With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that
are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file
server for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do
anything else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous obsolescences.
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are >working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server for >other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything else, so >that it could be safely left unsupported.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous >obsolescences.
nib
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server
for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything
else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous obsolescences.
nib
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server
for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything
else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous obsolescences.
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are
working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server
for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything
else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Look into Windows 10 LTSC? You only get it officially with W10 Enterprise but I don't know if there are workarounds.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous
obsolescences.
If it's going to be a server, it's probably better as Ubuntu or one of the DIY NAS distros anyway.
Theo
That's probably what I'll do. I just have this uncertainty each time
that it might not work with Linux!
Apart from Red Hat many years ago I've only used Ubuntu, and though I've always succeeded somehow in the past there have been hairy moments,
typically when at first boot after installation it comes up with no
wireless, or even no network at all, and you're Googling like mad to
find out what (proprietary?) drivers you have to explicitly install or enable.
On 2025-04-26 20:05, Theo wrote:
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are
working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server
for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything
else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Look into Windows 10 LTSC? You only get it officially with W10
Enterprise
but I don't know if there are workarounds.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous
obsolescences.
If it's going to be a server, it's probably better as Ubuntu or one of
the
DIY NAS distros anyway.
Theo
That's probably what I'll do. I just have this uncertainty each time
that it might not work with Linux!
Apart from Red Hat many years ago I've only used Ubuntu, and though I've always succeeded somehow in the past there have been hairy moments,
typically when at first boot after installation it comes up with no
wireless, or even no network at all, and you're Googling like mad to
find out what (proprietary?) drivers you have to explicitly install or enable.
On 2025-04-26 20:05, Theo wrote:
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that
are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file
server for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do
anything else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Look into Windows 10 LTSC? You only get it officially with W10
Enterprise but I don't know if there are workarounds.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous
obsolescences.
If it's going to be a server, it's probably better as Ubuntu or one
of the DIY NAS distros anyway.
That's probably what I'll do. I just have this uncertainty each time
that it might not work with Linux!
Apart from Red Hat many years ago I've only used Ubuntu, and though
I've always succeeded somehow in the past there have been hairy
moments, typically when at first boot after installation it comes up
with no wireless, or even no network at all, and you're Googling like
mad to find out what (proprietary?) drivers you have to explicitly
install or enable.
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server
for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything
else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous obsolescences.
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be strapped down so that it can exist on a local network asa file server for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous obsolescences.nib
On Sat, 26 Apr 2025 20:17:22 +0100
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
On 2025-04-26 20:05, Theo wrote:I don't know if you already have a server running, but if not, there
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that
are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file
server for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do
anything else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Look into Windows 10 LTSC? You only get it officially with W10
Enterprise but I don't know if there are workarounds.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous
obsolescences.
If it's going to be a server, it's probably better as Ubuntu or one
of the DIY NAS distros anyway.
are various useful things you can do with something permanently on. If
you use a general-purpose distribution, these things remain options for
the future.
That's probably what I'll do. I just have this uncertainty each time
that it might not work with Linux!
There was a time when I'd have suggested trying Knoppix from disc or
USB, and if everything works OK then the computer will work with any
Debian or derivative, with maybe a bit of fiddling. Unfortunately, this
isn't produced any more, and the latest version is about four years old (9.1). If the hardware at least as old as that, it's still a good test.
https://www.knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html
Apart from Red Hat many years ago I've only used Ubuntu, and though
I've always succeeded somehow in the past there have been hairy
moments, typically when at first boot after installation it comes up
with no wireless, or even no network at all, and you're Googling like
mad to find out what (proprietary?) drivers you have to explicitly
install or enable.
I'm sure you know that this is because the firmware does not have
source code available, so pure Debian does not contain it. But the
current Debian 12 (Bookworm) installers do contain non-free firmware,
though I'm guessing that you probably need to run the installer in
Expert mode to be given the option.
On Sun, 4/27/2025 4:16 AM, Joe wrote:
On Sat, 26 Apr 2025 20:17:22 +0100
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
On 2025-04-26 20:05, Theo wrote:I don't know if you already have a server running, but if not, there
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that
are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file
server for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do
anything else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Look into Windows 10 LTSC? You only get it officially with W10
Enterprise but I don't know if there are workarounds.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous
obsolescences.
If it's going to be a server, it's probably better as Ubuntu or one
of the DIY NAS distros anyway.
are various useful things you can do with something permanently on. If
you use a general-purpose distribution, these things remain options for
the future.
That's probably what I'll do. I just have this uncertainty each time
that it might not work with Linux!
There was a time when I'd have suggested trying Knoppix from disc or
USB, and if everything works OK then the computer will work with any
Debian or derivative, with maybe a bit of fiddling. Unfortunately, this
isn't produced any more, and the latest version is about four years old
(9.1). If the hardware at least as old as that, it's still a good test.
https://www.knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html
Apart from Red Hat many years ago I've only used Ubuntu, and though
I've always succeeded somehow in the past there have been hairy
moments, typically when at first boot after installation it comes up
with no wireless, or even no network at all, and you're Googling like
mad to find out what (proprietary?) drivers you have to explicitly
install or enable.
I'm sure you know that this is because the firmware does not have
source code available, so pure Debian does not contain it. But the
current Debian 12 (Bookworm) installers do contain non-free firmware,
though I'm guessing that you probably need to run the installer in
Expert mode to be given the option.
[Picture]
https://i.postimg.cc/6QjVvLBp/knoppix-9-1.jpg
According to "top", it doesn't have much of a memory footprint.
It's mainly meant as a portable boot OS (from a stick or DVD).
while you can install it, that wasn't the original design intent.
And the above setup has Compiz running, which is an acquired taste.
The kernel on that one is 5.10, which is good for older equipment.
That is more likely to work with the graphics cards in refugee systems.
I happened to have that one in my DVD collection. But you can put it
on a USB stick, using rufus.ie tool. When the boot prompt comes up,
you can enter
knoppix64
to boot it. But the boot line also accepts parameters such as "noacpi",
which helps it boot on much older computers. If you do that though,
at shutdown you will see a "Win98-like prompt", such as
"It is safe to shut down your computer now", as that is
an APM prompt :-) You only use noacpi, if it absolutely won't boot.
Paul
On 27/04/2025 15:59, Paul wrote:
On Sun, 4/27/2025 4:16 AM, Joe wrote:
On Sat, 26 Apr 2025 20:17:22 +0100
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
On 2025-04-26 20:05, Theo wrote:I don't know if you already have a server running, but if not, there
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that >>>>>> are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be >>>>>> strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file
server for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do >>>>>> anything else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Look into Windows 10 LTSC? You only get it officially with W10
Enterprise but I don't know if there are workarounds.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous >>>>>> obsolescences.
If it's going to be a server, it's probably better as Ubuntu or one
of the DIY NAS distros anyway.
are various useful things you can do with something permanently on. If
you use a general-purpose distribution, these things remain options for
the future.
That's probably what I'll do. I just have this uncertainty each time
that it might not work with Linux!
There was a time when I'd have suggested trying Knoppix from disc or
USB, and if everything works OK then the computer will work with any
Debian or derivative, with maybe a bit of fiddling. Unfortunately, this
isn't produced any more, and the latest version is about four years old
(9.1). If the hardware at least as old as that, it's still a good test.
https://www.knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html
Apart from Red Hat many years ago I've only used Ubuntu, and though
I've always succeeded somehow in the past there have been hairy
moments, typically when at first boot after installation it comes up
with no wireless, or even no network at all, and you're Googling like
mad to find out what (proprietary?) drivers you have to explicitly
install or enable.
I'm sure you know that this is because the firmware does not have
source code available, so pure Debian does not contain it. But the
current Debian 12 (Bookworm) installers do contain non-free firmware,
though I'm guessing that you probably need to run the installer in
Expert mode to be given the option.
[Picture]
https://i.postimg.cc/6QjVvLBp/knoppix-9-1.jpg
According to "top", it doesn't have much of a memory footprint.
It's mainly meant as a portable boot OS (from a stick or DVD).
while you can install it, that wasn't the original design intent.
And the above setup has Compiz running, which is an acquired taste.
The kernel on that one is 5.10, which is good for older equipment.
That is more likely to work with the graphics cards in refugee systems.
I happened to have that one in my DVD collection. But you can put it
on a USB stick, using rufus.ie tool. When the boot prompt comes up,
you can enter
knoppix64
to boot it. But the boot line also accepts parameters such as "noacpi",
which helps it boot on much older computers. If you do that though,
at shutdown you will see a "Win98-like prompt", such as
"It is safe to shut down your computer now", as that is
an APM prompt :-) You only use noacpi, if it absolutely won't boot.
Paul
Whats the latest version of Knoppix and when was the last update?
On 2025-04-26 20:05, Theo wrote:
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are
working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server
for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything
else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Look into Windows 10 LTSC? You only get it officially with W10
Enterprise
but I don't know if there are workarounds.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous
obsolescences.
