Jul 12, 2010 Between Ubuntu 8.04.4 and 10.04 there is a significant drop, which largely may be attributed to the migration from the EXT3 to EXT4 file-system by default. Between Ubuntu 10.04 and 10.10 there is looking like there will be a modest boost in performance for this old Pentium 4 system.
What do you do with your old computers? The one which once had good hardware configuration but now those are considered outdated. Why not revive your old computer with Linux? I am going to list best lightweight Linux distributions that you can use on your older PC.While our focus is on older computers, you can also use most of these lightweight Linux on relatively new hardware.
This will give you a better performance if you use your computer for resource-heavy usage such as video editing on Linux.Let’s see which lightweight Linux distro you should use. Best Lightweight Linux distros for old laptops and desktopsI’ll try to order the list in decreasing order of hardware requirement. Which means the lightweight Linux distro at the number one position would need the minimum hardware. Peppermint is a that doesn’t need high-end hardware.
It is based on Ubuntu and uses LXDE desktop environment to give you a smoother experience.Originally created with the web-centric approach of netbooks in mind, Peppermint has developed for integrating any website as a desktop app.It also has a decent to help the new users. A is also there to help troubleshooting issues and answering your questions. Minimum system requirements for Peppermint OS:. RAM: 1 GB of RAM (recommended 2 GB). CPU: Processor based on Intel x86 architecture. Disk space: At least 4 GB of available disk spaceYou can get more information about Peppermint on its website. GPicView for image viewing, MTPaint for paint, Evince for PDF, Audacious for music, Gnome-Player for video, guvcview for webcam, Chromium for web browsing, Sylpheed for email, Pidgin for instant messaging, Transmission for torrent, Gnumeric for spreadsheet, Abiword for office, Xpad for notes and there are even more.If you were using Ubuntu earlier then you will not find Lubuntu unfamiliar.
Software and repositories are same so you will get all software that you were using on Ubuntu from their repositories. But take care of your system when installing any application.
Select an application that can consume fewer resources of your old computer. Don’t use resource-heavy apps. Minimum hardware requirements for Lubuntu:. RAM: 512 MB of RAM (recommended 1GB). CPU: Pentium 4 or Pentium M or AMD K8 or higher.
As the name suggests Linux Lite is a lightweight Linux distro that does not need high-end hardware to run it. Even a beginner will be able to use it on older computers easily. Linux Lite is based on Ubuntu LTS (Long Term Support) releases. The LTS version gives support for 5 years which means once you install Linux Lite on your computer, it should provide updates for 5 years.Linux Lite Team says: “ Linux Lite is fully functional out of the box, this means that you won’t have to install extra software when you boot your computer for the first time.” This is pretty helpful for newbies as they don’t need to go for some basic apps search to install. Most of the basic apps are built in with OS.Some of the pre-installed apps are Firefox for web browsing, Thunderbird for emails, Dropbox for Cloud storage, VLC Media Player for Music, LibreOffice for office, Gimp for image editing and Lite tweaks to tweak your desktop.Considering that it is based on Ubuntu, you’ll have plenty of support and resources available online as you can follow the Ubuntu tutorials.
Minimum hardware requirements for Linux Lite:. RAM: 512 MB RAM (recommended 1 GB). CPU: 700MHz processor. Display: VGA screen 1024×768 resolution (recommended VGA, DVI or HDMI screen 1366×768). Disk space: At least 5 GB free disk space. LXLE is actually a respin of Lubuntu LTS version. Which means that it is basically Lubuntu but tweaked for a specific purpose, to revive old computers in this case.Despite being lightweight Linux distro, LXLE tries to provide an intuitive UI and eye candies.
The system is tweaked to improve performance and comes with a wide range of lightweight applications installed by default. Minimum hardware requirements for LXLE:.
