Dead laptop

My mother gave me a laptop a while back. The battery was completely dead and one USB port was gone. No big deal. She used it for everything. It came with XP I believe. it is circa 2006 or 7 maybe. It gave her good service for several years. She has a new system that is much better.

I loved it. I put Linux on it and never looked back. That is, until recently. It turns out upgrading Linux is going to be difficult task because of a couple of factors.

The DVD drive is going out. It gets errors. The BIOS will not let me boot from any USB device. I looked on HP's site for the model information, but it is not there. It is like the laptop never existed. Perhaps it was manufactured by someone else with HP's name on it. So much for a flash update. It probably only would have worked if the computer still had Windows on it anyway.

This laptop ended up heading to the hospital with me when Nat was there a couple weeks ago. It turned out to be completely useless. Not only could I not get the system to do much beyond checking email and watching YouTube videos. Now it is time to upgrade. The CD has errors. The drive seems fine.

Keeping the drive and trashing the rest of the rest. Sad. Can't afford another one. I don't want to pay for a laptop with Windows on it because It gives Microsoft money for a license that will never get used. That pisses me off no end. Thus, I use second hand laptops where the license has already been paid for. I can't afford that either.

Fortunately, Nat's laptop is fine. Elle has one at Bill's that works for her. My next computer will most likely be a laptop. If, that is, when I locate someone who will sell me a laptop without an OS or with Linux already installed.

I don't really need a laptop if I'm honest. My big boss at work asked me if I had an iPad or any Apple products. I had to tell him no because I cannot afford any of them. I really just don't want any on top of it.

Speaking of Apple, one of the vloggers I watch is all proud of all his different Apple products. He is so proud to dust them off and parade them in front of the camera and complain about what was wrong with them. All I can think of is the twenty thousand dollars he has spent in the last dozen or so years on these devices.