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Windows 10 support "ends" in a few weeks, trying to rig my old HP notebook up to Mint or something just in case it takes down my desktop

Hit a classic problem of the wi-fi adapter not seeing most available networks. Troubleshooting suggested checking to make sure it can handle 5Ghz networks. With some searching I see it has a "dual band" adapter, and set it to prefer 5GHz band... and it still doesn't see my wifi.

I can't mess with the router too much tonight, house is busy with netflix slop.

My question, would a Linux distro be able to take advantage of the 5Ghz band? Assuming Windows is just being unhelpful.

I got it hooked up to ethernet now seeing if updates help. I haven't used this laptop since 2020.

I just want to find a way to make sure the hardware works before I switch the OS.

Windows 10 support "ends" in a few weeks, trying to rig my old HP notebook up to Mint or something just in case it takes down my desktop Hit a classic problem of the wi-fi adapter not seeing most available networks. Troubleshooting suggested checking to make sure it can handle 5Ghz networks. With some searching I see it has a "dual band" adapter, and set it to prefer 5GHz band... and it still doesn't see my wifi. I can't mess with the router too much tonight, house is busy with netflix slop. My question, would a Linux distro be able to take advantage of the 5Ghz band? Assuming Windows is just being unhelpful. I got it hooked up to ethernet now seeing if updates help. I haven't used this laptop since 2020. I just want to find a way to make sure the hardware works before I switch the OS.

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[–] • 3 pts

Which distro. Which kernel. Do you know what chipset the wifi adapter uses.

Lots of variables. Short answers: Yes, linux can use 5ghz no problem. The biggest issue is the wifi adapter itself. Intel adapters are usually plug and play. Realtek...depends. Broadcom....coin flip. If it IS in fact the drivers...you can manually hunt down the drivers and install yourself depending on the distro. I'd reccomend trying a thumb stick with different distros and see if ANY of them recognize off the bat because wifi drivers that aren't explictly opensource can be finicky

[–] • 1 pt

Thumb driving distros is the plan, just looking for leads to cut down on time messing around. It's an Intel wifi adapter circa 2016. I bought the laptop basically as a typewriter during the plandemic, it used to connect to wifi, but we replaced the router a year ago.

I was planning on starting with Mint since I haven't done Linux since probably 2005.

[–] • 2 pts

Grab a copy of endeavour OS and attempt it on a thumb drive Arch base, very close to steam OS. Or hell, even grab a copy of Steam OS itself. They both have the same driver support at the end of the day.

But is right here.

You need to give us a bit of info about the laptop at least. make model would help a great deal.

Sadly, there are simply some chipsets that are not supported well. The manufacturers dont offer information into how it works.

[–] • 0 pt (edited )

[Redacted]

[–] • 1 pt

Mint will MOST LIKELY be the most compatable distro. Fedora is also very user friendly out of the box. Arch will be the one you will be able to brute force, but has the "hard" sterotype for a reason. Plus you'll probably have to get drivers from the AUR, so use at your own risk

[–] • 2 pts

try Endeavour and learn YAY. Yay makes arch pretty easy for AUR support. its a damn good swiss army knife, but it still does fail occasionally.