Re: Want to run it?
"if anyone has some pointers on which distrib would be easiest for an exWindows guy."
I love all these people telling you that you should run their pet distro of choice. How the fuck would they know? They have absolutely no idea how you intend to use your computer.
The correct answer is "I don't know. What software do you intend to run, how do you intend to use the computer, how computer literate are you, and how far are you willing to dive into a new OS?".
I switched MeDearOldMum and Dad to Slackware the week that Dad retired. Dad started using computers in the 1950s. He dove into Linux (and later BSD) so deep all you could see was arse & elbows for several months. When he finally came up for air, he knew exactly what he wanted, specced out and built a machine for himself, and is still using THAT SAME BOX around 20 years later[0]. It is Slackware based, because he could see the utility of being able to pick my brain occasionally. The household file & print server and the alarm system and household mechanicals run BSD, as does the internet-facing stand-alone firewall.
Me DearOldMum, on the other hand, runs a cut-down version of Slackware, designed by me, specifically for her needs. It's essentially bone-stock Slackware-stable with a desktop that just has the bits & bobs that she needs day to day easily available to her. Dad is her first line of support, and I haven't been needed for probably ten years. I run her system updates remotely, after testing them out here. I also keep an eye on the logs & etc. Takes me almost no time (I batch it with my Wife & Great Aunt's upgrades ... they use the same basic subset of Slackware), and it's one less thing for Dad to worry about.
So it depends ... What are you going to do with it?
[0] He was speccing out a new machine when the Covid parts shortage hit. Today he says he probably isn't going to bother upgrading hardware after all. We'll see :-)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
