Inherited a Laptop with Linux Installed

[suzyne]

A relative has passed onto me an oldish HP laptop (from 2017?) that has Linux Mint 20.3 Cinnamon.

I don't know how much this laptop will get used because the battery runs out superfast and sometimes some keys are unresponsive, but as an exercise, I tried installing the latest version Pale Moon.

Even though I wasn't sure where to put it and still haven't got around to learning how to make a shortcut, it worked first time, which is very nice.

[moonbat]

If you rightclick the application menu, there should be an option to configure applications (or launcher); you'll be presented with a window where all the application shortcuts are listed, and you can create/edit new ones under different categories. It's similar to editing a shortcut in Windows.

[Bryn89]

The battery draining out so fast might be a fault with the battery itself and needs replaced... or maybe there's some applications that are running in the background that's causing it.

While Pale Moon is indeed lighter on resources, I doubt very much that this will alleviate the battery issue, but that's just what I think.

[moonbat]

Given the laptop's age, the battery may well be on its last legs and is better off replacing.

[Night Wing]

@ suzyne

I am just curious.

I have one very old laptop which is a 64 bit, 14" HP dv4-5113 circa 2012. It runs 64 bit MX Linux 23.4 (Libretto) Xfce. I run 64 bit linux Pale Moon 33.5.0 on this laptop since it has 16 GB of memory, Intel i7 processor with a processor speed of 2.50 and can handle AVX, The charging battery died on it in 2016, got a replacement for it, but the battery was an after market one and it didn't last too long (about two years).

But the old power charger which is connected to a wall socket for electricity powers this laptop without a charging battery in it. The only battery I replace every now and then is the small CMOS battery "inside" the laptop which I have to take apart to get to the battery.

If you do not need to have your new "old" laptop; which was given to you, sit on your lap to use it, then take the charger, plug it into a electrical wall socket and use the laptop on a desk while you sit on a chair. This is how I use my dv4-5113cl laptop.

This is my "traveling laptop" which I take with me when I have to stay in a motel or at one of my friend's home down at Quintana Beach on the upper coast of Texas when I go surfing. My friend has always said I could use his computer, but I like my small 14" laptop since I have all of my bookmarks on it using the Bookmarks Toolbar.

[Moonchild]

Given the laptop's age, the battery may well be on its last legs and is better off replacing.

This is common for laptops of a considerable age. Batteries are limited-use items and you need to always consider having to replace them if you buy a laptop. Not holding charge for very long at all usually also means the previous owner(s) likely did not adhere to a healthy battery use regimen to get good life out of it (e.g. keeping the laptop plugged in to the charger for very long periods of time and constantly trickle-charging a full battery will kill it in a very short timespan).
If you're not confident about replacing a laptop battery yourself, please do take it to a repair shop and let someone do it who has all the tools and plenty of professional experience doing this.

[andyprough]

A relative has passed onto me an oldish HP laptop (from 2017?) that has Linux Mint 20.3 Cinnamon.

I've heard it from a very reputable source that "Linux makes everything difficult."

Might want to install something on it that's completely, 100% free of any difficulties.

Like Windows.

[Night Wing]

On a side note.

Mint 20.3 is going to be EOL (end of life) in April of 2025. Also, the Cinnamon DE is a lot heavier, resource wise, than the Mate or Xfce DE's. And in my opinion, she can play around with Cinnamon to learn about Mint, but speaking just for myself, I think Xfce is much easier to learn than Cinnamon.

And the things I want to do in Xfce with Pale Moon, I found I cannot do in Cinnamon. One last item, Mint 22.1 (Xia) should be publicly released this upcoming January of 2025.

If she has a small thumb/flash drive, she can download the newest iso version and burn it to the thumb/flash drive. If Cinnamon is not to her liking, she can download the "live" iso version of Xfce onto the thumb/flash drive. Then boot to the Desktop and play with the "live" version of 22.1 without installing it.