RAM: 512 MB (recommended 1 GB). CPU: Pentium 3 (recommended Pentium 4). Disk space: 8 GB. CrunchBangCrunchBang is also known as CBPP or #!
or CrunchBang Plus Plus. Crunchbang is the clone of that was known for simplicity and lite weight. CrunchBang supports old computers and runs without any issue. CrunchBang is based on with the minimal design interface and built around the minimal and lightweight.This project is continuing with the same aim to provide easy to use & lite weight Linux with good functionalities.
That’s why Crunchbang includes a minimal design, simple & sleek interface. Some of the default applications in Crunchbang are Geany IDE, Terminator terminal emulator, Thunar File Manager, Gimp for image editing, Viewnior image viewer, VLC Media Player for music, Xfburn CD/DVD burning software, Iceweasel for web browsing, Transmission torrent client, Gnumeric spreadsheet editor, Evince pdf viewer, gFTP file transfer client, Xchat IRC client, AbiWord for office. Minimum hardware requirements for CrunchBang:There are no official hardware recommendations for Crunchbang. Ideally, it should work with 512 MB of RAM and Pentium 4 CPU.Openbox is not very beginner friendly but this doesn’t mean you should be afraid to try it.
Another light Linux distribution is Bodhi Linux that gives life to older PCs & Laptops. Bodhi Linux is quite known for its lightness.
There are not many software pre-loaded on Bodhi Linux so the ISO is not big in size and when installed on older computers it runs freely without using much memory. But do not think that you can not install other applications, you can install any application that you need.Other than this, Enlightenment makes the distro a lot faster. Enlightenment is faster than other window managers that are used in other Linux distributions.
If you have any problem using Enlightenment or any other function of Bodhi then there are helpful guides written by the team.There are some basic applications such as Ephoto for Graphics, Midori for web browsing, ePad text editor but, unfortunately, there are no applications for Multimedia. But don’t worry! As I said above you can install other applications through. PPAs meant for Ubuntu also work in Bodhi Linux, mostly. Minimum hardware requirements for Bodhi Linux:. RAM: 256 MB of RAM. CPU: 1.0 GHz.
Disk space: 4 GB of drive space. AntiX is a lightweight Linux distribution based on Debian Linux.
It takes pride in boasting of a systemd-free Linux distribution. If you are not aware of the term systemd, then it shouldn’t matter to you that antiX doesn’t use systemd.antiX uses to keep the system running on low-end hardware. It doesn’t provide many software by default so the ISO is less in size.
You can always download and install more software later if you have access to an active internet connection. Minimum hardware requirements for antiX Linux:.
RAM: 256 MB of RAM. CPU: PIII systems. Disk space: 2.7 GB of drive space. SparkyLinuxThe third position on our list of lightweight Linux distro is occupied SparkyLinux. SparkyLinux is another lightweight but at the same time, SparkyLinux also targets modern computers so it has another version which is loaded with applications and make the distro run instantly after installing.Did I tell you what distro SparkyLinux is based on?
Actually SparkyLinux is based on Debian testing branch and it has several desktop environments including LXDE, OpenBox/JWM, e17, MATE, LXQt, Cli and the GameOver edition. LXQt is quite faster than other mentioned except Cli (Command Line Interface). As said earlier, it has two editions: Full edition and Base edition.
Full edition is loaded with applications so that you do not have to install them manually, but that is not for our old computers. The Base edition is not loaded with heavy applications so it’s light and does not use much system resources. Although Sparky has its own repositories to install most of the applications.The list of applications installed by default is different for different Sparky, Full, Base and Gaming edition and is available below each edition on the download page. Minimum hardware requirements for SparkyLinux:. RAM: 256 MB of RAM for LXDE, e17, Openbox, GameOver and 384MB RAM for MATE, LXQt. CPU: i486/amd64. Disk space: 5 GB of drive space.
