... The context isn't about Linux for it's own sake; it isn't even about computers all the time...
... The laptop's original OS (MS Windows 7), while it was dying its slow and ugly death, gave error messages that seemed to
indicate possible problems with the hard drive and/or other components. The messages often contradicted each other;
furthermore, my general success in running Linux distros on this machine appear to indicate that the hardware isn't in any
really bad condition...