And of course I’m installing Linux on it. Install went well, even the fingerprint sensor built in to the laptop works.

Mostly this will be a school and DND machine but always nice to have a functional laptop for whatever else I may need it for.

  • altasshet@lemmy.ca
    3·
    20 hours ago

    Awesome, welcome to the club!

    I just upgraded from a T420 (bought new) to an X13 Gen 3. I like the much better screen and the much lower weight, but I miss the old style keyboard…

  • Sniatch@feddit.org
    2·
    20 hours ago

    I got an old HP ProBook from my parents because they got a new one. I also installed Linux Mint on it :D Everything works, the keyboard lights, the wifi, the preset buttons work the same.

    it’s really fun trying out Linux on older hardware. Don’t know when was the last time I had fun with playing around tech stuff. Linux really made it fun again for me

  • whereitsat@lemmy.zip
    2·
    21 hours ago

    there’s currently a retired T420 in my home and a stalwart E15 assisting me with my everyday computing needs.

    make sure you say ‘thank you for your service’ every morning.

        • Skullgrid@lemmy.world
          2·
          20 hours ago

          In this context,it’s to make newcomers get used to a more open ended version of Linux that has derivatives, to get more mainstream versions of packages so that if they eventually want something more specific, they are learning slight tweaks.

          Ubuntu is Debian with a layer of idiosyncratic things applied to it, the new user will need to unlearn those idiosyncrasies and apply new ones.

          Also Ubuntu has some controversies associated with it, so the new user should stick to something more … Whatever the antonym of controversial is

  • KssioAug@piefed.zipEnglish
    29·
    2 days ago

    I love how even modern Linux distros run so damn well on what’s considered today ‘outdated’ hardware.

    I love Linux Mint btw! I think you did a great choice! Even though it’s known as the beginner friendly distro, I think it’s just a damn great distro for pretty much anyone, experienced or newbies. Fantastic choice!

    • kalpol@lemmy.ca
      4·
      2 days ago

      And by outdated, like 2015. Old E7440s or even older work great with added memory. New battery and you have a nice laptop out of the e waste pile. The only weak spot are drives, SSDs are expensive so to stay cheap you might have to use old spinny in there.

          • notthebees@reddthat.com
            1·
            19 hours ago

            Also true. It’s currently my media ripping machine. If I find a cheap 2 GHz pentium m I might put it in.

        • kalpol@lemmy.ca
          1·
          2 days ago

          I’ve got a Acer Aspire One with an Atom in it that I still use. The form factor is awesome, I wish it was 64 bit and 4 gig though. Just use it for emergency firewall management as I don’t think it is getting updates.

    • Bluefruit@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      2 days ago

      Yea i wanted to give it a shot since ive been thinking of switching to mint on my desktop. Right now I run kubuntu on my main machine and for the past few years its been great, and the only thing thats really kept me has been KDE plasma. I may just bite the bullet and install plasma in mint cause so far, I’m still not a fan of cinnamon.

  • partofthevoice@lemmy.zip
    14·
    2 days ago

    I really want to know why we are staring at basically the same screen from decades ago. Why isn’t GRUB menu a fancy little thing by now?

    When I was a kiddo, dabbling in duel boot, I remember this screen. It was slightly more basic, but pretty much the same. I always figured it would eventually get upgraded to something more… I don’t know, fun to look at? Something minimal, but also customizable… background image, background music, maybe a menu for doing customizations right there… like what options are to be shown.

    No… it’s pretty much the same. Why?

    Edit: I realize that I am stupid. It’s because GRUB needs to survive when everything else is broken. GRUB is the first and last standing soldier. Its simplicity is a feature enabling that capacity. But also, you can customize GRUB if you want… so I am just dumb. Have a good day.

    • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
      9·
      2 days ago

      Because there is very little overlap between “programmers who design the systems to be as efficient and reliable as possible” and “UX designers who consider elegance and ease of use, even if it means the install is a few extra MB in size”.

      Tons of FOSS UIs tend to fall into one of three categories:

      1. CLI. Maybe a third-party GUI exists.
      2. Laughably horrendous monstrosities that make early 90’s websites look good
      3. A direct ripoff of a paid software that has actual UX designers.

      It’s because the people designing the FOSS aren’t UX designers, so they either make their best guess at it (the laughably horrendous choice) or they just copy whatever paid software they’re trying to replace.

