Refresh old hardware with Linux Mint
I’d been wanting to do something with distributing Linux Mint for a while, because think it’s a great way to repurpose hardware, in stark contrast to the throwaway culture we live in.
I’d tried and failed a few times with Linux in the past. I’ve always wanted to have a Linux laptop as my main machine — but usually found there was some blocker, with something key I was unable to do. However, having now used Mint since Oct 2019, I’m yet to find any significant issues since my last foray into the world of open source operating systems. I’ve even taken my MintBook Pro as I call it (I installed it installed on an old 2012 MacBook Pro) into a few clients and used it on site, plugging into docking stations and printing from it with no issues.
That said, one thing that has changed since I last tried, and which has probably made my Mint experience a little easier, is that now so much is cloud based, there’s less dependancy on installed applications. Chromium syncs to my other Chrome instances elsewhere via my Google account, and of course from the browser I can access Office 365 for those poor misguided clients which use it. And I can access all my files via Dropbox. All that aside though I think Linux Mint is a much more robust OS than the last time I tried Linux, which would have been Ubuntu. To be fair to Ubuntu, that was a few years back. I’m sure I’d be more than happy with Ubuntu now.
One of the things I like about Mint is the Cinnamon desktop. It’s easy to use, and I reckon its similarities to Windows as far as UX/UI goes means it’d be an easier thing for Windows users to adapt to. Which again I think makes it a viable option for breathing minty fresh life back into hardware with halitosis.
What with COVID-19, I’d heard of people on the hunt for laptops to help out with home schooling. So, I, thought — no time like the present — and made this video which shows how to install Linux Mint, a fast and easy to use free open source operating system on an otherwise seemingly unusable machine that people may have laying around. (The laptop in the video, a battered Dell Latitude I couldn’t log in to is now being used daily by my nine-year-old.)
I posted the video to a local Facebook group and a mum from his school gave it a go. She said:-
It works!!! 😲😀 I’ve tried Edmodo and mymaths and reading eggs and they all work on it just fine. Thank you so much for this, it’s brilliant!! 🙂
I couldn’t do anything with that laptop and couldn’t update it either, and it works really well with Linux, just like the other two newer laptops we’ve got. It is really amazing! 🙂
Which pretty much says it all. And I love it that we have kids where I live using free open source software on hardware that still has bags of life left in it.
Digital decisions are never a walk in the park, so please get in touch and let me help you find the right way through the technical landscape.
