what is recommended to replace win10

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tweake

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#3450641 7-Jan-2026 20:31

i just installed a cheap kvm. so far so good, no display issues yet. however 2nd pc probably won't get used much. only glitch was mouse didn't work straight away when i swapped over.

interesting side effect, as the kvm is on the desk and i have the wireless mouse plugged into it, the mouse now works a fair bit better.

mint is running nicely on the old pc. next on the list is to dual boot an old work laptop.

farcus

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#3450657 8-Jan-2026 00:05

SpartanVXL:

Anything with KDE is pretty straightforward Kubuntu is probably the most available.

Love KDE Plasma and have bene using it for about 15 years or more as my main DE.
However, I wouldn't choose it as a DE for older hardware. It's a BIG Beautiful DE that is so customisable, but is also a modern DE that requires modern hardware. (but having said that - uses a fraction of the resources of Win 11)

1024kb

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#3450715 8-Jan-2026 11:12

d3Xt3r:
also what works well on really old pc. i have a pc at work that runs win10 rather slowly (old i5 with sata hd) that i use now and then. i would love something i don't have to update every time i turn it on.

For really old PCs, Q4OS and Puppy Linux work very well.

Q4OS with Trinity DE consumes lesser resources than all the popular DEs (including XFCE, which is known to be very lightweight). Trinity also comes with some really cool built-in themes that makes it look like Windows 9x or XP, if you like classic looks.

Puppy Linux also is also optimised for older PCs, but more interestingly, it's designed to run entirely from your RAM, which makes it lightning fast even if you're using an old SATA drive. It's also optimised to run directly from flash drives, so maybe give Puppy a try first.

Running your OS from RAM, if you haven't tried it before, is an eye-opening experience - especially when compared to a mechanical SATA drive. Running from RAM is the maximum speed that the OS can possibly run at on your computer. You can add the boot parameter "toram" in Grub to make any distro run from RAM, but you do need more RAM than the size of the iso. Once you've booted toram, you can remove the USB drive, freeing up that port if necessary.

Just for the "been there, done that" addition to your IT arsenal, it's worth checking out.

Megabyte - so geek it megahertz

tweake

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#3453993 18-Jan-2026 15:46

with the mint going successfully, work upgraded one if the laptops so i got that to set up it for maintenance. eg read tech manuals, plc software etc. unfortunately that means still having win10 on it so i went for a dual boot.

and then the problems started.

first was to install Zorin, which installed but laptop would only boot to windows. so then i installed Mint. which would only boot to mint. after trying to repair boot order and reinstall grub, i found the issue. this laptop has a uefi setting auto legacy/uefi. trouble is the installer or grub picks up on the legacy part and thinks the pc is i386 and won't install grub, hence no bootloader. set it to uefi only then do a reinstall, then a windows fixup as that got damaged in all the shutdowns, which then upset the boot order, fix the boot order and its away laughing.

of course if you google it first thing that comes up is to turn it to uefi only. doh!

one big plus with mint as they have reasonable guides and troubleshooting pages. surprisingly mint cinnamon runs ok on old hardware, about the same as the win10.

fizzychicken

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#3453998 18-Jan-2026 17:14

I have various devices around the house for different purposes and over half are repurposed old things, some very old/low spec - all use either mint or some flavour of debian - though I do still have one intel nuc happily running windows 10
so like a lot of other people here, based on what you requested, I would +1 for Mint.

For the main things I do I use:

games - windows 11, cant avoid the fact that ALL games I have work on windows where as only 'some' work on other OS (that and its often effort I dont want to spend)
Work - windows 11, company is to deep into that software ecosystem
dev/personal/general internet stuff - Mint, does everything I need it to with ease, and I dont have to fight with it.
anything that requires secure/shenanigans/on the go - Tails - fits on my key chain, runs on almost anything, meets my needs.

https://keybase.io/fizzychicken

muppet

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#3454000 18-Jan-2026 17:19

Linux Mint works well for me, I'd give it a go.

It will have the problem that it will want to do upgrades every time you turn it on though... That's just because Mint keeps all the packages (installed apps) up to date too. So if there's a new Firefox it'll update it, new Chrome etc etc. This is good for your security.

You could turn this off (not recommended) and only update once every few months though if it really bothers you.

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