e-flat minor 853
New Member
I've been stuck using a Windows 8.1 box but that is end of life soon. I plan to install Linux on it. I've read some on various forums, including here, about various flavors of Linux. I'm thinking of Debian and Mint but am open to anything.
I've been using computers for a long time. My favorite OS was always OS/2 (which I still use.) I wrote in Basic, Fortran and APL decades ago. I'm not afraid of the command line, editing ini files, doing manual installations, using wildly different desktops, modifying settings, etc. etc. I detest Windows and Mac because of the training wheels and guard rails treatment of users, not to mention the spyware aspect.
In choosing which to install, it seems to me the most important thing is to make sure the hardware in my box is supported. Does that make sense?
I have this:
Acer Aspire TC-120
AMD A10-6700 (64-bit)
Chipset AMD A78
BIOS American Megatrends Inc. P11-A4, 04/26/16 | SMBIOS Version 2.8 | BIOS Mode UEFI
A 2020 BIOS update is available but I saw lots of users bricked their computers with this and Acer didn't help them at all.
Soon to be 32GB RAM
Soon to be a new SDD
Graphics AMD Radeon HD 8670D
Realtek RTL8168 Integrated Gigabit Ethernet Controller for PCI Express (w/SPI)
Qualcomm Atheros AR956x Wireless Network Adapter
IEEE 802.11b/g/n
This box isn't near the router, so it will need to communicate with the router via WiFi. As a last resort I could move it to another room and connect to the router via cable, but I don't really want to do that.
Analog Devices ADI 198x Integrated HD Audio
AMD USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller
Does anything look unusual, or will it be hard to find drivers in most Linux distributions?
Thanks
I've been using computers for a long time. My favorite OS was always OS/2 (which I still use.) I wrote in Basic, Fortran and APL decades ago. I'm not afraid of the command line, editing ini files, doing manual installations, using wildly different desktops, modifying settings, etc. etc. I detest Windows and Mac because of the training wheels and guard rails treatment of users, not to mention the spyware aspect.
In choosing which to install, it seems to me the most important thing is to make sure the hardware in my box is supported. Does that make sense?
I have this:
Acer Aspire TC-120
AMD A10-6700 (64-bit)
Chipset AMD A78
BIOS American Megatrends Inc. P11-A4, 04/26/16 | SMBIOS Version 2.8 | BIOS Mode UEFI
A 2020 BIOS update is available but I saw lots of users bricked their computers with this and Acer didn't help them at all.
Soon to be 32GB RAM
Soon to be a new SDD
Graphics AMD Radeon HD 8670D
Realtek RTL8168 Integrated Gigabit Ethernet Controller for PCI Express (w/SPI)
Qualcomm Atheros AR956x Wireless Network Adapter
IEEE 802.11b/g/n
This box isn't near the router, so it will need to communicate with the router via WiFi. As a last resort I could move it to another room and connect to the router via cable, but I don't really want to do that.
Analog Devices ADI 198x Integrated HD Audio
AMD USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller
Does anything look unusual, or will it be hard to find drivers in most Linux distributions?
Thanks