Linux versu upgrading PC for W11

[Radio Fixer]

I have a new psu for the ATX mch but not fitted yet.  A workaround to not starting up is to power up and walk away for a short while and then press the push button. 

I have been thinking sbout the W11 upgrade as W10 unsupported nex year.  Means a new MoBo, CPU, mem and graphics card?

An alternative is go the Linux route.  Our backuo laptop works fine with it.  How do I stop it keep asking for passwords?  What is a good Word Processor and will it read MS Docx files?

The ATX mch does all I want and is plenty fast enough and it would continue wkg.

From what I have seen I dont fancy all the Co Pilot stuff and I woud get away from  thst as well.

Anyone upgraded to W11 and would like to know how they find it?

thanks   Gary

[Mark Hennessy]

If you go to the settings app, then go to "Update & Security", you should get a message telling you if your current hardware supports W11 or not. Or you can install the PC heath check app from Microsoft, which will tell you.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/wind...f37caa7844

On this 7 year old laptop, I'm not able to install W11 because my CPU (a 7th-gen i5) is not supported. Looks like I only just missed out, as several 8th-gen i5s are listed as compatible...

Earlier you said you built your PC back in 2011, so there's probably even less chance you could install W11 on it. You'd probably have been offered it via Wondows Update before now if it were possible.

I can't comment on how it compares really. My son has it on his laptop and desktop machines, but I don't have much to do with them as he's fairly self-sufficient with computers these days. For the more complicated problems I might help him with, it doesn't take long before I start seeing the same legacy dialogue boxes from the Windows 2000 era, which always amuses me

I use Libre Office for most things, and it's cross-platform. It will open Docx files, though you might get occasional formatting issues, though I rarely see those in practice.

[ppppenguin]

I've been running Linux Mint (Cinnamon version) for over a year now on both my main PC and my laptop. I'm very pleased to have made the move away from Windows. My laptop is dual boot with W10. I've never found a need to use W10. From all I've read about W11 I'm staying well away from it.

To log in without password: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=329194 I use this on my main PC where I'm the only user. Otherwise entering the password before doing updates (or anything else that needs elevated privileges) is an essential security measure. Many users will only ever have to enter the password when doing updates or installing new apps.

Libreoffice comes as standard with many Linux distributions including Mint. For the most part it just works. As Mark says, you will occasionally get formatting errors when opening docx and xlsx files. Apparently Libreoffice will even open some damaged Excel files that Excel itself can't.

If you need to run software that's not available for Linux then you'll need to look at Windows or Mac. Photoshop and other Adobe products are a problem for Linux users. I don't need them and and I'm told that The Gimp isn't as well developed as Photoshop.

I run some older Windows software in an XP virtual machine using VirtualBox. This is software that didn't run properly in W7 and certainly won't in anything later. There are some tricks of the trade to doing this well. I needed help but a friend pointed me to some very good web pages. I also just couldn't move away from Irfanview as an image viewer and simple editor. That runs well enough using WINE.

[BusyBee]

I run Windows 10 one one laptop, which is not upgradeable but have another on which I installed Linux Mint from the start. I have to say that although I find it re-assuring to have a Windows machine as well in practice I find there is very little extra advantage and lots of negatives with Windows. Linux does require some expertease at times but in general it is far less demanding in it's control of the system with regard to updates and install of software you will never use. I have never used a dual boot system and for my needs don't see any point. It's just waste of memory and resources. The family do have another machine for general use which has LInux setup for no password startup. It is possible to setup for auto update these days. I don't know how that works as I just leave it off and let the update accumulate then do a big update from time to time. That way other users are not faced with a password request or other system messages.

Tracy

[Mike Watterson]

I use Linux Mint with Mate desktop (I have others installed).
From 1998 was dual booting NT 4.0 and Redhat. Later XP and Ubuntu.
Switched completely in Dec 2016.
I have a Win10 laptop I don't use. A free MS tool let me clone my XP laptop (from May/June 2002) and Win7 tower as VM files for VBox. I have XP, Win7 and Win10 VMs on Workstation and synced to linux Laptop with rsync. Really I only use the XP for a short period for the Weather station, which has its own LCD panel / console in the Kitchen anyway.

If I was running Sage Accounts or Payroll or such I might run them on a VM, Win7 in preference to Win10, if possible. Fortunately it's nearly 20 years since I had to support such software.

[reset]

I have a new psu for the ATX mch but not fitted yet.  A workaround to not starting up is to power up and walk away for a short while and then press the push button. 

I have been thinking sbout the W11 upgrade as W10 unsupported nex year.  Means a new MoBo, CPU, mem and graphics card?

An alternative is go the Linux route.  Our backuo laptop works fine with it.  How do I stop it keep asking for passwords?  What is a good Word Processor and will it read MS Docx files?

