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I saved a doomed Windows laptop by embracing Linux (www.theverge.com)

submitted 17 hours ago by vividspecter@aussie.zone to c/linux@programming.dev

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[–] steel_for_humans@piefed.social 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I'm thinking of replacing Chrome OS on an older Chromebook (Acer CB-314) that's been slowing down a lot. I don't know what Google is doing but it feels like planned obsolescence. It's becoming unresponsive even for regular web browsing and VOD. Based on some online guides I think I need to open the device to flip a hardware switch that makes the firmware write protected, so I need to convince my significant other to let me do it, because it's her laptop, but she keeps complaining :)

I was thinking of putting Mint on it, I want it to be super simple.

I would also consider some atomic distro so she can't break it :) Maybe Fedora Silverblue or something like that.

[–] UNY0N@feddit.org 3 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

Silverblue is what I'm putting on my partner's older PC, the fact that it atomic is a big plus-point.

Be warned though, some less common non-cli packages are more difficult to install. If your SO needs something along those lines, mint may be better.

For example, nordVPN has a nice GUI interface, but it has no appimage or flatpak, so it won't work on silverblue without modifying the ostree. That's not a good idea, so on my (bazzite) PC I have installed a simple openVPN GUI package, and set it up to use our nordVPN account. It works fine, but it's not a pretty map-based interface, just a giant list of servers.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

You can install local RPM files, but you would have to manually update them (by uninstalling the old and installing the new) with each update.

I use Mullvad on Bazzite, and have had no issue just installing the app using rpm-ostree. Works just fine. Dunno if they have the Nord app in the repository.

You might also be able to run it in a Fedora toolbox or Arch distrobox, but I never tried.

[–] steel_for_humans@piefed.social 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I am aware of the limitations. She is a really BASIC user. Just uses the web browser (Chrome, because it's a Chrome OS, well — I'll switch her to Firefox and she won't notice ;) ), she surfs the net, watches YT and VOD (I know the DRM limitations, again, not an issue with her, she's perfectly happy with 720p in a window) and chats Facebook Messenger (sadly). I think an atomic distro can do all that out of the box and there's nothing to install that's not a web app or a Flatpak.

Is rpm-ostree how you get the other packages? I don't know much about it apart from what's on Fedora's website, my understanding is it modifies the local system image so whatever you install from RPM becomes part of it. But, again, she won't need it. She's the compete opposite of a power user.

[–] UNY0N@feddit.org 1 points 4 hours ago

Yes, that's exactly how RPM works. it's supposed to be a last resort if options like distrobox or homebrew can't deliver what you need. It can break stuff if you are not careful.

Anyway, then I'd definitely go with silverblue.