Old PC's, Windows and Linux

[Hoser Rob]

I don;t think this is a new issue, when I first installed Linux a decade or so ago there were very similar complaints about hardware the same age at the time. There are limits to this Linux saving old hardware thing.

[RollyShed]

There are limits to this Linux saving old hardware thing.

Agreed. I'm not going to try and install it on my ZX81 or any of the DEC PDP-8s.

[151tom]

Give me Linux Mint Xfce on an older machine any day.

Yep Xfce is hard to beat and works well on any computer new or old.

But very old machines should simply be dumped. They're a waste of time and energy.

Perhaps so however not everyone has the money to buy a computer new or used.

I can afford to buy a new computer although I just like old stuff solid as a rock and built to last.

I still have and use old vacuum tube radios and audio equipment which has a better sound quality imo.

[151tom]

Seems that the hardware is simply too old to work with modern Linux.

So basically I have a 2008 laptop that will not run modern Linux but has updated to Windows 10 22H2 (current)

Yeah it sucks that Linux doesn't support old hardware I'm using a desktop from 2007 with an Nvidia graphics card which requires the Nvidia 340.108 proprietary graphics driver which is only supported by the 5.4 kernel and when then 5.4 kernel reaches EOL so does the Nivdia 340.108 graphics driver.

Any ideas what is happening? Back in 2011 the Linux mantra was “keep your old machine working when it will not work with Windows any longer”, what has changed?

Just progress nothing more and businesses can't make money when folks keep using old reliable electronics and other old reliable devices.

[Petermint]

businesses can't make money when folks keep using old reliable electronics

Linux developers cannot support old hardware if they do not have working examples for testing.

There are distributions supporting older variations. They cannot continue at that level when a source package dies. The easiest solution is to stop updating the old machine and assign it to a function not connected to the Internet, removing the need for security updates.

If you have a firewall set up, you could use the old hardware for something like a file server. My oldest machine was full of add-on cards to keep it useful but eventually ran out of slots to make it compatible with modern storage and network speeds. My last idea for reuse was to make the case into a seedling planter.

[Tosh]

Any ideas what is happening? Back in 2011 the Linux mantra was “keep your old machine working when it will not work with Windows any longer”, what has changed?

Just progress nothing more and businesses can't make money when folks keep using old reliable electronics and other old reliable devices.

But a vast majority of companies that develop the Linux Kernel and the various distributions from it are not in the market for selling new kit. The distributions are available for FREE on the interweb.

But you know what really pisses me off about some computer manufacturers. When they offer a choice of WIndows or a Linux distribution and charge exactly the same for the computer. Surely they pay a licencing fee for Windows a nothing for Linux.

[Petermint]

Surely they pay a licencing fee for Windows a nothing for Linux

Some get a big discount for Windows if they buy Windows for every machine. There were legal actions in some countries to ban some of those restrictions. The cost of installing and configuring is the same. The cost of support is different.