Alsoā¦ the amount of money Iāve saved by being able to revive old hardware! I havenāt bought a new computer in 11 years. My computer before that (and still working) was a gift in 2006ā¦ that bitch is old enough to vote.
I have other computers that people have given to me because they were ājust too old,ā but for me, it was an upgrade. I revived a windows 98-era HP a few years ago, just so I could use the 9-pin connection to fix my bricked OG Xbox that I was modding.
Granted, I donāt game on PC or require heavy lifting (though I am saving for a personal build, because thereās some hobbies I just canāt do without a good desktop), but for everyday use, I have more than enough.
I currently have 4 āworkingā computers. Two of them are my main, one still needs to be āreinvigoratedā (itās 18 years old), and one is my server.
I have a 5th desktop that was given to me (because it was too slow/old), and it just recently crapped out on me (either because of windows bullshit, or a bad hdd. But I have my hunches). So itās about to be revived when I have time.
Hardest part was getting my wife onboard with switching to Linux, instead of buying a new computer. But now sheās getting ready to switch her Mac to Linux because itās been struggling. And I think sheās starting to realize that a brand-new computer isnāt really ānecessaryā, if all youāre doing is email, browsing web, and editing docs. Shit, our phones can handle most of that; you donāt need a $1k+ computer for that, or pay for windows software that will barely work on the hardware you have.
So yeahā¦ end rant. Absolutely love how much Linux has breathed new life into my old hardware. Has saved me time and time again, as well as a bunch of money. I definitely need to throw a donation at a distro, cause they have saved me more than just money at this point