

I like it, I think it's a good way to encourage people who otherwise may have not given the linux desktop a chance. I think one of the big hurdles he's going to be getting new users used to the command line. Because I know there's lots of discussion about like how everything should be done with the GUI but when you need help or get support with Linux it's most often going to take the form of a command that you can copy and paste into your terminal and will do what you want. You don't have to have guides with 50 screenshots of what settings to tweak. It's just a line or two of text. In a way I kind of wish this was how more windows support was handled just because PowerShell is so uhh... powerful. It might be that Linux is less capable for your use case, but people seem to be generally content with ChromeOS and I think that the standard Fedora desktop install is more capable than that so I think the market exists.

etbebl 1y ago

This is awesome. I'd be interested in helping if I could find some extra time. At the same time, we still have a major problem at work if Microsoft goes through with this. I work in a research lab with 10s of 1000s of dollars worth of Windows 10 workstations that cannot be upgraded. We use Windows remote desktop and plenty of other software that is Windows only. The hardware is still pretty new and capable. With NIH cuts the last thing we need now is to have to spend money and lots of time to replace all that for no good reason.

p_ing 1y ago
This isn't an "if". And this shouldn't be shocking to anyone as Microsoft has EOL'ed all of it's previous OSes with a deadline. You can buy extended support for orgs like yours that require it - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/whats-new/extended-security-updates https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/whats-new/extended...
- anonymars 1y ago
  Has Microsoft ever EOLed an OS that was 1. in higher use than its successors 2. only had one possible successor 3. the successor did not support hardware in use at the time ? I'm sure it won't stop them, as you say, but really Microsoft, as someone who used to be a (relatively rare at the time) defender of yours, get fucked. The Raymond Chen camp is truly dead (https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2004/06/13/how-microsoft-lost-the-api-war/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2004/06/13/how-microsoft-lost...)
  - wat10000 1y ago
    That article is an interesting time capsule. Microsoft (well, the Windows part) is looking more and more like the Apple and Sun in that article. It’s the #2 or #3 user-facing OS these days. The fancy new programming environment happened and most stuff moved there, but it’s JavaScript and the browser rather than C# and .NET. Running old software is becoming a niche and getting more so by the day.
    - 1y ago

jonplackett 1y ago

I feel shallow for admitting it, but Linux is just a bit too ugly looking for me. This website has similar lack of attention to design. I guess it’s just an open source thing. You can’t expect so much attention to detail for free.

anon7000 1y ago
There are dozens of OS designs available for Linux. Unlike windows or Mac, you could change most things you think are ugly. There are large parts of windows I think are ugly, for example. Gnome isn’t ugly at all, and actually performs many times better than windows (and sometimes mac). Bad performance is ugly to me. There are a huge number of examples here: https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/ https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/
- jitl 1y ago
  Linux is beautiful if you have time, energy, and inclination to make it beautiful. Otherwise, like macOS and Windows, it's just some defaults picked by the Adwaita team 2 years ago when the distro cut its stable release. I used to use Openbox and compile my own freetype with patches but these days want to spend my time on other things, so I'm just using macOS which has the best out of the box experience with the lowest TODO list when setting up a new computer.
globular-toast 1y ago
Compared to Windows? Really? This? https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-working-major-update-file-explorer-windows-10/ https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-working-major-update-file-... It's hard for me to imagine anything uglier than the above, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say.
atomicnumber3 1y ago
What desktop env are you using when you try linux? And what non-linux UI are you used to? I've found Ubuntu's default, and "vanilla gnome shell" to both be pretty cohesive and "modern". And at the same time, I've never really felt like Windows or Mac actually end up with a more cohesive UI than the various linux desktop envs. For every Qt/GTK theming mismatch, I find a Windows mismatch between apps due to Windows being 12+ generations of design languages and toolkits built on top of each other. (e.g. the 3+ distinct "current" windows control panel looks (11, then 10, then 7, then XP as you keep digging into more and more obscure settings). And apps typically "freeze" at the UI design when they're born. e.g. XP apps still look XP, and so on. And on Mac, you have the (relatively!) small number of apps actually artfully designed for macos. And then you have all the other ones - electron, java-based, cross-platform Qt apps (which naturally look like Qt apps... just like on KDE/gnome). There's of course various quibbles over font render, that have existed since time immemorial. I don't think any one platform really wins hands-down here, though it's my understanding that mac typically does the best (as long as none of the non-mac-native apps manage to mess it up). I really think people just have double-standards at this point, where their "home" platform's flaws are minor, and candidates to replace it must be flawless. (I'll also admit I'm the same, though NATURALLY I think I'm right - i figure if everything is electron and mismatched anyway, I might as well have a free-as-in-freedom operating system under it. Nobody is putting ads in my start menu or advertising xbox game pass to me in my notifications.

