justin_o_guy2 wrote on 06/19/16 at 11:58:44:

The Linux disk, wherever it is, is still in the paper holder it was shipped in, but I did check the movie holder in case of creeping senility, nope, not there

Interesting that you guys are struggling right now with "wildly aberrant" machine CD/DVD functions as you try to do your computer upgrades -- there is a big move right now to go to the web and the cloud to download entire Linux upgrade packages as background tasks since the whole bios/uefi thing is now playing very badly against the current music and movie DVD copy protection schemes as are force-implemented on new equipment now-a-days.

In short, the next version of Linux Mint 18 (Mate) is going to be a "single click" on a menu choice in a menu box that shows up in your current Mint version when the upgrade is ready.

Next, you will have to chose (as part of your installation click choices) to install non-FOSS standard, Vendor Created copy protected video and audio codex to have all of the 100% full functional capability in Linux Mint (as is still permitted by French laws).   This used to be the installation default condition, but will now have to be "chosen" here in the USA.  

This should give you 100% support for your odd audio and video cards, etc, as long as your vendor still does support his custom drivers, drivers that his old hardware so definitely requires.    

If the card vendor quits supporting the drivers for his cards and pulls the old ones off his web site then the last FOSS supplied equivalent driver is used, which works, but not as completely as the proprietary vendor driver used to.

This steps around the current MS Win 10 "it just died on me" issues fairly well, I think.

HOWEVER, Mint 18 is going to be quite different animal as far as security items goes -- much more of this new security level will show in daily use as compared to past versions.

Change, she comes ......

FOSS is going to simply walk around all that MS BS blockage, in other words.   It also walks past the dead DVD drive issues as well (providing the DVD isn't truly dead that is).

Also note please, The New Win 10 machines are coming out stock with 4-8 gigs of systems memory.  Why?    Because MS Win 10 needs 8 gigs to try to get their crappy new OS to run faster than molasses since the new Intel processors are really not any faster than the previous generations.    

AMD called it -- Intel has been totally stagnant for 2 years now, no real progress in processor speed whatsoever, just extra layers of smoke and window dressing.   Because of this, MS is requiring twice the systems memory that it used to require just to run "so-so".

Give any Linux or Chrome 4-8 gigs of systems memory to play with and watch it blaze up in speed as the whole OS can exist totally live in systems RAM all the time ......

Well I wasn't trying to upgrade, the fool player decided not to play my new movie, then wouldn't play the older one, either
At this point I really wish I'd bought a tablet instead of this machine
this morning I got an update notice telling me to go to 'computer' 'settings' and install
Dunno if that might be win 10
I attempted top go to 'computer' 'settings' to see what was there and couldn't find it
MS fail due to user incompetence  

What CPU/video is on those under $100 dollar Dells?
And were can I get one?

I cannot get the disc to read on this 17" HP pavilion.... will Mint 18 fix the UFI thing?
Because if it doesn't, Mint will be useless to me on this laptop, so I'll just load up 18 on the little laptop and see if I can get wine to run the DViewCam program for my security system.

old_rider wrote on 06/23/16 at 22:10:58:


You need to have a drop in video card as all lease machines come to you with the built in Intel graphics they shipped with.   I keep swapping in the same gaming video card into each machine as the kitty fluff slowly kills the fans in them one at a time.



Think of bottom feeding these lease returns as if you were a big ol catfish trolling the river bottom feelering yourself out something to eat ......

First, you identify who has just gotten a large batch of units in off of lease ..... they stick out on Ebay pretty large, sometimes on Amazon too.  There are generally 2-3 sticking out pretty large at any given point in time.

Next, watch their deals and their various sites (especially their Ebay site) -- you are looking for items that slip out of the cracks due to being pieced together from old units or having to have a hard drive replaced (losing their MS OS certification in the process of doing that).   These are the ones that get sold off for cheap just to get rid of them.

Looking briefly, I see moderately high prices right now for lease returns that do have Win 7 that is active, those higher prices should nose dive again as soon as the "Free Win 10 thing" ends.

Things that come off lease "relatively old" to what is generally coming off lease right about then get dumped off cheap too.

Point to remember is this -- Linux Mint does not require the 3.x gigahertz processor and up to 4-8 gigs of systems memory that is included in all of these machines.  It does not require a massive hard drive either -- 80 gigs is way way more than is required.   Linux Mint can survive very very nicely in a 30 gig partition with lots of expansion room still left in the 30 gigs ( I have done 20 gig partitions and still had lots of room ).

http://liliputing.com/2016/06/chrome-os-update-makes-android-apps-chromebook-...






OK, Chrome OS running Android Aps is out for real on one machine, and it has already been fixed/updated in the very first week to fix anything problematic found by end users.

Google is doing MUCH better about responding to people's feedback than MS did during the early stages of Win 10 -- and Chrome OS is MUCH more mature than Win 10 ever was at roll out time, so that also plays to make the early user folks happier.   Part of this has to be that each Chromebook machine has consistent hardware and as you roll one "on" you can focus on your fixes very specifically for that Chromebook.

Google Play Store App vendors are also humping it to get the grayed out check marks off of their product offerings, as they are losing sales to those apps that have already been reworked and are completely suitable for Chromebook use.

As far as cracking into Big Business, Chromebooks can now run MS Office in 3 different ways, a Chrome OS load, an Android load or an on-line free MS Office instance.

Running Android apps off line is dirt easy to do on a Chromebook -- if the apps have any issues they are grayed out in the Play Store when you go looking at them -- so the applications programmers are being quick to modify the existing programs to suit the new venue as that is new life for old software that is fairly easily gotten by a quick mod or two.

Chromebooks are now a full spectrum competitive OS product to MS, and you can expect MS to start strongly locking all their stuff down to keep it from getting away from them.


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Android

First Android laptops have begun shipping in China from Acer and others, once they mature a bit you can expect them to start showing up at Walmart and Amazon as the new low cost leader.   BTW, Google sez their internalized form of free floating windows and task bar are not coming out with N, but with the next flavor after that.   Jide and Phoenix OS are what is being used in the Orient right now, and both are continuing to refine themselves and get even better (and Google follows along as the little pilot fish leads).

Chromebooks will be $250 to $350 and Android laptops will be $150 to $250.   Microsoft and Intel seem to be looking the $350 and up price range as their natural turf.  

Apple starts at $700 and goes up to well over a thousand bucks ......


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Apple and MS

Apple is being hurt by Chromebooks right now as they are similar in response speed and unit weight and configuration types.    A Mac Air or a Chromebook, $500+ difference in price giving roughly similar user experiences once purchased.    Windows has lost their entire low end of their sales spectrum to Chromebooks already, with the deluxe upper end Chromebooks nibbling away at the middle now .......   frantic attempts to lock people into the MS walled garden is only working with those who are inflexible and cannot use anything but Windows.

Folks are figuring this stuff out right and left ....

Justin, Win 10 is NEVER finished, it is always being developed.  

They expect you to accept this world view of their product because it endlessly explains the screwed up stuff that happens week to week on Win 10, stupid stuff that would have had the PC press corps howling all the time previously ......

My wife just got a big blue screen telling her that she was getting "a Major Upgrade / Improvement" from MS's Win 10 crew.

Stopped her cold for 10 minutes and had her yelling at me over it (mainly because I was laughing at MickySoft's pure arrogance and stupidity).  

When it let her have her machine back the font size on everything was TINY and she couldn't even read it.

She's hot     ...... and I gotta quit laughing about it .......