Repair Café International marked the first anniversary of its Linux Repair Café starter kit on repaircafe.org. The kit is a guide for running sessions where visitors bring an old laptop and leave with Linux Mint installed. One year in, 165 Repair Cafés around the world are doing this.

The reason is Windows 10. Microsoft ends support in October 2027, and roughly 400 million computers worldwide cannot update to Windows 11. Linux is free, open source, and keeps those machines working instead of sending them to the e-waste pile.

Repair Cafés that want to offer installations but have nobody with the skills can ask for help. In the Netherlands, the group works with the Nederlandse Linux Gebruikers Groep, which set up BuurtLinux, a volunteer network that provides free support after the install. The NLLGG also runs LaptopRevive, which puts Linux on discarded laptops and gives them to students, refugees, and others on a small budget. Similar groups exist in other countries.

See more at repaircafe.org.