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Fully up-to-date system, including software, NO WINDOWS - $60 (East Wenatchee)
1611 North Anne Avenue
condition:
excellent
make / manufacturer:
Gateway
model name / number:
4860 with GNU/Linux Mint OS
size / dimensions:
16" x 7" x 16"
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Did Microsoft pull the plug on your perfectly good computer, telling you that
-- your Windows 10 system was "no longer supported"
-- that you needed to upgrade to Windows 11
-- that your computer was "incompatible" with Windows 11?
Microsoft wants every computer to be built with a special chip called a TPM, which stands for "Trusted Platform Module," where "trusted" means that Microsoft controls everything. Microsoft can uniquely identify every owner of every machine, what operating systems are present, what software can be installed, what versions are allowed to run, whether the monthly service fees are paid, all of those things connected to the secret keys stored on the TPM chip. That kind of hardware-based security and control solution has some distinct technical advantages. But for a typical home user, equivalent software implementations could do the same thing (though maybe not quite as securely, given that it is Windows), without a massive system replacement.
Microsoft knew exactly how disruptive the mass-obsolescence would be to home users, but they also knew what they could get away with, and they didn't care. It was more profitable to concentrate on the large-scale corporate customers.
If that makes you mad enough to scream, please do the screaming, but save that old computer. Maybe it is time for you to take that leap and say goodbye to Windows forever, like I did. It might feel like losing everything and starting over. But today making this transition is much easier than you might think. You can do this. It just takes a little courage and sufficient rage.
With that in mind, I am offering a refurbished system, featuring specifications that are surprisingly in line with new systems that you can buy today costing 10 times the price, with modern fully-supported system software that is NOT Microsoft-owned.
Base model: Gateway 4860
CPU: Intel Core 5, quad processors at 3 GHz, 64 bit data bus
Disk storage: Seagate Barracuda ST3500413A, 500 GB
Active memory: 4 GB
Operating system: GNU/Linux with current 6.17.0 kernel
Operating system distro: Linux Mint 22.3 "Zena" installed
No built-in WIFI, but a USB plug-in "dongle" is provided
Display Server: X11
Desktop environment: Cinnamon 6.6.7, very "Windows"-like
Firewall: UFW, installed and configured
Media ports: Just about any kind of memory card: SD, CF, etc.
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster T220HD, 22", HDMI, good color, 1680x1050
Keyboard: Acer KU 0833 USB serial, generic English
Mouse: Vintage "Radio Shack" optical, 2 button plus wheel, USB serial
DVD/CD R/RW: Gudon DVD 8x write / 24X read
Office software: Libre Office suite, word processing, spreadsheet,
database, presentations , more, accepts MS Word/Excel files
Internet access: Firefox browser, Thunderbird mail clients, FTP, chat...
Other software: many maintenance and data management utilities,
graphics tools, media players, more...
Anti-virus: You don't really need it... but Clam AV could be added
This is of course using old hardware. You are doing the world a huge service by giving this perfectly good system a new home and saving it from a needless end in the landfill.
Or maybe you would be willing to swap for your old computer system to get this system for free. Maybe you would prefer to keep your old computer, but with Windows replaced by something new and better -- we might figure out a way to do that instead of buying this one, again at a net cost of "free."