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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 15th, 2023

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  • A friend just had her Windows 11 PC hijacked and used to drain money from her bank account. Not too much of a worry with Linux of any flavor.

    It took 5x as long to wipe the disk and reload Windows as it would have to load Linux, plus another hour to change the settings to turn off as much of of Window’s advertising and spyware as possible. Microsoft will no doubt change the settings back when Windows update runs, or maybe they’ll just pile on more ads.

    I’d much rather deal with some hardware incompatibilities than Microsoft’s bullshit.


  • Linux Mint is an excellent choice for both new and experienced users. After distro-hopping for years I went back to Mint because it works on my hardware with very few problems and I was tired of troubleshooting other distros odd problems. I haven’t used Mint on a Go 2, but I have used the full version with Cinnamon Desktop on a Dell Venue with similar hardware restrictions and currently run Mint on a Surface Laptop 4.

    As to whether the Go 2 will work for your uses, the Venue had 4GB of memory and a 128GB SSD and worked fine for simple spreadsheets, word processing, web browsing, email and as an ebook reader. It was used daily for 1-3 hours for 7 years. Even after cracking the screen I was able to run Debian 12 and Home Assistant on it for almost a year more. A Micro SD was great for extra storage, but was far too slow for running an OS IMO. Despite the daily use and running a Swap file, I did not have any SSD problems in almost 8 years of use. It still works and if it weren’t for the cracked screen I’d probably still be using it.

    Because of the limited memory I used Zram. Once set up it’s completely transparent and Mint is noticeably faster when running multiple apps. The 128GB SSD was big enough as long as I was careful with downloads and moved large, little used files to the Micro SD. No problems 99% of the time with the processing power.

    I now use a Surface Laptop 4 with Mint. The Linux Surface Github page provided the info and procedures needed to set it up. An external USB keyboard and mouse were required for installation because the keyboard and trackpad would not work until the Surface kernel was installed. It works perfectly after installation and configuration.

    Libreoffice Draw works as a PDF editor and does what you’re looking for. No experience with Linux note taking apps or a stylus.





  • Lessons learned when switching:

    Some things I didn’t expect just work differently on Linux and it took time to figure out those differences. For instance, a change to a network interface config on Windows usually takes effect when you hit the “OK” button. Linux requires toggling the interface for that change to take effect. That one took me a couple of frustrating hours to figure out. There are lots of other examples like this so keep it in mind if things aren’t working as you expect.

    Trying to do absolutely everything on Linux right away was a mistake. I started switching back to Windows for quick tasks and then learning how to do those tasks on Linux when I could spend a few minutes figuring them out. Over time I spent more and more time running Linux and one day realized I hadn’t started Windows in months.

    In addition to (or instead of) dual booting, create a virtual machine to allow you to use what you need in either OS without rebooting.

    Lastly, if you find that you’re spending a lot of time fixing OS problems don’t be afraid to try something else. Haven’t spent much time with Fedora, but I use Mint daily because I don’t have to fuss with the OS much. Others in my household have more problems with Windows 11.














  • I had to go into the BIOS, turn UEFI to legacy, turn off secure boot, reboot to boot from the USB stick, install Mint, then turn legacy back to UEFI to get it to boot from the hard drive.

    That is ridiculous and it does sound like a Lenovo problem.

    I’m running Mint on a Surface Laptop (which was difficult to install because Microsoft), but getting Secure Boot working only required changing the UEFI settings to allow non-Microsoft Secure Boot certificates. With that set Mint boots just fine both with Secure Boot enabled and disabled. So do USB installation ISOs.

    Secure Boot can still be a pain. To get Virtualbox working with it enabled required signing several kernel modules which took a while to figure out.

    Mint is great though. After distrohopping for years I finally decided I wanted to just use the OS and GUI, not play around with them and I came back to Mint. The latest versions of Mint just work and work for years once they’re installed. For me, going back to Windows (especially W11) feels like punishment. I hope you enjoy the switch.