[Ipg-smz] eBay vendors selling used laptops with Linux Mint installed

[Phil Shapiro]

I've noticed several eBay vendors are selling used laptops with Linux Mint installed. I sometimes buy these 
and resell them to community members at cost. I'm then able to provide free tech support via my public library job. 

In some ways my job is analogous to an open source Apple genius bar -- although I'm given no scripts of what I can 
and can't say. I just give people the best possible advice and support I can. 

Anyway, there might be an interesting story about Linux finding its way into communities via eBay. I can. 
pass along the vendors names, if anyone might be interested in running with this. 

An interesting side angle to this -- the vendors would not be installing Linux Mint if there were no demand 
for it... Another angle, I installed Linux Mint 19.3xfce on a 2002 Dell Dimension 4550 desktop this week. Darn 
computer feels pretty snappy to me. Without Linux, that computer would be out of commission. With Linux installed, 
it could see a few more years of use. 

Too often tech professionals use the word "obsolete" as if it were a factual statement, rather than a statement of opinion. 
If you're a refugee from some war torn country, a 2002 computer with Linux installed would be a dream system to have at home. 

If your name were J.K. Rowling - and you were receiving public assistance -- you could use such a computer to write your 
first books. 

Phil 

-- 
-- 
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro at his.com 
http://www.his.com/~pshapiro/ briefbio .html 
http://www.twitter.com/philshapiro 
http://www.his.com/~pshapiro/stories . menu.html 

"Wisdom begins with wonder." - Socrates 
"Learning happens thru gentleness." 
"We must reinvent a future free of blinders so that we can choose from real options." David Suzuki 
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