nlg wrote:
it's because I have old computers (2008 & 2011) which would get way too slow with newer OS. I also think that these still work quite well because I do not install any program that I am asked on (like big compilation tools
) and for security issues, I only update the browser and I do not host any services
My laptops are of a similar vintage.
I think, on the Linux front, using a lightweight desktop is crucial for older devices, such as XFCE.
I did the vast majority of my OS dev on:
- Lenovo Thinkpad T61 - Circa 2009
- Toshiba T130 - Core2 Solo
I've since "graduated" to a Thinkpad T420, from about 2012, and I'm sticking with that mainly because modern laptop keyboards are absolutely crap, but ddr3 RAM is so cheap these days on the likes of ebay that it is perfectly reasonable to keep the older laptops functional if you can upgrade the RAM. 4GB is a reasonable minimum, with 8GB being more than enough for my OSDEV use (I don't need big VMs, I test using a 12MB RAM QEMU VM.)
I guess if you're keeping at least your browser up to date, you should be reasonably OK, especially on Linux, but as the browser is basically the heaviest weight single app on a modern desktop, if you're running the latest browsers on your machine, there is no reason not to run the latest Fedora release as well anyway.
My 2c.