When anything goes nutty, I figure "I can't be the first person who ran into this" and there's usually an answer out there.
Easy for me, I've been using the internet before there was an internet. (DARPAnet, oh that was crazy)
People here are pretty smart and helpful.
One of the saving virtues of something like Linux is that it rarely changes, so stuff I learned years ago is still useful. And, unlike mac and windows, there are all flavors that run, so you can pick a really simple one and run with it. Especially useful with older systems with not much memory and disk.
The gigabytes are tremendous. Somewhere between 17 and 32 to install. Before I got unlimited internet, I'd have to upgrade at the library, and they had some password system to bypass the content and site filter.
Apple and Microsoft stopped shipping upgrades on media. I still have some old Apple USB sticks. Very old.
I'd get Linux install DVD's at the bookstore in magazines. Haven't been to a bookstore in a very long time, either.
I think the following is a joke.
