Back to 2003 in 2023

[richmond62]

So, having inherited my father's 20 year old Toshiba 32-bit laptop that had
been running Xubuntu and getting extremely clunky . . .

. . . I installed Mint XFCE on the thing and it became even slower . . .

. . . loathe to chuck the thing out I installed Kali Linux 'rolling' 32-bit
and the thing has sped up quite considerably . . .

. . . So, needless to say, I installed LC 9.6.3 Community 32-bit on the thing,
and that runs like a charm . . .

AND, the most amazing thing is that LC 9.6.3 "goes all black" in line with
the Kali Linux dark theme:
-

[FourthWorld]

Kali? Studying for CISSP?

[richmond62]

No, I am not (at the age of 60) aiming to go in for
internet forensics and so on, although I am sure
it is extremely interesting.

Nothing nearly as exotic.

I want an up to date system that allows me to use father's
20 year old Toshiba (that functions at 100% on a
a physical level) as something a bit more than a sluggish
piece of junk.

As Xubuntu (which Dad used) has discontinued 32-bit
versions, and Mint Linux reduced it to a crawl, Kali Linux caught my eye.

I have mucked the Applications menu around using alacarte so ALL the forensic apps are hidden, and 'boiled things down' to LibreOffice, VLC, GIMP, Inkscape, Firefox, Fontforge and LiveCode 9.6.3 community 32-bit, thereby allowing me to do exactly what I want without having to buy a new laptop as my ACER 64-bit, which is about 6 years old, is starting to misbehave.

[FourthWorld]

Thanks. I hadn't realized Xubuntu dropped 32-bit, and checking now it seems Lubuntu has as well. Understandable; maintaining their own repo infrastructure would be prohibitively expensive.

Good to see Kali is viable for 32-bit, at least for now.

[richmond62]

I realise that maintaining 32-bit hardware is a bit like chasing something down a rabbit hole,
but, as my Dad's laptop works and I am sentimentally attached to it, I will try to keep it
running as long as I feasibly can.

AND, as I have installed Sorbet Leopard on a few G4 and G5 PPC Macs I have they are enjoying
a resurrection that was quite unlooked for, and are, at the moment, happily chuntering away rendering
images in Bryce 7.

[FourthWorld]

I'm a big fan of keeping things out of landfills. My bicycle turned 20 last year, and has taught me a lot about maintenance. I prefer repairing over replacing.

With computers, 32-bit was a while ago, but not so long ago that they're without utility. Last year I had to replace a small server I keep on my desk (the one that continually aggregates content for LiveNet), and it was a shame because it's functional, just not supported by the packages I run in it.

So hats off to your efforts to keep computing gear out of landfills a little longer. Fingers crossed you can shoot enjoy another few years with it.