Michal Kubecek composed on 2015-09-09 07:04 (UTC+0200):
gumb wrote:
Well, in the case of my folks' machine, a reinstall of the root partition with Mint, preservation of /home and a bit of reconfiguration and learning of Mint's system tools, shouldn't cost anything except a few hours or a couple of days of my time. A new or secondhand machine will be at least 150 UK pounds (if we're talking about anything of remotely satisfactory quality on a par with their old but reliable existing machine).
Depends on how you value your time. I checked the prices two days ago: for ~140 EUR (including Czech VAT which is one of the higher ones), you can have a motherboard, a two-core 64-bit CPU (with integrated GPU as a bonus) and 8 GB of memory; you can keep the rest of the system and get something that would, performance-wise, beat any common 32-bit machine by far.
Improved performance is not unusually a non-issue for single taskers doing email, shopping or social media. I don't know what it's like on the east side of the Atlantic, but here in the west, complete refurb (burned in, tested) 64 bit PCs are widely available off lease for less than the bargain mobo/CPU/RAM packages, and simpler for Joe Average to navigate through. Not every PC case can take a generic motherboard upgrade, and even when it can, the old PS may well fall short of the new hardware's requirements, mechanically and/or electrically. Not every openSUSE user is adept at motherboard swaps, or would even consider attempting such a task. Even when those are not a problem, there's still unique planning typically required if the new hardware is a different class, such as an old P4 being PATA on ICH4, while that new ~140 EUR is almost surely AMD and more surely not Intel and has no PATA port for the old HD and OM drive that were the norm prior to 64 bit CPU proliferation. Some of us oldsters are still using keyboards without equal in the modern world, and require a PS/2 port to use it, or even a DIN5 to PS/2 adapter. Likely at the very least a check on dracut's hostonly setting to see if an initrd rebuild will be required first in order to avoid post-transplant boot halting at an emergency shell explaining how to try to capture rdsosreport.txt but having nothing it can be written to due to absent driver(s). Surely most FOSS users find a new OS installation simpler than a combination heart, lung and brain transplant, and a goodly number of those would opt for a distro switch over hardware surgery or an entirely different machine, regardless of hardware price. -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse-factory+owner@opensuse.org