i like how you made up a quote from the post.
Before you recycle your Windows 10 PC (or just switch to Linux and avoid wasting resources), keep in mind while Windows 10 22H2 is ending in 7 months, 21H2 LTSC Enterprise is still good for 1 year 10 months:
https://endoflife.date/windows
To download the 21H2 LTSC, go here:
https://archive.org/details/en-us_windows_10_enterprise_ltsc_2021_x64_202301
Then generate a free license key using the Ohook or KMS38 methods via PowerShell as explained here:
Disclaimer: I haven’t tried this myself so there may be some bugs/issues along the way. For my next laptop, I’m thinking about switching to Linux and specifically Ubuntu or Fedora, so this won’t really impact me
Ubuntu user here. I get glitches from time to time, and the newest update caused a more than small issue with booting. However, compared to the litany of glitches, bloatware, and user-anti-interface of Windows, I’ll sing the praises of Ubuntu all day long. Even the few games I play, like Cyber Punk, run perfectly.
Anything but the penguin😂
What about the pengwings
Where are you seeing this? Doesn’t seem like a typical Windows prompt.
Looks like an email
So probably phishing attempt that OP thinks is actually from Windows?
We just got this on all our Win 10 work PCs, too, from IT.
No, I can confirm I also got a Microsoft email. News search for this apparently shows they roll these emails out every so often.
Shows how untrustworthy the big companies are these days. We’re in JD Rockerfeller era Pt. 2.
Time to encourage people to switch to Linux instead
If Linux had more support for games I would
Ironically SteamOS is based on Arch Linux lol
Games aren’t much of an issue anymore, it’s the other software that keeps me from switching
Me spending 4 hours last night trying to get a repack to install in lutris for it to crash every 5 mins xD
Just play steam games. Then it’s only 90 minutes every other night of troubleshooting
(Mostly satire, proton has gotten incredible. I still have a windows install on my PC for gaming but I honestly don’t know the last time I’ve had an issue on my steam deck)
looks at empty wallet after paying for rent and food for the month :P
Yeh proton is pretty good and I know things are way better than they ever were before but things still aren’t always simple for people with no experience of Linux :)
looks at empty wallet after paying for rent and food for the month :P
continues to choose a paid platform over an arguably-superior free alternative
Hi Hawke, I understand your fustration with needing to troubleshoot things. Steam allows you to import any exe as a ‘non-steam game’ to your library and run it with the proton compatability layer. I sometimes have success getting a GOG game installed by running the install exe through proton or wine. Make sure you are using the most up to date version of lutris many package managers are outdated flatpak will gaurentee its most up to date. Hope it all works out for you
Lol wut, my wallet is empty hence why I’m using repacks and my initial post was about the frustration of getting them to run on Linux… So what are you on about?
Tbh, the only problems I ever had with gaming on Linux was:
- Nvidia driver bullshit
- Couldn’t do multiplayer on one indie game
Gaming on Linux is like 98% of the way there imo. It was overall a good experience, and we’ve got plans to switch the big family gaming computer to Linux when MS starts pushing their live service windows 12 crap
Oh no! Your pirated game isn’t working properly! Let’s blame the OS!
When did I once “blame the OS”? Just because I am frustrated with not being able to get it running I never once said it was the fault of the OS. In fact the opposite, I care about continuing to use the OS and that is why I spent so long troubleshooting my issue…
It was a sarcastic jab. I don’t agree with software piracy in general, that’s all.
Games with kernal anti-cheats sadly are the main issue still
Nah, the real problem is people willing installing rootkits on their computer because anticheat is somehow very important…
I don’t believe kernal anti-cheats add enough value for the risk they add but I still enjoy the games.
You’re begging to get hacked by installing that garbage
Ahyes, most sensible answer I’ve gotten on this topic as of yet
glad to help
Real, Valorant is the only game really keeping me from Linux at this point. Steam with proton has really improved linux gaming
I’m not a huge gamer myself but the handful of games I do like to play every now and then all run on Linux.
Dude…c’mon now. Check my history. I am NOT a linux defender. I am more along the lines of a linux user mocker. I find the OS to be confusing, but I find the userbase to just be SO…SO mockable. Just making fun of linux brings them out in droves. And it’s so funny to point out how the whole OS is clearly terminal mandated to enjoy the OS. Just say something like that, and you’ll twist somebodies knickers.
