Need reccomendations for distro. Old laptop from like '10 (shipped with windows 8, not even 8.1), touchscreen needed so no Mint unfortunately. No linux experience whatsoever beyond using tails and I know what the terminal is but have NO clue how to use it.

Need a daily driver for light tasks (just gimp, handbrake, internet, qbittorrent, and libreoffice type stuff, no games), would prefer security and privacy, but idk if Whonix can run on my old machine and with my nonexistent linux exp idk if it is a good one for me yet, may need exp with something else first? Idk, y’all tell me!

Was reccomended Fedora, has touch support and supposedly good for the light tasks and will run in my old laptop, but figured I’d ask what y’all think because you guys seem knowledgeable.

It is my only computer besides my phone so I can’t afford the time to fuck around lol.

  • eyeballkid@lemmy.ml
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    3 years ago

    Apparently, yes. I’ve never tried doing that with a live usb, but give it a shot and let me know how it works out for you.

    You probably have much better hardware than my old tablet. My tablet was marketed as a $99 dollar Windows tablet and I got what I paid for. 1gb ram soldered to the board, a weak 64-bit atom processor with 32-bit efi. One micro-usb port that doubled as the charging port. It took a powered usb hub, a custom-modified installer, and a lot of patience to get that thing up and running. It still works!

    • Arcaneslime@lemmy.mlOP
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      3 years ago

      Hell yeah! I’m sure I can run it fine then! And on a hunch I just called my mom to see if she held on to her old laptop from a few years later and she did, so looks like I have a backup instead of fiddling with live boot beyond function checks! She has her work pc she uses so she doesn’t need it! Love it when a plan comes together lol, I will be trying Fedora as soon as my 2 weeks seeding these last few torrents are over!

      • eyeballkid@lemmy.ml
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        3 years ago

        Excellent. Any time you swap out an operating system, it is very useful to have a backup device in case you need to spend some time troubleshooting. Most of the frustration and stress is removed from the equation.

        • Arcaneslime@lemmy.mlOP
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          3 years ago

          For sure, that was always the worst part, thinking “what am I going to do if it doesn’t work, then I have nothing but a phone” well problem solved! Haha.