[Under Contruction]
Older PC and MAC hardware may not longer be “supported” by Apple or Microsoft although the hardware itself is fine
These machines need an “Operating System” to allow you to use them. This may get way out of date and become insecure and be unable to handle newer programs and functions
PC hardware runs some version of Microsoft Windows:
mnamed over time: 95, 98, XP, Windows 7, Windows 10 etc.
MAC hardware runs some version of the MAC Operating System (MACOS as its now called) Lion, High Sierra, Mojave and other funny names
When the company no longer wants to make updates or upgrades possible, either of these “Platforms” (MAC or PC)
can generally accept a free public up-to-date secure Operating System known as Linux
This comes in various flavors: Mint, Ubuntu, Debian, and many more
It will run “native” versions of mostly of the useful programs you are used to- and No generally you cannot run Windows or MAC software on Linux nor should you need to – Mostly.
We tend to use “Linux Mint with Cinnamon Desktop” because it makes the machine look most like what you may be used to. Al lot of the operations are the same and familiarity should not be a Problem
You Will not get Microsoft Edge or Explorer, Safari or Facetime, etc
you WILL be able to get latest Chrome and Firefox and can run almost anything from the Web you were used to