PC

Repurposed ASUS S550C

/ John Wagenvoort / Leave a comment

By Kai, with thanks to John Wagenvoort and his pervuew.

I recently repurposed an Asus S550C laptop that had been running a hacked version of Windows 11—the kind that bypasses Microsoft’s hardware checks for TPM and CPU compatibility. While it technically worked, it was unstable and inherently insecure. Time for a smarter solution.

Enter Linux Mint

I opted for Linux Mint (Cinnamon edition) as a full replacement for Windows. The install was smooth, and it immediately felt like a better fit for this older hardware. Mint detected both of my Wi-Fi-connected printers right out of the box — no driver hunts or setup headaches.

Bluetooth Bump in the Road

One hiccup: Mint didn’t detect the laptop’s internal Bluetooth. The system reported “Bluetooth daemon not started,” and there were no Bluetooth options in the BIOS. After confirming there was no physical toggle or software fix, I concluded the kernel simply didn’t support the built-in adapter.
No big deal — my Logitech mouse with its own USB dongle worked perfectly.

Software Essentials

I removed Firefox (personal preference) and installed a few essentials:

  • ✅ 1Password (via .deb install, after adding gnupg2)
  • ✅ Dropbox, complete with pinned folder access in the file explorer

The Verdict

Linux Mint has breathed new life into this mid-2010s Asus ultrabook. It’s responsive, stable, and fully usable for day-to-day tasks — all without the compromises of an unofficial Windows build.

Limitations? Just Bluetooth — and only because the chipset wasn’t detected. Otherwise, Mint made this a surprisingly modern experience.

The Apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

/ John Wagenvoort / Leave a comment

It would be a year ago that I delved into the world of Apple for the first time with my then not too highly thought of iPad. I remember going on about this that and the other. Hmmm, no USB ports etc. Well, a year on and it’s a totally different story.

Soon after the iPad had become the much needed commodity I just couldn’t do without, the Nokia E71 was soon supplanted with an iPone.

Now to just rewind a bit. I started working with the humble PC back in 1987. Lotus 123 was the program of choice and not soon there after I was working with MS Excel 1d. Back in those days windows had winders. The PC would boot up to a C prompt in less than a minute or so. Hmmm what ever happened to that? Not to digress too much, one of my latest forays into the PC world was by way of an Acer Aspire net book. Upgraded to 2gb of ram no less.

Imagine playing a 45rpm vinyl record at 33 and a third and you soon get the point. There’s not a lot of doing when it comes to those sorts of machines except for one thing, waiting. When it does eventually boot, Microsoft decides that the machine hasn’t quite been stuffed to the gills yet and implores you to install the much needed 23 critical updates. Restart required, and then when it finally boots up again Adobe will insist that you must have the latest version of their pdf reader or Flash. Around this time the “must have anti virus program” will decide it’s about time for a scan. Needless to say that if one was to liken the PC to a toaster, one would simply throw it out and buy a new one. So that’s exactly what I did,……

I bought a Mac.

The End