If it's going to be a server, it's probably better as Ubuntu or one of
the
DIY NAS distros anyway.
Theo
That's probably what I'll do. I just have this uncertainty each time
that it might not work with Linux!
Apart from Red Hat many years ago I've only used Ubuntu, and though I've always succeeded somehow in the past there have been hairy moments,
typically when at first boot after installation it comes up with no
wireless, or even no network at all, and you're Googling like mad to
find out what (proprietary?) drivers you have to explicitly install or enable.
nib
On Sun, 4/27/2025 11:17 AM, SH wrote:
On 27/04/2025 15:59, Paul wrote:
On Sun, 4/27/2025 4:16 AM, Joe wrote:
On Sat, 26 Apr 2025 20:17:22 +0100
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
On 2025-04-26 20:05, Theo wrote:I don't know if you already have a server running, but if not, there
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that >>>>>>> are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be >>>>>>> strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file
server for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do >>>>>>> anything else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Look into Windows 10 LTSC? You only get it officially with W10
Enterprise but I don't know if there are workarounds.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous >>>>>>> obsolescences.
If it's going to be a server, it's probably better as Ubuntu or one >>>>>> of the DIY NAS distros anyway.
are various useful things you can do with something permanently on. If >>>> you use a general-purpose distribution, these things remain options for >>>> the future.
That's probably what I'll do. I just have this uncertainty each time >>>>> that it might not work with Linux!
There was a time when I'd have suggested trying Knoppix from disc or
USB, and if everything works OK then the computer will work with any
Debian or derivative, with maybe a bit of fiddling. Unfortunately, this >>>> isn't produced any more, and the latest version is about four years old >>>> (9.1). If the hardware at least as old as that, it's still a good test. >>>>
https://www.knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html
Apart from Red Hat many years ago I've only used Ubuntu, and though
I've always succeeded somehow in the past there have been hairy
moments, typically when at first boot after installation it comes up >>>>> with no wireless, or even no network at all, and you're Googling like >>>>> mad to find out what (proprietary?) drivers you have to explicitly
install or enable.
I'm sure you know that this is because the firmware does not have
source code available, so pure Debian does not contain it. But the
current Debian 12 (Bookworm) installers do contain non-free firmware,
though I'm guessing that you probably need to run the installer in
Expert mode to be given the option.
[Picture]
https://i.postimg.cc/6QjVvLBp/knoppix-9-1.jpg
According to "top", it doesn't have much of a memory footprint.
It's mainly meant as a portable boot OS (from a stick or DVD).
while you can install it, that wasn't the original design intent.
And the above setup has Compiz running, which is an acquired taste.
The kernel on that one is 5.10, which is good for older equipment.
That is more likely to work with the graphics cards in refugee systems.
I happened to have that one in my DVD collection. But you can put it
on a USB stick, using rufus.ie tool. When the boot prompt comes up,
you can enter
knoppix64
to boot it. But the boot line also accepts parameters such as "noacpi",
which helps it boot on much older computers. If you do that though,
at shutdown you will see a "Win98-like prompt", such as
"It is safe to shut down your computer now", as that is
an APM prompt :-) You only use noacpi, if it absolutely won't boot.
Paul
Whats the latest version of Knoppix and when was the last update?
Joe says that is the last one.
It's also the last Knoppix in my collection.
That one is 5.10 kernel, Linux Mint 21.3 is 5.15 kernel (last OS with good graphics card support). Ubuntu 24.04 is 6.x kernel, better suited
to newer equipment, and maybe an older graphics card doesn't work.
I think you are supposed to look for a kernel with "HWE" in the
description, for bleeding edge hardware. If you just bought a 285-equipped laptop, that might take a HWE kernel to boot.
And remember, that the industry made a lot of these changes
(like... Wayland versus Xorg) in an effort to make older equipment obsolete. This lengthens the time it takes us, to support people trying
to re-purpose equipment.
Paul
I'm sure you know that this is because the firmware does not have
source code available, so pure Debian does not contain it. But the
current Debian 12 (Bookworm) installers do contain non-free firmware,
though I'm guessing that you probably need to run the installer in
Expert mode to be given the option.
On 26/04/2025 17:36, nib wrote:unsupported.
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything else, so that it could be safely left
GPU); only ones that say they are suitable for gaming.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous obsolescences.
I've got a laptop which technically can be upgraded but doesn't have enough space. It has a 128 GB SSD which is nearly full. It doesn't have a slot for a memory card, so I can't upgrade it that way.
Windows 10 uses 20 GB; Windows 11 uses 64 GB, and needs an extra 20 GB free to do the upgrade. Why does Windows 11 need more than three times the space? Is it three times as good? What would that even mean?
I suspect that the dangers of using a machine which isn't upgradable are exaggerated.
I'm thinking of getting a mini PC, but I would like one that can run a LLM (Large Language Model) locally, if I can master the technicalities of AI. It appears to be rather a closed book. And you can't buy a PC that says it's LLM ready (with a suitable
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could bestrapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server
for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything
else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous obsolescences.
Whats the latest version of Knoppix and when was the last update?
On Sun, 27 Apr 2025 16:17:28 +0100
SH <i.love@spam.com> wrote:
Whats the latest version of Knoppix and when was the last update?
9.1, the images are dated January 2021. There was a 9.2, but it wasn't publicly available and I doubt that it was much later than 9.1.
Knoppix is/was basically Debian unstable with extra hardware drivers,
and was primarily intended for the OP's use, trying a new computer to
check that everything worked before installing Linux.
It was, as Paul said, installable on hard drive, but the revisions were reasonably frequent and it wasn't upgradeable. The Unique Selling Point
of Debian is that it will always be upgradeable, and a lot of work goes
into making that happen. Klaus Knopper started with Debian and put the
work into making drivers for new hardware.
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> Wrote in message:ra file server for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous obsolescences.nib
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as
Before you write the machines off as "un-upgradeable" have a
search for bios setting/features required for Win11. I've heard
of PCs that have settings that are turned off by default but are
required for Win11 and sometimes all that is needed is a fiddle
with the BIOS settings to do an upgrade.
Tim
On 27/04/2025 17:42, Joe wrote:
On Sun, 27 Apr 2025 16:17:28 +0100
SH <i.love@spam.com> wrote:
Whats the latest version of Knoppix and when was the last update?
9.1, the images are dated January 2021. There was a 9.2, but it wasn't
publicly available and I doubt that it was much later than 9.1.
Knoppix is/was basically Debian unstable with extra hardware drivers,
and was primarily intended for the OP's use, trying a new computer to
check that everything worked before installing Linux.
It was, as Paul said, installable on hard drive, but the revisions were
reasonably frequent and it wasn't upgradeable. The Unique Selling Point
of Debian is that it will always be upgradeable, and a lot of work goes
into making that happen. Klaus Knopper started with Debian and put the
work into making drivers for new hardware.
In short its a less well engineered and supported version of Debian unstable, which is what Mint/ubuntu is., except it's not as polished
On 27/04/2025 16:32, Paul wrote:
On Sun, 4/27/2025 11:17 AM, SH wrote:
On 27/04/2025 15:59, Paul wrote:
On Sun, 4/27/2025 4:16 AM, Joe wrote:
On Sat, 26 Apr 2025 20:17:22 +0100
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
On 2025-04-26 20:05, Theo wrote:I don't know if you already have a server running, but if not, there >>>>> are various useful things you can do with something permanently on. If >>>>> you use a general-purpose distribution, these things remain options for >>>>> the future.
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that >>>>>>>> are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be >>>>>>>> strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file >>>>>>>> server for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do >>>>>>>> anything else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Look into Windows 10 LTSC? You only get it officially with W10 >>>>>>> Enterprise but I don't know if there are workarounds.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous >>>>>>>> obsolescences.
If it's going to be a server, it's probably better as Ubuntu or one >>>>>>> of the DIY NAS distros anyway.
That's probably what I'll do. I just have this uncertainty each time >>>>>> that it might not work with Linux!
There was a time when I'd have suggested trying Knoppix from disc or >>>>> USB, and if everything works OK then the computer will work with any >>>>> Debian or derivative, with maybe a bit of fiddling. Unfortunately, this >>>>> isn't produced any more, and the latest version is about four years old >>>>> (9.1). If the hardware at least as old as that, it's still a good test. >>>>>
https://www.knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html
Apart from Red Hat many years ago I've only used Ubuntu, and though >>>>>> I've always succeeded somehow in the past there have been hairy
moments, typically when at first boot after installation it comes up >>>>>> with no wireless, or even no network at all, and you're Googling like >>>>>> mad to find out what (proprietary?) drivers you have to explicitly >>>>>> install or enable.
I'm sure you know that this is because the firmware does not have
source code available, so pure Debian does not contain it. But the
current Debian 12 (Bookworm) installers do contain non-free firmware, >>>>> though I'm guessing that you probably need to run the installer in
Expert mode to be given the option.
