It's like growing up: one day, you're crashing on mom and dad's couch; the next, you're forging your own journey, without a safety net. Or something. Truth be told, in this case, it's more like mom and dad moved out and didn't tell you. Oh well. We're all adults here. 😂

 

The legacy TCLUG web site, which has been graciously hosted by the fine folks at Real Time Enterprises since approximately the dawn of time (OK, in Internet context, anyway), is starting to show its age a little bit. (Not that I'm going to pretend that this hand-coded XHTML site is the latest in web presence; I'll try to keep it somewhat fresh, at least.) Also, its new web host, unlike the old one, doesn't accept tclug.org as a valid domain.

 

That's not to say, however, that the content provided there is entirely outdated. Apparently someone did update the IRC page to reflect the shift to Libera.chat due to the Freenode troubles. Alas, there is no longer a CafePress swag store (shame!), the Meetings page is 10 years old (and Beer Meetings is even older! 😭), and the last officially blessed InstallFest was in 2011. The mailing list — which still works, mind you! — is a veritable ghost town.

 

What happened? There are a lot of theories as to why Linux User Groups have fallen into disfavor and disarray, but the leading one I've heard is: Linux got too easy. Most minimally technical folks don't need their hand held through an installer anymore, and if they do, there are myriad online-only communities from which to request help.

 

The era of the LUG has seemingly come, and gone.

 

 

...something weird were to happen — something different.

 

Like Microsoft declaring that decades of still-viable computers are no longer welcome on its supported releases.

 

Oh. That. Right.

 

While Windows 10 would run on just about anything (OK, support for 32-bit platforms has largely fallen by the wayside, but the same trend has mostly also happened on the Linux side of things), Windows 11 added some rather stringent hardware requirements, like UEFI, Secure Boot, TPM, and they've cut off a lot of even relatively beefy processors.

 

So while the family's 5-year-old shared desktop or laptop may hum along with Windows 10 just fine, there's an increasingly likely possibility that when someone goes to upgrade it to Windows 11 ahead of the Windows 10 end-of-support on October 14th, 2025, they're going to be told: nope, not good enough. Time to shell out some money for a new PC — oh, and you might want to make sure it's Copilot+ ready!

 

What? This computer is perfectly good still! And you want me to just...throw it out?

 

Well...why not install Linux on it?

 

...and there we have our quandry. While weird computer enthusiasts (calm down, I'm describing myself here) may be able to handle a Linux installation, the average Joe who just wants to keep using the computer he just shelled out good money for (OK, a few years ago) might not quite be savvy enough.

 

But no problem! We've done this before! We can do it again. ...right?

 

But...oh yeah. The community kind of dried up. Some of us moved away. Some of us became weird hermits. (Again: it's me.)

 

Can we rally when Twin Cities computer users need us?

 

...I guess that's the real question.

 

I'm not 100% sure where I'm going with this web page. I'll need to poke some folks online, to see what they think.

 

Stay tuned, maybe?