Tree

Today after walking the dog, (picture taken in the church yard again), I completed the computer swapping by taking the two upgraded and reinstalled computers to their owners.

My sister-in-law got her computer back upgraded and converted to Linux (Debian 11) and her partner was given her old computer also upgraded and converted to Linux (Debian 11). Both look basically the same, and have basically the same things installed on them. After the upgrade and conversion I was quite surprised how both responsive they both were. I think they were both short on RAM before and the old hard drives were slow, but the weight of all the bloatware installed on Windows and Windows itself didn't help.

We stayed for several hours and I connected both systems to their home WiFi and then configured their home WiFi to give both systems reserved IP addresses (which makes life easier) and updated its records properly so they can both talk to each other.

I told them it was only €50 each for the upgrade, which is about half what it really cost in new bits, and my time also being free, as they've always been generous, and I thought it was the right thing to do. Even so the actual upgrade to memory and SSD at retail price, was still a lot less than getting a new computer, which is what they would have had to do (and in practice had already done).

My mother-in-law now has her old computer back, and we checked it connects to her network okay, can print and can scan okay - as it's not been upgraded from Windows to Linux, so if there are problems when we leave, she is on her own...! The main thing in needs are some silicone feet to stop it slipping on the stand - though it too would benefit from conversion to Linux - but that's would be for another time...!

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