Frugal Friday

[ecosophia]

Welcome back to Frugal Friday!  This is a weekly forum post to encourage people to share tips on saving money, especially but not only by doing stuff yourself. A new post will be going up every Friday, and will remain active until the next one goes up. Contributions will be moderated, of course, and I have some simple rules to offer, which have changed as we've proceeded. (As things have settled down to a nice steady conversational pace, for example, I've deleted the rules about only one tip per person per week and about limiting the length of comments; I was worried early on about people flooding the forum with too much too fast, but I think we're past that risk.)

Rule #1:  this is a place for polite, friendly conversations about how to save money in difficult times. It's not a place to post news, views, rants, or emotional outbursts about the reasons why the times are difficult and saving money is necessary. Nor is it a place to use a money saving tip to smuggle in news, views, etc.  I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #2:  this is not a place for you to sell goods or services, period. Here again, I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #3:  please give your tip a heading that explains briefly what it's about.  Homemade Chicken Soup, Garden Containers, Cheap Attic Insulation, and Vinegar Cleans Windows are good examples of headings. That way people can find the things that are relevant for them. If you don't put a heading on your tip it will be deleted.

Rule #4: don't post anything that would amount to advocating criminal activity. Any such suggestions will not be put through.

With that said, have at it!

Comments

Re: Computin' like it's 1984

[(Anonymous)]

Lubuntu would be perfectly appropriate for such a computer, and for such a user. https://lubuntu.me/

JMG - no worries! and Lubuntu - can you clarify?

[(Anonymous)]

JMG: Don't worry too much about picking a wrong Linux distribution, from any of the widely popular ones that several thoughtful people recommend. They all now have user-friendly point and click interfaces for almost anything in day to day usage. Over 80% of your day to day computer use would be identical, on any up to date distribution. LibreOffice operation and customization is virtually identical on Linux and Windows.

Your own files of books, notes, blog posts and image collections for them, harp concerts, etc, as well as browser bookmarks, should all carry over perfectly if you switch distributions. A backup drive made with one distro should be fully readable on another distro.

As for any changes from one distribution to another, almost all of the same concepts apply, although where you click for them would be different. Most of the remaining changes only relate to initial setup, or adjusting your system settings and templates. Some very subtle inconsistencies only affect programmers.

Anonymous Lubuntu enthusiast: Like some other Linux distributions, Lubuntu offers a choice of a Long Term Support version or a newest features version. For any distribution where this choice is available, I think LTS would be the best option for JMG.

It looks like for Lubuntu, Long Term Support means three years before there might be major changes in how things work, and the current LTS edition is supported til April 2025.

Would you agree with me in recommending LTS if available? I don't see anything that would make a huge difference for someone who primarily writes with LibreOffice, manages blog posts and comments, and has little interest in videos. Thus Pipewire, new screensavers and art files, Do you see any compelling reason I've missed that stable-newest-features version would be more advantageous?

C from C

Re: JMG - no worries! and Lubuntu - can you clarify?

[(Anonymous)]

I only ever install LTS versions.