Breathing New Life into Old Machines: Why Linux Mint Hooked Me
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve revived two ageing computers that had been sitting around gathering dust. I didn’t just want them running again—I wanted them usable. Snappy. Reliable. Something that wouldn’t frustrate me, or anyone else (like an old relative) for that matter. That’s where Linux Mint came in. I started with the older of the two machines. It’s the kind of computer that struggles just opening a modern browser on Windows. I figured I’d go ultra-lightweight, so I installed Lubuntu first. On paper, it made sense. Light, efficient, barebones. But in practice… it felt awkward. The interface lacked polish, the settings felt scattered, and overall, it just wasn’t intuitive. I found myself imagining a specific family member—who’s almost 80 and has only ever used Windows (as far as I know)—trying to make sense of it. No chance. Then I tried Linux Mint Xfce , hoping for something a bit more refined but still lightweight. And while it was a step up, it still didn’t quite get...