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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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[–] • 1 pt

Linux has a learning curve, but it's pretty short.

I preferred Fedora, but Antifa agitators have taken over so much of the Debian and Fedora that I ditched for Arch.

Dhh released omarchy, and it is a radical departure from Windows, but I think with a little effort you can figure it out.

https://omarchy.org/

Almost all of the Intel wireless nics are fully supported on Linux. Can you give us the lspci Output?

"sudo lspci -v"

[–] • 1 pt

Also, can you send us the output of dmesg?

[–] • 0 pt

https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/dmesg.1.html

First I've heard of this "kernel ring buffer", guess I've never really looked into how it works. "predates detailed records [of Linux development]"

Sounds like it's a console.log confined to a certain number of lines before overwriting.

What would the dmesg potentiallyclarify?

[–] • 0 pt

Dmesg has a log of.devices,.drivers, etc.

It will give us clues about the interface with the firmware and device initiation.

Alternatively,.you could put the output into an air and ask if it knows why you cannot use your wireless device.

lspci will show device IDs connected to PCI and pcie busses. lsusb will do the same for usb.

[–] • 0 pt

" Antifa agitators have taken over ... the Debian and Fedora"

Jfc, good to know ~

[–] • 0 pt

Yeah. Mandriva and a few others are specifically non-Woke.

[–] • 0 pt

I'm attempting for format USB with Cinnamon, feels like a hundred steps. Downloaded the .iso, and the prog to verify it, verified that program, did the authenticity and integrity checks

Failed for a moment, then learned to save the .iso somewhere besides the USB stick, downloaded Rufus to reformat USb with the bootloader... waiting on that.

It's been fun but damn it's all so serious!

[–] • 1 pt

Fedora has a media writer, idk if Debian had one.

Rufus is pretty good, iirc.. I am so accustomed to the manual steps that I usually end up using them.

The steps are how we do it manually. It's amazing that this shit exists and it will eventually drive you crazy that such tools don't exist on other platforms.

[–] • 0 pt

I flashed the .iso to the USB stick (1hr+)

Flagged the laptop BIOS to boot from USB first, disabled secure boot mode.

Error: not a bootable drive. The thumb drive is 8GB