My Windows 10 (formerly Windows 7) laptop has just started getting this popup when I boot it up. I'm definitely making plans, but those don't include Windows. I'm thinking I'll get a new SSD to replace the 10-year-old HDD currently in this thing and install some flavor of Linux, which will probably breathe tons of new life into it. Seriously, this laptop runs like ass currently, most likely because it's got a decade-old Windows install that I upgraded to 10 when 7 ended support, and it was already slow as molasses back then.

As for which Linux distribution, I'm open to suggestions. I've been messing with Anti-X for a few years now after I installed it on a positively ancient WinXP laptop from 2003 just to get some Linux experience. The thing is though, I mainly picked Anti-X since my main requirement was to just have something that would run on a 32-bit system from the early 2000s. I haven't really done much with that laptop since it's so underpowered- even browsing many modern websites is asking way too much from it and you can just forget about Youtube.

Since I actually regularly use this laptop I want something that can fully replace Windows and also do some light gaming. I'd like to try out the Linux Steam experience and run the Linux versions of the emulators I currently use. This laptop is from 2011, so it's not exactly a spring chicken either but it was my daily driver and main gaming machine from 2013 to about 2019. Specs-wise, it's got 8 gigs of RAM, a GeForce GT 540M GPU and an i5-450M CPU.

I assume I could also do the stuff I want with Anti-X, but since I'm not presumably as limited by hardware with this laptop I'm open to trying out different distributions. "Gaming/emulation friendly" + "Windows-like UI" would be at the top of my wishlist.

Edit: Thanks everyone, I already made a live Mint USB and tried it out. It seems pretty nice, will install it on a new SSD later stalin-approval

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[–] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Seriously just install ubuntu. You will not miss windows

[–] lil_tank@hexbear.net 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Just don't use snaps, ever

I tried to use snap Steam, ended up with a game breaking bug on a game that was solved the moment I used another package manager

Tried to use snap Inkscape, wouldn't even start lmao

And then I tried to uninstall the snap version it wouldn't, it always gets stuck midway or something, took 3 hours of fiddling with the snap config to finally remove the programs from my system

[–] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 weeks ago

Couldn't agree more, never use snaps

[–] TheronGuard@hexbear.net 4 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Ubuntu and Mint seem to be the most commonly recommended ones for newcomers.

[–] Owl@hexbear.net 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If you're willing to spend an extra couple hours fiddling around, you can try both of them out on live USB and see which you like better.

[–] TheronGuard@hexbear.net 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I guess that answers my question about live USBs. I'm fine with fiddling with those- an Anti-X live USB has come handy when fixing problems with my Windows desktop bean

[–] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

They are very easy to use and install while being similar enough to windows