Aloha! Since 2010 I've been a builder, OS installer, data/ransom recovery tech, and old PC/laptop restorer. I put Linux Distros on PC towers, SFFs, and laptops; so far a 100% success rate. PC Kits are sold without a proprietary OS installed. So buy barebone desktop kits and Crucial stocks the clean RAM & Storage to snap in; here's an OS Installer. Serious laptop gamers should use an unaltered ROG.
Big Tech has an army of Techs, as well as market–side employees, and then their never–enough, money–hungry Execs to feed; and then, they all must collectively work to support many do–nothing parasitic Investors & Wall St. Consequently, the compromises for those bottom–line $ numbers are numerous and ubiquitous. Your privacy and security are a simple choice for them, in spite of what all the PR & Ads says!
Everything Big Tech gets involved in, must result in impacting that $ bottom–line. Unless you are buying a tangible item from them, "you" are their product (e.g. Social Media). If they only profit from the sale of an item (e.g. Walmart), they do not need to covertly extract your life story; they only want to know what you want to buy that they sell!
Big Tech spends untold dollars annually, doing two main things: Create glitch–code for anything Small Tech, whenever it interacts with anything Big Tech. 2: Then the follow up to that are the Big Tech Trolls; they create headline reminders or write comments, which must always imply (with these keywords always present): Windows good; Linux bad! A Big Tech product must present as superior to anything Small Tech; it's just good business. And brand loyalty (brand–cultists) are their Ad people's success stories!
Consider the mighty Web Browser, gateway to the Wild Wild Web; path from Ad World to your device; it's how/where the sheeple masses are lead! Their engines are Blink (Chromium) and Gecko (Mozilla). Anyone can see who'$ behind them both, and can extrapolate from just that data; there's way more evidence than just that (herein & elsewhere). So I don't recommend any Chromium–based browsers; only Firefox & Web.
Nonetheless, for me, this Tech side–gig depends on people, not following the advice presented herein. This one page (fully absorbed) will equal a 3–credit CC Tech course; the Linux Tuition! I update this for those who have legit learning issues. I also host older blogs called Old Dog New Tricks & Privacy Vs Secrecy. Unfortunately, most are the TLCR folk, who cannot make it past 160 characters, let alone research to gain any level of knowledge they don't copy/paste & parrot from Social Media. They want others to invest in the research then donate the summary to them. They'll pretend smart until something fails; only then do they appeal to Techs for help.
But these are the most frequent topics I get in private emails (TechGeekNerd@duck.com / corrections accepted). Many are about performance issues; the answer? It's either the CPU or the RAM; here's why: RAM pretty much runs The Show; everything on–screen is seen from the RAM, not Storage. One can get great performance with a high–end CPU & 32GB+ of RAM, on a 128GB+ SSD Drive (plus an easily untethered external mass Storage).
Once the OS loads onto RAM it does (or should do) the rest. RAM Gag is slang for overwhelming or choking RAM; even SWAP on the Storage often cannot process fast enough; it's forced to pull from a SWAP partition on an SSD (or worse, an HDD); thus, it can still drag or freeze because RAM is already full; more RAM = no SWAP. The most expensive single part of/on a Motherboard is the CPU.
Big Tech Trolls – most likely crypto–paid gig–workers rather than corporate employees (plausible deniability) – will create anonymous Reddit (and other SM) accounts; I guesstimate they're in the 10–thousand + range globally. It's analogous to Corporate Greenwashing! Their main job is to sow discord and plant doubt, for anyone using or considering a change to, FOSS anything; all tech that's not Big Tech! To avoid exposure they'll close & open new accounts, and all have multiple accounts. They'll use them at other Subs but delete them after some time.
Big Tech Trolls exist to create doubt, not by directly slamming FOSS or Linux (too obvious), but by posing as innocent users seeking advice, asking questions, or expressing their grievances; all cleverly designed to end with Big Tech coming out the winner. Their headline reminders need to imply: Windows good; Linux bad!. BT Trolls are a great investment! There are many bait posts at tech–based Reddit subs, such as Linux & LinuxMint & Linux4noobs & Firefox, and so on. They'll blame FOSS software when it's often the hardware, but the average user does not understand this; Techs do!
