So far, Linux has been great to me. No crashes, all the programs I need run well. Whenever I’m stuck I can pretty much Google all the answers. I still haven’t memorized all the sudo commands, and I can’t do jack shit like uninstall from the terminal via commands but hey – I can do everything else I need to do.
I tried a few Desktop Environments, and while Unity is probably the best looking one, it’s a bit heavy for my shitbox. So recently I switched to Lubuntu, which is lighter/faster and said to be less power-hungry than the alternatives. It’s super customizable so I’ve been having fun tweaking it to my heart’s content. For reference, this is what my desktop environment currently looks like.
I’m constantly finding new apps to do the things I need my computer to do, since it’s pretty barebones to begin with. And I enjoy that – remember the feeling you got when you first got your smart phone or tablet? I’m going through that right now. My limited capacity SSD is going to stop me from going overboard, so I won’t have to worry about slowdowns – hopefully! (BTW I’m still looking for a good Foobar alternative, feel free to drop a recommendation!)
I’m confident enough to use Linux as my daily driver and replace Windows on my home PC but the fact that there will be a lot of games I can’t play on Linux, I’ll be keeping Windows around for a while more. I’ll probably do it when I get better at using the terminal as well.
Speaking of games, I haven’t tried running Dota 2 on this, but if it works – holy hell, I’m set for life!
Anyway, for those of you who are looking to breathe some life into an old machine, give Ubuntu a shot. You can’t really go wrong with it! I’ve had experience with installing Ubuntu about three times so I can give some advice if you need help though I recommend you Google a solution first!