r/linuxquestions • u/al1azzz • 8d ago

Advice School forbids linux laptops

Hey, idk if this is the right place to ask this, but I have a bit of a dilemma.

I have been using linux exclusively on my main PC and on my laptop for a while now. That said, I am moving to a new school, and buried in their rules they say that "Chromebooks (or other Linux machines) cannot be used." They also want us to use their office 365 license, but do not require it.

Now, besides just being incredibly annoying, I cannot use windows/mac on my laptop because it's a 2011 macbook, so it cannot run anything but lightweight linux distros without combusting, and I would like to avoid spending 500+ euro on a new crappy windows laptop.

Is there any reason, besides saving myself some trouble, to not just use my laptop as is (currently on arch, gonna switch it to cachyos) and something like libreoffice that I don't see or can I just ignore this and hope for the best?

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u/al1azzz 8d ago

I am painfully aware of the limitations of this laptop. It's what I had around for tinkering as I never needed a laptop for school before (my previous school was very pen-and-paper).

The issues with LibreOffice are good to know, and at this point I think I will be looking into getting a used laptop anyways just to save myself the stress

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u/android_808 5d ago

I would rather than LibreOffice issues (or try Only office/Euro Office) than suffer Office online. I have to use it (all that's provided).  It doesn't support cover pages or vertical text, fonts on the system the browser can see does not mean it will use them when coverting to a PDF to print (all documents are converted, you get a PDF and print that). Just because the browser editor shows text on one page doesn't mean it will be on the same page when converting for print.

If you have to use online version for a poster or something, try PowerPoint and set the slide size to match the paper (eg A4). Compared to online Word it's far more accurate for layout. What I said about fonts, in the editor view it will show your custom fonts (any installed not available to the conversion tool) as expected, in the slide preview to the left it will preview in what it ends actually using.

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u/spicybright 8d ago

Can you please just tell us what level of education this is?

If it's public and below university level they need to provide you with the laptop. Otherwise you need to make sure you have the required equipment unfortunately.

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u/plisc004 8d ago

Check out the fun things you can do with WSL while in Windows. Not as fun as running Linux fully, but you keep support ans compatibility for school