Big Tech insists its users deploy their proprietary programs; it's how they make literally billions of dollars annually. They have to appear cross Tech cooperative, for sure. But FOSS programs (e.g. Firefox Browser on MS/Mac; YouTube on FF; etc.) makes it harder to do all the data–mining that Big Tech does on closed ecosystems. It makes good business sense to make anything non–proprietary, not play well with their ecosystems, thus discouraging their use in favor of proprietary everything. And this goes for all Big Tech with such ecosystems: Alphabet; Apple; microsoft (MS).
The Curse of Dual–Booting! Or the curse of non–Intel components! After many trials & errors over the last decade, along with many thousands of posts at the praise/worship, ego–building, infomercial site called Reddit (as well as other tech forums), a clear pattern emerged; these are daily nonstop issues. For those not well educated in installations, I do not recommend a dual–boot (for tech/geeks it's another matter).
Still, all the times I've read about problems concerning a Linux OS (from among stable LTS Ubuntu derivatives), it's always setup where the unit is formatted in the New Technology File System (NTFS) proprietary standard, and then a dual–boot with two formats partitioned on one drive: NTFS & Ext4: This has risks! Watch Why I Don't Dual–Boot Linux & Windows.
And why do so anyway? Why are the many millions of Mac users, not joining all the Linux inspired Reddit sub's, trying to dual–boot Linux with Mac, or, trying to explain why not to do so? Simple! They are satisfied with macOS and thus, not even seeking alternatives. Why even consider Linux if Windows is so superior? If it works for you, just stay with it: (KISS)! But most obsolete Macs do run UD's; I've done three and they're all still flawless (don't own one myself). Here's a YouTube how–to.
But Windows is expensive because it's complex and overbuilt (layered) over decades; the goal for MS was to keep their thousand techs busy, and for decades, hoping to make the ultimate personal PC experience. They reinvented the wheel over and over! Conversely, Linux is simple and built by only a fraction of people/time. Do not expect Linux to be Windows renamed. It's analogous to complaining at a Ford dealer why their cars don't look & function like a Honda; would it not just be easier to go to a Honda dealer? And everyone does, except for those with some ulterior motive.
Real techs are too busy making 6 figures to donate time at Reddit. But many older techs used to be availed on Reddit to help honest users seeking honest tech answers. One person I often read there, builds Firefox extensions also; very talented (well beyond me). But they too, stopped contributing at Reddit, for the same reason I did; too many who'd learn a few kilobytes, and suddenly they know terabytes; they'd berate or oppose or down vote us (we'd make them look bad); battling these anonymity bullies got old. Better to help someone locally who has real issues, and service their units for ca$h and a thank you!
In the early days of Linux for PC (Linux was already dominating the Server market), problems with non–integrated peripherals would cause many glitches, driving frustrated people back to Windows. Even now, there are conflicts that arise from non–Intel components; even hardware originally built around Windows like Docking Stations.
All of this is because, since the beginning, all Debian–based operating systems were built around Intel ME component integration; the BIOS marriage of the CPU, Graphics, WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth, etc. Still, needing multiple branded drivers (e.g. Intel + Nvidia) for one system will almost always create glitches of one kind or another, which impact performance.
ODMs tried money–saving efforts by mixing different branded components; all were codesigned by, or focused on, the only OS market at the time: MS Windows. Even then conflicts occurred, and were resolved (in update hell) as they manifest. For the poor little kid on the block (Linux), trying to build an OS in this ever–changing and competitive market, proved a challenge. But as young techs entered the arena with Open Source aspirations, things changed fast; hence the propagation of the Debian family.
In personal computing, a platform is the basic hardware (PC) and software (OS) that platform–specific software applications run on, within the MP system. Computers use specific central processing units (CPUs) that are designed to run specific machine language code (see µarch). Even the file systems are exclusive (e.g. NTFS & APFS) and designed (covertly) to cause cross–contamination with each other; the exception is Ext4 which is Open Source. That is why there's so many confirmed "glitches" with Linux on file system maps other than exclusively Ext4. Thankfully, Microsoft has called a truce in its cold war with Linux (or have they :-).
