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I have an old Dell Inspiron 10 Mini that has a weak Atom processor and 512 MB of RAM. What is the lightest Linux OS I can install that I can use as a normal desktop? It would be used for word processing and internet browsing

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Chromeos?

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10 minutes ago, Valkyrie Lenneth said:

windows xp

 

jk

 

ubuntu? :P

i actually did hook up XP and it was a lil buggy. Wouldn't connect to wifi. Then again I cloned it from another drive so errors were inevitable.

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Low power depends on how much you use it. Android will also run on x86.

 

PhoenixOS is one x86 Android distro.

"Only proprietary software vendors want proprietary software." - Dexter's Law

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Damn Small Linux is EXTREMELY light. Avoid Android x86, your hardware won't make for a super great experience.

Come Bloody Angel

Break off your chains

And look what I've found in the dirt.

 

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Seems she was struggling

Something is wrong with this world.

 

Fierce Bloody Angel

The blood is on your hands

Why did you come to this world?

 

Everybody turns to dust.

 

Everybody turns to dust.

 

The blood is on your hands.

 

The blood is on your hands!

 

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On 6/27/2018 at 7:53 PM, NovaMan01 said:

I have an old Dell Inspiron 10 Mini that has a weak Atom processor and 512 MB of RAM. What is the lightest Linux OS I can install that I can use as a normal desktop? It would be used for word processing and internet browsing

Lububtu works as does DSL. I have that exact laptop. 

You might as well run nothing and throw it out. The windows 7 starter edition took like 5 minutes to start up when I got it New. Microsoft word was lagging back in 2011... I think I was even luck enough to have 512 more MB ram even... 

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On 6/28/2018 at 8:53 AM, NovaMan01 said:

I have an old Dell Inspiron 10 Mini that has a weak Atom processor and 512 MB of RAM. What is the lightest Linux OS I can install that I can use as a normal desktop? It would be used for word processing and internet browsing

Well you could try a build of ChromiumOS; if all you need is web browsing and word processing you can use it for that, and use Google Docs for word processing.

 

Other than that I'd recommend Lubuntu; or if you're more technically inclined, Arch Linux

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1 hour ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

Actually, considering the laptop, Windows XP should work fine once drivers are installed.

But as for Linux, there's people who know distros much better than I do.

i dont have a straight up copy of XP, i ripped it off another hard drive. Can i get a clean copy somehow?

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Puppy Slacko or Puppy Wary.

There are 10 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary and those that don't.

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There is one distro lighter than Lubuntu called Crunchbang Linux. Discontinued but downloadable still.

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Why would you recommend a discontinued distro?  The Crunchbang community created BunsenLabs after Crunchbang was ended and it is still supported: https://www.bunsenlabs.org/

 

However the OP mentioned they want a "normal desktop" and OpenBox is quite a long way from the traditional DE paradigm.

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On 3/7/2018 at 4:14 PM, Koeshi said:

Why would you recommend a discontinued distro?  The Crunchbang community created BunsenLabs after Crunchbang was ended and it is still supported: https://www.bunsenlabs.org/

I have not tested BunseLabs.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3.07.2018 at 7:01 AM, NovaMan01 said:

i dont have a straight up copy of XP, i ripped it off another hard drive. Can i get a clean copy somehow?

It should be not needed since it boots. All you need is proper drivers and MAYBE extra tools that may help with wifi connection from producer that you can download on his support website.

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