Puppy LinuxAs I mentioned above now distributions will be less in size but speedy. Puppy Linux is one of them, Puppy Linux latest release is Puppy Linux 6.0.2 tahrpup CE that is only 199 – 201MB in size. It’s very small. This small Linux distribution can be booted with a small size USB stick.Puppy Linux can be booted live with either a CD/DVD/USB and onceits booted you can eject CD/DVD/USB and Puppy Linux will run smoothly. It’s so tiny that it saves everything on RAM which makes it very fast.
You can even save any data on the same USB that you are booting the Puppy Linux from. The Quirky 7.0.3 release is even smaller than tahrpup CE, it is only 176MB. Puppy Linux uses JWM and Openbox window managers by default which makes it very easy on resource consumption. If you are using Puppy Linux on old computer then this will more likely to fit into that but do not demand those high graphics applications. Try to complete your work with light applications and tools.Because Puppy Linux is built to be fast, it does not come along with bundles of applications. It does have some basic apps, though. For example, Abiword for word processing, Gnumeric for spreadsheets and assorted graphics editing and media playback programs.
Personally, I use Puppy Linux to recover data or to repair my corrupt OS and believe me, it helps me a lot. Minimum hardware requirements for Puppy Linux:. RAM: 64MB (recommended 256 MB). CPU: 333MHz. Tiny CoreBe ready to be amazed by the Tiny Core.
I bet Windows’ smallest image editing app will be heavier than Tiny Core Linux. It is just 15MB in size! It takes more time download a low quality small video clip than the Tiny Core.Well, that was about the size of distro but what is inside will also amaze you. It comes with the minimal interface and very few applications installed. If you have an ancient computer then try this out and see the magic.
It boots faster than any other OS. There are three editions of Tiny Core which are Core, Tiny Core and CorePlus.
Core is the base system that has only CLI (Command Line Interface). This will amazingly fit inside the old computer but as this is a CLI so an experienced/advance users can operate it well. The current version of Core edition is only 9MB.:)TinyCore edition will be for a normal user who is familiar with GUI (Graphical User Interface). A beginner can be familiar with this edition of Tiny Core Linux. The current release of TinyCore is only 15MB in size. Yeah, that’s tiny, I know.CorePlus is an installation image and not the distribution. It is recommended for new users who only have access to a wireless network or who use a non-US keyboard layout.
It includes the base Core System and installation tools to provide for the setup with the following options: Choice of 7 Window Managers, Wireless support via many firmware files and ndlswrapper, non-US keyboard support, and a remastering tool. The current release of CorePlus is only 72MB in size. Minimum hardware requirements for Tiny Core Linux:.
RAM: 46 MB (recommended 64 MB). CPU: Pentium 2. ConclusionInstalling any of the following Linux on your older hardware will be very easy. The good thing is that there are many tutorials or guides provided by the team itself to help new users. Also, you will need to do a little research about the applications you want to install on very tiny distributions.
Prefer the application that uses fewer system resources and has a simple user interface. If you maintain the installations then there will be no problem using any of the light Linux distro listed above.
Not so much favourite but a common theme across all distros is shite dependency checking for software that uses libraries, marks them as not in use, deletes them and breaks other software because cretin programmers do not think beyon their program using a common library or resource file.I have had 6 distros killed in that manner, its why I avoid updates. UNTIL THAT SIDE OF THINGS IS FIXED across the board, no distro is `the distro` as they all have one failing in common, well more than one, this one is just major a one.
Here's how to install and setup Raspbian on PC (with an accompanying video guide above):. First, download the ISO, the image of the Raspbian OS that you will install. This can be downloaded from or as a torrent from. Next you'll need to create a bootable USB stick. On Windows a good program for creating a bootable USB stick is called Rufus, which is.
Take a USB stick, with a size of 2GB or larger and run the downloaded Rufus.exe file. In Rufus, click on the dropdown menu for Device to select the USB stick. Next, click on the icon showing an image of a CD/DVD tray, which is about three quarters of the way down the box, next to 'Create a bootable disk using', and select the Raspbian ISO file you just downloaded. Then click Start.
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