All data stored on any motherboard peripheral is not limited to the RAM or Storage. There has to be technical data (code) stored on embedded chips so that the many systems on the board can communicate with one another. But this is also why, for one example, a user of a PC/laptop that came with a Windows OS baked–in, can reinstate Windows, even if the user were to remove the RAM and SSD, install new and then install a Linux Distro.
They can later get their Windows OS back, because MS has code, including the license marriage but evidently more than that, embedded in chips that cannot be removed and are not accessible by any end–user. It is in there, and for the life of that unit, and cannot be altered or erased by an end–user. What that means is it's not technically yours; you're just a user & payer.
The only way to avoid this is to buy separate, clean components, that have never been inside any Big Tech Lab, or purchased wholesale by a retailer that modifies them via a COEM. Build your own system with all factory raw components; that is, with no installed OS. Just buy a barebone Mini PC, and then buy the RAM & M.2 sticks from Crucial. Snap them in, then install your preferred Linux OS.
Simply put, if you were a mega–corporation investing big time, subsidizing PC/laptop manufacturers to host your prized and monetized OS, why would you then make it easy for any other tech entity or an end–user, to simply erase your OS and all other footprints, to install another? They depend upon their OS for their second–largest business venture; data harvesting and scraping.
Therefore, it makes more business sense to simply write code into the chips, which will make another OS "glitch" or just not function optimally (covertly; again, plausible deniability), thus frustrating the end–user until they surrender and reinstall Windows. MS heavily influences motherboard components, especially of the smaller producers, and that would be any who are Not Intel! Intel does not bend to the will of MS because they sell components to others beside MS for their personal & business market (i.e. a massive Server market). So MS had to pressure upstarts like Nvidia & AMD.
This is not conspiratorialism; this is capitalism! Logic thus dictates that there will be (and there are) many odd glitches reported; it's mostly hardware but Big Tech Trolls are there (as follow up) to blame FOSS software; anytime Open Source anything is trying to marry itself to any Big Tech; it's always an unwanted wedding when the poor try to marry into the rich!
Still, all this does not mean that only a Linux/Windows dual–boot system has problems, it just means that the vast majority of units with big problems or just little glitches; that is their situation: Coincidence? Doubtful! Therefore, I do not recommend it, unless you're a tech, and if you cannot resolve conflicts easily you're not. Corporate techs have had decades to write some complex glitch code; it seems to rotate so that it's not the same issue, year by year, or the same components.
For awhile is was at the bootloader (grub) stage, where problems would arise, but also with BT & WiFi conflicts, and non–Intel graphics cards like AMD, Nvidia, and so on: non–integrated peripherals! This is because there's more going on than a simple Drive partition, where a unit boots and everything works, just because it's on a separate partition and format; different EFI system partitions can create driver conflicts.
There is a little computer inside the big computer that runs the whole computer; ask most what that is and they cannot answer. The BIOS is basically an OS for the OS; it's on a chip that is not any part of the Main Drive, and not seen anywhere by/in the OS. It resides on its own fixed flash drive. Damage the BIOS data and if you're not a tech you've got a brick! That's when it's brought to the Tech Geeks! But just know; I do not mess with BIOS code except for a necessary update.
But the magic that the untrained know–it–all advice peddlers want you to believe, is too often bits of knowledge they've acquired, playing with their own units. They're not financially accountable to you, when their anonymous "advise" harms your system; they never back up their BS with $! No one ever showed up to a meet with cash to support their claims or debunk mine (cash talks & BS walks; put up or shut up; put your money where your mouth is; etc.). Why? Bullshitters want to sound smart but not get caught in stupid! Naturally they're angered by those who challenge or expose them; hence the hate–feast they hunger for and thrive in.
Warning: Do not apply any tech advice given by online trolls (White Angry Young Unpleasant Males, or WAYUMs), who are online with fake profiles, or made up accounts, or without their real names, and thus they could even be foreign hacks who'd lie about it; frauds nevertheless, who avoid accountability, and covert so they can gang up in down–votes, or otherwise attack & hurt others from behind the shield of anonymity: It is why they're online! Hence the popularity of all the query bait sub–Reddits. They are platforms (literally) designed to expel the rage within the enraged.