yapyap 1y ago

Honestly the biggest drawback of Linux for new people is IMO the massive amounts of distros, that choice alone between dozens of distros is enough friction to turn someone off the idea

WorldPeas 1y ago
this. This fracture also causes issues due to configuration differences between distros and DEs(for example with a screen capture utility I could download from apt registries, it wouldn't work on kde, only gnome, and it's hard to explain that to a parent). The current skirmishes with packaging mechanisms apt/snap/flatpak and Wayland V. X11 only make this more challenging.
xtracto 1y ago
And then the stupid "solutions" that people propose when something doesn't work in one distro: "have you tried Y distro". And then the new people install it, their original problem solved, but THAT distro has new problems.

globular-toast 1y ago

Installing Linux is easy. The problem that inevitably arises is moving all of their data across. Things like their browser bookmarks and email inboxes etc. Is there a fool proof way to do this? If they knew where all their data was then they'd be half way to being able to install Linux themselves.

herbst 1y ago
You just login into chrome again
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
mystified5016 1y ago
All browsers I've used (chromium and Firefox based) store your profile in AppData. This directory can be dropped into a linux install at the appropriate location and you get all your history, plugins, cookies transferred. Completely seamless if you're willing to go through some simple steps. Then again plenty of modern browsers have some type of profile syncing built in, which does all this for you. > email inboxes Please don't use POP3. Your inbox should live on a remote server and simply follow your account. Storing your inbox exclusively on your PC will make you very sad some day.
- em-bee 1y ago
  Your inbox should live on a remote server most cheaper/free email providers have a storage limit. besides, i disagree conceptually. if i want to reduce the risk of my email being read or handed to someone i don't trust, then removing it from the server is a good idea. i can make my own backups.
CactusRocket 1y ago
That's a problem with every computer update right? Not limited to Linux.
TheBicPen 1y ago

pentagrama 1y ago

This is great, but one UX issue I’ve always seen when trying to get regular Windows users to switch to Linux is the whole USB flash drive process and needing external tools like Rufus. Take Ubuntu, for example. It’s one of the most popular and recommended distros for non-techy users, but just look at the install process: https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-ubuntu-desktop#1-overview https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-ubuntu-desktop#1-overvi... Let’s be honest, I don’t think most people would actually go through with that. One idea to fix this and get more people to switch would be for Ubuntu to offer a Windows app that handles everything. It could download the ISO in the background, format the flash drive, install Ubuntu in dual boot with Windows by default, and clearly explain each step so users know how to start using Ubuntu or go back to Windows.

artemonster 1y ago
Take a look at a default emacs and how long it has been this way and you can quickly generate 200 plausible theories why everything sucks do much around this ecosystem. Tried 5 times going to u ubuntu in last 15 years. Everytime switched back because it sucked. Spending godless amounts of times googling obsucure problems that apprear out of thin air. No thanks. And with wsl2 I never have to look back
- fr4nkr 1y ago
  ...what does Emacs have to do with any of this? And how does running Linux in a Hyper-V virtual machine magically make it better?
  - artemonster 1y ago
    I thought it was a rather clear and obvious analogy how opinionated nerds hinder mass adoption of good FOSS products because user experience is dogshit. „Running Linux in VM“ as you have put it, is miles better because it works all the time with 0 friction, driver issues, random freezes, reboots, etc.
    - 1y ago

gadders 1y ago

"At this point you will overwrite all data on the computer, so have a back up of the files you want to keep." Can't help thinking that should be in a bigger font. It's a shame there doesn't seem to be a away to install Linux and keep your Documents directory at least. Is that due to file systems? [Yes, yes, backup to memory stick/external drive but I'm talking about for your average person on the street]