[Picture]
https://i.postimg.cc/6QjVvLBp/knoppix-9-1.jpg
According to "top", it doesn't have much of a memory footprint.
It's mainly meant as a portable boot OS (from a stick or DVD).
while you can install it, that wasn't the original design intent.
And the above setup has Compiz running, which is an acquired taste.
The kernel on that one is 5.10, which is good for older equipment.
That is more likely to work with the graphics cards in refugee systems. >>>>
I happened to have that one in my DVD collection. But you can put it
on a USB stick, using rufus.ie tool. When the boot prompt comes up,
you can enter
knoppix64
to boot it. But the boot line also accepts parameters such as "noacpi", >>>> which helps it boot on much older computers. If you do that though,
at shutdown you will see a "Win98-like prompt", such as
"It is safe to shut down your computer now", as that is
an APM prompt :-) You only use noacpi, if it absolutely won't boot.
Paul
Whats the latest version of Knoppix and when was the last update?
Joe says that is the last one.
It's also the last Knoppix in my collection.
That one is 5.10 kernel, Linux Mint 21.3 is 5.15 kernel (last OS with good >> graphics card support). Ubuntu 24.04 is 6.x kernel, better suited
to newer equipment, and maybe an older graphics card doesn't work.
I think you are supposed to look for a kernel with "HWE" in the
description, for bleeding edge hardware. If you just bought a 285-equipped >> laptop, that might take a HWE kernel to boot.
And remember, that the industry made a lot of these changes
(like... Wayland versus Xorg) in an effort to make older equipment obsolete. >> This lengthens the time it takes us, to support people trying
to re-purpose equipment.
Paul
So *when* was the most recent version of Knoppix releaased?
S.
On Sun, 4/27/2025 11:40 AM, SH wrote:
On 27/04/2025 16:32, Paul wrote:
On Sun, 4/27/2025 11:17 AM, SH wrote:
On 27/04/2025 15:59, Paul wrote:
On Sun, 4/27/2025 4:16 AM, Joe wrote:
On Sat, 26 Apr 2025 20:17:22 +0100
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
On 2025-04-26 20:05, Theo wrote:I don't know if you already have a server running, but if not, there >>>>>> are various useful things you can do with something permanently on. If >>>>>> you use a general-purpose distribution, these things remain options for >>>>>> the future.
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that >>>>>>>>> are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11. >>>>>>>>>
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be >>>>>>>>> strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file >>>>>>>>> server for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do >>>>>>>>> anything else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Look into Windows 10 LTSC? You only get it officially with W10 >>>>>>>> Enterprise but I don't know if there are workarounds.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous >>>>>>>>> obsolescences.
If it's going to be a server, it's probably better as Ubuntu or one >>>>>>>> of the DIY NAS distros anyway.
That's probably what I'll do. I just have this uncertainty each time >>>>>>> that it might not work with Linux!
There was a time when I'd have suggested trying Knoppix from disc or >>>>>> USB, and if everything works OK then the computer will work with any >>>>>> Debian or derivative, with maybe a bit of fiddling. Unfortunately, this >>>>>> isn't produced any more, and the latest version is about four years old >>>>>> (9.1). If the hardware at least as old as that, it's still a good test. >>>>>>
https://www.knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html
Apart from Red Hat many years ago I've only used Ubuntu, and though >>>>>>> I've always succeeded somehow in the past there have been hairy
moments, typically when at first boot after installation it comes up >>>>>>> with no wireless, or even no network at all, and you're Googling like >>>>>>> mad to find out what (proprietary?) drivers you have to explicitly >>>>>>> install or enable.
I'm sure you know that this is because the firmware does not have
source code available, so pure Debian does not contain it. But the >>>>>> current Debian 12 (Bookworm) installers do contain non-free firmware, >>>>>> though I'm guessing that you probably need to run the installer in >>>>>> Expert mode to be given the option.
[Picture]
https://i.postimg.cc/6QjVvLBp/knoppix-9-1.jpg
According to "top", it doesn't have much of a memory footprint.
It's mainly meant as a portable boot OS (from a stick or DVD).
while you can install it, that wasn't the original design intent.
And the above setup has Compiz running, which is an acquired taste.
The kernel on that one is 5.10, which is good for older equipment.
That is more likely to work with the graphics cards in refugee systems. >>>>>
I happened to have that one in my DVD collection. But you can put it >>>>> on a USB stick, using rufus.ie tool. When the boot prompt comes up,
you can enter
knoppix64
to boot it. But the boot line also accepts parameters such as "noacpi", >>>>> which helps it boot on much older computers. If you do that though,
at shutdown you will see a "Win98-like prompt", such as
"It is safe to shut down your computer now", as that is
an APM prompt :-) You only use noacpi, if it absolutely won't boot.
Paul
Whats the latest version of Knoppix and when was the last update?
Joe says that is the last one.
It's also the last Knoppix in my collection.
That one is 5.10 kernel, Linux Mint 21.3 is 5.15 kernel (last OS with good >>> graphics card support). Ubuntu 24.04 is 6.x kernel, better suited
to newer equipment, and maybe an older graphics card doesn't work.
I think you are supposed to look for a kernel with "HWE" in the
description, for bleeding edge hardware. If you just bought a 285-equipped >>> laptop, that might take a HWE kernel to boot.
And remember, that the industry made a lot of these changes
(like... Wayland versus Xorg) in an effort to make older equipment obsolete.
This lengthens the time it takes us, to support people trying
to re-purpose equipment.
Paul
So *when* was the most recent version of Knoppix releaased?
S.
KNOPPIX_V9.1DVD-2021-01-25-EN.iso
On a Knoppix release by Klaus Knopper, there is an early
release that might get stuffed in a magazine insert,
then there might have been a later release where peasants
can download the ISO (that's me). Thus, while the date in the
string is generally indicative, it might not be the very
last one. But that date should be close enough for most purposes.
Paul
So has Klaus Knopper paused all further development of Knoppix?
The
fact that the ISO dates from 2021 worries me slightly when used on a
machine connected to the internet...... security vulns galore?
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are >working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server
for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything
else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous >obsolescences.
nib
bearing in mind Win10 has been running for several years, I would
have thought the worst bugs would have been fixed by now.
On Sat, 26 Apr 2025 17:36:12 +0100, nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk>
wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that
are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be >strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file
server for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do
anything else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous >obsolescences.
nib
Being elderly, like many here I suspect, but unlike many here, I'm not
the least bit computer savvy, (don't even understand the terms being
bandied about), I've been using Win10 successfully for a good few
years (upgraded from WinXP IIRC), I am rather worried that MS is no
longer going to support it.
But bearing in mind Win10 has been running for several years, I would
have thought the worst bugs would have been fixed by now.
So is there
any real disadvantage in the likes of me continuing to use it
unsupported, especially if I have a reasonably good anti-virus
programme running (Malwarebytes, regularly updated).
On Sat, 26 Apr 2025 17:36:12 +0100, nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk>
wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are
working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server
for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything
else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous
obsolescences.
nib
Being elderly, like many here I suspect, but unlike many here, I'm not
the least bit computer savvy, (don't even understand the terms being
bandied about), I've been using Win10 successfully for a good few
years (upgraded from WinXP IIRC), I am rather worried that MS is no
longer going to support it.
But bearing in mind Win10 has been running for several years, I would
have thought the worst bugs would have been fixed by now. So is there
any real disadvantage in the likes of me continuing to use it
unsupported, especially if I have a reasonably good anti-virus
programme running (Malwarebytes, regularly updated).
I've got a laptop which technically can be upgraded but doesn't have
enough space. It has a 128 GB SSD which is nearly full. It doesn't have
a slot for a memory card, so I can't upgrade it that way.
On 27/04/2025 11:55, Max Demian wrote:
I've got a laptop which technically can be upgraded but doesn't have
enough space. It has a 128 GB SSD which is nearly full. It doesn't
have a slot for a memory card, so I can't upgrade it that way.
There are some work-arounds. The most obvious one is to upgrade the SSD.
Is that impossible to do?
GB wrote:you would clone the 128GB SSD onto e.g. a 256GB SSD (via some sort of
There are some work-arounds. The most obvious one is to upgrade the
SSD. Is that impossible to do?
Not sure. How would I load the OS?
On 26/04/2025 17:36, nib wrote:unsupported.
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything else, so that it could be safely left
GPU); only ones that say they are suitable for gaming.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous obsolescences.
I've got a laptop which technically can be upgraded but doesn't have enough space. It has a 128 GB SSD which is nearly full. It doesn't have a slot for a memory card, so I can't upgrade it that way.
Windows 10 uses 20 GB; Windows 11 uses 64 GB, and needs an extra 20 GB free to do the upgrade. Why does Windows 11 need more than three times the space? Is it three times as good? What would that even mean?
I suspect that the dangers of using a machine which isn't upgradable are exaggerated.