Acer got tired of getting so many laptops returned to them, where the buyer tried to dual–boot with Windows, but they'd screw it up so badly the unit would not boot, and the buyer could not work their way out of the botched installation, so frustrated, they returned the laptops as defective. The retailers do not know if they are unbootable from some factory defect, so the retailers will return them to Acer as such, but the Acer techs know exactly what happened. Newer Acer laptops deploy the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) that must be disabled in the BIOS for Linux to work on it, but it can prevent Windows from booting again. Smart!
After about 2020 or so, all Acer laptops with Windows 10/11, now come with the BIOS locked; no up/down selection options under BIOS Security or Boot tabs, and so no disabling Secure Boot. Why do this? So that no one can easily dual–boot any Linux Distro onto them without many technical tweaks to get there. The hope is to scare off the novice, and I'm sure it works! Also, read this Acer Tech exchange and this one also. Many other manufacturers will soon follow suit. It is time to get a laptop bag designed for 2.
Glitch City! By the time I'm summoned to rescue units that its user has tried to build a dual–boot on, it's so screwed up, mostly by the many applied "tech tweaks" they got online by the Reddit trolling advise peddlers, that I'll zero it, just like I do with ransomware seemingly locking it down. I have the ISO disk to reinstall Windows, but better, I'll install Linux Mint only, and during the install, select Erase disk & install Linux Mint as a fresh install, in its native Ext4: Problem solved!
Well, for the most part; that's because MS still lurks on that motherboard, forever. But if that code does not impact the dual–boot system, be thankful indeed. It's been a major issue forever, so the Linux Mint team will try to mitigate some of the boot issues by keeping OS Prober enabled (21>) by default to support dual–boot detection. They know many will do it anyway, even though (almost) none of us techs ever dual–boot; the partition that the Windows OS is on, will still fragment, and suffer all the same ills. Thus, install Linux on a USB like a super fast SanDisk Ultra Fit.
Overwriting an SSD, everything stored on that (OS only) drive is destroyed; hence, why you never store anything irreplaceable (any personal content you cannot reclaim from the Web) on the same physical drive as the OS. There's really little else one can deliberately do to a laptop/PC, worse than attempting to build a Linux dual–boot system; the worst of them being Windows. I'm not anti–Windows per say, I just like things to work. Name it what you like; if it works I use it, and if not I warn of it. But for the determined here's a how–to.
You Must Comply!FOSS stands for Free & Open Source Software: Freedom! Proprietary always means pay us; it is ours! You have our permission to buy and use it, but we own it! In other words, no one fully "owns" any electronic device that has a proprietary OS on it. It is always a shared ownership. You own the hardware; the tangible device, but they own the OS and all that happens with it and to it, and you must comply with their directives.
Now, it's puzzling why anyone would volunteer to be a consumer drone like this, when there are alternatives. It will not always be this way: Have you not watched Continuum? Science Fiction but with real future possibilities! The Open Source software options are too vast to list. It is just a matter of learning one over another. Besides, if someone needs Windows just watch this: Running Windows in Linux: Virtual Box Configuration (YouTube).
One must either abandon proprietary products like MS and Crapple altogether, or, just have separate branded devices: E.g. An Android phone, an iPad, an MS Surface, and a clean PC kit with Linux installed by you. And buy software designed for those brands. Back when computers were expensive, sharing made sense; putting everything on 1 large drive via partitions was less expensive than having physically separate drives, or equipment. These days I recommend separate drives, or better, just multiple devices. I see coffee shop guys with two laptops all the time nowadays.
Still, Windows is more than two times larger than the largest Linux Distro running on any consumer device, and that's before anything else is added like apps and updates so on. The raw ISO file sizes for Windows 11 is 6GB; Linux Mint and Fedora Workstation's are 2GB each. Even the Mac OS High Sierra 10 ISO is nearly 5GB. I have them all on CD with 14 OS's in total. I prefer a CD to a USB for installs because all systems (old & new) will natively recognize a CD Drive. But when those images are unfurled, the proprietary OS's increase 7 to 8 fold, whereas Linux is at 4 to 5 fold.
