Hello all,

I’m planning to install Linux Mint on the notebooks of some relatives as it’s not compatible with Windows 11 and thus not getting security updates anymore. They are absolutely not tech savvy and only using very basic stuff (web browser, print documents, maybe low level office stuff). Still I’m looking for a way to support them with some kind of remote control software if they have an issue. On Windows I liked Teamviewer for it’s simplicity, they can double click the icon and tell me the code that is displayed and that’s it. Is there something similar for Linux which doesn’t require complex setup on their end? FOSS is a plus, but not a must have.

Regards, rbn

  • fozid@feddit.uk
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    6 hours ago

    I’m not denying windows 11 is a huge pile of crap. It’s absolutely terrible and not designed for the user. Totally agree with all that.

    But there are no hacks required to install it on old hardware. You just have to do a fresh install. If you want to upgrade from 10 to 11 then I agree you need to edit the registry which you could consider a hack, although very basic.

    In fact there are less hacks required to install / upgrade to windows 11 then there are to install any Linux distro.

    Also your point about risk and non supported hardware is not correct. Microsoft don’t support any hardware. They provide an os and updates, and any device with a genuine copy of windows will receive all and any updates, and it won’t just randomly stop working. Windows is just an os. As long as it is compiled for the correct CPU architecture, it is just as supported as any other hardware. The hardware is supported by individual drivers, normally provided by the hardware manufacturer, not Microsoft.

    All my point is don’t push the change on people, give them a fair and informed choice.

    • Creat@discuss.tchncs.de
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      6 hours ago

      I don’t know how recent your experience is with installing Linux, but there are no “hacks” required, haven’t been for many years. In 99.5% of cases everything just works, including sleep & suspend. This is just incredibly outdated or just plain bad advice. There is no tech-savvy-ness needed to use it either.

      I’ve installed it for as tech illiterate people as you can imagine and told them “just use it like you have before”. They had a few questions where the answer would usually be “well what did you do before”, told em to try and that was that. I personally found the PCs to feel faster, but that’s my own comment, not theirs. I don’t think they noticed.

    • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz
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      5 hours ago

      But there are no hacks required to install it on old hardware.

      Yes there are.

      If you used rufus or ventoy, you’ve just applied them without knowing.

      Unmodified Windows 11 ISOs will refuse to install on any hardware with a CPU older than Ryzen 3000 or Intel 8000.

      In fact there are less hacks required to install / upgrade to windows 11 then there are to install any Linux distro.

      What?

      On the vast majority of systems, the vast majority of linux distros will install and run with zero “hacks” of any kind. Literally just boot the ISO as-is and have at it.

      genuine copy of windows will receive all and any updates

      No. On many machines, while windows will install just fine due to the modifications to the installer applied by rufus/ventoy, the yearly major version updates can fail catastrophically.

      A lot of hardware will update without issue, but there ABSOLUTELY is risk.

      Windows is just an os. As long as it is compiled for the correct CPU architecture, it is just as supported as any other hardware. The hardware is supported by individual drivers, normally provided by the hardware manufacturer, not Microsoft.

      You are confusing functional, and supported.

      Something can “technically still work” without being officially supported.

      Not being supported means Microsoft can make breaking changes in updates, because they made no promises your hardware would be accounted for in the future.

      Just because it works today, no longer means it will tomorrow.