Many laptop owners (and desktop PCs too) have been greeted when trying to update their machines to Windows 11 by Microsoft’s message: ‘This PC doesn’t currently meet the minimum system requirements to run Windows 11’. It then goes on to point you to their Health Check app.
You don’t need to get things sorted immediately since Microsoft has promised to keep Windows 10 ‘alive’ with regular updates until 14th October 2025. But you can avoid having to go out and spend money on a new laptop or PC.
This challenge has been just the one that Clarborough and Welham IT Group has been struggling with since Covid-19 closed classes. With (currently) eight laptops and a desktop PC, costs to replace all of these promised to be considerable. However, organisers have found an alternative to Windows 11 that has been working – Ubuntu Linux!
The Linux Operating System (OS) is based on the Unix OS which powers most big business and government computer systems around the world. Linux was created by Linus Torvalds, a software engineer from Finland who designed the kernal of what became known as the Linux Operating System. His key belief was that computers should be something that everyone was entitled to, so he made this software available as open source which means it is free, free to copy and free to modify – quite a contrast to the copyright-protected, proprietary, systems such as Microsoft’s and Apple’s.
Since its original releases in the early 1990s, Linux OS has evolved into quite a range of distros (distributions) of which Ubuntu Linux is one of the most common.
The group’s Ubuntu Linux PC is totally comparable with their Windows 11 PC. Both PCs have Libre Office installed, the open source equivalent of Microsoft Office365 which can both read and write Office365 files. Both PCs use Firefox web browsers and both use Gimp image processors to do all of my image editing tasks. Both can access the internet, play music and videos with their installed apps but the Linux PC has the advantage of ease of access to the vast range of open-source applications covering all of the possible uses of the PC. Interestingly, Microsoft’s Store has started to host some of these open-source apps such as Gimp – maybe an indication that they see how competition is changing?
So, no you don’t need to buy a new computer.
Clarborough and Welham IT Group has installed Linux as a completely new OS on Windows 10 hardware although one laptop will have both Windows 10 and Ubuntu Linux installed so that classes can resume with the ability to introduce classes to the whole world of Ubuntu Linux.
Watch this space for details of the IT Group’s classes that are planned to resume in September 2023. This will start with a free session on a Saturday afternoon in early September providing a hands-on introduction to Ubuntu Linux. These classes will also be able to advise Windows 10 laptop owners of local providers for Linux installations.
For more information email clarboroughwelham@gmail.com or phone 01777 700918.