I'm thinking of getting a mini PC, but I would like one that can run a LLM (Large Language Model) locally, if I can master the technicalities of AI. It appears to be rather a closed book. And you can't buy a PC that says it's LLM ready (with a suitable
The best defence is to be careful. In thirty years of web surfing, my
wife and I have picked up exactly one virus, and that was on a womens'
craft site. The virus checker stomped it instantly.
But carry on doing the things you've presumably been doing for years,
don't click on anything not known to be safe, don't click at all on
links in emails unless you are certain it's from a friend, and so on.
Don't run normally with a computer administrator account on Windows, >designate an admin account for times when it's needed and run as an >unprivileged user for general surfing. I spent a couple of years
advising on the Windows Small Business Server newsgroup, before it moved
to a web forum, and in pretty much every case where a server had been
hacked, it turned out that the domain admin had been web-surfing on it.
If you can stand it, disable JavaScript in your web browser, allowing
it only for sites that really don't do what you need without it. It's a >nuisance sometimes, but malicious JavaScript hacked into an innocent
web page is a common malware vector. It also keeps the adverts down.
And so on...
On Mon, 28 Apr 2025 20:18:54 +0100, Chris Hogg <me@privacy.net> wrote:
On Mon, 28 Apr 2025 14:29:35 +0100, Joe <joe@jretrading.com> wrote:
The best defence is to be careful. In thirty years of web surfing, my
wife and I have picked up exactly one virus, and that was on a womens'
craft site. The virus checker stomped it instantly.
But carry on doing the things you've presumably been doing for years,
don't click on anything not known to be safe, don't click at all on
links in emails unless you are certain it's from a friend, and so on.
Don't run normally with a computer administrator account on Windows,
designate an admin account for times when it's needed and run as an
unprivileged user for general surfing. I spent a couple of years
advising on the Windows Small Business Server newsgroup, before it moved >>> to a web forum, and in pretty much every case where a server had been
hacked, it turned out that the domain admin had been web-surfing on it.
If you can stand it, disable JavaScript in your web browser, allowing
it only for sites that really don't do what you need without it. It's a
nuisance sometimes, but malicious JavaScript hacked into an innocent
web page is a common malware vector. It also keeps the adverts down.
And so on...
Thanks for that advice, most of which I do anyway. There are only two
operators, one with administrator rights which gets used occasionally
when necessary, the other doesn't have those rights and is used for
the rest of the time. Not sure about Javascript - I'll have a look.
I am super cautious about almost everything, and ISTR seeing a message
saying the PC wasn't suitable for upgrading, which prompted this
enquiry. I'll have another look just to make sure.
Ah yes. "The processor doesn't currently meet Windows 11 system
requirements"
and "The processor isn't currently supported for Windows 11"
As I thought.
I also have a laptop that I don't use a lot, which is of similar age.
I'll try playing around with that to see if it's upgradable.
Not sure about Javascript - I'll have a look.
On 28/04/2025 16:36, GB wrote:
On 27/04/2025 11:55, Max Demian wrote:
I've got a laptop which technically can be upgraded but doesn't have
enough space. It has a 128 GB SSD which is nearly full. It doesn't
have a slot for a memory card, so I can't upgrade it that way.
There are some work-arounds. The most obvious one is to upgrade the
SSD. Is that impossible to do?
Not sure. How would I load the OS?
On Mon, 28 Apr 2025 14:29:35 +0100, Joe <joe@jretrading.com> wrote:
The best defence is to be careful. In thirty years of web surfing, my
wife and I have picked up exactly one virus, and that was on a womens' >>craft site. The virus checker stomped it instantly.
But carry on doing the things you've presumably been doing for years,
don't click on anything not known to be safe, don't click at all on
links in emails unless you are certain it's from a friend, and so on.
Don't run normally with a computer administrator account on Windows, >>designate an admin account for times when it's needed and run as an >>unprivileged user for general surfing. I spent a couple of years
advising on the Windows Small Business Server newsgroup, before it moved
to a web forum, and in pretty much every case where a server had been >>hacked, it turned out that the domain admin had been web-surfing on it.
If you can stand it, disable JavaScript in your web browser, allowing
it only for sites that really don't do what you need without it. It's a >>nuisance sometimes, but malicious JavaScript hacked into an innocent
web page is a common malware vector. It also keeps the adverts down.
And so on...
Thanks for that advice, most of which I do anyway. There are only two >operators, one with administrator rights which gets used occasionally
when necessary, the other doesn't have those rights and is used for
the rest of the time. Not sure about Javascript - I'll have a look.
I am super cautious about almost everything, and ISTR seeing a message
saying the PC wasn't suitable for upgrading, which prompted this
enquiry. I'll have another look just to make sure.
I also have a laptop that I don't use a lot, which is of similar age.
I'll try playing around with that to see if it's upgradable.
. go read a few of the current CVEs at
https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=windows+10
and tell me you still feel safe....
On 28/04/2025 16:36, GB wrote:
On 27/04/2025 11:55, Max Demian wrote:
I've got a laptop which technically can be upgraded but doesn't have
enough space. It has a 128 GB SSD which is nearly full. It doesn't
have a slot for a memory card, so I can't upgrade it that way.
There are some work-arounds. The most obvious one is to upgrade the
SSD. Is that impossible to do?
Not sure. How would I load the OS?
On Sat, 26 Apr 2025 17:36:12 +0100, nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk>
wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are
working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server
for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything
else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous
obsolescences.
nib
Being elderly, like many here I suspect, but unlike many here, I'm not
the least bit computer savvy, (don't even understand the terms being
bandied about), I've been using Win10 successfully for a good few
years (upgraded from WinXP IIRC), I am rather worried that MS is no
longer going to support it.
But bearing in mind Win10 has been running for several years, I would
have thought the worst bugs would have been fixed by now.
So is there
any real disadvantage in the likes of me continuing to use it
unsupported, especially if I have a reasonably good anti-virus
programme running (Malwarebytes, regularly updated).
On Mon, 28 Apr 2025 20:18:54 +0100, Chris Hogg <me@privacy.net> wrote:
I am super cautious about almost everything, and ISTR seeing a message
saying the PC wasn't suitable for upgrading, which prompted this
enquiry. I'll have another look just to make sure.
Ah yes. "The processor doesn't currently meet Windows 11 system
requirements"
and "The processor isn't currently supported for Windows 11"
On 28/04/2025 16:36, GB wrote:
On 27/04/2025 11:55, Max Demian wrote:
I've got a laptop which technically can be upgraded but doesn't have
enough space. It has a 128 GB SSD which is nearly full. It doesn't
have a slot for a memory card, so I can't upgrade it that way.
There are some work-arounds. The most obvious one is to upgrade the
SSD. Is that impossible to do?
Not sure. How would I load the OS?
.. go read a few of the current CVEs at
https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=windows+10
and tell me you still feel safe....
On 28/04/2025 20:10, Max Demian wrote:
On 28/04/2025 16:36, GB wrote:
On 27/04/2025 11:55, Max Demian wrote:
I've got a laptop which technically can be upgraded but doesn't have
enough space. It has a 128 GB SSD which is nearly full. It doesn't
have a slot for a memory card, so I can't upgrade it that way.
There are some work-arounds. The most obvious one is to upgrade the
SSD. Is that impossible to do?
Not sure. How would I load the OS?
Most SSDs will have a cloning tool available from the maker (or there
are various free ones available). You mount the new SSD on an adaptor
that connects to USB. Install the cloning software on the existing SSD
(or make a bootable USB flash drive version). That then lets you clone
the entire existing SSD to the new one. Most tools will also allow you
to expand the partition sizes to fill the new larger SSD in the process.
Once complete (should take no more than 10 to 15 mins for a 120GB SSD if
the new drive is connected via a USB3 port), you take out the old SSD
and install the new one in its place. The machine should now boot from
that and appear exactly as it was, except you now have loads of free
disk space. (and possibly faster disk IO / boot times if the new SSD is quicker than the last one)
On Sun, 4/27/2025 6:55 AM, Max Demian wrote:unsupported.
On 26/04/2025 17:36, nib wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything else, so that it could be safely left
suitable GPU); only ones that say they are suitable for gaming.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous obsolescences.
I've got a laptop which technically can be upgraded but doesn't have enough space. It has a 128 GB SSD which is nearly full. It doesn't have a slot for a memory card, so I can't upgrade it that way.
Windows 10 uses 20 GB; Windows 11 uses 64 GB, and needs an extra 20 GB free to do the upgrade. Why does Windows 11 need more than three times the space? Is it three times as good? What would that even mean?
I suspect that the dangers of using a machine which isn't upgradable are exaggerated.
I'm thinking of getting a mini PC, but I would like one that can run a LLM (Large Language Model) locally, if I can master the technicalities of AI. It appears to be rather a closed book. And you can't buy a PC that says it's LLM ready (with a
Caveat: I don't know anything about LLMs, have not run one,
am not buying hardware to run them. Too expensive for
equipment that can run a reasonable cross-section of models.
