Guys I truly don't mean to spam the community but these are legit questions. Yesterday I posted about linux compatibility and computers and every single person gave me knowledge to use and you're all awesome.
Now my question is, I will undoubtedly be purchasing an older machine, would an older but good running machine still be able to install the latest kernels or versions of distros or are you limited to older versions only, based on the era of your laptop or is it really about the hardware you have? I know ram, disk space, basic stuff like that matters with distros, but I know that will not be a problem. I guess I'm thinking beyond that like processors. are older processors or anything else hold certain machines from being compatible with the newest and greatest kernels? Thanks!
For the most part, yeah. If you're looking for a laptop the older you go, the more "boring" you'll want.
Plain form factors and the like.
Sometimes, very rarely, weird laptop keyboards need special drivers that don't always get baked into Linux, so it can be a pain. Same for older "premium" sound stuff in an older laptop.
Doesn't mean that it will have problems, just that you're more likely to.
Old midrange Lenovo or Dell laptops tend to be a staple for Linux. They also contribute to Linux, so their stuff tends to just work. Contrast with apple, where getting it to work with Linux is a hard-mode hobby for some people.
Base hardware stuff is essentially all compatible.
https://a.co/d/1exYlgM
That's basically an example of a standard laptop you might try to put Linux on and expect effortless success. (It's newer because that's what came up, but it's an example of the trend).
Note the lack of anything that makes you go "ah, a marketable feature to highlight or differentiate".
https://a.co/d/iRv02YV
This one probably works fine, but I'd have some concerns about that touch screen and things not playing well with any sensors that make the folding action turn off the screen.
It might work fine, but it's the type of thing that can take a bit of fiddling to get working, or just doesn't because people don't care to port the functionality over.