Debian has been around for 30 years. And on my non-Chromebook I can always install the latest version.
Comment on Google Intros Chromebook Plus Devices With More Power, Apps and AI for $399
baronvonj@lemmy.world 8 months agoUnless you can easily upgrade the RAM, Storage, and replace the OS when it loses support, it’s still ewaste.
Which consumer desktop Linux distros have more than 10 years of updates?
raptir@lemdro.id 8 months ago
baronvonj@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Debian LTS for stable release is 5 years
raptir@lemdro.id 8 months ago
And when that support period ends… I just install the next Debian release.
When the support period for ChromeOS ends, I’m “officially” out of luck.
I have a 13 year old laptop that runs current Linux distros without a problem.
baronvonj@lemmy.world 8 months ago
You can install Linux on that old Chromebook, same as you can today. I think also CloudReady could be used. Or Chromium is open source so that custom buildsay be feasible just like with custom Android ROMs.
hperrin@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I just recently installed the latest version of Manjaro on a Dell XPS 15z from 2011. So Manjaro supports hardware from at least 12 years ago.
baronvonj@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Nice. I believe I can put ChromeOS Flex (forgot about the name change from CloudReady in my other comments) on my old Surface Pro 3. Or Fedora. Or keep running Windows. And when my HP 14c stops getting updates from Google in 2030 or 2031, I’ll consider Linux or Flex on it. 😁
Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
zdnet.com/…/the-oldest-linux-distro-just-got-a-ma…
1993s slackware
baronvonj@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Slackware 1.0 isn’t still receiving updates though. There doesn’t seem to be a statement on how long major releases are supported, it just says “a number of years.”
GigglyBobble@kbin.social 8 months ago
Why do you compare patches for major software releases with updates for hardware? Those are completely different topics.
baronvonj@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I’m comparing ChromeOS software updates to Linux distro major release support lifecycles. The original assertion was that a Chromebook becomes useless ewaste once the software updates stop.
sir_reginald@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I’m running Arch Linux in a 18 year old laptop. And I could and have run Debian in the very same laptop in the past.
I don’t get your point at all. If laptops were as repairable as desktops, we could continue using them for 15+ years.
TwinTusks@outpost.zeuslink.net 8 months ago
I have a CR48 from 2010 that is running arch linux, is slow but completely workable.
baronvonj@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Brilliant! So you’re affirming it wasn’t automatically ewaste once Google stopped supporting it!
whileloop@lemmy.world 8 months ago
All of them!
Linux and Linux distros are generally designed to be hardware-agnostic, and generally works just fine on very old components. I’m currently running the current version of Ubuntu on a used U1 server from ~2013, no issues, no headaches. It just works. Grab any Windows PC from the last 20 years, you won’t have any compatibility issues running most Linux distros, though some distros might expect more performance. Linux Mint is fairly lightweight.
baronvonj@lemmy.world 8 months ago
And you can install those distros on a Chromebook, no? You can probably use CloudReady after ChromeOS no longer supports it after 10 years.
Debian LTS for stable releases is 5 years
wiki.debian.org/LTS
Ubuntu LTS is 5 years
ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle
Fedora is 13 months
docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/releases/lifecycle/
GigglyBobble@kbin.social 8 months ago
LTS just means staying on the same release and guaranteed support for that time which is important for businesses. As a consumer you can always just do a release upgrade.
Since most businesses rely on Windows anyway, that's pretty much irrelevant for this discussion. They cannot use Chromebooks either.
baronvonj@lemmy.world 8 months ago
The original assertion was that a Chromebook becomes useless ewaste when the software updates stop. But as of today Chromeos gets software updates for longer than any Linux distro major release (10 years ChromeOS vs 5 years for Linux). You can install Linux on that Chromebook after Google stops supporting it just the same as the Windows laptop after Dell stops supporting it. And there’s CloudReady and Chromium. Theyre not ewaste without Google updates, you have options.
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 8 months ago
You aren’t understanding.
That’s support for one specific software release.
It’d be like saying Apple supports iPhones for 1 year not 5+ years, because they’re only on iOS version X for one year.
Linux devices get updates literally forever.