For the wish to run an LLM AI right now, you can.
It might not have voice synthesis though. This experience will be
a lot better, than the Excel spreadsheet LLM someone built :-)
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/news-microsoft-bitnet-small-ai-model/
"However, BitNet b1.58 2B4T still isn’t simple to run; it requires hardware
compatible with Microsoft’s bitnet.cpp framework. Running it on a
standard transformers library won’t produce any of the benefits in terms of
speed, latency, or energy consumption. BitNet b1.58 2B4T doesn’t run on GPUs,
as the majority of AI models do."
"In the research paper, which was posted on Arxiv as a work in progress, the
researchers detail how they created the bitnet. Other groups have created
bitnets before, but, the researchers say, most of their efforts are either
post-training quantization (PTQ) methods applied to pre-trained full-precision
models or native 1-bit models trained from scratch that were developed at a
smaller scale in the first place. BitNet b1.58 2B4T is a native 1-bit LLM
trained at scale; it only takes up 400MB, compared to other “small models”
that can reach up to 4.8 GB." [You can run it on a toaster...]
https://huggingface.co/microsoft/bitnet-b1.58-2B-4T
It's something that runs on a CPU, at a guess. It's supposed
to run in a relatively small memory, which means it won't need
MMAP operation, nor should it wear out your NVMe via paging.
With a 4096 token limit, it can't do really serious work, but it should
still have some of the behaviors of a large model.
*******
For standard models (using bigger number formats than the -1,0,1 model above),
even with MMAP, you might want a machine with 1TB-2TB of *RAM*, plus a
good video card. For example, a RTX5090 equipped with 96GB of GDDR
(with enterprise pricing!), can use a group-of-experts model, where,
say, a 35GB model is loaded fully into the video card, and can more efficiently process your question. By using a single video card,
there are no bandwidth restrictions that result from using a multitude
of smaller video cards. Using a big video card can be 7x faster for
some things, because it does not need to do PCIe-to-PCIe DMA for transfers. It might take a series of those 35GB models to load, one at a time,
from main memory. If the modules fit into system RAM, then you might
not need to modify a copy of the model stored on an NVMe stick.
That might involve sixteen thousand worth of equipment. Whereas the
tiny model above, can run on a toaster. More CPU cores are going to help
in this case. I don't think it is single threaded. It's unclear whether
it uses your whole machine, if you have a lot of cores for it to use
*******
"Running BitNet b1.58 on Raspberry Pi (Install Guide & Testing) (9 days ago)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q_ItuNNpmY
"How to run microsoft bitnet-b1.58-2B-4T locally on your laptop"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNTFobSRt0Q
*******
At the current time, the most capable dedicated-NPUs are on laptops. Presumably
the feeling is, that video cards are going to have a lot more
TOPS to offer than a tile put inside the CPU package. The RTX5090 is
1000 TOPS, with the caveat that performance varies with numerical format.
the -1,0,1 model above (trit) is not currently directly supported
on a video card. There is no optimal hardware for that. But with the
right massaging, one of the other files Microsoft released, might work
on a GPU. (One of the other files doesn't use trit.)
Current video cards, on purpose, only have "small RAM". That's not
an accident. The two video card companies do not want to damage
their market for really expensive cards. And putting four
16GB cards in a PC, would not give the speedup you might like.
The video card VBIOS, has crypto signing to control how much
RAM it will use. You cannot solder different chips to a video
card and magically get it to work. You need the correct VBIOS,
and it is likely the GPU is marked at the factory in some way,
regarding what VBIOS it will accept for configuration. This prevents third-parties from re-purposing restricted hardware.
On 29/04/2025 10:10, John Rumm wrote:
On 28/04/2025 20:10, Max Demian wrote:
On 28/04/2025 16:36, GB wrote:
On 27/04/2025 11:55, Max Demian wrote:
I've got a laptop which technically can be upgraded but doesn'tThere are some work-arounds. The most obvious one is to upgrade the
have enough space. It has a 128 GB SSD which is nearly full. It
doesn't have a slot for a memory card, so I can't upgrade it that way. >>>>
SSD. Is that impossible to do?
Not sure. How would I load the OS?
Most SSDs will have a cloning tool available from the maker (or there
are various free ones available). You mount the new SSD on an adaptor
that connects to USB. Install the cloning software on the existing SSD
(or make a bootable USB flash drive version). That then lets you clone
the entire existing SSD to the new one. Most tools will also allow you
to expand the partition sizes to fill the new larger SSD in the
process. Once complete (should take no more than 10 to 15 mins for a
120GB SSD if the new drive is connected via a USB3 port), you take out
the old SSD and install the new one in its place. The machine should
now boot from that and appear exactly as it was, except you now have
loads of free disk space. (and possibly faster disk IO / boot times if
the new SSD is quicker than the last one)
Thank you. I think I'll buy a mini PC (as soon as I've decided which
one), copy a lot of the files from my laptop onto it, which will make
room for the upgrade.
On 29/04/2025 12:07, Max Demian wrote:
On 29/04/2025 10:10, John Rumm wrote:
On 28/04/2025 20:10, Max Demian wrote:
On 28/04/2025 16:36, GB wrote:
On 27/04/2025 11:55, Max Demian wrote:
I've got a laptop which technically can be upgraded but doesn't
have enough space. It has a 128 GB SSD which is nearly full. It
doesn't have a slot for a memory card, so I can't upgrade it that
way.
There are some work-arounds. The most obvious one is to upgrade the
SSD. Is that impossible to do?
Not sure. How would I load the OS?
Most SSDs will have a cloning tool available from the maker (or there
are various free ones available). You mount the new SSD on an adaptor
that connects to USB. Install the cloning software on the existing
SSD (or make a bootable USB flash drive version). That then lets you
clone the entire existing SSD to the new one. Most tools will also
allow you to expand the partition sizes to fill the new larger SSD in
the process. Once complete (should take no more than 10 to 15 mins
for a 120GB SSD if the new drive is connected via a USB3 port), you
take out the old SSD and install the new one in its place. The
machine should now boot from that and appear exactly as it was,
except you now have loads of free disk space. (and possibly faster
disk IO / boot times if the new SSD is quicker than the last one)
Thank you. I think I'll buy a mini PC (as soon as I've decided which
one), copy a lot of the files from my laptop onto it, which will make
room for the upgrade.
If you just want to free some space on the laptop, you can get tiny USB sticks that are so small you can leave them in place all the time to
provide extra storage space. Something like this
https://www.staples.co.uk/computing-webcams-printers/computing-storage- and-memory/flash-drives/verbatim-store-n-stay-nano-usb-3-0-64gb-flash- drive-98711
Obviously, it uses up one of the USB ports.
On 29/04/2025 12:07, Max Demian wrote:
On 29/04/2025 10:10, John Rumm wrote:
On 28/04/2025 20:10, Max Demian wrote:
On 28/04/2025 16:36, GB wrote:
On 27/04/2025 11:55, Max Demian wrote:
I've got a laptop which technically can be upgraded but doesn't
have enough space. It has a 128 GB SSD which is nearly full. It
doesn't have a slot for a memory card, so I can't upgrade it that
way.
There are some work-arounds. The most obvious one is to upgrade the
SSD. Is that impossible to do?
Not sure. How would I load the OS?
Most SSDs will have a cloning tool available from the maker (or there
are various free ones available). You mount the new SSD on an adaptor
that connects to USB. Install the cloning software on the existing
SSD (or make a bootable USB flash drive version). That then lets you
clone the entire existing SSD to the new one. Most tools will also
allow you to expand the partition sizes to fill the new larger SSD in
the process. Once complete (should take no more than 10 to 15 mins
for a 120GB SSD if the new drive is connected via a USB3 port), you
take out the old SSD and install the new one in its place. The
machine should now boot from that and appear exactly as it was,
except you now have loads of free disk space. (and possibly faster
disk IO / boot times if the new SSD is quicker than the last one)
Thank you. I think I'll buy a mini PC (as soon as I've decided which
one), copy a lot of the files from my laptop onto it, which will make
room for the upgrade.
If you just want to free some space on the laptop, you can get tiny USB sticks that are so small you can leave them in place all the time to
provide extra storage space. Something like this
https://www.staples.co.uk/computing-webcams-printers/computing-storage- and-memory/flash-drives/verbatim-store-n-stay-nano-usb-3-0-64gb-flash- drive-98711
Obviously, it uses up one of the USB ports.
On 29/04/2025 12:07, Max Demian wrote:
On 29/04/2025 10:10, John Rumm wrote:
On 28/04/2025 20:10, Max Demian wrote:
On 28/04/2025 16:36, GB wrote:
On 27/04/2025 11:55, Max Demian wrote:
I've got a laptop which technically can be upgraded but doesn't
have enough space. It has a 128 GB SSD which is nearly full. It
doesn't have a slot for a memory card, so I can't upgrade it
that way.