That being said, of all the things that are legitimately awful about linux, you chose the GAME SUPPORT??? My god. Steam is THE storefront on PC. They have a vested interest in helping linux’s development, as long as that development goes towards making games work. The steamdeck is literally their financial incentive to make certain that your claim isn’t close to being true.
And sure, you could say you disagree with Steam’s practice of LICENSING you a game. Not selling. There is a difference. I get it. That is something that is in itself a problem, but that also doesn’t relate to your issue. Because even if you stayed on Windows, you’d still have to buy from Steam. They’re just as dominant on Windows, as they are on linux.
So, you COULD buy from GOG. The issue is, they specialize in retro games. So, their library may have massive gigantic gaps in titles. But again, this would also be true on Windows.
So…yeah, I don’t know how you would defend linux game support being lackluster.
Unless you use something other than iOS or Android, you’re also a *nix user. Have fun lol
I don’t like how you worded this because you overlook the fact that games with a kernal anti-cheat don’t work on Linux. This is the only reason I haven’t switched over yet. The only arguments people make is “just play other games” which is not helpful at all and suggesting dual booting which I’d have to do what? Daily? Maybe twice a day? Whats the use of having Linux then?
which game?
Valorant
ew
no, i’m kidding. that one’s completely on riot, their other games worked fine on linux until they turned that feature off. it’s shitty behaviour and they’re basically the only ones doing it.
100% its just riot being an ahole but its still the reason I’m not switching
I actually agree with most of what you’re saying but you could at least pretend to sound less insane.
I had to check which comment you were referencing. I thought it was going to be the one where I said how hot it would be if Taylor Swift wore a strap-on, and made Mr Feenie (the teacher from boy meets world) her bitch. But about linux gaming? Me? Insane sounding? :O
username checks out.
When’s the last time you tried?
I’ve been gaming on bazzite and haven’t found a game that doesn’t work. Haven’t had to touch a command line or anything, everything has been stable out of the box
How about Valorant? Its basically the only game (+ rainbow six siege / PUBG potentially, idk if these work) blocking me from switching. I know all my other games will work without issue cause they run on my steam deck as well.
EA’s fancy new kernel level anti-cheat is plaguing battlefield games. Also Rockstar broke GTA:O with their Anti-cheat (even though the Anti-cheat they use supports Linux)
The issue is that the Linux playerbase is so small, but its a self fulfilling prophecy. Players don’t play on Linux cause of the issues and the issues are there cause there are not enough players on Linux.
This simply isn’t true. Fragpunk, a brand new title, works without a single modification on Linux. It takes a negligible amount of effort for the developers, often just a single toggle in the anticheat config.
Depends on the anti-cheat bud
Bazzite runs really badly
Funny because I tried 4 different distros before I found one that would load on my laptop… Bazzite.
If yoy have a fairly recent gpu, windows games run fine on linux. The exception is games with agressive anti-cheat.
Isn’t that counter to telling people to switch because their computer is too old for win 11?
Yes but it more “the manufacturer decided not to pay us to test it” rather than “it actually won’t work”
Everyone should try it out by all means. I’d like everyone to use linux. All I’m conveying is my own experience. If you have an ancient GPU, and things are seemingly running fine on windows, you might yet find that it does not run fine on linux. I guess I should have emphasised that I am refering to hardware from a decade ago.
If yoy have a fairly recent gpu, windows games run fine on linux.
I’ve been using my nearly 8-year-old GPU (an AMD Vega 56) in Linux just fine for nearly 8 years (i.e., since the day I bought it). Even in the first few years, before Proton existed, I had been playing Windows games on it using plain old WINE via PlayOnLinux.
The even older GPU I used to use before that (an AMD Radeon R7 260X) is still installed in my Linux home server, and I would expect to be able to play Windows games on it just fine too (at least in terms of compatibility, if not raw performance of decade-plus-old hardware).
All that is to say, I’m confused about what you mean by “fairly recent.”
I’ve been gaming on Linux for close to two years now. I believe there have been two games that actually caused some issues in getting them to run. But for the most part Proton does everything out of the box. And especially older games work way better than on Windows. There are no problems with compatibility mode or deprecated WinAPI-Calls. It just works.