fuzzy2 1y ago
This is entirely possible in many ways. You could keep the NTFS partition, shrink it, eventually copy data off of it, … So long as enough contiguous space is available to install the desired Linux distro.
MyOutfitIsVague 1y ago
Linux has to install somewhere, and it needs a filesystem that supports POSIX permissions, so you need a partition formatted for it. If NTFS is taking up the entire drive and can't be shrunk, where does Linux install? You can't do this all on the same drive, because you need a place to copy the documents directory to. You need to delete the NTFS partition to create the place to copy the files to, but by the time you've done that, the Documents are inaccessible. You could do it in memory, feasibly, if you create a RAMdisk and are lucky enough to have enough memory for all your documents, but then you're still gambling on not running out of memory during the install. So it is possible to copy the documents on the same device, and it's possible to even automate the process, but it's not possible to do it reliably or safely, and the reliability is so low that it's not worth even offering the possibility. If somebody has a handful of gigabytes of documents, it's already a nonstarter. To be safe you'd demand the user make a backup onto another device anyway, in which case they might as well do that and then copy the files into a fresh install themselves
- TheBicPen 1y ago
  I imagine it wouldn't be that hard to 1) check the size of the documents directory and the existing NTFS partition on windows and 2) if the existing partition is < (1/2 the disk size - the size of the Linux installation), give the user the option to shrink the partition and copy the relevant files over to the new /home. This is assuming the tool is going to install a dual-boot configuration anyway, at which point this isn't significantly more work. If the idea is to completely overwrite the existing installation then this would make the process significantly more complicated. But I imagine that for a tool intended for less-technical users, dual-boot installation is the way to go to give them assurance that their existing setup will continue to work.

Jaxan 1y ago

I tried installing Ubuntu on my surface pro 4. But the support for touch and stylus is bad. Also it didn’t properly shut down and emptied the battery that way. It’s still a great device, it just sucks I’m stuck with windows (10).

repler 1y ago
Did you try Linux Surface? https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface
- xtracto 1y ago
  LOL, I can just imagine someone installing Ubuntu in their Surface, then seeing that several things don't work. Then they go to this repo, which is "scary" in itself for non-technical people, and then they click on the "detailed installation guide" at https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Installation-and-Setup https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Installa... And that's it, they are lost and tired at that point. They will just go back to Windows.
- Jaxan 1y ago
  Yes of course. Without it you simply have no support for touch and stylus. It’s a great effort, but unfortunately not there yet (for SP4)
ponector 1y ago
To be honest, win10 also usually does not properly shuts down or goes to sleep. You need manually set up a hibernation on lid close to be sure it will not awake in your bag to become a noisy heater there.
- Jaxan 1y ago
  I only had these problems in the first year (2015-2016). But they fixed it back then and never had problems after.

cosmicgadget 1y ago

"Just use Linux." Great solution. Except I already have a Linux boot. Still need a Windows boot.

theandrewbailey 1y ago
I think that using a Linux boot and a Windows boot at the same time would be uncomfortable. Get two of each.
- cosmicgadget 1y ago
  What am I, some sort of boot tycoon? Love your blog btw.
  - theandrewbailey 1y ago
    Thank you.

npteljes 1y ago

I don't think any amount of grassroots anything will make the year of the Linux desktop happen. What could work is what Valve does: providing a valuable device with Linux preinstalled. Microsoft's backdoor bundle won't be defeated from below.

sgt 1y ago

I don't fully understand. Is Windows 10 completely dead in the water due to lack of security updates? You can just keep using an old Windows 10 PC and take your chances. The browser will be a barrier, and the built in firewall and anti malware as well. Not perfect, but a solution.

