Linux/Ubuntu recommendations

_Kyle_

_Kyle_

Well-Known Member
If you guys don't remember, I just got a new PC. My old one, a Dell Dimension 8200, is just sitting in the closet sad and lonely. I'm gonna erase the hardrive, and slap some kind of OS onto it and give it to my brother so he can do schoolwork on it. The problem is, it's a old PC, with little resources.

The Specs:
Pentium(R) 4 @ 1.8 GHz
nVidia Geforce3 Ti 200
1GB RAM

OS Needs:
  1. Must be very lightweight, I mean lighter than Windows XP
  2. Easy to use
OS Wants:
  1. Browser included with package (or at least a way for me to do a apt-get).
  2. Clean interface.
  3. Customization (My brother likes to be... special)
-All suggestions are highly appreciated! :)
 
beers

beers

Moderator
Staff member
If you still want the Ubuntu experience you can install Xubuntu or Lubuntu. They use different window managers (XFCE or LXDE respectively) that use a lot less resources, however the underlying packaging system and dependencies are the same.

https://xubuntu.org/getxubuntu/requirements/

To be fair, you could get similar performance at a fraction of the power consumption using a Raspberry Pi 3 or something. A lot of those older systems aren't worth the electricity they consume.
 
_Kyle_

_Kyle_

Well-Known Member
beers said:
If you still want the Ubuntu experience you can install Xubuntu or Lubuntu. They use different window managers (XFCE or LXDE respectively) that use a lot less resources, however the underlying packaging system and dependencies are the same.

https://xubuntu.org/getxubuntu/requirements/

To be fair, you could get similar performance at a fraction of the power consumption using a Raspberry Pi 3 or something. A lot of those older systems aren't worth the electricity they consume.
Click to expand...
I really like the Rasberry Pi idea! Any good priced starter kits with everything I need included?

I'm thinking of replacing the old machine with this instead.
https://www.amazon.com/ODROID-XU4-Single-Board-Computer-Gigabit/dp/B0163GEA64
 
Last edited by a moderator:
DMGrier

DMGrier

VIP Member
I could be wrong but from my understanding not all ARM based single board computers will install a Linux OS the same way. Some are harder then others, I would recommend this one....

https://www.amazon.com/Raspberry-Es...66&sr=1-2-spons&keywords=raspberry+pi+3&psc=1

You could either use Raspbian or Ubuntu Mate and the install is relatively straight forward. My only complaint about these boards is to get the desktop to use all the screen real estate you have to use a 720p monitor. I tried to use a 1080p monitor and I get huge black borders around the desktop. Overall the performance for a computer under $100 is pretty good and a majority of open source applications will run on them.

One downside to ARM based computers running Linux is not all applications are supported out of the box, they have to have an ARM port in the repo's. That is where an x86 CPU based machine older or not actually is still superior to these single board computers.

Though if you get bored with the PI there is still so much you can do. Setup a Kodi player, Ubuntu server with nextcloud or my personal favorite I use my PI for is RetroPi https://retropie.org.uk/ .

One hint I will give you off the bat is to format the Microsd use a program called Etcher https://etcher.io/ . Also if you decide to buy a bigger storage make sure to go with a class 10 card such as Sandisk ultra or Samsung Evo. Microsd's by default have horrible read/write speeds.
 
beers

beers

Moderator
Staff member
You might be able to buy the pi, a case and sd for cheaper than that. If you didn't want to throw down any cash up front you can give it a spin on that old PC, or you could use the free VMware player and make a Linux vm on your current PC.

DMGrier said:
I get huge black borders around the desktop.
Click to expand...
You can change scaling in the boot config.
 
DMGrier

DMGrier

VIP Member
I will give that a try at some point, right now I just have my Galago Ultra Pro hooked into the external monitor at my desk and my PI functions as a retro gaming console. Good to know and thanks for passing the knowledge.
 
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