There are some work-arounds. The most obvious one is to upgrade
the SSD. Is that impossible to do?
Not sure. How would I load the OS?
Most SSDs will have a cloning tool available from the maker (or
there are various free ones available). You mount the new SSD on
an adaptor that connects to USB. Install the cloning software on
the existing SSD (or make a bootable USB flash drive version).
That then lets you clone the entire existing SSD to the new one.
Most tools will also allow you to expand the partition sizes to
fill the new larger SSD in the process. Once complete (should take
no more than 10 to 15 mins for a 120GB SSD if the new drive is
connected via a USB3 port), you take out the old SSD and install
the new one in its place. The machine should now boot from that
and appear exactly as it was, except you now have loads of free
disk space. (and possibly faster disk IO / boot times if the new
SSD is quicker than the last one)
Thank you. I think I'll buy a mini PC (as soon as I've decided
which one), copy a lot of the files from my laptop onto it, which
will make room for the upgrade.
If you just want to free some space on the laptop, you can get tiny
USB sticks that are so small you can leave them in place all the time
to provide extra storage space. Something like this
https://www.staples.co.uk/computing-webcams-printers/computing-storage-and-memory/flash-drives/verbatim-store-n-stay-nano-usb-3-0-64gb-flash-drive-98711
Obviously, it uses up one of the USB ports.
If you just want to free some space on the laptop, you can get tiny
USB sticks that are so small you can leave them in place all the time
to provide extra storage space. Something like this
https://www.staples.co.uk/computing-webcams-printers/computing-
storage- and-memory/flash-drives/verbatim-store-n-stay-nano-
usb-3-0-64gb-flash- drive-98711
Obviously, it uses up one of the USB ports.
and will be dog slow compared to a real SSD...
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
On 28/04/2025 16:36, GB wrote:
On 27/04/2025 11:55, Max Demian wrote:
I've got a laptop which technically can be upgraded but doesn't have enough space. It has a 128 GB SSD which is nearly full. It doesn't have a slot for a memory card, so I can't upgrade it that way.
There are some work-arounds. The most obvious one is to upgrade the SSD. Is that impossible to do?
Not sure. How would I load the OS?
On 30/04/2025 11:47, GB wrote:version). That then lets you clone the entire existing SSD to the new one. Most tools will also allow you to expand the partition sizes to fill the new larger SSD in the process. Once complete (should take no more than 10 to 15 mins for a 120GB SSD if
On 29/04/2025 12:07, Max Demian wrote:
On 29/04/2025 10:10, John Rumm wrote:
On 28/04/2025 20:10, Max Demian wrote:
On 28/04/2025 16:36, GB wrote:
On 27/04/2025 11:55, Max Demian wrote:
I've got a laptop which technically can be upgraded but doesn't have enough space. It has a 128 GB SSD which is nearly full. It doesn't have a slot for a memory card, so I can't upgrade it that way.
There are some work-arounds. The most obvious one is to upgrade the SSD. Is that impossible to do?
Not sure. How would I load the OS?
Most SSDs will have a cloning tool available from the maker (or there are various free ones available). You mount the new SSD on an adaptor that connects to USB. Install the cloning software on the existing SSD (or make a bootable USB flash drive
Thank you. I think I'll buy a mini PC (as soon as I've decided which one), copy a lot of the files from my laptop onto it, which will make room for the upgrade.
If you just want to free some space on the laptop, you can get tiny USB sticks that are so small you can leave them in place all the time to provide extra storage space. Something like this
https://www.staples.co.uk/computing-webcams-printers/computing-storage- and-memory/flash-drives/verbatim-store-n-stay-nano-usb-3-0-64gb-flash- drive-98711
Obviously, it uses up one of the USB ports.
Thank you. That's worth considering.
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server
for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything
else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous obsolescences.
nib
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are
working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server
for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything
else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous
obsolescences.
nib
On a related matter. I have a Toshiba L775 laptop which was a Win7 machine and currently running Win10. I would like to upgrade to Win11 since it has
a wide screen I particularly like and unlike my more modern Dell G15 has a Blu-ray drive. Running PC Health check tells me the Core i5 processor is
not compatible and it requires to run UEFI secure boot and also TPM ver.
2.0. I am sure the UEFI is an option in BIOS so I should be able to run
that. The TPM 2.0 is what I am pretty sure is not available on my machine, however I noticed one poster suggested it is processor specific so if the processor can be upgraded will TPM 2.0 be available?
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are
working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server
for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything
else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous
obsolescences.
nib
On a related matter. I have a Toshiba L775 laptop which was a Win7 machine and currently running Win10. I would like to upgrade to Win11 since it has
a wide screen I particularly like and unlike my more modern Dell G15 has a Blu-ray drive. Running PC Health check tells me the Core i5 processor is
not compatible and it requires to run UEFI secure boot and also TPM ver.
2.0. I am sure the UEFI is an option in BIOS so I should be able to run
that. The TPM 2.0 is what I am pretty sure is not available on my machine, however I noticed one poster suggested it is processor specific so if the processor can be upgraded will TPM 2.0 be available?
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are
working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server
for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything
else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous
obsolescences.
nib
On a related matter. I have a Toshiba L775 laptop which was a Win7 machine and currently running Win10. I would like to upgrade to Win11 since it has
a wide screen I particularly like and unlike my more modern Dell G15 has a Blu-ray drive. Running PC Health check tells me the Core i5 processor is
not compatible and it requires to run UEFI secure boot and also TPM ver.
2.0. I am sure the UEFI is an option in BIOS so I should be able to run
that. The TPM 2.0 is what I am pretty sure is not available on my machine, however I noticed one poster suggested it is processor specific so if the processor can be upgraded will TPM 2.0 be available?
On 04/05/2025 14:25, Tricky Dicky wrote:
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are
working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server
for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything
else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous
obsolescences.
nib
On a related matter. I have a Toshiba L775 laptop which was a Win7 machine >> and currently running Win10. I would like to upgrade to Win11 since it has >> a wide screen I particularly like and unlike my more modern Dell G15 has a >> Blu-ray drive. Running PC Health check tells me the Core i5 processor is
not compatible and it requires to run UEFI secure boot and also TPM ver.
2.0. I am sure the UEFI is an option in BIOS so I should be able to run
that. The TPM 2.0 is what I am pretty sure is not available on my machine, >> however I noticed one poster suggested it is processor specific so if the
processor can be upgraded will TPM 2.0 be available?
Is that a i5 gen 2 CPU? (2012 ish)
If so, then there is no route that will get you to an officially
supported win 11 install running on the hardware. You could force it to
run it with rufus etc, and could possibly use the installed Win 10 as a hypervisor and trick it with an emulated TPM etc. However it may not (or
at some point cease to) get updates.
Note that intel 8th gen CPUs included a TPM built into the CPU - so no
longer require a dedicated module on the mobo (and in CPU TPM is
"better" in the sense that it eliminates the hardware based attacks for circumventing bit locker). However updating to a later generation of CPU
is generally a non starter.
Dave P does a good round up of how the whole stack of UEFI, TPM, secure
boot, code signing etc is supposed to work, and gives an insight to the
kind of enhanced security it could provide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGj0rVZGfuk
Thanks John, the CPU is pre-2012 so it looks like it is for the bin post October 2025. It was just a nice thought for the reasons stated above if I could have got another trick out of it.
Richard
John Rumm <see.my.signature@nowhere.null> wrote:
On 04/05/2025 14:25, Tricky Dicky wrote:
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are >>>> working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server >>>> for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything
else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous
obsolescences.
nib
On a related matter. I have a Toshiba L775 laptop which was a Win7 machine >>> and currently running Win10. I would like to upgrade to Win11 since it has >>> a wide screen I particularly like and unlike my more modern Dell G15 has a >>> Blu-ray drive. Running PC Health check tells me the Core i5 processor is >>> not compatible and it requires to run UEFI secure boot and also TPM ver. >>> 2.0. I am sure the UEFI is an option in BIOS so I should be able to run
that. The TPM 2.0 is what I am pretty sure is not available on my machine, >>> however I noticed one poster suggested it is processor specific so if the >>> processor can be upgraded will TPM 2.0 be available?
Is that a i5 gen 2 CPU? (2012 ish)
If so, then there is no route that will get you to an officially
supported win 11 install running on the hardware. You could force it to
run it with rufus etc, and could possibly use the installed Win 10 as a
hypervisor and trick it with an emulated TPM etc. However it may not (or
at some point cease to) get updates.
Note that intel 8th gen CPUs included a TPM built into the CPU - so no
longer require a dedicated module on the mobo (and in CPU TPM is
"better" in the sense that it eliminates the hardware based attacks for
circumventing bit locker). However updating to a later generation of CPU
is generally a non starter.