      • Skullgrid@lemmy.world
        1·
        21 hours ago

        I wish it didn’t but I don’t want to risk breaking it and I don’t want to risk breaking it just for it to be white on black, and I don’t know what I’d have instead

    • gandalf_der_13te@feddit.org
      3·
      2 days ago

      yeah you already said it in your edit, but just to respond anyways:

      grub’s simplicity is a feature. it does one thing and does it well.

    • WolvenSpectre@lemmy.caEnglish
      4·
      2 days ago

      There is no software that does theming for GRUB that doesn’t break it badly and was stopped mid development and GRUB 2.0 takes deep knowledge of how it works to theme it without breaking it.

      Hell the little bit of theming they added to Ventoy has them slowing GRUB updates to make sure that it is tested and tested again before they roll it out and break everyone’s install without knowing it.

      I plan on doing it but I really don’t have time for it right now or any time in the future.

      • muusemuuse@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        20 hours ago

        If you wanted, you could make a clean and capable boot picker like Apple does with their macs and frankly every hackintosh does. But we don’t. Because nerdcore is a thing.

    • MalReynolds@slrpnk.netEnglish
      4·
      2 days ago

      It’s because GRUB needs to survive when everything else is broken. GRUB is the first and last standing soldier.

      And there you are, right on the raggedty edge. Well done, Sir or Madam.

    • brax@sh.itjust.works
      2·
      2 days ago

      You can absolutely rice your GRUB install. I haven’t used it in a hot minute, but I definitely had ones in the past that were themed.

  • Mongostein@lemmy.ca
    5·
    2 days ago

    I got 5 T420s (nice) from my boss last year. Now they’re all running Linux and loaded up with late 90s, early 2000s games to play over LAN

  • ReallyZen@lemmy.ml
    6·
    2 days ago

    All the best! My SO runs a T480s, the elegant one, for years now, switched to Debian after U went super-slow on her.

    I went all fancy-schmancy with a Yoga x390, debian too.

    Both cheap secondhand, both issue-free (and both with touchscreen!). Whish the official batteries where still available tho.

      • Bluefruit@lemmy.worldOP
        3·
        1 day ago

        This one does. I think certain IPS models got the feature. Tbh, not really much of a touchscreen guy for laptops but I wont say no

      • ReallyZen@lemmy.ml
        3·
        2 days ago

        Not all of them, we were lucky I think. Yoga’s have it by their very 2-in-1 nature, nice little things, classy matte black like any Thinkpad should be.

  • otacon239@lemmy.world
    171·
    2 days ago

    I feel like an old ThinkPad is like a right of passage on Linux. Just about everyone I know who uses Linux has had one at some point or another.

    • ranzispa@mander.xyz
      6·
      2 days ago

      Still got an X201 somewhere. That thing learned me Linux, got me through school and found me a good job at a time when all I had was a backpack and that computer.

      Some day I shall switch it on and update it.

      • otacon239@lemmy.world
        3·
        2 days ago

        Rocking an X260 myself. Picked it up for something like $100 on eBay a few years ago and it just keeps on ticking.

    • NotSteve_@lemmy.ca
      4·
      2 days ago

      A T440p running Antergos got me through college. I regret selling it since that thing served me well 🫡

      • Slashme@lemmy.world
        5·
        2 days ago

        I love selling things that have served me well - it feels better knowing that they’re helping someone instead of sitting in a drawer, untouched.

        • NotSteve_@lemmy.ca
          2·
          2 days ago

          Fair point! In this case, I sold it to my brother who got through a fair bit of university with it so it did help a lot of people.

          I get sentimental about tech that I used for a while though so I kind of hoard it all now that I don’t need to sell the device to replace it

    • libewa@feddit.org
      1·
      2 days ago

      I used to use an old consumer Yoga, and now a new ThinkPad. Some say it’s the wrong way around, I say I want more than 2 cores and 8GiB of RAM. (Un-)Fortunately, I got hooked on the Nix and Tiling-WM drugs quite soon, and so there wasn’t a lot of distrohopping.

      • MalReynolds@slrpnk.netEnglish
        1·
        2 days ago

        Yeah, valid, but the BIOS upgrade (fwupd) that is normal with linux fixes it. Still, an issue to consider if buying second hand.

        • cy888@lemmy.world
          3·
          2 days ago

          Gentle on disconnect. Im using a 90 bend connector that is permanently on the remaining USB c connector.

          If that fails too, will just spend a couple hundred and buy another Lenovo laptop. No huhu

            • cy888@lemmy.world
              2·
              2 days ago

              At very least the Lenovo for a year or two around the time of the t480 and t490. Early USB C laptops requiring USB c charging really wasn’t rated properly for the constant plugging/unplugging.