Think you will like Slackware its non SystemD and BSD style rc.d. Oldest running Distro from very big mix of users.

Interesting. I hadn't heard of that utility. Not sure if it would've worked on OpenIndiana though (formerly OpenSolaris). The OS didn't seem to have a Synaptics type of driver. Just a single standard mouse driver. Still, I'll keep note of this for future testing.

Long-time Slackware fan here. Version 12 is still on my old ThinkPad T21 and VectorLinux on a Dell OptiPlex (neither in use but still in my room). Had 3.9 (kernel 2.0.x) on an IBM Aptiva. Slackware is already on my ASUS laptop. Salix on a mini PC.
For this Lenovo I did try two Slackware-based distros, Slackel and Absolute. They had various annoyances at the time, so they were dismissed.

As far as Arch goes, I had settled on Artix a long time ago. Briefly left it to try Obarun but came back to Artix. Recently, though, I decided to leave Arch altogether and now use Void.

So now the SL510 is running MX Linux, OpenBSD, and Void Linux.

My rule of thumb now is 'always' dedicate laptop(s) to Linux . If I would ever need Windows any more (why would I?), load it into a VM.

I've settled on KUbuntu myself on all my laptops/desktops/servers. Yesterday, an MSI Modern 15 A5M-288 showed up on my doorstep. It was a recent 'very good' NewEgg sale item that I couldn't pass up. First thing I did was overwrite Windows 11 with KUbuntu 22.04. Within 20 minutes or so I was up and running on the OS. Everything works. Very painless. Interesting the specs had 8GB of RAM, but it actually came with 16GB (my minimum for machines). Because I thought it had only 8GB (not acceptable to me), I have 32GB RAM in the mail.... Oh well. I'll have to buck up and just live with 32GB... Ha!

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Every laptop I have is dedicated to Linux. (Although one old one no longer charges batteries and i cannot flash ROM to fix it from the same issue described elsewhere.)

All but two of my Desktop PCs are dedicated to Linux. (I still run DOS, FreeDOS, OS/2 Warp, Kolibrios, CP/M-86, DOS with Desqview, and a few other things for testing one one really old PC.)

My sons run Windows, so there is some in the house, but I have not run it in YEARS and then only for work related requirements and not on my own iron.

I do have Windows 10 installed on an SSD that I replaced with a bigger SSD when I received this DELL laptop I am now on. It has never been registered, and may be OES hardware locked to this platform. That swap was so that if I ever had to update firmware on this I could fall back to Windows for that purpose. (And the SSD was CHEAP, and I got it just BEFORE the supply chain and covid inflation hit: I lucked out!)


Cover yourself so you CAN get windows if you NEED it, but then pull the trigger. I have never regretted moving my laptops 100% to Linux.

Wife runs a 17 inch Dell Windows laptop when I need windows.
55 bucks. Used Chromebook.

Works good enough for me.

Oh my, that brought a smile to my face. I so miss those days. I recently came across an archive of a web page I put up back in 1998.
Windows 3.x Schemes & Themes: https://www.oocities.org/wilmarcdw/
There's a hardware page linked there mentioning my brief time with DesqView/X and early Linux. In my dusty piles is an old laptop with DOS/Win3. That made me lookup TVDog's DOS Internet page so I can relive messing with that stuff.

When I gave up computing in 2014, everything was left in a frozen state. Meaning all the stuff in my old tagline (below) are exactly where I left them in my room. Strange but I'll leave that for my therapist. LOL.

--- Previously, collecting dust ---
Slackware 12 & Windows XP - IBM ThinkPad T21, PIII
Arch Linux - Panasonic Toughbook CF-27, PII (before systemd. Things broke badly after that.)
Vector Linux & Windows XP - Dell OptiPlex GX260 Slim, P4
Xubuntu & Windows 2000 (mod) - Dell OptiPlex GX260 SFF, P4
IRIX - Silicon Graphics SGI O2, MIPS R10000
OpenIndiana, Debian Wheezy, Windows XP x64 Edition, Windows 7 Pro - Homebrew AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Tower (along with NetBSD in a VM acting as a software repo for IRIX).


But back on topic, yeah I do keep Windows available if needed.
The Lenovo ThinkPad from this topic has no Windows. I think I'm now complete with the OSes on it.
The ASUS laptop is sort of my main. That one has Slackware and Windows 7. The mini PC has Windows 11 which I've only been in several times. It wound up saving my bacon when a critical work app I was using on Garuda Linux (Arch-based) broke after an update. Couldn't even build it from source. Had to use the Windows version of the app. Got rid of Garuda after that. Bleeding edge is not really my thing anyway. Still debating on getting rid of Win11 but then I remembered I can play with WSL.

That is why I have Win XP, Win7 in VMs. Very rarely used, but available... No need for bare-metal Windoze.

While Dos, Win 3.1, OS/2, etc. all bring back memories, I find I have no reason to actually 'run' them. The Linux OS and embedded programming keep me plenty occupied!

{edited} Update to post #20. The 32GB of RAM arrived as did a 1TB M.2 SSD. Very easy to update the laptop. The back of laptop came right off with only a few screws to remove. The RAM and drive connectors are 'right there' facing you. So replaced the 16GB of RAM (2 slots) with the 32GB (2 16GB sticks), and slipped the SSD into the second empty PCIe M.2 slot. Upgrade complete. All working as advertised. So 1.5TB of internal disk space and 32GB of DDR4 3200 RAM. 'Should' be good enough for the life of this general purpose laptop!

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