1 Introduction
Hi again! This is the first of a series of posts related to my recent journey from Windows to Linux. This first post will cover the reasons why I decided to migrate to Linux and further posts will explain the process. I also want to state beforehand that this post will be highly bias against Windows. Continue reading to see why. Let’s get started.
2 Some history
I bought this Lenovo IdeaPad U410 in January 2013 and spent US$729.95. Some of the laptop specs are:
Intel Core i7-3517U @1.9 GHz
8 GB of RAM
750 GB HDD and a second 25 GB SSD
No optical drive
The laptop came with Windows 8 pre-installed, then upgraded to Windows 8.1, and finally upgraded to Windows 10.
It was a pretty powerful computer by that time, but after all those system upgrades (?) you can imagine what happened: it started “to get old”. By the beginning of 2017, I started to read about how to wipe out Windows from the hard drive and install Linux, but I faced a tremendous challenge (at least for me): I could not access the BIOS, disable UEFI, change the booting order, and install Linux.
NOTE: If you don’t know what the terms in the last sentence mean, don’t panic. I will explain them later, but for the moment keep in mind that the installation process was not going to be straightforward.
Reading out there in the wild web, it seems that when Windows upgraded (?) from 8 to 8.1 something made impossible to access the BIOS. Lenovo fixed the problem and released a new BIOS version, but in order to recover the access, you have to flash the BIOS. This is a delicate process and you can screw things up easily, so if you are not completely sure about what you are doing it would be better to hold back.
On July 2017 I moved to the US to start my master’s program and decided to postpone the OS migration. You can’t risk to screw your computer up when you are bombed with deadlines. Fast forward to December 2018: the laptop was really slow and I had to take remedial measures, i.e., spend other US$730 in a new Windows laptop or install Linux.
3 Initial steps
I did what (I think) most people would have done: 1) ask friends whose computer expertise is higher than yours and 2) google your problem, ask in forums, etc.
Option 1) was really disappointing: “Buy a new computer” was all I got. I was not going to spend money because Micro$oft had flooded my computer with crap which was, clearly, draining my resources. See the following screenshot:
Do you think I installed “Bubble Witch 3 Saga”, “Microsoft Solitaire Collection”, or “Disney Magic Kingdoms”? The answer is DEFINITELY NO. And here it comes the moment when I say Windows is a virus, according to Wikipedia virus definition:
“Computer viruses currently cause billions of dollars’ worth of economic damage each year, due to causing system failure, wasting computer resources, corrupting data, increasing maintenance costs, etc.”
The connection between the definition and Windows is crystal clear. I don’t care whether it’s mining bitcoins or sending reports about the user’s behaviour: if it’s draining your resources, then that piece of software is a VIRUS.
4 Windows updates
This is another painful “feature” of Windows. The fact that, while Windows updates, you are no longer in control of your computer is insane. It doesn’t matter if you really need the computer at that moment, you are not able to pause or stop the update process. And this gets even worse if you live in a place where your Internet connection is not even decent (like me)… Windows updates can take ages!.
Imagine updating Windows with this connection:
But don’t let me be misunderstood: by no means I want an OS that doesn’t update. All I want is to decide when the updates are going to be installed, just like in Linux :)
More details about this (and other reasons to stop using Windows) are in Chris Titus Tech YouTube channel; see here and here.
5 Conclusion
My experience in Linux is being awesome so far. I literally recovered my computer without wasting US$730. The next posts will describe the process of flashing the BIOS for this Lenovo IdeaPad U410 and how to install Linux itself.
In the meantime, I look forward to reading your own experience with your OS. Have you tried different OSs? How was your experience? Leave a comment and let us know.
Thank you!