Old desktop and laptop PCs, switch to Linux

Often in the world of new technology, tablets, a new laptop, a new processor, all things tech, often it seems our precious hardware at home gets outdated, and outdated quickly.  What do we do with our old gaming desktop?  Our cheap pc we purchased for our first semester of college?  What happens to the laptop pc a friend no-longer wanted and generously donated to us?  All too often these end up in a trash pile, sent to the dump to fill another landfill with other discarded treasures, sentenced to die as if it were of no use to us at all.  Why though?  Why are these PCs a thing of garbage?  Can they be repurposed?  Is there any real good use for a vulnerable Windows XP PC?  Maybe it doesn't have to be running Windows any more.

As with most PC users I am one of the many who on a normal basis goes to work on a powerful business PC, and then returns home to a powerful gaming PC.  Under my desk though there are three other PCs.  A cheap laptop, a modded PC, and a brand new affordable laptop PC, other than my gaming PC, the rest all run Linux, beautiful beautiful Linux.  Any particular reason?  Well as stated above the operating system on these PCs was outdated, windows XP, windows Vista, either out of support from Microsoft, or really nearing their end.  Sure updating them to a newer version of Windows could revitalize them and kick them back into gear, but in terms of drivers, these PCs are relatively useless.  The cheap laptop had a couple hours involved trying to install windows 7 to find there were no compatible drivers for it.  As a PC it wasn't weak, it had some decent components, it could still be used, and surprisingly the battery held a charge for over four hours the first day I had it.

The solution?  Download Linux for the first time, picking which was best was the first struggle, as a Windows loyalist switching to an unfamiliar territory was quite a daunting task.  Every PC from the past was always built with Windows.  Searching download Linux, or Linux in general really shows way too many potential solutions.  For me I thought Linux was just Linux, never heard of a distro, never knew there was such a thing as a Debian or a Gentoo, way too many Linux downloads to choose from.  Until someone else suggested trying Ubuntu, proposed as the easiest most user friend Linux distribution on the market.

That was the first Linux download by myself ever performed, always existing as a windows PC guy this was going to be a huge change, the solution ended up being a huge blessing in disguise.  Sure it looked a little different, but in comparison to the existing Windows installation on that old cheap laptop PC, the speed was miraculous.  Not only that it was completely stable, the boot times were drastically less than a fresh installation of Windows Vista on that old pc.  The software support was even more impressive, hundreds if not thousands of downloadable programs were available from within the operating system itself.  Typing in the word "office" in the search bar gave multiple options for completely .doc and .docx compatible programs, allowing the option to modify files produced in a program that costs over one hundred dollars.

Even as a Windows user for a vast majority of my life I ended up adopting the Linux life style, simply because it worked, it does what needs to be done, it is secure, and best of all Linux is free to download from a large amount of vendors.  From the aforementioned Ubuntu, Debian, and Gentoo, and many many more.  The old cheap PCs and disposable laptop PCs have been repurposed as fully functional production systems in my home, and I'm not alone in this endeavor.  There are many of us out there trying to release our binds from the windows PC world, simply because that gaming PC we build 5 years ago is still good, just because the operating system is no-longer supported, making it susceptible to vulnerabilities, and updating to a new operating system isn't compatible with the slightly antiquated PC components.

Allow me to encourage those who have an older PC, a cheap laptop they don't know what to do with, or those strapped for cash and can't afford to upgrade to a new PC, try downloading Linux and installing it on your old hardware.  In a worst case scenario what will you discover?  You aren't fond of Linux?  But in a best case scenario you can discover that your old PC can be revitalized and continue it's trek as your trusty laptop traveling from work to home and vice versa.  Decreased security flaws, increased hardware performance.  For me the only Windows based PC in this whole house now is only the gaming PC simply because of software limitations with Linux vs Windows.  Other than that, I'm a Linux man through and through, turn that old PC into your new PC with a simple Linux download.

In terms of suggestions, I'll stick with suggesting Ubuntu for first timers.  If you find yourself to be a little bit more tech savvy look into OpenSUSE or Debian.  If you have any questions or concerns let me know in the comment section, and as always be safe my goblins.

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