bee_rider 1y ago
It’s actually really wild that OS vendors apparently sell software that is so defective that it is assumed unsafe without ongoing updates, and then use the threat of not providing updates to spur adoption of their subsequent products. In a more reasonable world they’d owe their customers a recall.
- dsp_person 1y ago
  would you be happy running a few years old linux kernel missing security patches?
  - ssl-3 1y ago
    Good point. As a response to the kernel's various SNAFUs, I've gone ahead and refunded to myself all of the money I've spent on Linux kernels over the past several decades -- and updated my install to the new version for free.
  - bee_rider 1y ago
    Not really, but 1) there’s no implied warranty of merchantability with the hobbyist system 2) the “business model” (such as it is) of open source doesn’t push distros to hide security updates behind a pathway 3) generally Linux is usually getting better so I want to update anyway
  - const_cast 1y ago
    I mean... people do it with Android phones all the time.
  - josephcsible 1y ago

dave333 1y ago

Is it possible to upgrade your hardware so that it becomes upgradable to Windows 11?

dave333 1y ago
Answering my own question via AI: Yes, it is often possible to upgrade your PC hardware to make it compatible with Windows 11, but the feasibility and cost depend heavily on which specific requirements your current PC fails to meet. Windows 11 has stricter hardware requirements than Windows 10, primarily focusing on security and modern capabilities. The key hurdles for older PCs are usually: CPU (Processor) Compatibility: Requirement: 1 GHz or faster with 2 or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor. Microsoft maintains a list of approved CPUs. Generally, this means Intel 8th Gen (Coffee Lake) or newer, and AMD Ryzen 2000 series or newer. Upgradability: This is often the trickiest and most expensive upgrade. If your CPU isn't on the list, you would likely need to replace your motherboard AND CPU (and possibly RAM, as newer motherboards often require different RAM types). This is essentially building a new core system and might not be cost-effective for an older PC. TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 2.0: Requirement: TPM version 2.0. This is a hardware security module that stores cryptographic keys. Upgradability: Enable in BIOS/UEFI: Many PCs manufactured in the last 5-7 years actually have TPM 2.0 (or fTPM/PTT, firmware-based TPM) but it might be disabled in the BIOS/UEFI settings. This is the easiest fix – just enable it. Add a TPM Module: Some older motherboards (typically from around the Intel 6th/7th gen or similar AMD era) have a TPM header where you can purchase and install a physical TPM 2.0 module. This is a relatively inexpensive upgrade if your motherboard supports it. Motherboard Replacement: If your motherboard doesn't have an integrated fTPM/PTT and lacks a TPM header, you would need to replace the motherboard (which usually means a new CPU and RAM too). UEFI Firmware with Secure Boot Capability: Requirement: Your system firmware must be UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, a modern BIOS replacement) and Secure Boot capable. Upgradability: Enable in BIOS/UEFI: Similar to TPM, many modern PCs are UEFI-capable but might be running in "Legacy BIOS" or "CSM" (Compatibility Support Module) mode. You can often switch to UEFI mode in your BIOS/UEFI settings. Enable Secure Boot: Once in UEFI mode, you can usually enable Secure Boot from within the BIOS/UEFI settings. Motherboard Limitation: Very old PCs might only support Legacy BIOS and not UEFI at all. In this case, a motherboard replacement would be necessary. RAM (Memory): Requirement: 4 GB or greater. Upgradability: This is usually the easiest and cheapest upgrade. Most desktops and many laptops allow you to add more RAM. Storage: Requirement: 64 GB or larger storage device. Upgradability: Easily upgradable. You can replace a smaller HDD/SSD with a larger one. Graphics Card: Requirement: Compatible with DirectX 12 or later with WDDM 2.0 driver. Upgradability: Most integrated and dedicated graphics cards from the last several years meet this. If yours doesn't, you could install a new graphics card (for desktops) or be out of luck (for laptops). How to Check Your PC's Compatibility: The best way to determine what specifically is holding your PC back is to use Microsoft's PC Health Check app. It will tell you exactly which requirements your system meets and which it doesn't. Summary of Upgrade Possibilities: Most Common & Easiest: Enabling TPM 2.0 in BIOS/UEFI. Enabling Secure Boot in BIOS/UEFI (after switching to UEFI mode if needed). Adding more RAM (if less than 4GB). Upgrading storage drive size. More Involved & Potentially Costly: Adding a physical TPM 2.0 module (if your motherboard has the header). Upgrading the CPU (often requires a new motherboard and RAM too). Replacing the motherboard (almost always requires new CPU and RAM). Upgrading the graphics card (for desktops). Is it worth it? For older PCs that require a new CPU and motherboard, it often makes more sense financially to purchase a new PC that comes with Windows 11 pre-installed or is fully compatible out-of-the-box. The cost of individual component upgrades can quickly add up, and you'll end up with a system that's still fundamentally older than a brand-new one. However, if you only need to enable TPM/Secure Boot in BIOS or add RAM, it's definitely a viable and cheap way to get on Windows 11.

