Thanks, I think the thinkwiki is a link I didn't have last time I looked into this.

I'm more a fan of debian than ubuntu due to the advertising things they've done: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu#System_terminal_adverti...

But honestly I'm not someone who's got strong views beyond my controverial view that XFCE style graphics are both artful and functional and that going beyond that is a waste of resource ;)

I'll look around on Craigslist for a used laptop and then run it through thinkwiki.

This was a long time ago BTW. As in, the end of the Bush administration -- but I was in uni and didn't have time to troubleshoot, and then I went into the workforce and as VMs became ubiquitous, I glommed onto MacOS since Apple Stores are great about fixing hardware quickly and software wise, I could beef up my ram and run Debian or Kali or whatever as needed.

(As an aside I've found Parrot more well run than Kali's "try harder" anti-user philosophy in later years)