Before installing Linux, I had originally planned to dual-boot on my main PC, but somehow a gaming rig from 5 years ago isn’t good enough to run windows 11, which is ridiculous.
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A Celeron n4000 with only two cores, 4gb of DDR 3 RAM and 80gb sata I 5400rpm drive, that takes 25 minutes to boot: ✅ supported by Windows 11 because introduced on the market after 2018
A Xeon E7-8894 v4 with 24 cores, 3tb of ECC RAM and petabytes of nvme storage, paid $130k: ❌ unsupported by Windows 11 because introduced on the market before 2018
A totally valid way to define minimum requirements…
It’ll run the Windows 11 IoT edition and it’ll run it well.
(though it’d run Linux better :) )
I am physicist and software engineer. My current Linux desktop PC is now 16 years old, from 2009, and with 8-core CPU and 16 GB RAM is still plain over-powered for running Emacs and rustc under Debian and Arch in VM. It is only the third desktop computer I own. I bought the second one in 1999, and that one had an AMD K6 (Pentium-like) CPU with 300Mhz clock, running S.u.S.E. Linux, and I used it for writing uni stuff and my PhD thesis on digital speech processing. The first PC I owned was a old PC with an Intel 80386 CPU which my uncle gave me in 1995. I could barely run Word 6.0 on Windows 3.11 on it (MS Word became very instable for larger documents), but LaTeX (emTeX) was running totally fine (after installing it from about 30 floppy disks).
So, to sum up: Using Linux you will save a ton of money for hardware.
Tux: What 4 GB RAM? This is some gourmet shit.
Tell that to the modern web though.
The web is so fat nowadays that it makes Windows look slim.
The modern web so fat that when it sits around the house, it sits around the shockingly robust infrastructure we’ve collected that provides us great convenience while it slurps up our privacy.
The modern web so fat that It uses a VCR as a beeper.
Hey you kids, get off my lawn!
Fuckin’ a man. My backup server uses 70mb of ram, My NAS, 250mb. My laptop, about 1GB doing normal usage things. Open up one webpage with a YouTube video embedded and the processor constantly runs all 4 cores at 30%+, fan is on high, 3GB ram getting eaten away at for a paused video and text. It’s ridiculous.
I don’t know how youtube does it, but decoding a video, say with libavcodec(ffmpeg) without GPU acceleration is pretty demanding. They could do it on their server and send you the stream, but then again they’d save a lot of money not doing that.
But I agree it shouldn’t take so much when nothing is happening, the web has very much become so bloated.
and all the oem bundleware. i knocked-down fresh boot idle active ram usage from 5.5gb to 3.5gb on a new dell desktop just by uninstalling anything that had ‘dell’ in the name.
While idle RAM usage can be an indicator of background load, RAM that’s not in use is RAM wasted. Best is for idle memory to cache files, libraries and programs for faster load times than to sit unused
And electron based apps 🤮 Why did they become the norm, specially ones that don’t even have an actual website version.
i think the biggest problem with electron is that it doesn’t just use some system-provided browser library, instead every electron app ships its own browser environment, which takes up a lot of space each time and makes the whole system a whole lot less efficient. shared libraries exist for a reason.
I compile links2 from source and use “links2 -g” strictly nowadays. Wikipedia works so it has everything I need. I would contribute if I knew how to program latex rendering.
That fan in there is probably bloat.
Someone got the link to the guy’s video installing windows 11 on a 2007 Sun Workstation by disabling the arbitrary checks?
God, I love Linux nerds.
That is a glorious pizza box computer.
:) I have an old 2010 network drive, running Debian and OpenMediaVault for music and video shares. It has 256MB of memory and doesn’t need it all to act as a folder share and streaming box. Windows 11 needing such a high end chip to run is just really poor optimization
The thing with Windows 11 Hardware requirements isnt that its poorly optimised (tbf, it is poorly optimised, but computers that have the power to run it can’t) but because windows 11 requires your CPU to have TPM(? Im Not sure), which only newer CPUs have. So even if your PC could run it, it can’t due to the TPM Requirement.
The TPM chip is separate on my motherboard, it dosnt have to be TPM in the chip for the requirement. Also, after months of W11 not getting adopted like they thought, they rolled back the specs on chips to include ones they denied the first time.