aduwah 1y ago

Can't play a lot of mainstream games on Linux is the issue

xtracto 1y ago
Can't play a lot of mainstream games in old windows computers also. Which what this website is about. So what?
- aduwah 1y ago
  League is mentioned further above. That's 131 million players right there. It runs on a crap box too. It is a fact that having an old PC AND using Linux further limits the options compared to using an old box with a windows with extended support. I think one of the main issues with the Linux world is that people pretend that it is easy to get on the bandwagon. "The is xyz distro that makes it really simple and it is 90% the same". Well that's a lot of bull. It results in people believing you and then silently running away never to come back again. I work with linux and mac for about 15 years and I will definitely not give up my gaming PC with windows 10 because I would lose access to some games I am playing plus there is a performance hit that would bug me to no end (which would end up putting me in a optimization loop where I spend more time tuning the PC than actually playing).
rubyn00bie 1y ago
You’d be surprised how many games you can. It’s a pretty common misconception at this point. The only things that you can’t are some highly competitive multiplayer games like League of Legends or iRacing. I haven’t had a game not work in years, just smash the install button on steam and be done with it. Even a large amount of MMOs just work. I play SWTOR and even have StarParse (stats overlay working perfectly). And if enough people move to Linux even those holdouts will eventually have to support it. The Steam deck has been the gateway drug to Linux for the masses, and I’m stoked for it. Moving to Linux for my desktop gaming machine was the single best decision I made 5 years ago, and I haven’t used Windows since. It’s more stable than Windows ever was, and I also don’t have an errant update break a game, the system, or cause a reboot at the worst possible time.

timetraveller26 1y ago

Funny enough I've been on Linux +10 years, and I've seen the same arguments, it's ugly, games don't run, etc. There's been ton of progress, thankfully people keep using linux besides the very vocal frustrated "failed" migrations.

29athrowaway 1y ago

If you are curious and work in software, you will at some point install Linux or other operating systems and have an informed opinion about what OS you like the most and use that. If you are not driven by curiosity, most of the time the driver is either money, a vision of software as only an occupation, work life balance, etc. Which is usually the kind of people that is not excited by software, doesn't have a passion for it and even take passion away from others.

frollogaston 1y ago

This website is great, but the first turnoff a normal user will hit is that they don't know what "Linux distribution" means, and even if they do, it doesn't recommend one. Even if it said go install Ubuntu or something... Very few people think of a kernel and OS as separate things. Hardware and software separation is already sketchy enough. Instead of people interjecting for a moment, can there just be a penguin-branded "Linux" OS already?

kattagarian 1y ago
No? Nobody in their right mind would claim that they are building the official Linux OS without turning the whole community against them. And it's not as if the average user need to use linux. If developers move from windows 10 to linux, the impact would be huge.
- frollogaston 1y ago
  This website seems directed at average users. There aren't a whole lot of devs, but even then, many devs want things to just work cause time is money. Nobody is upset that there's an official Linux kernel. Of course it takes Linus Torvalds to declare it, and he's understandably not interested in designating an official OS, but this is a consequence.
  - kattagarian 1y ago
    > Nobody is upset that there's an official Linux kernel. Because he was literally the creator of the whole thing. And the word "official" means little in the open source community. Yt-dlp took the crown out of youtube-dl hands when it comes to downloading videos. Is yt-dlp official? What official even means? And that's fine that many devs want things that just work. Little by little, everyone is noticing that windows not only not improving but taking direct action to make the experience worse. The balance is tilting in favor of linux not only because linux is getting better but because windows is also getting worse
    - 1y ago

