Which Linux is good for an old laptop?
- Thread starter Briguy
- Start date
Just any small sized distro will go on an old laptop. Some of those best suited are Puppy, Darnsmall, Mephis, Gentoo, Knoppix, Zenwalk, while most are simply looking at ubuntu since that tends to see more updated releases at this time.
The small but older releases wouldn't see any problems running with only 128mb or 256mb typically seen on old portables since Linux doesn't have the requirements typically seen with XP or Vista.
The small but older releases wouldn't see any problems running with only 128mb or 256mb typically seen on old portables since Linux doesn't have the requirements typically seen with XP or Vista.
I'd go with Damn Small Linux or Puppy Linux. Ubuntu would run really slow on that old machine.
I would tend to agree that at least the more recent if not latest releases of any distro would be as slow as a turtle. A small live for cd distro over the larger ones seen with all type of desktop options for KDE and Gnome desktops as seen now wouldn't load things down. You would have to dig deep to find one of the earlier releases however being archived.
Briguy
New Member
Can you put Open Office on puppy linux?
Depends on two things there mainly what release of either. One may be too new for the other. If you find a release of Puppy going back several years the latest version of Open Office will likely run into a similar problem as seen with going with a newer version of Windows to some degree.
TrainTrackHack
VIP Member
I would recommend Xubuntu. It's based on Ubuntu (probably the most popular Linux distro currently out there) but games with xfce instead of GNOME, xfce being lighter on resources. You may also try the xfce version of Linux Mint, but personally I just hated it... the GNOME version of Mint is excellent, though, but for a computer with specs as low as yours, I definitely would not recommend it.
PC eye already gave a fairly comprehensive list of distros you may try, though a few of then (DSL and Knoppix for example) are better suited to run off LiveCD, and if Gentoo is more of a thing for an advanced user so if you're a Linux n00b you'll probably want to steer clear of it.
If you're willing to so some research on your own, look for distros that come with JWM, Fluxbox or xfce desktop environment instead of GNOME or KDE.
PC eye already gave a fairly comprehensive list of distros you may try, though a few of then (DSL and Knoppix for example) are better suited to run off LiveCD, and if Gentoo is more of a thing for an advanced user so if you're a Linux n00b you'll probably want to steer clear of it.
If you're willing to so some research on your own, look for distros that come with JWM, Fluxbox or xfce desktop environment instead of GNOME or KDE.
Briguy
New Member
Xubuntu requires more ram then it has. I'll look in to getting more for it. I did like puppy linux. It did seem like it had more of that windows feel to it. Pretty user friendly.
Puppy was one of the few older distros often advised for newbies being small and less ram hungry. Gentoo while being the Linux geek's type distro is light on resources while being a little more involved. That and Mephis another one do see live for cd releases while not as Windows user type friendly.
The only thing you could do there to help in picking out a newer more newbie friendly distro would be simply seeing how much memory that will take for a start and then finding some additional PC100 or PC133 still being stocked to max it out. 256-512mb would be a typical max for any portable that old while a good 512mb would see some of the latest releases still run.
The only thing you could do there to help in picking out a newer more newbie friendly distro would be simply seeing how much memory that will take for a start and then finding some additional PC100 or PC133 still being stocked to max it out. 256-512mb would be a typical max for any portable that old while a good 512mb would see some of the latest releases still run.