Shopsmith Forums

So what kind of hardware do you have and how old is it? Computers aren't like Shopsmiths, they don't last forever. The big problem in particular is software of the Microsoft variety, but even on more stable platforms decent hardware is still needed for some modern apps. Are you considering better hardware? Do you have Windows software you need to keep using?

I have to admit that I have a new perspective on a lot of these issues. Until I retired I had top flight resources available to keep my hardware and software working and up to date. I will be dealing with more of that myself now, but I can also let my wife take care of it since her work is more oriented around consumer technology anyway. But now it's not just knowing how lame some of these products are, now I have to pay for new hardware and software myself. That's a bummer.

OK so my computer is "old". I have older ones (from the 80's)that still work. They spoiled me. No unwanted features getting in the way from sloppy keyboarding. I get weary of new added things that require additional input so as to specify what I want to do. Case in point, I now get a popup that asks me WHERE to get something(computer/email/online/. . .) when I never get it from anywhere else than the computer. Added step.

BTW when a want to tell 'it' to do something I consider [ select/do you really want to/go ahead ]to be two steps(clicks) too many. I tolerate hover to select and click to 'go'. I hate double clicking.

I have about come to the realization that how I want(am accustomed) these "work aids" to function will never occur again in my lifetime and things will get progressively(sic) worse. I am amazed at the current amount of effort required catering to the OS needs than actually getting work done.

My experience is that the hardware lasts a lot longer than the software if the software(OS) is constantly being redefined. Backwards compatibility seems non existent as a design criteria today.

END RANT!

I've heard that "old" is a state of mind. I'm running a business grade HP computer built in 2013. I added a solid state hard drive when I first got it around 2016. I'm still perfectly happy with the performance of it. It was originally a Windows 7 machine that I changed over to Linux Mint. Currently I'm running the latest release of Mint, and performance is still great. The largest programs take only 1-2 seconds to open and run. I can't ask for more than that. I hope it lasts quite a few more years so I don't have to buy a different one yet.
If yours is a few years old, that doesn't matter. How well it is performing for you is what matters.

Oh I DO AGREE!!!! I think mint.cinnamon is in my future!

I wanted to learn more about linux so about 1 1/2 years ago I loaded it onto an old 2008 laptop w/4 gig ram. From what garys says it sounds like it's easier to install now than before. I had to download a prog called BalenaEtcher in order to install linux mint 20. But even so, it wasn't hard.
It works pretty good and fast. Then I upgraded to ver 21 or 22. That sill worked good until I ran youtube. That maxed out my ram and sooner or later froze the screen so I downgraded back to ver 20 (it was real easy to do; just plugged in my linux USB flashdrive and it works fine again. You can even run linux from the flashdrive to see how you like it before loading it onto the PC).They say they will support linux 20 into year 2025.
It works pretty much like windows but with its own versions of software like file managers and Libre office suite instead of Microsoft office.

To me, linux is like half windows, half DOS. You will have to do stuff on the terminal (command line). I used to be pretty good with DOS but I forgot 90% of what I knew. Mostly new terminology( i.e. Sudo apt update) that I still have alot of trouble with. You have to use and understand several new commands.

If you use just basic stuff such as firefox, spreadsheets, youtube, you probably won't have many issues. I use it mainly for Arduino (micro-controller) programming (it is many times faster doing this than win 10) but this is whereI had the problems with command lines.

If you go this route and your hardware works and you find you kinda like linux, there are many youtubes on how to best use it and which commands you use most.