rubyn00bie 1y ago

To everyone saying you can’t play games on Linux. You can. You can play an amazing amount of games, even on launch day, with nothing more than a click of the install button on Steam. I smashed install for Clair Obscur last night and it works great. If you don’t play highly competitive online games like League of Legends then you’ll be fine. Anecdata— a mate of mine plays Hell Divers 2, and thought he couldn’t play it or it wouldn’t work well. I told I had played it and it worked fine. Two days later, he’s using Linux and getting better performance than he was on Windows. It has been five years of gaming exclusively on Linux, and I have yet to find a game I can’t play with the only exceptions (for me) being League of Legends and iRacing. But I can live without them. If you don’t play extremely competitive online games you can probably play it. My rule of thumb is, “are there IRL pro tournaments for money?” if there aren’t it’ll very likely just work. My only tip is just use something like common. Ubuntu, Mint, PopOS, Arch, ZorinOS, Kubuntu… all will probably work with zero effort. Don’t go mucking about with weird distros, and bizarre tweaks, and you’re more than likely gonna have the most stable system you’ve ever used. I cannot recommend Linux highly enough. Five years ago I was skeptical and unsure but tired of Windows bullshit and here I am— still loving it. I’ve fully upgraded the system recently, except for the GPU (because 5090 prices are ridiculous and I don’t want less VRAM than my 3090 has) and it even booted from my old install and just worked. Try Linux, friends. It’s pretty freaking great these days.

eviks 1y ago

> But what if you could make your current one fast and secure again? At a fraction of time spent following this guide you can extend win 10 by a few more years by switching to ltsc or go win11 bypassing all software restrictions

whiterook6 1y ago

I am not getting rid of windows 10 for several years at least. Too many of my workflows require windows apps, and windows 11 is incoherent, full of ads, and way too controlling.

prmoustache 1y ago
Isn't the pro version exempt of Ads? I understand there are still home, pro, enterprise licenses right? The win11 I have on my pro laptop doesn't seem to have ads so it looks it is either not included in that licensed version OR it can be desactivated by GPOs.

2Gkashmiri 1y ago

I have successfult migrated 30% of my office to Linux (KDE neon) and im not seeing any much working difference. Granted we use remote desktop but still.

brushfoot 1y ago

Linux has gotten in the way every time I've tried various distros over the years. And I'm a system administrator turned software engineer. I can't imagine the headaches for less technical users. Examples: - Screensharing in Teams. There was a gaussian blur over everything. I had this happen during a work call. - Nvidia. I kept getting screen-tearing. I went through various guides, installed drivers and so on, but it never worked properly. - Office. LibreOffice slaughters my Office docs. The formatting is wrong, things are broken. - Media. I had issues watching things that I could just watch on Windows. Those kinds of issues were fun to me 20 years ago; they were part of the adventure of roughing it and sticking it to the man. Today, I don't have the time or energy. I'd rather use an OS that Just Works. When I need Linux, WSL has worked great.

legacynl 1y ago
I can't recommend Arch enough. It's specifically the install process that I think helped me understand everything much more clearly, and helped me break the cycle of installing a distro, encountering problems, and weekends of googling around. My friend jokingly referred encountering an problem during remodeling his new home to installing a linux distro. Like he just wants to be done with this remodeling already, but these problems lead him to spending his free weekends on some problem that shouldn't even have been there. But arch basically starts you with nothing and you build up, you'll exactly know what software does what, and when problems arise you know where the problem is coming from. That being said, I've never had a system that is as stable and 'just works' like my current arch install, and besides from twice needing manual intervention after not updating for a while, it's been going 8 years. I'm currently at the state that whenever something is not working (adb not recognizing my phone, external usb-harddrive bay not being properly recognized) I always know that those things will just work as soon as I reboot my machine into arch. Although on win10 most things 'just work' as well, so those moment's aren't that common. As a side note Arch has some very good informative wiki pages on basically any software you might want to use on linux. Even if you're not using arch it's very useful for basically any linux user, and it often has a section with known issues and workarounds.

southernplaces7 1y ago

Or just go download and run Windows 10 LTSC and celebrate with a fresh hot cup of coffee for saving yourself all kinds of headaches, with both microsoft's bullshit and with navigating Linux distros.