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What I learned from 3 years of running Windows 11 on “unsupported” PCs
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2024
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ITT: People who talk about Linux (as if that was the subject) because they just can't accept that some people actually need or want to use Windows and might find articles like this one useful.
Its part of their personality.
They remind me of my devout jehovah witness neighbor who's been doorknocking and dropping flyers in my mailbox for 20+ years to remind me I'm going to burn if I don't convert.
If you need Windows, don’t run it on hardware that doesn’t support Windows 11. If you need it, do it the right way, so you can count on it working.
Now, what do you do with your old hardware? There are plenty of good ideas in the comments here.
Or instead of installing Linux as a workaround and having to learn how to use a new OS and having to troubleshoot a ton of inevitable issues to make it work as well as the setup you're used to just... Use a workaround to skip the hardware requirement! In the end both are a way to work around Microsoft's requirements, one is something you need to deal with once just requiring you to follow a guide and you're done, the other will be an ongoing learning process.
Honestly the only people worried about learning a new OS are people that have not even tried another OS for longer then 15 minuts in the last few years.
The desktop is still a desktop so is the taskbar.
The mouse works like a mouse, browser works like a browser and the majority of apps these days are browser apps.
The single actual difference i can think off is that rather then downloading an exe you use something similar to an appstore if your non technical or the command line if you don’t.
And if you are just a little technical you can acutely download that exe and install/run it just fine. (Wine)
Worrying about learning an new OS isn't as simple as you make it. It takes time, dedication, and will power to work through the pain points.
Most Linux users give answers like "just use Linux" but it's not that simple. Yes, it's easier to switch these days because more and more apps are browser/cloud based. But technically a chrome book would be an easier switch if that's the mentality.
I "use" my PC. I don't simply check email and go on Facebook. I'm currently trying Linux for probably the 4th or 5th time. It's easier to get into these days, but it still functions completely differently than Windows, as it should.
For example, It took me at least an hour to figure out how to partition and mount a drive. There's some not so clear information out there so finding the right info wasn't as easy as it should be. OK no big deal, now I know, but I don't necessarily want to chase answers like that every time I use my computer.
Lastly, I've never accepted using Wine as a work around for unsupported programs. OK, maybe if you have 1, but not if you have 6. That's not an acceptable solution when your needs scale up like that. And I have many. I'm not going to 100% get away from Windows. It sucks, but it's reality.
You do sound like a person knowledge enough to solve their own issues and you have been trying linux so I wouldn't lump you in with the majority of users that believe that all of linux requires terminal knowledge.
I let you in on a secret. I still have my windows drive in dual boot. I was very scared of linux, i just saw a hyprland gif and fell in love. As a windows poweruser i could not fully commit on that whim.
I have not booted into it in months and i use the same drive to install proton games. (So i can theoretically launch them from both sides) but i do plan to keep it there, just in case. At least for as long as i use that machine.
So by all means you are pretty much as much a limux user as i am, the only difference is with what os we dedicate time.
Recently i got into a powershell course from work and i know you can use 7 on unix, but i am actually thinking of spinning up some windows vm. My work is all windows so i do need to keep up. And there are good things i could say about it.
But i have a personal drive to learn linux, rooted in the philosophy of technological freedom, unrestricted by corporate whims. One day i hope to truly leave windows for a foss new world (does not need to be linux) and i hope sincere that on your own time, you will also join me there.
How is having to apply workarounds to keep windows working on old machines any different from troubleshooting the occasional linux issue? It's a rethorical question, the difference is that the workaround on Windows is mandatory while the Linux troubleshoot is nowadays rare and usually related to edge cases.
Some of the workarounds in this article are far more involved and convoluted than what I've ever had to do in 15 years of linux. Some are even dangerous for system stability and security. My very recent install of bazzite in a new laptop has been a perfectly out of the box it just works experience. Not even having to open the terminal. 100% friendly GUI without compromising flexibility, power and customizability. Today, suggesting linux with a solid desktop environment like KDE plasma is just foolproof. The end user will be using exactly the same knowledge and habits of Windows, without the harassment machine that is MS now. The change is not learning a new OS, is just switching a few assumptions on how some advanced things work.
Meanwhile I started on Bazzite, my display signal just stopped whenever there was load on the GPU, two days trying different things to make it work, switched to Mint, GPU works but wifi antenna doesn't, another couple hours to make it work... Windows? Install it and... Well, that's it, it just works.
Let's not pretend there isn't driver hell on Microsoft, sometimes its even worse than Linux.
I’ve had weird Linux issues similar to that before. However, I’ve also had weird Windows issues too where it didn’t “just work”. I’ve had 2 experiences that really stick out to me with Windows
The first was Intel ARC, I absolutely love the card I have and was using it on a dual boot system. Linux ran it like a dream under Mesa, I just had to install a few more packages to get GPU compute for things like Blender. But Windows was an entirely different story. The driver worked great but Windows update was the absolute worst thing to ever come out of this. I’d have my driver all up-to-date and Windows update would come along, and completely downgrade my driver, to this one specific driver (I don’t remember the exact version) that didn't even support Intel ARC Control. It would do this randomly too, sometimes during a game, or during Blender renders which caused those things to crash and waste hours of time. It also had a 50% chance to just completely blue screen my system, which lead to a broken/incomplete driver install. It was a mess
The other was with a friend’s laptop I was helping repair. It was running Windows 11 and kept blue screening left and right for what seemed like RAM and driver issues. Tried switching out the RAM sticks, ran Memtest86, all tested good. Tried a new SSD and a fresh install of Windows 11, same issue even before any drivers were even installed. Tried the same thing but with Windows 10 and it worked flawlessly. The laptop had full support with Windows 11 and no workarounds was necessary but Windows 11 just didn’t work at all.
