The Phase Where I'm Installing Linux on Everything
I kindasorta remember My Very First Install of some flavor of Linux, Probably Ubuntu. Despite the fond memory of customizing to a blue theme and Rinoa Heartilly wallpaper... I grew frustrated with it as a daily driver and I went back to Windows 7. I probably couldn't get a driver to work or something.
A timeskip later, and I found myself in the system admin game. We worked in Linux environments; the servers were Debian or Ubuntu-based, so it made sense to have my work computer be the same. My workspace was KDE (at first); the rig in my bedroom rocked Windows 8. That Acer Aspire never changed, while I've gone through some very interesting setups in a quest for The Perfect Distro (That Wouldn't Break With My Quirks).
What I mean is, I was never too far from Linux. It was always the backup plan, a solid thing, the Let's Get Serious mode, the Hail Mary before I gutted R0S3Y for spare parts. But most importantly, it was a third option and I am all about those. And as it becomes more apparent that 10 may be the last Windows I'll voluntarily touch, Linux has been on my mind a lot.
So, how does that meme go?
--Wait but first I have to get some of this out
I know it. You know it. Everything tech-related kinda sucks ass right now.
These corpo ghouls are making such a mess of the Internet the lot of us retreated to the smallweb side of things, and don't get me started on how you don't own anything anymore (subscriptions), planned obsolescence making unnecessary eWaste, and any stupid trick to squeeze more money out of a stone while strangling what makes us human to begin with.
This is about to be another gotdamn rant about AI/LLMs because I am soooooooo. Tired. And as many many many others have said– I feel insane. How are people not seeing this shit? Why isn't anyone caring? But gawd, I don't want to talk about it. At least, not here. I'm working on another post where I fully give into my rant about this, as if I haven't done so already. And I will fucking do it again.
Pressure valve, pressure valve.
...
Okay. On your six. How does that meme go?
I Came Out to Attack But Honestly I Am Having Such a Good Time Right Now
In the past while, I expressed a yearning for a laptop: I missed being able to type in coffeehouses, and generally fucking around with Linux stuff (and been needing some overdue refamiliarization). One of my many tech-savvy friends said "yo, I got you; here's a Dell Latitude to get you started, free of charge. I have twenty of them for my media center empire." So I grabbed it! Instead of fumbling through the settings and files the previous owner left behind, I just reformatted and installed Linux Mint on that lil baby!
...
And went back to Xubuntu eventually! (That distro was always there for me. On the first laptop I ever bought? It kept that Walmart hardware going til the bitter end... right up to the Viking funeral.)
And frankly, as the meme implies, I'm lovin' it. I could sit here all day and bitch about how much Everything Sucks, especially Windows, and why you should seriously consider jumping ship (if it's possible for you and your use case). But I won't (because I'll do that later). I'll save the Linux evangelism for those that actually know what they're talking about half the time– but I tell you, as a layperson, I'm having fun. At the very least, try it out on a VM or space USB stick.
I don't do anything terribly heavy when I'm traveling (email, writing, chatting, voice chats), but I have a rough plan of what to do– and expect– when I make the jump on my desktop at home. It is fortunate that I don't depend on many Windows-exclusive stuff (I think...), and even then that sorta thing is getting better by the day– certainly leaps and bounds compared to what it was like coming up.
I've been happy with my lil E6410. And when I'm happy (especially when resurrecting older tech), I won't shut up about it.
And a part of me really did miss just fucking with shit. So when I spied the empty desk in a partner's guest bedroom, and an extra monitor in their basement, and I got some extra stuff lying around myself...
Enter Acer (Aspire)
What some folx have been doing is Homelabbing, where you set up your own personal server in your own house. Here is an example of someone's setup, using a Dell laptop model similar to my own. You can host websites, media files, and games. Hell, I can do that!
