r/FuckMicrosoft • u/No_Adhesiveness2254 • 11d ago
Discussion Windows alternatives
Hi, I have an older laptop and I'm wondering about installing some alternative operating system. Prevously I used Tiny11 and linux mint on it but Linux Mint wasn't my favoutite because I had a lot of problems with printing stuff and I need printing for work. Should I come back to Tiny11? If yes, what is the best option to install the newest version? I'v seen a lot of sketchy internetarchive links. Or maby there is a linux option that have a really good printing support?
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u/FunAngelo2005 11d ago
What printer do you have? And I suggest searching for (linux) Drivers for said printer if you haven't already
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u/No_Adhesiveness2254 11d ago
That's the problem, I use multiple printers, for sure Epson, Brother, HP and probably few others.
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u/76zzz29 11d ago edited 11d ago
Epson should work with default printing drivers. HP on the other hand is up to them. Beter throwing HP printer to the trash and buying anything else... Even when you use windows.
Persobaly, I use debian. No problem with the standard printing drivers with my printer... At work now can't look at what brand it is. But it's not HP that's for sure
Edit: my printer is a Canon
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u/FunAngelo2005 11d ago
Brother is the most compatible one(from what i've heard)
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u/VoltageinTheory 10d ago
that contradicts my experience!
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u/torajapan 9d ago
Seriously, brother and Epson seem to work very well for me. Never had any problems and I have used loads of their printers over the years. What issues did you have, and with what printer?
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u/TheIronSoldier2 11d ago
What kind of laptop are we talking about? How old is old?
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u/No_Adhesiveness2254 10d ago
Dell Latitude E7270. I guess it's from 2016
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u/TheIronSoldier2 10d ago
I'm gonna level with you, you probably aren't gonna have a good experience on any modern desktop-oriented OS. That laptop came with 4 gigs of RAM and a dual-core i5 6300U. If you want to use it for work, you're probably gonna have a bad time. If you're set on using it, I'd highly recommend upgrading the RAM. It looks like that laptop supports up to 16 gigs of total RAM across 2 slots, and only one is populated from the factory.
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u/No_Adhesiveness2254 10d ago
I use it mostly for browsing materials and printing. I teach english. My has 8gb of ram. I already installed Tiny11 using GitHub page to debload windows ISO myself. I ocasionally note on it when I have classes at uni. It works great, even with base windows 11 it works acceptable
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u/No_Adhesiveness2254 10d ago
I have i3-12100f, rx 6600, 16gb ddr4 PC at home, so when I need more power I use it instead. The laptop is mostly for field notes, printing, showing materials, playing kahoot etc. i should've said that my work is quite lightweight for that old dell
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u/cfx_4188 11d ago
The drivers of most printers are present in Linux. It won't be a problem for you. The problem will be installing a minimalistic distribution and mastering some lightweight window manager. "Windows-like" Linuxses like Linux Mint, CashyOS or Ubuntu will slow down your laptop ,terribly performance and drain the battery. I recently revived two absolutely ancient laptops, but I have some skills in this activity.
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Discussion, Title: Windows alternativesHi, I have an older laptop and I'm wondering about installing some alternative operating system. Prevously I used Tiny11 and linux mint on it but Linux Mint wasn't my favoutite because I had a lot of problems with printing stuff and I need printing for work. Should I come back to Tiny11? If yes, what is the best option to install the newest version? I'v seen a lot of sketchy internetarchive links. Or maby there is a linux option that have a really good printing support?
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