Not to say that Linux has been a smooth ride the entire time, far from it. But Windows has been pretty much the same from my experience in terms of weird bugs and crashes.
TL;DR: I’ve had my fair share with Windows shenanigans, been way too many times where it didn’t “just work” as much I would’ve liked. From GPU drivers to the entire OS.
On Mint, you troubleshoot the wifi antenna following a guide once and then you're done. On Bazzite you probably just needed to click to change to X11 instead of plain Plasma, on the login screen. I would bet money that you have an Nvidia GPU. Sometimes Nvidia breaks the drivers support on Wayland. They intentionally neglect it in order to keep your kind of mentality around.
On Windows, MS is going to eventually fix the workarounds so you can't update your computer anymore.
All AMD setup
How long with working around the requirements work? If I need Windows, I’m not going to risk it.
Then get newer hardware, simple as that, anything from 2017 or more recent will work.
Yes, that’s what you should do to run Windows.
And then use the noncompliant hardware for Linux.
I think a lot of people have switched to Linux and realized it was just a lot better, myself included. It took me a bit to let the differences soak in, just like when I got my first smart phone but after a bit of using it and trying things out you realize you should have done it a long time ago
It's so annoying to see in literally every thread about windows
ITT: Stockholm Syndrome victims defending the abusive relationship they have with their OS.
Newsflash, honey: she doesn't respect you; she only wants to exploit you. It's time to break up!
Yes because never ever an user had abused their OS.
Newsflash honey: it's a fucking tool, it doesn't have feelings. It's your own choice to use it or not.
Man fuck these half baked parasocial analogies.
That's right: it is a fucking tool, which means nothing the user does to it or with it could possibly count as "abuse" by the user. An OS is supposed to exist to do exactly the computer owner's bidding; no more, no less.
But Microsoft certainly doesn't see it that way. Instead, Windows exists to do Microsoft' bidding, computer owner's rights be damned. It's Microsoft that's abusing you, by whoring you out to advertisers and subverting your property against you, when you use Windows.
Bro, it's true you can't disable certain things, but you can certainly break it. I can still use a previous version and not update. I can still pirate ltsc. I can remove or install any bullshit I want. It takes the same fucking time when configuring your Linux distro of choice, unattended or not.
I don't give a fuck what Microsoft thinks. I can still break their os to do what I want.
You're too self absorbed in Linux good windows bad.
Sure, you can work around Microsoft's intentional sabotage, in the same way that you can make excuses about "falling down stairs" when friends ask about the black eyes your abusive spouse gave you. But you shouldn't have to.
Oh and...
...no it fucking doesn't, BTW. (At least not unless you intentionally choose to use a 'difficult' distro like Arch or Gentoo.)
I don't think you know what unattended means.
Overall, no actual proper answers. Got it.
Who needs Windows? You need to use better applications. And if work requires Windows, this article still doesn't apply because it is the company's responsibility, not yours, and running on an unsupported machine is a security risk.
I use Linux and none of the programs I need for structural engineering work on Linux.
Trust me, I would totally ditch the dual boot if I could, but sadly, I can't
What are they called? What do you need for Linux that only works on Windows or Mac right now?
Revit, Tekla, AutoCAD, the usual. I have tried out FreeCAD but found it clunky to use comparably.
Try BriscCAD. It is very similar to AutoCAD and supports their files.
Revit seems to work fine with Wine, and although wineHQ reports Tekla performance as garbage, that was a very long time ago. It probably works better now.
Trust me, if you're used to the AutoCAD workflow and UI, BricsCAD is just different enough that it can be a bit jarring and a huge drop to your productivity.
Because of course there's absolutely no program a regular person outside of work could possibly need Windows for. None at all. Not a single application. Not a single game. Not a single piece of hardware they're using (like many laptops with hardware needing specific drivers that don't exist for linux).
Nope, absolutely nothing a regular user could have a need for Windows.
I didn't say all applications work. I said use better ones.
As for hardware, less computers support win11 than Linux. You can run Linux on 40 year old computers, and on brand new computers.
Ans this article is literally about bypassing the restrictions that were put in place to protect users with CPUs that have the specte and meltdown vulnerabilities. You're safer on win10 even after they stop supporting it than win11.
So just another variation of the "you're using it wrong" excuse. Gotcha.
If you'd rather risk becoming a botnet node than to even consider using alternative software then you are absolutely using it wrong.
If your computer doesn't support win11, then switching to Linux before win10 ends is the only right choice. The other less right choices are:
Stay on win10, Upgrade to win11 and disconnect it from the network and the internet permanently.
The worst choice is do what OP did.
OWC instructions for updating their firmware on macOS are basically "Install parallels. Install windows 11. Run the firmware updater."
https://eshop.macsales.com/support/owc-thunderbolt-3-dock
I'm sorry but "you need to use better applications" is very funny to read when most of the time the Linux open source alternative will never be as good as the product made by the company that has hundreds of paid employees working on it.
Except most big open source project are developed by companies, and only the tiny ones aren't. This applies to all open source projects on all platforms.
Also, most of them already are better. People just don't want to change their layouts and workflows. And people also don't value privacy, which if they would, they wouldn't rate the proprietary software as half as good.
You'd have a point there, if the company's aim was solely to make a better product; it's been increasingly about increasing their margins at the expense of the users, advertising as much as possible and buying out the competition.
otoh a lot of the most useful and enduring software ever made has been made by volunteers in their spare time