I’m suspicious about Microsoft’s interest in Canonical:
According to AI:
No, Ubuntu has not been purchased by Microsoft. However, there have been discussions and speculation about Microsoft acquiring Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu. Despite these rumors, Canonical remains an independent entity. Microsoft has integrated Ubuntu into its Windows operating system through the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), allowing users to run Ubuntu alongside Windows, but this does not indicate ownership.
FWIW, I was using MINT 22.1 without problems until I fell for the suggestions that I should install it alongside Windows 10. Kids, do NOT try this at home!
I will repurpose an old laptop to run Mint in stand alone form. It WAS working. Not sure I will upgrade beyond 22.1 if it’s all gonna fall apart.
Microsoft has always been a tad over aggressive with the bootloader, IMHO. I don’t have time to deal with unexpected results of an update anymore so I leave computers as single purpose beyond virtualizing
But, I should still do the updates, right? I just got Mint a few months ago.
It’s possible (and easy after a few practice installs), but if you are a beginner at making dual-booting, it can be a real PITA.
Most important thing to remember, try to keep the OSs on a different hard drive, have Windows installed first, then, before you install Linux, physically unpluf the Windows HD (you don’t have to do it that way, but makes the install impossible to screw up).
Then, after the Linux is installed, plug the Windows HD back up, and update GRUB2. It will find all OSs installed on all HDs, and update your boot.
For some reason, the newer Linux distros wipe out the boot sector and only allows Linux to boot. I found out the hard way when I tried to install 22.1 several months back.
However, what I did with my desktop PC is I
1. removed all HDDs/SSDs with Windows on them,
2. installed Linux on a separate drive,
3. mounted it inside the PC,
4. hooked up all the rest,
5. booted to Windows again and
6. used EasyBCD to put an entry for Linux in the Windows boot menu.
Yeah, that's kind of a unusual way to use Linux in the same PC as Windows, but it works for me.
[[s. I only needed windows to run a few programs for work, namely QuickbooksPro and UPS Worldship, neither work in Linux]]
Ypu “MIGHT” be able to run both of those in eitger a virtual machine on linux, or in a windows emulator on linux, ie with wine, or some other newer programs thqt are said to be easier. (I thi k one name is winboat)