My newest (10/2020) laptop, an Acer Aspire 5, came with Windows on it, and it was fine; however, it also came with an Intel 10th Gen Core I5, a 512GB NVMe SSD, and (bumped to) 20GB RAM to better handle that OS. It was still at 46GB of space used, even after I uninstalled bloatware via the recommended CC Cleaner (free), and then ran Disk Cleanup & Storage Sense. CC uninstalls bloatware that won't uninstall natively, then I uninstall it too. So far it's been a good laptop; no problems with W10 on this unit, but if I do, especially with W11 coming, I'll wipe it and install Linux Mint. (Update 8/21: Wipe done! But I sampled Windows for months).
I've built many NUC Kits; all of them work flawlessly on Linux Mint (YouTube). Intel's integrated chipset is a big part of that success; their Micro Architecture is key. The Debian based LMDE is an awesome choice for older 32–bit systems. Of course, I always keep a BIOS updated, when availed, as recommended.
The main logic of buying a barebone units is that they do not come with a hard drive or RAM, and thus no OS (no Windows or iOS Malware cloaked as operating systems). Otherwise, the choices for a Windows PC's (towers, mini's & SFF units) is enormous. Why pick a device that does not come with a proprietary OEM baked into it, and then spend an additional $200+ to install Windows 11 Pro on it? I charge that to scrub it away!
Trying a Linux Distro is an awesome idea; just buy an older used, or a new low end laptop, and experiment with it first, before trying to create a Windows/Linux dual–boot on (say) a $3K gaming laptop. Linux will run great on a cheap laptop/PC if you wipe it. Whenever you have two completely different OS's on one computer, problems will arise, so be expecting it. It's like putting flex–fuel in a gas–only car!
When someone brings me an older laptop/PC that they want to reinvigorate, I'll first replace the older mechanical 3.5"–2.5" HDD with a new and much faster SSD of some configuration: It's clean, fast, cool to run, and with no OS ever baked onto it. Then, I will load Linux Mint Cinnamon, which only uses Ext4 as format, and everything always works: Always! Here's how to make an ISO.
Why Mint? It's not personal; it is not my product, and I'm not a brand cultist. It's just because it just works! I'm getting paid and I do not want repeat work (unpaid) when something fails, down the line. I've done many so far and no call backs with problems. I'll even shred the older removed HDD, or simply reformat the disk to Ext4 (YouTube), and then they can reuse it with a usb–to–sata cable adapter, as a larger external storage device (I'll reinstall it internally as a secondary drive if it's a tower PC). Thus, everything used is in Ext4 standard format, or FAT for USB sticks and SD cards, and even partitions in special use cases.
We typically learn a software program to do a task (any task) on one OS, and then find the learning curve too sharp on another OS, and thus, will respond to the frustration, by critiquing the unfamiliar programs. I read this frustration everywhere, but it's not justified; the simpleton is slow to change. Even when Windows XP users jumped over to Windows, most had the same problems, via the dreaded learning curve. But I found free and open–source software packages easy to learn. And then there's gaming; a rapidly advancing side of the PC/laptop world!
Furthermore; regardless of how easily one learns new or updated programs, Windows and MacOS requires a minimum of hardware resources to function optimally; 16GB+ RAM, 128GB+ SSD, and an Intel Core I5+ Processor. Conversely, Linux Distros do very well on budget or older hardware, with little performance difference on higher end equipment, depending of course on what it's used for. But if you are not tech savvy, there are quality high–end Linux laptops (and here too), and low cost Linux Mint SFF PC's for your HDTV.
Regardless of your Linux OS choice, you really do not want to use a partition for personal content; everything on one large single hard drive, partitioned. All techs have known for a long time, the technical certainty that the more partitions on a single drive, the slower the drive; the goal therefore, is as few partitions on one drive as possible.
That is why a dual–boot will create further problems in the overall performance arena. Never fully trust gauges; only be concerned with real world results, such as how long it takes to download something, or to transfer from one drive to another. The processor type is vital here.
It is better to have a small but fast SDD with only the OS on it (2.5" or M.2; a PCIe NVMe with an adapter when there's no slot), and then, a peripheral (or external), or mounted drive for all personal content; especially what cannot be recaptured online after an OS drive wipe. Such separation also eliminates storage device heat passed in tight spaces to the motherboard.