And I'd been sitting on this computer tower, right? I'm kinda a techno packrat, a trait I inherited from my dad as he was a video nerd. I got dongles, doodads, user manuals, and cables ranging from Firewire to USB-C. And I have at least one almost-computer setup in the closet. For reasons. Someday, a Linux box. Someday, something else. Someday, someone else might need a lil sumthin' sumthin'. Because this thing built for Windows (h)8 certainly couldn't handle Windows 10. But it was still serviceable, if only for the most basic stuff!
In fact, I am typing up this entry on it right now (time of writing, into the night on December 9th; I'm adding the final touches on aforementioned laptop). Because, the best way to see if it'd really take is to stress test the thing.
And Stress Test It, I Do (Will)
I've had to curb my expectations, though. It's still faster than it was with Win10, but it isn't going to support my full loadout right out of the gate.
For one, there's only 4 gigs in this thing. When I first tried to browse the web and install 3 different apps while updating and typing out notes in a notepad, it froze like a raccoon caught embezzling funds from Santa Clause. (I've then switched browsers and told myself to not get too roughshod about it; it's an ol thang that needs to be gently handled or whatever. Also, something to troubleshoot [note to self: someone suggested turning off hardware acceleration when using Firefox]. Also, don't use Firefox.) Once I figure stuff out, I plan to really get in there. I'm encouraging my partner to just sit down and toy around with it, too.
(And also, wouldn't hurt to upgrade some hardware a little. I may have to resort to some sort of robbery thanks to those slurping up all the AI bullshit and making everything pricier as companies drop out of the consumer market to suck Big Tech's dongles.)
But. Yes. It may be moved to the living room as a mediabox for the full homelab experience, or it'll stay up here waiting to be typed on. I got options.
It feels pretty good. I feel accomplished. I did that. It's doing what I set out to do, and I made it happen. ...And if I screw it up, I have installs of at least 4 distros and emergency DBAN.
(Re)learning
It wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be to get there... I had to remember how BIOS works. And I had to update the BIOS, because it was so old it didn't have some Quality of Life features like disabling UEFI.
And whoever you are, who linked to the minimum update I needed to make this happen, I fucking salute you. Ancient forums where people had my same problem a decade ago stay winning. Without it I would've been dead in the water; more official channels were no help with no search results and 404s for their old hardware support.[1]
I knew enough that UEFI is a thorn in everyone's side, I think, but I needed a crash course in what CSM actually was. I was boot-looped and chirped at until I figured that out: Compatibility Support Module is your friend, and as long as you don't use anything bigger than a 8gig USB stick, you can test and install distros just fine.
After some more troubleshooting and another person coming in clutch with compatible USB Wifi Dongle Thingies, we got it online and updated. I know; for some reason I'm still nervous about handling internal cards and the like.
But, behold. Look upon this thing and despair. Your Chromebook is next.
Since Then
I've been thinking on how to end this entry.
TLDR: Old tech is usable.
I brought the tower into its new home about two weeks ago. I did some reading, brainstorming, and troubleshooting. I accidentally stayed up a couple nights in a row just customizing my profile and imagining all the possibilities, despite my hardware limitations. As the alternative is just chucking this thing into a landfill... I'll take it.
I saw similar potential in this other old laptop– a HP something-or-other I saw collecting dust in a corner. It's owner said I could just take it. Hardware upgrades (i.e. a trip to Microcenter) and a Linux install later, it ran better than it had in years.
Community? Still Important.
I don't worry too badly if I screw up the Acer tower somehow. I know plenty of people I could reach out to, offline and online, for camaraderie and tech support. There's also a ton of documentation and forum posts of all ages I can browse.
The Internet's for staying connected to people, too. That other laptop I fixed up? Someone else needed it more than I did (and I certainly don't need two of them). It can't do much, but it's enough for them to not be so isolated. Once they've restabilized and upgrade their setup, they offered to return it... but I suggested they pass it on.
What little I knew was enough to be help out. That's not nothing.
--
[1] But I feel like they'd be a depository or something for old hardware BIOS versions? Can someone point me in the right direction for that sorta thing?
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