Desktop/laptop computer alternatives

[Ron]

Google, Microsoft, Apple

Is it possible to put together a system that doesn’t use any of their products and still has good functionality?

What group of software would you recommend from OS through typical apps that doesn’t require being a tech guru to put together and keep running?

I have a box running Ubuntu and it’s just a pain in the a&& to get anything to connect to it, like routers, printers etc.

What is the ideal set up that is functional and doesn’t feed the tech leviathan giants?

[lee n. field]

If you won't want Microsoft, and don't want Apple, and you don't want a Chromebook, Linux is pretty much it for alternatives. It passed the Mom test a long time ago.

Mint Linux has a more traditional (less weird) interface than Ubuntu.

I have a box running Ubuntu and it’s just a pain in the a&& to get anything to connect to it, like routers, printers etc.

Stray from Winders/MacOS, and you have to deal with this, yeah.  And this stuff can be a PITA to get to work in Windows, too.

Dealing with routers is just networking.  Deal with that usually through a web gui on the device.

Printing?  What printer, exactly?  HP's Linux support is very good, which is why that's what I bought last time I needed to get a printer.  Other brands, not necessarily as good.

[Ron]

I knew I should have gone with Linux.

My buddy who has played around with this stuff was familiar with Ubuntu and convinced me to go that route.

Maybe I’ll just start from scratch and go Linux.

I’m surprised there isn’t a market for desktops that are clean of all the big name tech companies and their shenanigans.

[lee n. field]

Ubuntu is one variety (of many) of Linux.

https://linuxmint.com/download.php.  About as easy as I have seen Linux get.

[Ron]

Ahh, the plot thickens.

So maybe Mint Linux will be more intuitive for me then, got it.

Currently not online except through mobile devices so my desktop is collecting dust.

Just trying to game plan what I’m going to do when I’m back online.

[TechMan]

Don't buy a Dell laptop as it is part owned by Microsoft.

[lee n. field]

Ahh, the plot thickens.

So maybe Mint Linux will be more intuitive for me then, got it.

Intuitive, if one is used to the Windows start menu type interface.

[Perd Hapley]

Keep us updated. Some of us may wish to do similar.

[Ben]

I've been kinda outa touch with the latest-greatest for a while, but I don't think you're going to find any flavor of Linux that is as "plug and play" as MS or Apple. After I retired, I was thinking of just going to Linux, using Libre Office, etc. However there were just too many things that I used on a regular basis that required hoops to jump through and workarounds to get them to work with Linux.

I agree with Lee that Mint is one of the best/easiest flavors out there, in fact it's what I run on my VM. However for everything from printers/scanners to wearable devices, etc., it's just much quicker and easier to use Windoze, especially given what many device manufacturers support and don't support. Also especially if you just want to use your computer as a computer user vs a computer nerd, and just want to plug stuff in and have it work.

Now if all you're doing is web browsing and basic "office software" tasks, Mint could work very well for you. Libre Office is every bit as good as MS Office (if not better), as long as you don't have to interface with MS Office products, say for work documents.

[Phantom Warrior]

Ben hit the nail on the head.  If all you want do is basic web browsing and word processing Linux is worth trying.  But we have a lot of threads around here about getting old printers and bargain bin Android tablets and other random devices to work successfully.  Those are a challenge with Windows.  They may be nearly impossible with Linux.

If you are one of those type of users I would be very wary of trying Linux.  Unless you are willing to put a lot of effort into it and risk ultimately being disappointed.  Like it or not, Windows is the best option for things to just work.  It only gets more complicated from there.

[Perd Hapley]

It doesn't sound like convenience is Ron's goal, here. He seems to want to avoid entanglements with Big Tech.

[Ben]

It doesn't sound like convenience is Ron's goal, here. He seems to want to avoid entanglements with Big Tech.

If wishes was horses we'd all be eatin' steak.  

I don't know of any way of avoiding "big tech" without stepping back to the 1990s regarding convenience and integration. Really, you would have to turn in your smart phone as well and go to a flipper.

I totally empathize with Ron. I'm all the time thinking of ways to avoid the corps he named from tracking everything I do and overly-integrating themselves into my life, not to mention my political disagreements with a couple of them. However there is a lot of stuff I do every day where the convenience, and lets face it, extraordinarily cool tech, is about too good to pass up.

If someone is happy getting along without all that stuff,  I say more power to them and maybe someday I'll be able to "cut the cord" myself. Or maybe there will be more software/hardware designers coming out with the "duckduckgo" philosophy that rival Google tech and data.

[Regolith]

Ubuntu is one variety (of many) of Linux.

https://linuxmint.com/download.php.  About as easy as I have seen Linux get.

Another vote for Linux Mint. I tried out a whole bunch of Linux distros a while back, and Mint is defnitely the most user-friendly. Place I work at right now has a bunch of boxes with Mint on them and half the employees don't even realize they're not working on Windows...

Mint also comes Google-free by default. It's not even the default search engine used by the browser.

[Hawkmoon]

Is Mint lighter on resources than Windows 7 or Windows 10, or heavier? I was given an older Dell desktop several months ago, that was still running Windows XP. I did some hardware swapping and got it running, and then I upgraded it to either Win7 or Win10 (don't remember which, I haven't looked at it for quite some time). It works, but it's a bit sluggish. Might it run faster with Linux Mint?

[Regolith]

Is Mint lighter on resources than Windows 7 or Windows 10, or heavier?

Much lighter, particularly if you go with the Xfce version.