Typically, although not always, TPMs are part of the motherboard. The CPU requirement is a separate requirement. Both have caused users issues upgrading to Win11
Ah, than I got some stuff mixed.
If they stopped showing so many ads, maybe they’d leave enough memory to run an operating system.
That’d be like asking a a kid to stop selling lemonade so he can focus on making a sign out of something other than cardboard
Nah man, Microsoft doesn’t give their OS away for free. The ads are just greed on top of an already expensive product.
More like asking a kid to stop selling lemonade so he can focus on making lemonade out of something other than cardboard.
Extra fun: My current gaming laptop has a TPM, but it’s so new that Windows 10 doesn’t recognize it. So when I try to upgrade it says ‘lol nope’.
The TPM requirement is artificial and can be bypassed in the installer.
But I don’t want to install windows
Then why are you using a Windows installer? I’m so confused.
I’m not
I don’t understand.
Microsoft are not asking you, they will install it anyway
Tell me more, I thought TPM was hardware checked?
No critical part of Windows actually requires the TPM. The limitation is 99% artificial. Which is why people keep finding workarounds.
Windows security is built upon the a chain of trust from boot. If you do not have a chip then that is not there which I’d say is a critical part of Windows missing. You can argue its not required but its part of what windows wants to ship so id say it is.
The TPM is mostly used to store bitlocker keys and Microsoft account tokens. If you’re not using bitlocker nor a Microsoft account, the TPM is basically just sitting there doing nothing. The security afforded by the TPM is not needed by most users. The only users whose threat model would be improved by a TPM are users who are at risk of their locked PC being acquired by an advanced threat actor desperate enough for the information stored on it to attempt a cold boot or similar attack. Basically only executives and government officials who travel with their work laptops need TPM and the full secure boot chain. For 99.99% of Windows users it’s just additional hassle and expense for no added benefit
Even if it were true. Windows security is probably the worst part about windows, and that’s saying alot. If you can manage to somehow disable it you will probably improve your frame rates 15%, your battery life by 30%, double your hard drives life, and increase the actual security of your system significantly, since most of the malware will just crash as it doesn’t know how to deal with not having Windows security installed, breaking it’s install process. You will also greatly increase your privacy, and extend the life of good software, because without the spyware, Microsoft has a harder time figuring out which software people install that they want to break in a future update to benefit their corporate partners in crime. You will also greatly improve the responsiveness of the system anytime there is disk IO. There is literally not a single reason to use windows security. The only time it will benefit you is if your cat is walking on your keyboard at night and installing random software or something because you don’t have a lock screen. You will also somehow get laid more because you don’t look like a boomer.
If it were that important to Microsoft then they should just refuse to boot without the chain of trust. I’m guessing they can’t because of backwards compatibility reasons. Maybe they will with Windows 12.
I think Microsoft puts the minimum possible effort into windows. It’s a very small piece of their cloud, investing, data selling, propaganda, and AI company. They just make so much money off of speculation nowadays. Inflation is really high so the stock market grows really fast even if the economy is shrinking. A company like Microsoft is positioned to make so much money just in growth because they hold billions of dollars in the stock market.
They absolutely will ruin windows in every possible way, until people jump ship and start using other operating systems, at which point they will just kill the brand or sell it, and focus on their other sectors that make profits. They like many people know this is the right option. Keeping an operating system going is extremely complex these days and even with all the money in the world, microsoft could never find enough talent to actually pull it off. When you get to that level, most programmers aren’t motivated by money so much as working on projects they like. Most actually intelligent people also would refuse to work for a company that spies on its citizens and sells them out to the worst people on earth, which are politicians. At this point Microsoft probably makes way more money selling servers to the IDF to capture all phones calls from people in Gaza then they make off windows in 10 years.
You realize the post you’re replying in right? Lol
No I genuinely dont understand why my comment would be considered out of place or strange?
I saw someone complain about TPM requirements and someone else say to ignore them because they arent needed but I think if you want windows 11 they ARE needed.
The amount of misinformation here made me think I’m on the Technology community.
TPM 2.0 is only one of the MANY security features that are now hard-required. Among them is DCH driver support, MBEC support, or HVCI.
