Back in the days when people still had floppies and cd drives in their computers, yeah things were dead-simple. You pop in a disk, format the hard drive, and walk away while the process completes. I miss that. The machines I've worked on in probably the last decade, it seems like I have to fight against the hardware every time I want to wipe the system or replace a failed drive. The last set of servers I got, I couldn't figure out why the linux image (with full EFI settings) refused to even boot up properly. Turns out Dell had made these machines so you could easily boot a Windows installer from any of the external USB ports, but to install linux you had to use a hidden internal USB port. Once I found out about that then yeah the installation went as planned, but this is the kind of BS I'm referring to about manufacturers trying to prevent users from getting rid of Windows.
Shdwdrgn
Just curious, but have you ever tried installing Windows from scratch on a new computer? I'm just wondering if your comparison of "simpler" is the same installation of both operating systems, or if you're comparing something that somebody else set up for you to something you're doing yourself?
And yeah, it DID used to be dead simple... throw in an installation media and boot up the machine. These days there's so much garbage in the way that they're complicated the whole process without much gain.
Don't feel bad, that's a shitty process even for those of us in IT. Sometimes it doesn't work for certain models of memory sticks, sometimes something on the computer gets in the way of booting to the drive. I recently worked on some servers where I had to disable EFI, grab a 15 year old installer to get linux booted up on it, then switch to the newer installer to complete the process. So far Dell has been the worst (but also the most frequently used) I've had trouble with for getting linux installed. Unfortunately the solutions usually involve combinations of disabling EFI, changing the hard drive to a different mode, or even changing what mode the memory stick is booted with (all selected from within the BIOS at boot time), and it's not always the same process even for the same release of a machine.
It's not you, it's Microsoft working with the manufacturers to make it difficult for people to switch.
I'll just add that nearly all linux distributions have a package manager you can access from the desktop. Simply open it up, find the software you want, and click to install. Not much different than going to the play store and installing an android app. The only time you need to do anything different is if you're trying to install some obscure software that isn't directly supported by your linux distribution, then you might have to resort to the command line.
To answer your first question, ALL of the mirrors are safe. The idea with mirrors is that you choose one that is geographically close to your location (same country, maybe the same region or state) to help reduce lag in downloading the files. Any selection is valid, all of the mirrors will have the same content, but for your location some mirrors may simply be faster or slower than others.
One other thing you might run in to is different types of installers. Some may be a very minimal install which only give you a command line, while others will provide a fully configured desktop. You might also see an option for a "Live" version -- that is something you put on a bootable memory stick and you can test out a working version of the operating system without actually changing anything on your computer, but all of your settings will go away when you reboot.
I haven't used Mint so I can't provide specific info, however some things that are common to ANY linux desktop -- You probably want to start with printer drivers (install CUPS) and some office software (install LibreOffice). For internet access, Firefox and Thunderbird are good choices. LicreOffice, Firefox, and Thunderbird can all also be used on Windows if you want to check them out ahead of time. There are many lists online that can point you to equivalent software, so like if you use Lightroom on windows, you might try Darkroom on linux. basically you just need to make a list of what Windows software you use and then install a similar package in linux.
Yes you will need some time to learn the new operating system and all the new software, very little will be 100% exactly the same, but they are "close enough". You figured out how to use all these things once before, so you can do it again, and it will definitely be worth the effort.
Funny, I try to block anyone in my department that wants to purchase a Lenovo. My most recent experiences with them have been a faulty battery driver that was known online for at least six months before it was brought to my attention that the model I purchased for someone (their choice) refused to recharge, and Lenovo continued to deny any problems on their side... We returned the laptop as unusable because the only way to charge it was to boot into the BIOS screen. The last time I dealt with them, the corporate rep I worked with was right on top of emails and phone calls until we made a purchase, then refused to answer my contacts after that. After a month of trying to get in touch with him I finally called the main line, and the person I spoke with said "oh he just walked by my desk, let me grab him". The excuse I was given was that he had been too busy to respond.
Basically every time I've been forced to purchase a Lenovo for someone, there has been zero support provided and half of them had to be returned. Granted, I haven't bought any since COVID but I really hope I never have to deal with them again.
I'm still trying to figure how anyone (including Musk) ever thought he was a genius? Like ok so he has a lot of money that he throws at interesting problems, and those problems attract actual geniuses to solve, but what has Musk himself ever done except be an employer? It reminds me of all the talk about how Edison was supposed to be a genius, when the reality was that he ran a sweatshop to steal other people's hard work.
Nice, thanks for the link. I might have to grab a couple to see what else I can do with them.
Sorry, yes! I've got my head in another non-electronics project right now and was thinking of the wrong thing.
We've been seeing these electronic tags on sale items at Walmart for the past few years. It's been a few months since the last time we were in the store, but last weekend we noticed ALL items now had small two-color OLED price tags on them. I don't know if that means we're just lucky enough to be one of the first to get the new tech, or that the chain had already started rolling them out well before the article, but they're definitely out there. I'd actually love to get ahold of some just to play with them, although seeing the prices of OLEDs on ebay makes me wonder how any store is saving money by using them.
There's also the issue of very little (if any) used EVs on the market, and in an affordable range. Most people are looking for a reliable used car for around $1000-$2000 US, and the cheapest EV I have seen is around $7500. And there's always the question of what condition the batteries are in -- if you had to replace all the batteries in a used EV then you easily doubled the cost of it. Fortunately it seems like Tesla is the only manufacturer asinine enough to seal their batteries, other manufactures allow replacement of individual cells which will really help in the used market.
Apparently the port is optional but it makes me wonder what you would do if it wasn't installed. Luckily it was there on all three of the machines I picked up from ebay.