Wanted: desktop computer or advice on one

[alanc]

Many thanks for all your suggestions so far - a bit of a minefield out there for someone as inexperienced as I am but I’m getting the general idea about the way forward. But looking at some of the refurbished ones on Amazon for example it seems that you need a bit of luck to get a good one - quite a few are put together with insufficient care and some arrive damaged.

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Many thanks for all your suggestions so far - a bit of a minefield out there for someone as inexperienced as I am but I’m getting the general idea about the way forward. But looking at some of the refurbished ones on Amazon for example it seems that you need a bit of luck to get a good one - quite a few are put together with insufficient care and some arrive damaged.

Hi
Firstly have a look at modern proper software for early computers that remains supported. As example https://www.linuxmint.com/
Without such software you are always tied to either redundant operating systems, or forced to buy the latest hardware at enormous cost
Worse you are tied to heavily proprietary software that dictates terms, rather than the freedom to use the computer as you wish.
The video here explains why proprietary software should not exist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJi2rkHiNqg

To load Linux Mint on any computer download the iso image from Linux mint's site to a USB, or purchase a DVD from
https://distrowatch.com To change the drive the computer reads first press F2 as it is booting - this can with some
brands be only 1 or 2 seconds. choose the USB drive or DVD if that is what you have to boot from then press F10 to save those changes

From there you can then choose earlier excellent computers, often brand new, discarded by people who fail to understand the possibilities.

I hope that helps