I downloaded old iTunes. I'm struck by how much more customizable it is than Apple Music and the rest of it.
My iPod is also 17-year-old. 120GB. Works perfectly. Even got a Bluetooth adapter. No ads, no subscriptions, no tracking. Just a durable, functional device. Enshittification is real.
If you have an old (well, not "ancient"), unused notebook, you might try to install #Linux #Mint and start from there. It's a learning journey, but there's not much to lose if you consider it an experiment, at first.
Assuming that you have enough time for experiments, which none of us actually has, unfortunately.
Try the Cinnamon edition first, and if your playing around with it shows it is excruciatingly slow on the old machine, try the MATE edition.
Don't go down the rat hole of investigation the myriads of available Linux distros ("flavors") first, that's utterly unnecessary for a sneak peek.
If Linux catches on with you, you'll probably develop an appetite for test-driving various other distros, and that's fine.
I very recently had a look at the installation instructions for Linux Mint. That was actually depressing.
You need to be fairly well acquainted with tech terminology to fully grasp the steps. But if you are, then those instructions will most likely not be read - as you most likely already know the drill.
Compare that with getting the @fedora Workstation installation running ...
Compare those steps to this: https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
Linux Mint might be great once you get it installed. But getting it installed is not for the non-tech users.
And I honestly don't grasp why the first details several places on getting Linux Mint installed is from a Linux Mint environment.
All details seems correct though. But you need to understand the technical jargons.
definitely hear you about being nervous to try it. the first time i tried linux i accidentally formatted everything i cared about on my pc because i was 19 & dumb.
now, 17 years on, i still barely understand what commands i'm cut-and-pasting from google, but i always back everything up to an external hard drive.
(tldr: if you copy everything before fucking around, it wont end in tears)
@ayoub My 17yr old son did that research lately and it was actually a straight forward process to create a bootable USB that lets you run (and install) Ubuntu on almost any machine. He revived an old 2010 Macbook and a 2008 MacMini that were collecting dust.
The installer was really a breeze, it detected the hardware and installed the right drivers and everything just worked.
Using Ubuntu was no different than Windows nor MacOS.
If you're visiting Lebanon anytime soon we'd be happy to assist.
Elia Ayoub (he/him)
Oblomov
cuan_knaggs
katzenberger 🇺🇦
🐈⬛David Sommerseth
AskASwiss
René
Lurgue Ftanh
pangaearocks
Azraph