Dave P does a good round up of how the whole stack of UEFI, TPM, secure
boot, code signing etc is supposed to work, and gives an insight to the
kind of enhanced security it could provide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGj0rVZGfuk
Thanks John, the CPU is pre-2012 so it looks like it is for the bin post October 2025. It was just a nice thought for the reasons stated above if I could have got another trick out of it.
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> posted:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are
working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Another option is to buy extended security support for EUR25/yr from
a company called 0Patch, see:
https://blog.0patch.com/2024/06/long-live-windows-10-with-0patch.html
This appears more convenient that the Windows LTSC option since you
don't need to reinstall everything. I'm thinking of doing this for my
Win10 box - I have a couple of Linux machines also, but don't really
want to abandon windows entirely.
Colin Macleod <user7@newsgrouper.org.invalid> wrote in news:1746210205-7 @newsgrouper.org:
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> posted:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are
working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Another option is to buy extended security support for EUR25/yr from
a company called 0Patch, see:
https://blog.0patch.com/2024/06/long-live-windows-10-with-0patch.html
This appears more convenient that the Windows LTSC option since you
don't need to reinstall everything. I'm thinking of doing this for my
Win10 box - I have a couple of Linux machines also, but don't really
want to abandon windows entirely.
The neg I can see is that browsers will look at the basic OS level and
refuse to update an older one leaving the user unable to view content from sites that insist on employing bleeding edge features.
On 06/05/2025 09:31, Tricky Dicky wrote:
John Rumm <see.my.signature@nowhere.null> wrote:
On 04/05/2025 14:25, Tricky Dicky wrote:
nib <news@ingram-bromley.co.uk> wrote:
With the end of Windows 10 coming up soon, I have 2 computers that are >>>>> working perfectly OK but which are not upgradable to 11.
Thinking of possible uses, is there any way an old W10 box could be
strapped down so that it can exist on a local network as a file server >>>>> for other devices on the local net but not respond to or do anything >>>>> else, so that it could be safely left unsupported.
Or I suppose I'll have to try Ubuntu on them as I have in previous
obsolescences.
nib
On a related matter. I have a Toshiba L775 laptop which was a Win7 machine >>>> and currently running Win10. I would like to upgrade to Win11 since it has >>>> a wide screen I particularly like and unlike my more modern Dell G15 has a >>>> Blu-ray drive. Running PC Health check tells me the Core i5 processor is >>>> not compatible and it requires to run UEFI secure boot and also TPM ver. >>>> 2.0. I am sure the UEFI is an option in BIOS so I should be able to run >>>> that. The TPM 2.0 is what I am pretty sure is not available on my machine, >>>> however I noticed one poster suggested it is processor specific so if the >>>> processor can be upgraded will TPM 2.0 be available?
Is that a i5 gen 2 CPU? (2012 ish)
If so, then there is no route that will get you to an officially
supported win 11 install running on the hardware. You could force it to
run it with rufus etc, and could possibly use the installed Win 10 as a
hypervisor and trick it with an emulated TPM etc. However it may not (or >>> at some point cease to) get updates.
Note that intel 8th gen CPUs included a TPM built into the CPU - so no
longer require a dedicated module on the mobo (and in CPU TPM is
"better" in the sense that it eliminates the hardware based attacks for
circumventing bit locker). However updating to a later generation of CPU >>> is generally a non starter.
Dave P does a good round up of how the whole stack of UEFI, TPM, secure
boot, code signing etc is supposed to work, and gives an insight to the
kind of enhanced security it could provide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGj0rVZGfuk
Thanks John, the CPU is pre-2012 so it looks like it is for the bin post >> October 2025. It was just a nice thought for the reasons stated above if I >> could have got another trick out of it.
You could get win 11 on it directly - but if it fails to get updates at some point then you are no better off than staying with win 10.
The VM with emulated TPM trick might get a system that works and is also updated. Just remember to not use the native host OS side for doing anything.
(the CPU revision requirement does not (yet) actually use the extra instruction set capabilities of the 8th gen CPUs - although win 11 will fail to install on some very old CPUs (i.e. older than yours) due to some missing CPU instructions).
However at 15 years old, it probably does not owe you anything, and you would find the massive jump in performance from a new platform quite a revelation.
Host Hardware SuperPI 1.5 XS 6 Minutes 39 Seconds 5950X, 2023 vintage 64MB L3 5.05GHz turbo
Host Hardware SuperPI 1.5 XS 7 Minutes 53 Seconds 5700G, 2023 vintage 16MB L3 4.65GHz turbo <=== Daily Driver
Host Hardware SuperPI 1.5 XS 10 Minutes 17 Seconds 4930K, 2013 vintage 12MB L3 3.9 GHz turbo <=== Older hardware
On 30/04/2025 11:47, GB wrote:
If you just want to free some space on the laptop, you can get tiny
USB sticks that are so small you can leave them in place all the time
to provide extra storage space. Something like this
https://www.staples.co.uk/computing-webcams-printers/computing-
storage- and-memory/flash-drives/verbatim-store-n-stay-nano-
usb-3-0-64gb-flash- drive-98711
Obviously, it uses up one of the USB ports.
Thank you. That's worth considering.
On 30/04/2025 13:58, Max Demian wrote:
On 30/04/2025 11:47, GB wrote:
If you just want to free some space on the laptop, you can get
tiny USB sticks that are so small you can leave them in place all
the time to provide extra storage space. Something like this
https://www.staples.co.uk/computing-webcams-printers/computing-
storage- and-memory/flash-drives/verbatim-store-n-stay-nano-
usb-3-0-64gb-flash- drive-98711
Obviously, it uses up one of the USB ports.
Thank you. That's worth considering.
I've bought one. In fact I've bought two, plus a conventional 128 GB
USB stick. I've transferred all the user data I can think of to one,
but there's still only 45 GB free. Most of the stuff is in
C:\Windows, plus C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files (x86). What
from those can I transfer to an external flash stick?
On Mon, 19 May 2025 14:18:42 +0100
Max Demian <max_demian@bigfoot.com> wrote:
On 30/04/2025 13:58, Max Demian wrote:
On 30/04/2025 11:47, GB wrote:
If you just want to free some space on the laptop, you can get
tiny USB sticks that are so small you can leave them in place all
the time to provide extra storage space. Something like this
https://www.staples.co.uk/computing-webcams-printers/computing-
storage- and-memory/flash-drives/verbatim-store-n-stay-nano-
usb-3-0-64gb-flash- drive-98711
Obviously, it uses up one of the USB ports.
Thank you. That's worth considering.
I've bought one. In fact I've bought two, plus a conventional 128 GB
USB stick. I've transferred all the user data I can think of to one,
but there's still only 45 GB free. Most of the stuff is in
C:\Windows, plus C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files (x86). What
from those can I transfer to an external flash stick?
Not transfer as such, but applications can be removed then installed on drives other than C:. They will all ask during installation. There is an option to clean up drives somewhere, but I've never found that removes
more than a few hundred megs at most.
On 19/05/2025 15:48, Joe wrote:
On Mon, 19 May 2025 14:18:42 +0100 Max Demian <max_demian@bigfoot.com>
wrote:
On 30/04/2025 13:58, Max Demian wrote:
On 30/04/2025 11:47, GB wrote:
If you just want to free some space on the laptop, you can get tiny
USB sticks that are so small you can leave them in place all the
time to provide extra storage space. Something like this
https://www.staples.co.uk/computing-webcams-printers/computing-
storage- and-memory/flash-drives/verbatim-store-n-stay-nano-
usb-3-0-64gb-flash- drive-98711
Obviously, it uses up one of the USB ports.
Thank you. That's worth considering.
I've bought one. In fact I've bought two, plus a conventional 128 GB
USB stick. I've transferred all the user data I can think of to one,
but there's still only 45 GB free. Most of the stuff is in C:\Windows,
plus C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files (x86). What from those can
I transfer to an external flash stick?
Not transfer as such, but applications can be removed then installed on
drives other than C:. They will all ask during installation. There is
an option to clean up drives somewhere, but I've never found that
removes more than a few hundred megs at most.
I can see how that will reduce the space used by the program code, but
what about the data? A lot of program data is under C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming - mainly Thunderbird which has 2 GB
or so. I'm not aware that the program lets you choose where its data is stored.
On 19/05/2025 15:48, Joe wrote:where its data is stored.
On Mon, 19 May 2025 14:18:42 +0100
Max Demian <max_demian@bigfoot.com> wrote:
On 30/04/2025 13:58, Max Demian wrote:
On 30/04/2025 11:47, GB wrote:
If you just want to free some space on the laptop, you can get
tiny USB sticks that are so small you can leave them in place all
the time to provide extra storage space. Something like this
https://www.staples.co.uk/computing-webcams-printers/computing-
storage- and-memory/flash-drives/verbatim-store-n-stay-nano-
usb-3-0-64gb-flash- drive-98711
Obviously, it uses up one of the USB ports.
Thank you. That's worth considering.