Run the OS exclusively from a smaller fast internal drive that runs just the OS, so that ransomware (etc) cannot lock you out of your content, or otherwise infect it or destroy it, and always use uBlock Origin, which is an important front line of online defense. Hardware can also fail, causing a loss of data, regardless of the OS brand. By copying files to be worked on (video, audio, pic, office, cad, etc), onto the main SSD, if anything (that can go wrong) goes wrong, you only lose updates, not the whole file. Every business should have all their data backed up regularly onto a Linux based (air gap) PC or server.
MS once provided a CD with purchase; if anything went wrong, those who had personal content on the same drive as the OS, lost that content. That's because if a corruption took place, be it any virus or an HDD failure, one could remove the HDD, and if it was not a mechanical issue, plug it into a Linux PC and shred it. Then reinstall it back into the computer (or a new HDD if it was a mechanical fail), and install Windows as a fresh install. Then MS decided not to provide a CD, so if you have a {$} license you must make your own ISO, just like you do {free} with a Linux ISO.
With a large capacity external storage at home, I checkout music & movies (CD & DVD) at my local library (free), and then rip them via Handbrake & Asunder CD Ripper on Linux Mint. Over the last decade I've accumulated a huge video/audio library. I'll get a dozen or so disks at a time, and while I'm doing other things on my NUC PC, I'll rip them in the background while typing text or surfing on one big screen, while streaming a live baseball game on the other big screen. Mass storage is Ext4 formatted, with one partition, for that reason, and has no executable files to be read at boot, so it's just a mounted storage drive that's read after boot and manual or auto mount (YouTube).
This is important to know; there is nothing on the hard drive that's directly seen on screen; everything on screen comes from the RAM. Here's even a list of Linux Distros that run only from RAM. The speed of any device is set by the RAM & CPU, not the storage. It's analogous to sand going through an hour glass; the storage device dumps so much into the hour glass, and then the speed at which it comes out the bottleneck, is determined by the CPU, not the storage specs. I'm on a mini PC with 11th Gen Core I-7, 16GB DDR5 RAM, 512GB M.2 NVMe, and a USB 3.1 port tethered 5TB HDD.
And that's why I still use mechanical drives for mass storage; they're cheaper (for now) and it does not matter their output, because I use an ultra fast NVMe PCIe for all on demand operations. The HDD storage loads its cargo onto the RAM, and there all the processes occur, and when changed, are saved permanently back onto the HDD. With movies, the HDD dumps a load onto the RAM and it plays along until that volatile memory content gets low, and then it tops it off again: We don't see any disruptions while it's doing this. When CAD or video/audio editing: copy (not cut/paste) the entire file onto the M.2, edit/save/edit/save, then (copy/paste) save it all back to the HDD.
Star Labs in Central City! Yes, there's a real Star Labs beyond DC Comics Central City. Their Linux OS line of aluminum laptops with backlit keyboards are top shelf merchandise. Nowadays I recommend them, because there's no fuss with having to override (or just endure) all the collateral damage done by Big Tech, as they stamp their large footprint on anything/everything tech.
As of 2020 onward, I recommend the Intel Core I-3,5,7,9, for muscle work, and the Pentium line of processors for lightweight units; these are good for all Linux Distros. AMD still struggles with compatibility issues on dual–boots, where MS was the first OEM. AMD Ryzen on Linux rocks on units such as Star Books that have never been touched by MS! Another Linux OS laptop maker in Germany, Tuxedo Computers, also offers premium Linux only devices. One of those laptops, along with a 1TB USB Stick in your pocket, and there's little else you'll need, home or away.
Disclaimer: Everything shared online is meant to educate & encourage, because I Love people and hope to be a positive force, even if/when it hurts. The honor is to serve. I monetize nothing online. A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't (Twain)! Those who don't share what they know, it dies with them (Me)! My goal is not guilt or disparagement, but fun and joy in genuine unity, whenever I'm blessed to receive that. If I offend it's not from malevolence. If I anger Trolls? Get a job and a life!