You've probably heard that Linux can "bring old computers back from the dead", which is mostly true, but you'd have to to a lot of things to squeeze every bit of performance out of it. Usually, it can be pretty easy, but if you have a really old laptop, you'll need something like a Light-weight Linux distribution, which is a distribution that should be way faster than heavier distributions like Ubuntu.
If you're still deciding whether you want Linux or not, here are some ups and downs:
Unix, what you may know as Mac OS and Linux today, was created in 1969, at AT&T's Bell Labs, by Ken Thompson,
Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna. First released in 1971, Unix was written entirely in assembly
language, a common practice at the time. In 1973, it was rewritten in the C–a higher level–programming language by Dennis Ritchie.
AT&T licensed the operating system's source code to anyone who asked. As a result, Unix grew quickly and became used by many institutions.
The
GNU Project
started in 1983 by Richard Stallman, having the goal of creating a "complete Unix-compatible software
system" composed entirely of free software, and began in 1984. By the early 1990s, many of the programs required
in an operating system were complete, low-level elements such as device drivers, however, were stalled and
incomplete.
MINIX, created by Andrew S. Tanenbaum, a computer science professor, was released in 1987 as a minimal Unix-like
operating system targeted at students and others who wanted to learn operating systems.
Torvalds began the development of the Linux kernel on MINIX (some applications written for MINIX were also used on Linux). Later, Linux matured and further Linux kernel development took place. GNU applications also replaced all MINIX components, because it was advantageous to use the freely available code from the GNU Project with the fledgling operating system. Torvalds switched from his original license, which prohibited commercial redistribution, to the
GNU GPL. Developers worked to integrate GNU components with the Linux kernel, creating a fully functional and free
operating system, Linux.
Linus Torvalds has stated that if the GNU kernel or 386BSD had been available at the time (1991), he probably would not have created Linux, the OS many know and love today.
Today, there are many variations of the Linux kernel on different distributions, such as the Arch and Ubuntu default kernels. There are also customized kernels for more stability and performance, along with fixing many driver and hardware issues. Some popular kernels known and used by many community members include:
Xanmod
- A modded kernel mainly for
Debian-based distributions (but can be compiled for other distributions like Arch) "with custom settings and new
features", and "built to provide a stable, responsive and smooth desktop experience."
Zen - A kernel mainly for Arch systems, and a "collaborative effort of kernel hackers to provide the best Linux kernel possible for everyday systems."
Liquorix
- A kernel that "is a free, [and] open-source general-purpose Linux Kernel alternative to the stock kernel with Debian 11 Bullseye."
Before installing, always make sure everything you need works before installing. Since most distrubutions have a Live Session mode, you can test everything you want.
After installing, updating your system is quite important:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y.
Keeping your system up-to-date is very important, like browser updates, app updates, and especially system and security updates like kernel updates are very important to keep your system speedy.
TLP:
sudo apt install tlp.
A battery life saver useful with laptops, default configuration isn't bad.
BleachBit:
sudo apt install bleachbit.
A cleaner that gives you many options for cleaning your system, and does an absolutely great job.