I've bought one. In fact I've bought two, plus a conventional 128 GB
USB stick. I've transferred all the user data I can think of to one,
but there's still only 45 GB free. Most of the stuff is in
C:\Windows, plus C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files (x86). What
from those can I transfer to an external flash stick?
Not transfer as such, but applications can be removed then installed on
drives other than C:. They will all ask during installation. There is an
option to clean up drives somewhere, but I've never found that removes
more than a few hundred megs at most.
I can see how that will reduce the space used by the program code, but what about the data? A lot of program data is under C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming - mainly Thunderbird which has 2 GB or so. I'm not aware that the program lets you choose
On Mon, 19 May 2025 14:18:42 +0100
Max Demian <max_demian@bigfoot.com> wrote:
On 30/04/2025 13:58, Max Demian wrote:
On 30/04/2025 11:47, GB wrote:
If you just want to free some space on the laptop, you can get
tiny USB sticks that are so small you can leave them in place all
the time to provide extra storage space. Something like this
https://www.staples.co.uk/computing-webcams-printers/computing-
storage- and-memory/flash-drives/verbatim-store-n-stay-nano-
usb-3-0-64gb-flash- drive-98711
Obviously, it uses up one of the USB ports.
Thank you. That's worth considering.
I've bought one. In fact I've bought two, plus a conventional 128 GB
USB stick. I've transferred all the user data I can think of to one,
but there's still only 45 GB free. Most of the stuff is in
C:\Windows, plus C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files (x86). What
from those can I transfer to an external flash stick?
Not transfer as such, but applications can be removed then installed on drives other than C:. They will all ask during installation. There is an option to clean up drives somewhere, but I've never found that removes
more than a few hundred megs at most.
Windows will grow relentlessly, there's no user options like apt clean
and apt autoclean as in Linux, and you need to know quite a lot to know
which old files can really be safely deleted without causing trouble.
I've recently scrapped a Win10 installation in a 32GB SSD because it
didn't have enough space left on C: to do an upgrade, and wouldn't even
do a factory reset for the same reason. I didn't waste too much time as
it only had a few months to live anyway, and I don't use it much
nowadays.
On Mon, 5/19/2025 10:48 AM, Joe wrote:
On Mon, 19 May 2025 14:18:42 +0100
Max Demian <max_demian@bigfoot.com> wrote:
On 30/04/2025 13:58, Max Demian wrote:
On 30/04/2025 11:47, GB wrote:
If you just want to free some space on the laptop, you can get
tiny USB sticks that are so small you can leave them in place all
the time to provide extra storage space. Something like this
https://www.staples.co.uk/computing-webcams-printers/computing-
storage- and-memory/flash-drives/verbatim-store-n-stay-nano-
usb-3-0-64gb-flash- drive-98711
Obviously, it uses up one of the USB ports.
Thank you. That's worth considering.
I've bought one. In fact I've bought two, plus a conventional 128
GB USB stick. I've transferred all the user data I can think of to
one, but there's still only 45 GB free. Most of the stuff is in
C:\Windows, plus C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files (x86). What
from those can I transfer to an external flash stick?
Not transfer as such, but applications can be removed then
installed on drives other than C:. They will all ask during
installation. There is an option to clean up drives somewhere, but
I've never found that removes more than a few hundred megs at most.
Windows will grow relentlessly, there's no user options like apt
clean and apt autoclean as in Linux, and you need to know quite a
lot to know which old files can really be safely deleted without
causing trouble. I've recently scrapped a Win10 installation in a
32GB SSD because it didn't have enough space left on C: to do an
upgrade, and wouldn't even do a factory reset for the same reason.
I didn't waste too much time as it only had a few months to live
anyway, and I don't use it much nowadays.
"there's no user options like apt clean and apt autoclean as in
Linux"
There is actually.
https://www.tenforums.com/performance-maintenance/183688-dism-exe-startcomponentcleanup-vs-startcomponentcleanup-resetbase.html
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/82643-clean-up-component-store-winsxs-folder-windows-10-a.html
Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
/ResetBase
On 19/05/2025 15:48, Joe wrote:
On Mon, 19 May 2025 14:18:42 +0100
Max Demian <max_demian@bigfoot.com> wrote:
On 30/04/2025 13:58, Max Demian wrote:
On 30/04/2025 11:47, GB wrote:
If you just want to free some space on the laptop, you can get
tiny USB sticks that are so small you can leave them in place all
the time to provide extra storage space. Something like this
https://www.staples.co.uk/computing-webcams-printers/computing-
storage- and-memory/flash-drives/verbatim-store-n-stay-nano-
usb-3-0-64gb-flash- drive-98711
Obviously, it uses up one of the USB ports.
Thank you. That's worth considering.
I've bought one. In fact I've bought two, plus a conventional 128
GB USB stick. I've transferred all the user data I can think of to
one, but there's still only 45 GB free. Most of the stuff is in
C:\Windows, plus C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files (x86). What
from those can I transfer to an external flash stick?
Not transfer as such, but applications can be removed then
installed on drives other than C:. They will all ask during
installation. There is an option to clean up drives somewhere, but
I've never found that removes more than a few hundred megs at most.
I can see how that will reduce the space used by the program code,
but what about the data? A lot of program data is under C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming - mainly Thunderbird which has 2
GB or so. I'm not aware that the program lets you choose where its
data is stored.
On Thu, 22 May 2025 19:46:34 -0400
Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:
On Mon, 5/19/2025 10:48 AM, Joe wrote:Would you really describe that as a 'user option'? In Windows, buttons
On Mon, 19 May 2025 14:18:42 +0100
Max Demian <max_demian@bigfoot.com> wrote:
On 30/04/2025 13:58, Max Demian wrote:
On 30/04/2025 11:47, GB wrote:
If you just want to free some space on the laptop, you can get
tiny USB sticks that are so small you can leave them in place all
the time to provide extra storage space. Something like this
https://www.staples.co.uk/computing-webcams-printers/computing-
storage- and-memory/flash-drives/verbatim-store-n-stay-nano-
usb-3-0-64gb-flash- drive-98711
Obviously, it uses up one of the USB ports.
Thank you. That's worth considering.
I've bought one. In fact I've bought two, plus a conventional 128
GB USB stick. I've transferred all the user data I can think of to
one, but there's still only 45 GB free. Most of the stuff is in
C:\Windows, plus C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files (x86). What
from those can I transfer to an external flash stick?
Not transfer as such, but applications can be removed then
installed on drives other than C:. They will all ask during
installation. There is an option to clean up drives somewhere, but
I've never found that removes more than a few hundred megs at most.
Windows will grow relentlessly, there's no user options like apt
clean and apt autoclean as in Linux, and you need to know quite a
lot to know which old files can really be safely deleted without
causing trouble. I've recently scrapped a Win10 installation in a
32GB SSD because it didn't have enough space left on C: to do an
upgrade, and wouldn't even do a factory reset for the same reason.
I didn't waste too much time as it only had a few months to live
anyway, and I don't use it much nowadays.
"there's no user options like apt clean and apt autoclean as in
Linux"
There is actually.
https://www.tenforums.com/performance-maintenance/183688-dism-exe-startcomponentcleanup-vs-startcomponentcleanup-resetbase.html
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/82643-clean-up-component-store-winsxs-folder-windows-10-a.html
Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase >>
in GUI dialogs are user options. MS prefers that untrained users don't
leave the walled garden.
On 19/05/2025 15:48, Joe wrote:
On Mon, 19 May 2025 14:18:42 +0100
Max Demian <max_demian@bigfoot.com> wrote:
On 30/04/2025 13:58, Max Demian wrote:
On 30/04/2025 11:47, GB wrote:
If you just want to free some space on the laptop, you can get
tiny USB sticks that are so small you can leave them in place all
the time to provide extra storage space. Something like this
https://www.staples.co.uk/computing-webcams-printers/computing-
storage- and-memory/flash-drives/verbatim-store-n-stay-nano-
usb-3-0-64gb-flash- drive-98711
Obviously, it uses up one of the USB ports.
Thank you. That's worth considering.
I've bought one. In fact I've bought two, plus a conventional 128 GB
USB stick. I've transferred all the user data I can think of to one,
but there's still only 45 GB free. Most of the stuff is in
C:\Windows, plus C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files (x86). What
from those can I transfer to an external flash stick?
Not transfer as such, but applications can be removed then installed on
drives other than C:. They will all ask during installation. There is an
option to clean up drives somewhere, but I've never found that removes
more than a few hundred megs at most.
I can see how that will reduce the space used by the program code, but
what about the data? A lot of program data is under C: \Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming - mainly Thunderbird which has 2 GB or
so. I'm not aware that the program lets you choose where its data is
stored.
| Sysop: | Keyop |
|---|---|
| Location: | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK |
| Users: | 546 |
| Nodes: | 16 (2 / 14) |
| Uptime: | 01:50:47 |
| Calls: | 10,387 |
| Calls today: | 2 |
| Files: | 14,061 |
| Messages: | 6,416,749 |
