Just an FYI - you don’t have to throw away computers that can’t upgrade past Windows 10. They will keep working.
this post was submitted on 15 May 2025
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Long story short, my Dad just got a new computer. (His old was was actually really old, but he could have used Linux.)
Anyway, I told him not to throw out the old computer and that I would take it. He was baffled that I would want it or could even do anything with it.
I am going to set it up as a backup server in the house for my parents and myself as it will be a nice way to have an offsite backup for free.
So many use cases! I'm giving an old NUC to a kid at work who's learning Linux. Jesus, the kid bought a copy of Linux from "the best/most-famous hacker in the world!". We had a come-to-Jesus talk about that horseshit.
Unbelievable. Linux sellers deserve the death penalty. /s (mostly...)
I recently virtualised an XP machine that had been running since time immemorial, and will continue to (virtually) do so.
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Remember when Microsoft said Windows 10 would be the last Windows? I 'member.
They didn't. They said it was the last version of windows you'd ever need.
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I'm doing my part!
I've loaded Mint on my prime system and a laptop, another laptop with Fedora, Manjaro on another main system I test with and EndeavorOS on all my media systems. I've also loaded about 8-10 other distros on Proxmox to play/test with.
Where I had doubts on whether I needed anything off of the old MS system, I P2V'ed the OS and spool it up on Proxmox if needed to review any history within the OS/browser.
I still have a couple of W10 VMs lingering and a Windows server. I'll "upgrade" the workstation VMs to W11 (and shut them down) since I have the license and I can see sometimes having to use Windows for whatever dumb reasons. I'll leave the Windows server for now to maintain the domain as that allows me to block telemetry with GPOs. I may tire of that at some point though as MS will further wane away on my network.
My summer task is to convert all my 'Arrr software over to Linux versions. Still on W10 there. Wasn't sure which distro to go to for that....
Re: Arr software, spin up an Ubuntu VM and install Docker. Spin up portainer and then use that to spin up all thr arrs. Ezpz
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endof10.org seems like a good website to direct people to via posters in your local community center or church. Or you can call a repair club in your area to ask if they want to be listed. Those are likely to have some Linux enthousiast members and already have a location.
Im hearing proton is good for games?
i second @FrostyCaveman@lemm.ee
it's fantastic for like 85% of all games, and good to acceptable for like 10%. the only big issue is games with kernel level anti cheats, which is a problem for some gamers, mainly AAA and fps lovers.
Games with kernal anti-cheat should be treated with precisely the level of respect they show to us.
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It’s fantastic. Unless you’re playing a specific few multiplayer competitive games, it’s just like windows (sometimes even better in terms of performance - and sometimes better in terms of retro compatibility)
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It is outstanding
Proton is so good that even when a game has a native Linux version, I often opt for the Proton version (so my games are all in one place). I was even able to install mods for games like Baldur's Gate 3 (albeit with a bit of tinkering)
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Been playing for years on a nearly daily basis, from Baldur's Gate 3 to Elden Ring to now Clair Obscur... to VR with e.g. Half-life : Alyx. That's on my desktop and often also on my Steam Deck. So... yes, Proton is very VERY good for games!
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I'm glad people are helping others move to Linux once the EOL support for Windows 10 comes. There's no reason for good hardware to end up rotting in a landfill. Not only can people use these machines still, it helps the environment since there's less electronics wasting away in landfills since most people don't properly recycle electronics.
My old gaming PC isn't "good enough" for Win11 (tpm2 ofc), yet compared to the Win11 PC my wife's work forced on her you'd think it was some sort of future supercomputer
If enough people actually ditch their hardware then we server admins are going to eat good this year, mmmmmmm
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Been on Linux full time for al about 2 months now... Proton and Bazzite have made the transition soooo much easier as gaming is what was always holding me back.
Yea, gaming has come a long long way thanks to Valve. I was also holding back due to this (and not wanting to spend too much of my spare time learning a new OS and commands etc) but I just installed Zorin (chosen for minimal effort) and hardly had to do anything. I struggled a bit to get Proton to work at first but now my entire Steam library works perfectly and I'm so much happier with it than I ever was using Windows. Gonna be getting my friends and some family on it as well!
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Part of me still does not think Microsoft is going to go through with it. There are too many Windows 10 PCs that will just become infected.
Part of me thinks the government will intervene as I think it could genuinely be a security issue to have so many unsecured devices in the wild.
But, another part of me has no hope for the future.
Sooo... I guess we will just have to wait and see.
Sadly people said the same for xp and 7 soo...
No lie. We play this game every 7 years or so. I was training on a Win10 machine at work yesterday. Think they're updating that? Nah. Hell, it probably could take an 11 upgrade and they haven't bothered. Why? It's a locked down machine. And if IT don't care, home users certainly won't.
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At least there was an upgrade path from them.
I upgraded my Win 10 laptop to IoT Enterprise LTSC recently which is stupidly easy and grants you support till 2032.
Aside from some weird app incompatibilities it's been working fine.
I don't think that many people want to buy Windows Enterprise, which they typically want you to also buy a support contract for.
Unless you pirated it, but I don't think telling people to "just run this pirate code" is that good of an idea.
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Check out PostmarketOS for older machines/phones too. I got it working on an old Microsoft surface RT that would have been e-waste otherwise
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And even if you don't want to... Find someone who does! Donate that laptop to someone. Find a LUG or Mutual Aid group or a friendly local anarchist :)
Once it goes eol, get it off the network. But lots of other good ideas already in here.
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Whatever will I do without my deshittified emotional support laptop :'(
Quick question. I have a studio pc running win 10, with dozens of audio and video projects. It's basically impossible to transfer to Linux, macOs or even win 11 since it involves a ton of audio plugins, etc. and my projects would become unsable.
What does end of supports involve for me? I actually disable updates and a while back since it was sometimes screwing things up. My most recent projects are done either on my M1 mac (work thing) or my most recent.Linux station on Nobara. Should I be worried about anything? Should I disconnect my old studio pc from the internet to avoid it being fucked by microsoft?
Get the w10 enterprise edition that gets patched for 4 more years.
You should back up your windows 10 pc as an image and use it as a virtual machine on the Mac or some other Linux environment. Once support stops nothing really bad would happen, besides security stuff and maybe perhaps some unexpected hugs. So you could just disconnect it from the internet too but the VM option isn’t reliant on the hardware which could go bad.
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Windows 10 end of life is just nature's way of setting you free.
Among lot of distro, Linux mint has to be the closest to windows and more refined
Hopefully many more Windows refugees would embrace the Kingdom of Torvalds.
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