This is how I learned how to experiment to see if I liked Mint "before" installing Mint with Xfce. I did the same thing with both Cinnamon and Mate. But Xfce was the "cat's meow" for me. Purred like a kitten.

[suzyne]

I agree that the battery has likely just gotten old and/or wasn't looked after. I have noticed that even when shutdown and sitting unused for a few days, the next time I turn it on, the battery percent has dropped noticeably even though it was turned off.

The battery would be easy to replace, it is "external" and has two sliders to loosen and remove it. But the laptop is so heavy, with a 15-inch screen and built solid (I think it's a business model) and weighing much, much more than my Laptops 1 & 2.

So the battery issue I will ignore and only run from the power at home. I am seeing it as an opportunity to see what all the fuss is about Linux, and maybe learn something.

About the Linux Mint, I will stay with that because I have no reason to switch. It runs smooth and nothing has happened yet to make me think that the experience will be better (or easier) with a different Linux. But I will look into upgrading to a newer version of Mint.

Occasionally, I read replies here saying something like "Oh, you're running Windows, that's why you have poor performance or some other issue." So it will be interesting for me to see how Pale Moon works on it. 

[Night Wing]

About the Linux Mint, I will stay with that because I have no reason to switch. It runs smooth and nothing has happened yet to make me think that the experience will be better (or easier) with a different Linux. But I will look into upgrading to a newer version of Mint.

You do not have to switch to a different linux distro. Cinnamon, Mate and Xfce are desktop environments (DE). They are "not" linux distros. Mint offers them all and has been since when I switched to Linux Mint way back in January of 2013. You can just choose which desktop environment you want to go with "if" you upgrade to Mint 22.1 (Xia) on that laptop sometime in this upcoming January of 2025.

Depending on how much memory your given laptop has, combined with processor speed and your Mbps download speed with wifi or ethernet cable from your ISP, just remember Mint's Cinnamon DE is heavy on system resources.

Many Mint users with older computers with not so good system resources, like to run Mint's Xfce DE. As an example, if you click on the link below, you can see all three desktop environments (Cinnamon, Mate, Xfce) Mint offers on one page and their downloads with the current (Wilma) 22.

https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

In closing, you can see in my signature what three linux distros I run with their desktop environments and the three linux browsers I use in each of them. And I do not run any linux distro with any anti-virus software. And most linux distros are free.

[suzyne]

You do not have to switch to a different linux distro.

I misunderstood, but now I get what you mean. Xfce vs Cinnamon are both part of Mint. I will see how it goes in the current state. I found the details in the pic, and it looks like there is a lot of power for a Linux laptop? Especially because people suggest Linux requires less memory to work well, so the i5 cpu and memory looks respectable!

But I will keep Xfce in mind if I ever think things are stuttering or not smooth.

[Night Wing]

@ suzyne

That laptop has plenty of memory with basically 8 GB and a good processor speed of (2.50). If you need a Windows only program that does not run on linux, you will probably stay with Windows.

But if you can find an alternative for that Windows only program; be afraid, be very afraid. Because you may find yourself slowly, but surely being "seduced to come on over to the Dark Side of the Force" with Mint and leaving Windows.

[andyprough]

Occasionally, I read replies here saying something like "Oh, you're running Windows, that's why you have poor performance or some other issue." So it will be interesting for me to see how Pale Moon works on it.

I've said something like that, but it was more along the lines of, "oh you are using Windows 7 on old hardware - your performance will not be as good as mine with GNU/Linux on new hardware".

If you are just comparing Pale Moon running on the same hardware with a current version of Windows vs a GNU/Linux distro, I don't think you will notice much difference. And Linux Mint is not known for being optimized for speed. Shouldn't be much of a noticeable difference.

[athenian200]

Always good to get more hardware to play around with, right?

But yeah, since your battery is replaceable, that means it might be worth sourcing a replacement if it's not too expensive compared with a replacement for the whole machine. But depending on the model of battery and how rare it is, sometimes a replacement battery costs more than the whole laptop.