The ATX mch does all I want and is plenty fast enough and it would continue wkg.

From what I have seen I dont fancy all the Co Pilot stuff and I woud get away from  thst as well.

Anyone upgraded to W11 and would like to know how they find it?

thanks   Gary

I use PCLINUXOS.
It has WINE (Wine Is Not Emulator) to run Windows programs.
With PCLinuxOS I can use my printer,scanner,NanoVNA and microscope.
The Wine program installer has a list of available programs which includes LTSpice.
The only thing I "left behind" digital scope. It was no longer supported under windows 10.

If interested you can read about it here:
https://www.pclinuxos.com/?page_id=2

Maybe try the live CD?

73
Greg

[ppppenguin]

One of the problems of moving from Windows to Linux is the huge number of available distros (short for distributions). You can scare yourself here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Li...tributions Many have their own fanbase - the wars can get to almost religious intensity.

This is one of the reasons why Linux is on so few home PCs. All the average Windows user wants is a pain free move to Linux. They don't want any part in distro wars, nor do they even much want the "try before you install" approach of live systems on a memory stick. Though that's useful.

There are a few distros that fulfil this. Mint (as suggested by Mike Watterson and myself) is one. It's very widely used though you have to choose between several editions. You can switch between different editions without too much trouble though I haven't tried it. I have no intention of going to war with Mike over my choice of Cinnamon versus his of Mate. I've tried Mate and XFCE - the last is good for lower spec hardware but that's not my problem. I started with Mint and stayed with it.

This is a well respected site: https://www.techradar.com/best/best-linu...dows-users Here's their opinion on distros for Windows refugees.

Most of what you want to do will work "out of the box" with many distros. My printers and scanner were all found automatically though the print drivers are slightly buggy. So were the Windows drivers but in different ways.

What problems have I found?
* I've tried different scanner software from the Mint repository and use what is best for a given task.
* I've had loads of trouble with networking, but few people will be trying to use ancient XP and W98 machines on their home network.
* I've still not found a PDF reader that I like as much as what I used to use in Windows. The default Okular reader is just about good enough
* I've had odd problems with file ownership when transferring them over the network from other PCs. This is a nuisance rather than serious
* My (Android) phone gives an error box when I connect but works anyway.

[Mike Watterson]

The main reason Linux is on few laptops or PCs is because retail shops only have Windows or Mac OS. It's possible with some models to buy without OS (though Dell and Lenovo do sell pre-installed). Better to install from a USB stick download than take Lenovo or Dell's pre-installed offering. But even with Windows for 30 years I wiped / formatted and installed from scratch.

The "Live Try" memory stick versions are what I almost always use to install. It allows you to look at existing drives and networking before install which is difficult with Windows "upgrades".

The old Windows gear that Networking won't work with with Linux without editing (Win9x, Win3.x, NT 3.5x, NT4.0, XP ) won't work with win10/11 either. It's because the security on the sharing and login is now breaches, so they can't connect (by default) to Win10/Win11 or Linux, nor will Linux and Win 10/Win11 log into their sharing. There are ways around it on Windows and Linux, but it makes your LAN insecure. You almost need a separate LAN with no Internet access.

Android since 4.0 is MTP (which was developed by MS from PTP) and thus doesn't work well anyway, and on Mac and Linux only one process can connect to an MTP device, so if you are not using Finder or Linux File Browser you have to stop the Android device mounting.

So neither of those are specific Linux issues.

[Radio Fixer]

Thanks for all the info: bewidering but making process.

May stick to Win 11 on the main destop and leave Linux to the backup laptop.

On the Laptop I have Mint 21.3 Virginia 64 bit. Kernal Linux 5.15.091 generic X86 64. Mate 1.26.0.

Bought a copy of LibreOffice and GIMP put on it, see how I get on there

thanks Gary

[ppppenguin]

Bought a copy of LibreOffice and GIMP put on it, see how I get on there

I don't understand "Bought". Libreoffice is included in all the Mint distros. It can also be downloaded freely (free in both senses - beer and freedom) from the Mint repository. In Cinnamon you click on the Mint logo in the bottom left corner and then on the Software Manager. Mate will be very similar.

GIMP isn't included in Mint distros but again it can be freely downloaded as I've just described.

In both cases you can download them either as a system package or a Flatpak. Linux purists will say you should use the system package but it really doesn't matter.

A couple of very useful tricks of the trade.

1: For taking screenshots simply press Shift-printscreen. I think this works in many Linux distros

2: Download a right click resizer from the repository. There are several available. I'm not sure which one I've got but I know I can't work without it. A couple of links on the subject: Image resizer. https://www.ihaveapc.com/2010/11/how-to-...inux-mint/
http://www.bricelam.net/ImageResizer/