KDE user here. Never used gnome, why is it an issue?

Thanks for the advice re: management. Definitely something we’ll need to plan for.

Yeah, I said they’re “useless as is”, because they’re running an outdated OS, have internet explorer on them, etc. the hardware is obviously far from useless but getting it to a good place in terms of user experience for a younger audience will involve a time investment. So yes, useless as is.

This is a good idea honestly, I’ll consider it!

Thanks for the super-informative post :) I’ve had a look around some more machines and there’s some i3’s in the mix too. Think I’m going to try Mint xfce on one of them and see if it copes. Yeah, consolidating ram seems like it should be a priority. There are a few i3 machines sitting headless gathering dust on the floor, they seem like a good place to scavenge from

There’s about 15 machines. Not a huge amount, I was definitely exaggerating with ‘a tonne’ haha. I think it just feels like a big waste, hence the exaggeration 😅

Yeah I’ve installed LTSC on a couple of machines too (goofygoobers version, I think) so that’s another option

Oh for sure, it’s just explaining that to boomer management that’s tough

Yeah, securing them might be the biggest challenge tbh. I work full-time at the school and won’t really have time to provide tech support. The windows machines are ‘managed’ by a third-party IT solutions company, but like I said they’re mostly useless at this point and are rarely turned on anymore.

Students don’t have user accounts so a generic log in could work. could see the school not allowing a Linux install without some sort of management/tech support procedure in place though. Security is probably the biggest hurdle to clear but I guess if we’re paying an IT company to manage window machines I don’t see why they couldn’t support Linux too, unless they’re unfamiliar with the OS :(