The only thing I would advise is to install Steam and all your other launchers via Lutris. That will save you some hassle.
What games don’t work?
Most of the time, the issue is the drm on games or anticheat.
Check out distros like Pop!_OS or Nobara. Linux gaming has come a long way recently due to Valve going all in on linux for the Steam Deck. Frankly even just the standard mainline distros aren’t terrible for gaming these days tbh.
I can’t get the more elaborate functions of my common Logitech mouse to work properly. And Linux systems like to cause my computer to periodically hang for some reason. In Windows, it used to BSOD, and I managed to fix the issue in Windows but it seems impossible for me to fix in Linux because of how vague of an issue it is.
Sounds like a bad piece of hardware if it spans OS’s.
Wouldn’t surprise me, but the point was that it’s fixable in Windows but not the Linux distros I have tried.
I’d ask which ones you’ve tried but I can tell you already made up your mind.
So far I’ve tried Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and Pop OS. Although I only briefly tried Pop OS. Didn’t stick around long enough to see if it would have issues as well. There were other issues with that one that I can’t quite remember…I think it was that often the OS would decide not to boot. Something about a weird compatibility issue with the BIOS or something.
As much as I dislike Windows, it’s incredibly uncommon for it to blue screen unless there’s some kind of hardware fault. And if it’s happening in Linux too, you’ve got bad/dying hardware.
In Linux, if your system is hanging for a bit then coming back, then it’s probably a drying hard drive.
One thing you can check with is Burn In Test on Windows. It will stress all the individual components and tell you what’s failing.
Like I said, my computer no longer has BSODs in Windows after some settings I changed. I think I just ended up reducing the max percentage of the processor usage or something and it worked great after.
I do remember when I first got the laptop, it was frustrating because it would BSOD with relative frequency. I was very frustrated with the manufacturer…because the laptop would always pass hardware benchmark tests and the BSODs were random, so they refused to look at it under warranty. Errors were always super vague but primarily seemed to point toward the video card. The video card is integrated and not its own dedicated card.
I don’t think I have ever tried that particular set of texts before, though. I tried googling it…is it the one by Pass Mark? If so, I’ll check it out, thanks.
Re: hanging in Linux…no, the system would completely freeze up and never recover until I manually powered down the system. Interestingly, I found some other users stating that they had this issue with Firefox because of some resources issue or something. So I planned to try to switch to Chrome, but got frustrated with the features mouse not being compatible anyway. So I left it at that.
Do you remember what you fixed when you fixed it on the window side? Asking because what you’re describing almost sounds like you have a bad driving it, which would explain why your Linux side would also have a similar problem, IE locking up completely start, if it had the same bad driver and interacted with the hardware the same way causing a similar crash.
Honestly, if it’s fixable in the windows it’s definitely fixable Linux. It just might take a little bit more extra work to figure it out.
Just buy a working mouse, stupid
The basic mouse features work, stupid. It’s the gesture button/features that don’t work, stupid. No one has come up with good support for anything other than basic mouse features on Linux, stupid.
I’m getting annoyed with windows… I have a small laptop I like to use for streaming, and the stupid updates keep on maxing out the drive space… It is 32gb, and i can’t get it to download the updates on an external drive. I wish they’d have an option to turn off automatic updates, and just let me do a single click and download the updates manually to an external drive so i can have a usable goddamn computer.
Microsoft claimed that Windows is compatible with 32gb drives but that’s not actually true. Those will get automatically filled by winsxs updates within a few hours. It’s impossibile to use one of those windows mini PC with a 32gb emmc unless you exclusively use it offline for typing with a word processor.
All those $100 32gb emmc “computers” available on Amazon are just “direct to landfill” ewaste
I have the exact same problem. I’ve maxed out my hardrive and every week or so it complains that there’s no storage space and I’m like, I HAVEN’T DOWNLOADED OR INSTALLED ANYTHING IN MONTHS, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS YOU SHITTY OS! So I delete some stuff so it will continue to operate, maybe free up 1 or 2gb, and then a few weeks later it’s full again.
There also isn’t space to install Windows 11 😑 I only use it for DJing and I’m not sure you can run Rekordbox on Linux but I need to find out.
