Originally Posted By: Matt Finley
/interruption if I may

Can I hijack this a trifle and ask you who use Linux if you can recommend using Linux on an older laptop PC by booting from a USB stick? I've seen several references recently to the instructions to do this, primarily as a way to try Linux. I did that, maybe 15 years ago, but had no reason to continue. Now, with an aging laptop, I do, since I expect the performance of the equipment would be better. Thanks.

/end of interruption

An 8 year old laptop should be just fine for most Linux systems. Linux tends not to drop support for old hardware and 8 years is by no means old yet ... middle aged.

I've only ever used the USB-stick try out arrangements very temporarily and some are unable to save data on the stick, though all should allow data to be stored on an existing hard drive. You may have to 'mount' the hard drive to do that, though often it'll just appear on the desktop and you can open it normally.

There are several popular distributions around. Most will offer try on USB, install alongside existing, replace existing, roll your own custom installation. Most or possibly all are based upon Debian Linux, the 'stable' of which is about as mature and stable as you'll find, but it tends to evolve slowly. Derivatives are often more appropriate. There are several "best Linux Distros" pages around, but the choices become overwhelming. They'll all do everyday stuff like web, mail office, etc.. An increasing number of distributions offer a "long term support" bundle, that changes slower than the front line edition. To be honest, though, most I've used have been very well behaved in recent years. Most hardware is supported.

Ubuntu is well established looks rather Mac-like to my eyes, there are variants xubuntu or kubuntu which have different desktop styles as a default. I've used xubuntu for a long time.

Arch Linux has been around for some time and is popular.

Mint Linux ditto.

One that might be interesting is AV-Linux is now based on MX-Linux and customised for audio-visual work. It comes with a good stable low-latency core and a bunch or AV-related applications, all of which work well together. A particular aspect of this one is that Glen who manages it is careful to ensure that things like Wine support are stable for music ... Wine elsewise still sometimes has some issues. I've recently changed from xubuntu to AVL:MXE for my office platform. https://www.bandshed.net/avlinux/


https://itsfoss.com/best-linux-distributions/

Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11
BIAB2026 Audiophile, a bunch of other software.
Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts
.