By the time that the UCRMN September newsletter comes out, you will have about 6 weeks before many of your computers will become obsolete. It was for this reason that there was a Zoom webinar concerning this problem, and its possible solution that will help keep between 300 and 400 million computers from ending up in landfills worldwide. I hope that you will look at some of the back issues of the UCRMN newsletters to examine how you can install a Linux operating system on one of these seemingly out-dated computers, so that you can have it function for many years to come.
Presently, the open source operating system Ubuntu 24.04 will receive updates of security and efficiency until 2029, and you can update it again, free, after that year! (24.04 means it was released in 2024 in April. Thus, the support is 5 years to 2029.) Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu, and it might be easier for beginners to start with.
https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop
https://linuxmint.com/download.php
Now, you must be questioning why Linux is not readily available on your computer when we go to the store and purchase it originally. Well, it is a truly controversial and convoluted story that is full of mystery and manipulation. I urge you to view the linked YouTube video to get an idea of how the computer industry really functions, and it is not always to the consumer’s benefit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38kKFgM7asI
Now you will realize that Linux runs almost everything behind the scenes of your computing experience, other than the consumer’s computer. Yes, your Android smartphone is Linux. Your smart television is Linux. Your Internet router is Linux. The servers that transmit all the information to your computer is Linux. Even NASA uses Linux! So, now what is stopping you from doing the same? Well, Microsoft tries to discourage you, but with its latest marketing strategy, Linux now has the opportunity to break the barrier of monopoly.
As a concluding note, this past month I went and purchased a “dumb phone”. It is the old “flip phone” design. The reason I switched from my Android phone (Android is Linux-based, but Google added its proprietary shell over it, which has made it a privacy nightmare.) However, my new “dumb phone” has an AOSP (Android Open Source Software Project) operating system on it. It may not be perfect, yet it does make great phone calls ans text messages. It even connects to the Internet with an open source browser. However, it does not send telemetry back to Google on my every search or movement. Yes, it it feels like liberation from the novel “1984”, which appears to be happening around us more and more daily.
So, should you want to update your terms of “Liberation Theology” in 2025, give open source a try.
P.S. I purchased a used Lenovo Thinkpad with a good Intel processor, but unable to update to Windows 11, for my daughter’s birthday recently from my local computer store. It now has Ubuntu 24.04 on it and some extra RAM. She wanted to play some video games on it. (Her old laptop was not up to the task.) Guess what? It plays her games perfectly! It saved a laptop from the landfill, and the cost was ½ that of a modern “gaming grade” computer. Oh yes, her old computer is Windows 11 compatible, so she can update it if she wishes to use for work purposes. A win/win. (Ubuntu is capable for work purposes too.)
Rev. Martin Dawson (retired), Cornwall, PEI