Microsoft finally embracing the Apple model of upgrading
Haven’t had mine online for 4 years now and it still chugs along
Ugh. I’m going to have to seriously look at Linux, aren’t I?
Absolutely no idea where to start with that, nor whether any of the software I need for work (or indeed anything else) is compatible, not how I’m going to find the time to learn all this.
Bleugh 😔
Installed mint on an older computer I had so my oldest daughter could have a pc for school. She has had zero problems using it.
If nowhere else, make a post on NoStupidQuestions and I’m sure there’s a few people that will help. I made a reply here suggesting raspberry pi os as a good starting point. No command line skills needed and quite a bit of software is available free from Debian (Linux which raspi os is created from).
The user interface is similar with a start menu etc.
If you’ve got a spare PC, I’d use it as a guinea pig system first before moving onto the main system.
Thanks, good advice. Will do a bit of research myself first I think.
Sadly no spare PC to try it on at the moment. I do have a laptop running Plex, but don’t really want to mess with that right now.
Maybe I can buy a cheap one to have a play around with first.
Cheers, much appreciated 👍
Its only 32-bit.
Oof 32-bit support is becoming less and less on all OSes these days. Debian still has 32 bit releases at least
Linux Mint is one of the most recommended for newbies.
You can use a live CD/USB to try it out without installing.By newbie do you mean people who don’t know anything about computers ie me?
I’d mean people who don’t know linux in particular but are marginally tech-savy.
Mint has been described as “the distro your granny can use” (and some do), but it does require some knowledge to at least install it — but it’s nothing a tutorial somewhere won’t help with, it’s a low bar.Yes. It’s probably the friendliest Linux distro. But there’s still a learning curve so don’t go in thinking it’s as plug and play as Windows.
Source: Tech savvy guy that changed over recently
Thanks!
I won’t even ask what plug and play means…
Plug and play essentially means “it just works”. Like as simple as plugging in a USB mouse and using it. When something isn’t plug and play, it means it takes a bit of fiddling with.
Ah yes, thank you. A tiny part of my brain wondered if that was the meaning but it’s never safe to assume something when I’m as clueless as I am.
Actually I think that term was coined by Windows 98 for hardware you could connect and it would Just work™ (I.e. without the need to install drivers).
@maniclucky @nevermind
Linux Mint is indeed the friendliest of the Linux distros but one still needs at least a bit of experience with installing OS. The fundamental problem with Windows is that it comes pre installed on everything and most people had never needed to install an OS.@nevermind, you need to find a friend who’s done it or someone online willing to walk you though it. It’s not very difficult but if you’ve never done it it could be a bit weird.
idk if this is going to help or not, but I’ve had Mint on every machine since 2010. If this laptop I’m using were a car, I’d say I’ve learned to change a tire and I’ve learned where to go for answers to problems as they come up, but that’s it. I remember being worried I’d bork everything the first install, but instructions are absolutely For Dummies (thank fuck). Easier than putting an Ikea desk together imo.
Tried changing distros a few times to see what the fuss was, but I actually just don’t care, and that’s ok. You don’t have to care about everything. I also buy the same jeans all the time and no one gaf about that.
Though if you DO enjoy shopping around (or find you’re intrigued by the possibilities and want to play) here’s one place to get a lay of the land that’s been a cool, helpful hub over the years that even I find accessible, and that’s saying something.
Anecdotal: I’ve never been locked out of anything to do with work that I couldn’t find an easy work-around for (the MS threat). It’s nbd.
Ah, interesting - that could definitely be an option, thanks 👍
Mint, Zorin, and Ubuntu are the ones I always hear.
What’s a CD?
It’s like a vinyl record, but fancier.
Ubuntu is the typical go-to replacement for Windows as it’s arguably more plug-and-play than other distros.
alternativeto.net is a great place to find Linux alternatives to the software you use. Many products already work on Linux without switching, but some areas might be more difficult. For example depending on your needs you might not find a great drop-in replacement for Photoshop.
Ah, thanks, that looks a useful site.
Sadly, this is my work as well as personal PC, and Photoshop and Premiere are more or less essential for me. I know there’s Photopea, which can handle PSD files, so that would probably do to replace PS, but not sure about Prem.
