A New Life for an Old Friend
I really need a new laptop, but it is hard to justify the expense when I honestly use it so infrequently. I do virtually everything on my phone, including writing this and all my other blog posts. Despite the amazing utility of the modern smartphone, some things, like setting up and managing a blog, are just easier on an actual computer.
My old MacBook is from 2013. Which, in technology terms, is practically an ancient relic. It still works fine. Albeit it is a little slow and many of its applications no longer work. I can use it to browse the internet and type things, though. Which is really all I need it for. The biggest issue with it is that it is not supported by Apple anymore, so it is a pretty big security risk. I'm not much of a tech guru, but I understand that a lack of security updates can pose a problem.
So, inspired by some of you fine folks here on the indie web, (Thank you An Almost Anonymous Blog and Andreas (82MHz)!) I decided to take some time and breathe new life into my old MacBook Pro by installing Linux. This option has the benefit of saving me some money in the short term, gives me a challenge, and gives me something to write about.
I know absolutely nothing about Linux other than that it exists. I have never used it. I have never seen it run. I learn fast, though, and as a librarian, I'm pretty adept at searching out answers to questions.
Some very brief internet sleuthing recommended that I install the Linux Elementary OS as it works well with older computer hardware.
After this discovery, it was really just a matter of following the onscreen instructions provided on the Linux Elementary OS website. I had it downloaded, installed, and running in about an hour and a half. Pretty simple. All the data on this computer had been backed up previously on an external hard drive, so I was able to skip that step of the process.
I am happy to report that in my few hours of playing around on the new system, it seems to be running much faster than on the previous High Sierra OS. I do have to be careful about opening too many windows as that does still bog the system down. The computer only has 4GB of RAM installed so that is not too surprising.
Overall, I am happy with how the whole process worked out. I have a workable laptop for the price of a few hours' work. Hopefully, I have extended its life for a few more years.
Now I have one less excuse to get this blogging thing going.
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