My work laptop had required CPU, but said can’t upgrade due to TPM chip being 1.2 and requirements are TPM 2.0. So I downloaded the firmware updater to get the TPM to 2.0. Then I reran the checker and it said nope CPU not supported. Lol, just arbitrary nonsense.
Support for Windows 10 ends on October 14, 2025.
Microsoft wants you to buy a new computer.
But what if you could make your current one fast and secure again?
The good news for Microsoft is the EOL did make me buy a new computer
The bad news is that I have no intention of ever using Windows again now. I was already on the fence whether I’d ever willingly upgrade to Win11, but making it a high barrier to entry cemented my decision
I recently built a PC and installed Windows 10 on it because I primarily built it to play League of Legends (don’t judge me). Aside from that, I’ve also found a couple ways to get my hands on other games as well. My other daily driver already Kubuntu installed onto it and I’d really like to use some distro on this desktop PC, but it’s just not really practicable since all the games would be running from exe files or have anti-cheat (screw you League). I don’t really see a way around this apart from using virtual Windows for the games within Linux, right?
Not all anticheat-games won’t run on Linux. For example, I got Wuthering Waves running on Bazzite, although it uses kernel level anticheat. If a game does not have any anticheat software, it will probably run fine via Proton.
League of Legends used to run on Linux in the past, but I haven’t checked how the situation nowadays is.
Yea it used to but it’s been killed by Riot’s new Vanguard anti-cheat system. It’s also kernel level afaik, so it’s officially impossible to play League on Linux now
Just save yourself the hassle and ditch the malware.
I did and am much happier. When I went to install Linux, it was a last minute decision to try to dual boot, and that was the day that the Win11 pop-up showed up saying that I couldn’t, so I thought “that makes my decision easy” and wiped the whole thing.
I made the switch to Linux about ten years ago … mainly because I didn’t want to upgrade to the latest Windows 7/8 and I just didn’t have the need to use any Windows software … all I do is write documents, store photos, some light video editing and go online - why do I need any other OS? The only problem I had at the start was video editing … it just meant I didn’t do any. Now there are several options to get that done too.
The fun part was that my old hardware suddenly ran twice as fast with the latest Ubuntu at the time … and I haven’t look back since.
Linux gang rise up!!!
I switch to Linux in college (20ish years ago) and have been exclusively using it since. Windows XP was my last windows machine. I’ve never regretted it.
If it wasn’t for work/school and Microsoft fucking around with document standards I’d happily never see a windows machine again. My last true windows machine was 7 for gaming and correcting document formatting in college.
I went 15 years without needing a windows machine and now I’m taking online courses where a full windows install is required for some test taking, so I have tiny10 on a dirty gross separate drive, dual booted, fuck off with windows 11. I have a VM with it as well for fixing formatting in docs and spreadsheets I make in libreoffice, because Microsoft STILL has to just fuck with open standards.
I’ll be damned if I have to use it more than I have to.
My wife is in grad school (again) and has survived on a cheap Chromebook so far, but it entirely depends on the university (and maybe the class/degree).
I’m doing a computer information systems degree, but it’s through the business school. So my first class is “how to use Microsoft Office”. The assignments are basically “do these things to make look exactly like this” so I have to pull out the VM to look to see if the formatting stuck (it usually doesn’t on the little obscure things).
Plus there’s a locked down browser for testing that ONLY works on a full install of windows (not even VM) but I have yet to be required to use that, so Windows is staying off until they time. I’m super tempted to try to put windows on a USB so I can throw it across the room in a biohazard bag when not in use.
Video editing is still a hurdle for me, sometimes I do some shitposts but want to add sparkles and some effects. There’s Davinci and it’s fucking great but I can’t afford the paywalled version (even less if I’m gonna use something once or twice), it doesn’t have things like copilot for quick default effects. Also it doesn’t renderize things that are outside the usual/common video sizes.
Kdenlive works for some basic video editing, but it feels too convoluted just for some basic editing.I end up booting Windows and going to after effects anyway.
I thought that for a while myself … then I started editing things with simple cuts and very few effects. They did build an entire movie industry for most of the 20th century on editing equipment that was no more complex than simple cutting and splicing.
That’s cool and all, but I don’t work on vfx so learning all that for a shitpost or for spicing something up once or twice a year is too much effort for something that I’ll forget the next day, hence why I rather boot up Windows, open after effects, add some copilot shit, render at unconventional size and then forget about it again
If you want a more simple video editing package you could give OpenShot a try.