Alternatively, I have some laptops with dying/dead batteries that I simply keep plugged into the wall at all times, and cease using them as laptops. It sounds like your Linux laptop is pretty heavy, so it might be a good candidate for just keeping it one place plugged into the wall so you can experiment with Linux and not mess up your Windows laptops. The bright side there, is that you could go ahead and hook up an external keyboard and mouse to it, which might resolve the issue with some keys on the laptop keyboard not responding.

Overall, as someone who has messed around with this stuff for a while... Linux really isn't "better" than Windows for most desktop use cases. It's better for server applications, and for some one-off hobbyist applications, but I don't find it to be better as a daily driver, even now with all the Windows 11 issues. The only real advantage is that you can tinker with your computer a lot more and customize themes, choose from multiple desktops, etc. Oh, and the Linux terminal is a little easier to play around with and better integrated into Linux than Windows PowerShell is into Windows, but aside from that... it's mostly the same.

Especially if most of what you do is web browsing and light office applications, either Linux or Windows should meet your needs fine. I've sometimes gone Linux to save money until I could afford a Windows license, but I never seem to stick with it. For me the appeal is more just that it's fun to learn something new, but after the novelty wears off I want Windows back.

[moonbat]

Linux really isn't "better" than Windows for most desktop use cases

Used to think that, up until switching to a new Slimbook Ryzen 7 based laptop with KDE Neon pre-installed. It respects the desktop metaphor with proper menubars and icons designed for mice rather than fingers, offers way more customization than Windows does these days and I've themed it to resemble Windows 7. My biggest gripe was gaming - but that's now covered between Wine and Steam's Proton libraries. Windows games run great. AFAIK only niche custom hardware with its own proprietary Windows exclusive drivers would be a problem now.

In fact, what I like is how it manages to cater to both casual and power users, something that all software used to do before the 2010s. Out of the box, it has a familiar desktop UI, and under the hood you can customize it with any number of plugins and themes.

[suzyne]

The laptop weighs less than I expected, at 2kg on the kitchen scales, but I think it is the physical size that discourages portable use.  A laptop with a 15-inch screen feels so big!

A new battery can be bought for around $50AUD, which is reasonable, but I don't imagine using away from the kitchen table, so plugging in will be fine.

I can't contribute thoughts about Linux vs Windows because it's much too early to have an opinion, but I have a comment about web apps.

I know that around here Pale Moon users often prefer "real programs", like the ones you install, and moan about browsers becoming operating systems, and how bad online subscription apps are, blah, blah, blah...

Years ago, Paint.net was my preferred image editor on Windows, before switching full-time to Photopea, which runs in the browser.

Lucky for me that I made the switch to a web-based image editor because now I don't need to waste time searching for something to replace Paint.net on my Linux laptop. I just keep using Photopea, like I was yesterday on Windows.

Say what you like about the evils of online services, but I think I have discovered that for people who use more than one OS, they can be a godsend.

[moonbat]

Seems to load fine in Pale Moon too. Impressive.

[andyprough]

Seems to load fine in Pale Moon too. Impressive.

Looks like it's just gimp in the browser. Which could be very useful.

[moonbat]

The interface is more reminiscent of Photoshop, which is good since that's what's been like the industry standard for image editing tools for years - not GIMP. (Even Krita is supposed to be better than GIMP in FOSS land; but as a non graphics tool user I can't comment).

[Night Wing]

@ suzyne

BTW, I do not know if you have done this yet.

In your opening comments about Linux Mint showing the screenshot, to the right of the Mint Systems Reports launcher icon on the Panel, there is a little shield launcher icon for the Update Manager with an orange colored dot in it.

The orange dot lets you know you have updates pending for Mint. Left click on the Update Manager shield, left click on Install Updates, throw in your password, tap your Enter key "or" left click on the word Authenticate with your cursor and the updates will install if you have not already done so.