As a moderate fiddler with technology I found Ubuntu a little frustrating at first but have found every challenge has provided an increasing level of satisfaction upon resolving. Challenges such as getting wireless to work, devices properly configured have only made me bond stronger with the system. that coupled with excellent performance and relatively trouble-free use for over 18mths now have satisfied me that Linux has a future and I’ll stick with it for the longer term (having given up on it on it several times over the past decade). Indeed I’m looking to fully utilise it at home with media server and networking so more challenges are definately ahead.

I do feel there’s something you didn’t fully get into I feel to appreciate the strength of and that’s the user community, they’ve never failed me and it’s something you become part of, passing on things you’ve learned to those traveling the Linux journey with you, some well ahead and some well behind and a myriad in between, it really is a community and I feel 99.9% of the truly participating members are helpful and productive, that’s higher than any other community forum I reckon!.
I like having the control and productivity Linux gives me and the perks of things such as speed and simplicity, even on the older laptops I have that other OS’s would run like a snail on.
Don’t bin that old Laptop, give Linux a whirl on it!
Best Regards, Steve.