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funny little thing called linux mint

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

We have a laptop that's perfect for our five year old to watch DVD's and downloaded stuff. It's got a great display and otherwise it's a severely battered old clunker from 2006 that we don't mind putting in the hands of the kids. He also uses it for things like practicing spelling.

The only problem is that every time I reinstall Windows XP, the performance inevitably degrades and it can't even play the videos.

So last night I rebuilt the system using a new operating system that I'd come across. It's called "Linux Mint". Odd-ball name aside: this thing is great. After installing the OS I didn't have to do ANY software installations, any tweaking of configuration, or any of the usual Linux workarounds for things that just slip through the cracks. There were no cracks. Even the Belkin PCMCIA Wifi card worked on the first installation (that's right, PCMCIA, I did say it that the thing dates to 2006). And it's got a full office installation via Libre Office.

Buh-bye Windows XP. Depending on how well this works, I might rebuild my Mac Mini using this OS.