Happy to try something else, but it’s finding the time to learn everything again that’s my real issue.
Still though, that’s a great resource, so thanks 👍
I mean Adobe is a piece of shit company and if there’s any way you can ditch them, do it. If you can’t, I get it. In that case a Mac is probably the easier way out.
you might not find a great drop-in replacement for Photoshop.
I’m not a photoshop user, so maybe I’m just being dumb and not getting it, but…isn’t that gimp? I remember that one because the program name “gimp” made me laugh first time I heard it. It’s like a BDSM thing, and then you’re like “Oh, it’s photoshop? My mind went a totally different direction…”
Yes, there are certainly alternatives and there are several with a better UI than GIMP (see Krita and Pixel). But I’ve been told there are specific tools and workflows that are missing. Partly it’s probably a matter of finding new ways of accomplishing your goal.
GIMP is really powerful, but goddamn its UX is abysmal, unfortunately
This describes many Linux software suites…
Most of the people devoting time to foss projects are uber technical geeks that at best consider UX design an after thought if they consider it at all.
TBH it’s probably one of the biggest things holding Linux back today.
The name is so stupid, and it is straight up a reference to the character in Pulp Fiction.
Pulp Fiction came out in 1994, GIMP in 1998. “Gimps” as we understand them came entirely from the scene in the movie - like yeah, full bondage suits have always existed but the term “gimp” and that style were invented for the movie (and then became a real thing later).
The Linux community here on Lemmy is extremely helpful but as a complete novice I’ve found ChatGPT to be quite useful tool for this as well. I can ask it how to do something and if I run into trouble I can just take a picture of the terminal window and it’ll tell me where the issue is.
People would probably advice not to insert code into terminal, given by an LLM that you don’t even understand but the alternative is to put that same blind faith onto a stranger on a messaging board. In my experience the options are either to do that or not use Linux at all - unless you first spend few years learning it all yourself.
Most distros have official forums, and may have sections specifically for people using Linux for the first time, which can also be great sources of information.
Is your hardware not W11 compatible or you just don’t want to upgrade? Because you can just install the pro version (ISO on Microsoft’s website) and choose English UK during installation and that will solve most issues… I’m sure you’re able to figure out how to get it activated ;)
Or if you just use Rufus there’s a checkbox you can select to disable the TPM check, and disable the “force online account” thing too.
More people need to see this comment.
Rufus is flagged as malware by Microsoft
Just something to keep in mind
Really? Ive never been notified of it. And I just checked on my work laptop too
What does UK change?
Different laws, Microsoft is more limited in what they can push to UK users. Works with any European countries really…
It’s compatible, but I don’t want to go to W11. Plus, I’ve been thinking for a while that I should check out Linux, but just never have the time.
Browsing from a 12 year old laptop running Win7 … what’s the issue?
Holy shit they really just said, “throw it away”. Troglodytes!
Yeah I lost it when I saw this too. But, because I waited so long to switch to Linux, it’s to the point where I feel it has so much of what was lacking the last time I used it. Easily over ten years ago. Thank you to everyone who slogged through it to get here.
Ltsc iot win10 is supported for years to come 🏴☠️
For those who is not quite ready for Linux and don’t want to be left behind, you have options.
Do a search for Tiny11. It’s super lightweight and you can set what you want to share with MSFT.
Old machines can run as well.
This is just replacing one unsupported OS with another?
unsupported by microsoft
I would highly avoid getting Windows from anywhere but Microsoft. That’s just asking for trouble.
Instead install Windows 11 Pro and then go though and remove the unnecessary apps. Then use group policy to tweak the system in a way you are happy with. You can do everything from disabling Bing search in start to preventing full screen popups from Edge.
Some of us have older processors that is more powerful than some current gen processors yet Microsoft decided that it’s too old and won’t let you install it.
Tiny11 is a community driven OS. I have been using it for years and has never given me any problems. If your computer is not able to legitimately upgrade to Win11, you can either spend money to buy a newer computer or install Tiny11.
Tiny11 creates a massive security problem since they disable a bunch of critical security features and fixes in the name of performance. Also Windows isn’t community driven and it will never be.
The OneDrive plug at the end is *chefs kiss*
