New to this forum

[Mauvve Knight]

Hello, all,

I'm new to this forum and I think it would be nice to introduce myself.

My age is 56 years, married and I work for ministry of Defence in the Netherlands.

I got influenced by the computer virus when I was about 12 years old with the Commodore 64 I got as birthday present. Afterwards I played with Apple II, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Commodore 128 PC's varying from MS-DOS to Windows to Apple Mac OS. A long time. I've been trying CP/M (Commodore 128), machine language on both Commodore 64 and 128. Learning MS-DOS from 2.0 up until last available version. Windows since 3.11 and up to Windows Vista. After Windows I switched to Apple in 2011 and still using Apple MacOS, iOS and WatchOS. IN MacOS I've been using Command Line a lot to access 'hidden features' and I think everybody knows Apple uses FreeBSD Darwin. And yes, in those years I have tried Linux (both CLI and XWindows) but I didn't have that Yes! feeling.

Reason I started using Linux is I have a Apple MacBook Air 2012 with 4 GB RAM and 480 GB SSD which isn't supported by Apple any longer (they call it vintage). I could not login onto my iCloud anymore with this MacBook Air so it was unusable for me with Apple Catalina on it. This laptop got 'burried' into a drawer because I didn't know what to do with it.

Until I bought myself an Korg Arranger Keyboard PA4X. After a discussion on a forum regarding Korg products about why it shouldn't be possible to install an OS from a newer keyboard onto a previous model while mainboard of both models are exactly the same. I looked closely (read: deep dive into Hex-codes) OS'es from those keyboards and I was surprised to see both are running at Linux Mint.

I got curious about Linux Mint and tried it onto that old MacBook Air using a bootable USB drive and it worked like a charm. After testdriving I installed Mint and I'm glad to work with it. It is fairly easy to work with and I'm using that laptop for my music more and more.

 

[Brickwizard]

Welcome to the forums,

 

[tpkusr]

Welcome to the forum @Mauvve Knight

 

[KGIII]

Welcome aboard! I like to think we're the friendliest Linux forum on the 'net. Of course, I'm biased.

As for your age, many of the regulars are older than you are. I suppose that makes sense. We old people don't have to spend 40 hours working (and another 10 hours commuting). So, we have more time than those still in the workforce.

But we'll have had similar experiences. For example, many of us will have used many of the devices you remember from your younger years. There's a lot of commonality here, with Linux being the biggest trait.

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

Welcome!

 

[bob466]

Welcome to the Forum.

 

[wizardfromoz]

G'day @Mauvve Knight from DownUnder and welcome to linux.org

Glad to hear you are up and running with your Mint, and enjoying it.

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

 

[MikeRocor]

Hi Mauvve Knight, and welcome aboard. It sounds like your journey to Linux has been long and interesting

If you're still dabbling with the 8-bit Commodores and assembly, I'd be curious to hear your take on 6502 assembly vs Z-80 assembly. I played with both many years ago and found the difference between the two to be quite educational.

 

[kc1di]

Hello @Mauvve Knight
Welcome to the Linux.org forum, enjoy!

 

[Mauvve Knight]

Hi, Mike!

Hi Mauvve Knight, and welcome aboard. It sounds like your journey to Linux has been long and interesting

If you're still dabbling with the 8-bit Commodores and assembly, I'd be curious to hear your take on 6502 assembly vs Z-80 assembly. I played with both many years ago and found the difference between the two to be quite educational.

Thnx for your welcome message, really appreciate it (just like all other messages)!

I'm not playing with both 6502 and Z80 assemblies anymore but have good memories of both of them, really good sources for learning.

I forgot to tell what has been one of the reasons I'm trying Linux. As most of you guys know Apple's support for its hardware is getting harsh: both latops and desktops are being supported maximum 10 years:

Younger than 5 years	Called "New", fully supported.
Between 5 and 7 years	Called "Supported", some functions in new OS not working.
Between 7 and 10 years	Called "Vintage". Not able to install new OS but still getting security updates.
Older than 10 years	Called "Obsolete". Totally no support, even hardware no longer available Apple ways.

As soon your laptop or desktop is older than 10 years you're on your own. My MacBook Air 2012 is still functioning okay but latest version of MacOS possible don't work with Apple Cloud accounts anymore. For me useless because of being a fishing net for malware... A pity but I'm afraid it is the same for Windows...

Another reason: sometimes I work at home and have to use a remote access to companys network using an USB 2.0 pen drive with Ubuntu Linux preinstalled. And guess what, I cannot boot from that drive using my MacBook Pro because of T2 chip and lack of USB 2.0 ports...

Last reason: I haved to get 'out of area' sometimes for my boss and I'd rather take a Linux machine with than a laptop barely supported.

With that all written, chances are I'm switching to Linux for every days use sooner or later. Do I have to keep stuck on Apples environment regarding expensive laptops/desktops with lack of longer support? No. I keep using iPhone and iPad and thus keep my cloud working as well and I can access all my inforation using internet. Thank heaven there is Linux!

 

[MikeRocor]

None of my stuff is from Apple but all of my desktop and laptop hardware is over the ten year mark.

 

[Brickwizard]

Apple's support for its hardware is getting harsh: both latops and desktops are being supported maximum 10 years:

None of my kit is apple [although i do occasionally repair them] My laptop is modern [2018] my desktop is middle-aged [2015] and the old dell chassis i occasionally use is OLD [2010] with only 2 GB ram but all run a selection of Linux with LMDE being my main drive.

 

[Fymgee]

I got curious about Linux Mint and tried it onto that old MacBook Air using a bootable USB drive and it worked like a charm.

Welcome aboard!

One of the things I like most about Linux is installing it on legacy hardware. It's good to hear your MacBook Air is working fine! Enjoy it!