Topic: So Microsoft is telling me...

[ts]

that my not so old Windows 10 machine will not play nice with Windows 11 and I need a new computer, or I will suffer starting next October. So here's what I'm thinking. Salvage my old PC and use Linux or similar. Check email on the web and use an old laptop (which already has all my music software loaded) to process shows. Where I'm stuck is downloading and uploading torrents. What well works with Linux for torrent use? I know nothing about other operating systems and does the software that we all use for processing work with other systems. CD Wav. TLH, and Audition are some that I use. Thanks.

[if_then_else]

Deluge or qbittorrent for torrents.
Trader's Little Helper runs fine under wine (an emulator for Windows programs).

DeadBeef is a clone of foobar2000.
Grip or rubyripper as a replacement for EAC (both support AccurateRip).
vlc as a video player.
Exfalso or easytag for tagging.

Ardour + Calf plugin suite as a DAW.
Audacity for simple audio editing.

[dyneq]

If it's not that old, check with the motherboard manufacturer's site first to see if there is a BIOS update that brings it into Windows 11 compliance.

Another option is to grab a NAS and run torrents on there.

[meltycrayon]

When I booted up my old desktop a couple days ago I got the same message. It boots (and generally does everything) so slowly in comparison to my laptop with a SSD I'm just going to scrap it when the time comes, if not before. Probably going to pick up a new laptop in the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales thinking that in a year or two prices could be noticeably higher if big tariffs are in place, and use the current laptop for stuff I now do on the desktop.

If you do a lot of torrenting, you could always get a seedbox so you only have to ftp stuff to/from its host. I think it's well worth the $60-something I pay per year.

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

It is possible to run Windows 11 on a "non-compliant" PC. I have it installed on an old office PC just for rare use (I moved over to Mac a few years ago). It works fine and gets updates from Microsoft.

https://www.howtogeek.com/759925/how-to-install-windows-11-on-an-unsupported-pc/

[if_then_else]

It is possible to run Windows 11 on a "non-compliant" PC. I have it installed on an old office PC just for rare use (I moved over to Mac a few years ago). It works fine and gets updates from Microsoft.

https://www.howtogeek.com/759925/how-to-install-windows-11-on-an-unsupported-pc/

Yes. There is also another method using Rufus (https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/How+to+install+Windows+11+on+unsupported+devices/160527).

That said, there's no guarantee that you would still receive security updates from Microsoft in the future. Or they could bluntly refuse to provide support in case of a potential issue (because your hardware is not officially supported).

My old dual-boot desktop PC is unsupported, but I'll just use Linux for everything that requires online-connectivity and only resort to Windows for offline tasks (like audio editing). That's also the reason why I don't like DAWs or plugins which require online-activation before use.

If you're looking for a similar user experience as with Windows 10, have a look at Manjaro Cinnamon edition. It's based on Arch Linux but with a more user-friendly installer and it's a "rolling release" distribution (= continuously updated).