My first “true gaming PC” has been turned into a NAS and small docker host. Its about to turn 15, and I have spare hardware to upgrade it, but I like to see how much I can churn out of it.
I did the same for a while using TrueNAS … I cobbled together every single spare HDD I had at the time onto my first true desktop PC (450Mhz CPU with a gig of RAM, in a giant box full of HDD that felt like a small heater in my office)… I think it was six or seven drives that added up to about 2TB and I felt like I had become Hackerman … I even set it up with Transmission to download a bunch of Linux distros I wanted to try as well as a ton on movies and TV shows I couldn’t get at the time. Basically the reason why I got back into watching all the Star Trek series after downloading all of TNG, VOY and DS9
Win11 is 4,5 years old and still feels like 10 builds away from going gold. It feels thrown together.
I spent probably 5-10 minutes trying to figure out how to get into the old “add a printer” thing from control panel so I could manually install a USB printer for someone yesterday. The new version in settings was presenting a list of every device on the network (corporate environment so 100s of devices) and doesn’t even have a search field. Completely fucking useless.
and if you want to add some old scanner - you might also embrace Satanism because fuck this shit.
I just want to know why I can only click on the date on the main monitor to view the calendar. Why? It’s such a workflow killer when I’m scheduling something and trying to check what day of the week it’s happening on. Takes multiple clicks on the non-main monitor before I realize what’s happening every time
That pisses me off as well. It works fine on Windows 10 so somebody fucked that up along the line somewhere. There’s no excuse for it.
Satya enters chat: “Thrust da phrosess!”
Regularly, file explorer just stops being an explorer for me. Window sizing and buttons work, but I can’t select files or folders. I have to exit file explorer and relaunch it.
also - for whatever reason File Explorer occasionally decides to think about life and stuff for a minute or two upon opening random folders - it just keeps loading even if there’s like two files inside 2mb total.
I found when my new system bogs down it is ai.exe hogging resources. Which is part of the Office install. I go into the folders (2 places) and delete ai.exe aimgr.DLL and a few others and the system behaves better till an update from MS restores the files
I’ve got this creeping suspicion that Microsoft really wants everyone to embrace Mint but is too shy to just say it like it is.
With how much effort they put into getting WSL1 and the WSL2 working, it makes me think they will end up switching to Linux and just have Windows webapps as services
sounds like sound consumer strategy
I recently picked up a couple of e-waste laptops, Thinkpad x130e’s with an AMD E-300, 4GB RAM and a 320GB spinner. For the pair I paid $60 shipped. These were low-end semi-ruggedized laptops meant for students released around the time that HBO started showing Game of Thrones.
I’ve put Debian on one and it runs great. All the hardware just works, everything is pretty quick after boot, and I love how rugged and portable it is. Email, writing, basic productivity, hobby development and 2D gaming all work great. Web browsing takes a hit if I open too many tabs, the video card is too underpowered for most 3D games that came out after 2010, and large compiles are slow. I’m a bit worried about the aging HDD so I’m going to replace it with a cheap SSD which should help with boot and compile times.
The other one I’m not sure about. I’ve tried HaikuOS and the video and wifi work well and the whole system feels very snappy, but there’s no audio or webcam support. Redox seems interesting but needs a whole lot more hardware support. I’ll probably just end up cloning the first one unless I can get a better suggestion.
All that is to say, Linux is great on old cheap hardware.
i use some of those low power soc laptops, running with lid closed (heat is basically a non-issue), for pihole, white noise, and a few other ‘little’ things. one of 'em is even running stuff in VMs (the rest are debian-based dietpi).
My laptop is also an old e-waste Thinkpad. I run Xubuntu on it and it flies.
E-waste Thinkpads are quickly becoming my favorite laptops.
… I should really start a business selling nice socks …
Attractive thigh-highs with toes are impossible to find in my size. You’d have at least one customer.
Step 1:
Create (foss) app that collects feet pics.Step 2:
Built & test a 3D knitting/weaving machine.Step 3:
Create bylaws that will endure enshitification attempts.Step 4:
Make the world profit/a better place.
Even the cheapest SSD you can find will improve the performance quite significantly.
