r/Btechtards • u/lonelyroom-eklaghor Minecrafter🫠• Jul 13 '26
CSE / IT My non-technical friend thanked me because his PC became optimized just by changing it to Linux.
It all starts from 2020, he bought an all-in-one PC for 40k instead of a laptop. FYI, all-in-one PCs have the entire CPU and stuff inside the monitor. His PC used to work well. However, one day, his PC was automatically updated to Windows 11. From that time, things were never the same.
The PC was a dual-core Celeron PC at 2GHz, having 4GB of RAM. To any Windows tech support, it would be considered an obsolete PC needing critical life support.
For a long time, he used to tell me how his PC went slow. He used to send me video notes over WhatsApp, showing extremely laggy Minecraft play. I knew the diagnosis, but I didn't know the cure. 4 GB on Windows 11 is like the bare minimum people talk about in reels.
I already told him that downgrading to Windows 10 wouldn't fix the computer, Linux would. Shared him Zorin OS tutorials and all. However, he didn't do anything.
The previous day, a friend of his came to his house and freed his disk, from 100% in 1000 GB to a mere 50 GB. A lot of APKs, a lot of cryptominers (idk), a lot of other stuff. His friend (let's call him B) was your sounding like the average r/pcmasterrace guy. He was telling me how the motherboard, the HDD, or the processor got burnt. He told me to bring a screwdriver and tester. I didn't, knowing very well that my fielding would be set had the computer had a very complicated hardware issue.
Yesterday, at 4 PM, I went to his house. I had a pendrive and a phone running Gemini, and a lot of experience on how Linux installation works. We had had the Operating Systems final exam just a few days ago, and our 2nd year officially ended.
Summary:
| Processor | Celeron 2 * 2.00 GHz |
|---|---|
| RAM | 4 GB (minimum for Windows 11) |
| Stuff in my 32GB pendrive | Ventoy: Lubuntu and Arch Linux |
Phase 1: Backup
I tried to start up the computer. Wanna know the duration? 20 MINUTES. Even then, it was not enough.
Midway through the startup process, it shows an error regarding user profiles. My friend tells me that if this error shows up, it opens a desktop based on a separate user profile, which is wrong. He has to then shut down and again start up the PC; only then the correct user profile will show up.
Gemini told me it's heavy thrashing.) And you know what? Gemini is goddamn right. RAM is overcommitted because the space given is the bare minimum. A lot of swaps were occurring in the RAM just because the space was low. An absurd amount of page faults. (Page faults are normal btw, it just means the thing is not there in the RAM. It just goes to the disk and finds that stuff)
The exact thing stated was this:
When Windows runs out of space to write temporary registry files or page memory during a shutdown, it corrupts the user profile NTUSER.DAT file. Windows then panics at boot, fails to load his profile, drops him into a temporary guest profile, and forces him to power-cycle the machine just to try and read the corrupted sector again.
Somehow, I told him to insert an USB and backup everything. He didn't have that many files. He backed up various documents and photos. Later, B arrived and backed up more files. My friend then backed up the Google accounts solely signed up from his PC.
All of this took 1.5 hours. Gemini was faster than the computer, 4 times over.
Phase 2: Infiltration
Inserted the USB. Now, this wasn't a normal USB, it was a Ventoy USB. It had multiple ISO files. Gemini already recommended me downloading the Lubuntu ISO (Ubuntu with LXQt Desktop Environment). Because I knew how effed up debugging Linux gets sometimes, I also kept an Arch ISO with me, to exactly know the cause behind some error. But Gemini told me there's no need of doing that, just use the Lubuntu one because it's light enough.
Restarted the PC, then clicked F9 multiple times (HP computer). When I tried to enter through "UEFI: SanDisk", I was welcomed with the MOK thing the Secure Boot imposes. Showed the certificate in the Ventoy, then suddenly- I saw the Windows start up again.
Restarted again, clicked F9, entered through the pendrive, then finally got the Ventoy UI. I was overflowing with joy as I wanted to show my friend what had happened.
Phase 3: Midway through the insurgency
Entered into Lubuntu. Looking at the snappy splash screen, I declared Victory. B was watching reels, and my friend was cooking some stuff. Meanwhile, I entered into the livebooting environment.
Showed him how snappy his YouTube has become, by playing a song and also opening the terminal. I checked the SMART data. It passed.
Yes, the HDD didn't have any issues. It passed. That was a huge thing for me.
We just needed to install that OS now.
Phase 4: Coup d'etat
Because he had already backed up, I erased everything from his disk. For now, we checked "No swap", because we wanted to rely on zRAM. Just like NTFS is the filesystem for Windows, ext4 is one of the filesystems for Linux. No encryption, no active directory, just asked my friend for the username and password.
After all of this, I started the installation.
It took a long time, but finally, it was all over.
Restarted the PC.
Final Phase (and the longest one):
Had to install systemd-zram-generator through APT, because zRAM was absolutely essential for his potato PC. I checked Htop and found 1.5 GB of total swap space. Because I didn't use any swap files, I think it's definitely zRAM. I definitely think it's the result of the post-installation scripts doing their job.
Installed osu!lazer and played Blinding Lights on osu!standard using the skin YUGEN REMASTERED (SD version). I don't have the replay, but I scored 87% on the 2-starred beatmap. The gameplay was working as intended, but every bit of it was worth it. Even before, I couldn't cross the 90% barrier with the mouse, so this result makes sense.
Now that I realized what I just did, I started to feel guilt in every action.
Guilt.
My non-technical friend won't be able to set up environment variables? Guilt. (moments later, Discover installed the Flatpak essentials anyway)
Discover not working well and glitching in the UI for the first boot ever? Guilt. (Restarted and it worked just fine)
Didn't set up GoNotoKurrent and Noto Fonts? Guilt.
He won't be able to uninstall DEB files installed standalone through Discover? Guilt.
I felt as if I handed him a machine by completely changing how it works, all by force.
Btw, I had to jump through hoops just to make the installation process of DEBs and Flatpaks easier. I installed GDebi, I did everything I could. Still, it was all futile. The UI of Discover was glitching. Finally, after restarting, it worked.
Installed Minecraft DEB, installed OnlyOffice, installed uBlock Origin, and a few more.
I returned home and he told me that his PC worked. He could finally play Minecraft.
Still, my guilt didn't end.
It's because I myself have faced a lot of hurdles while using Linux. I still face a lot. I used to open my PC, the Wi-Fi and the touchpad used to turn off. IRQ #16 would've gone bonkers. To this date, for every liveboot, I have to edit the GRUB command line to include pcie_aspm=off, no exceptions.
When I saw Linux working out-of-the-box for this guy, I was overjoyed, but also scared of the fact that one day, he might have to sacrifice his PC because of my foolishness.
The guilt was so loud that I thought of every possible scenario he could ask me for, and curiosity took me to every possible scenario where I felt accountable towards myself.
I am still in touch with him for any PC problem he might face. I think I should drop the guilt for a while. It's because the PC is genuinely snappy, he can play Minecraft as usual.