Linux for an old laptop

[Gaires]

My mom wants to use her old mini laptop and I promised her that I can install Linux into it.

So I'm looking for a really light Linux that would be easy to use for a person who barely knows how to use Windows.

Another problems is that the Windows xp is broken and doesn't open up even in a safe mode, so I don't know the specs for sure. I found this website with quick search https://www.cnet.com/products/acer-aspire-one/specs/#p=acer-aspire-one-xp-home-white/

Here's a photo of the serial number:

 

[Viper9]

You could install Lubuntu or Puppy Linux. 

[Gaires]

4 minutes ago, Viper9 said:

You could install Lubuntu or Puppy Linux. 

Thanks, I'll try to use puppy trough an usb stick tomorrow and see if it's easy to use.

[jaslion]

34 minutes ago, Gaires said:

My mom wants to use her old mini laptop and I promised her that I can install Linux into it.

So I'm looking for a really light Linux that would be easy to use for a person who barely knows how to use Windows.

Another problems is that the Windows xp is broken and doesn't open up even in a safe mode, so I don't know the specs for sure. I found this website with quick search https://www.cnet.com/products/acer-aspire-one/specs/#p=acer-aspire-one-xp-home-white/

Here's a photo of the serial number:

 

I don't know what you expect this thing to do but even using a text editor will be very intensive for this device. Web browsing is basically out of the question unless you have a lot of patience.

[cretsiah]

based on the specs I would probably suggest 

https://q4os.org/

[benitiv]

On 4/20/2020 at 1:19 AM, Gaires said:

My mom wants to use her old mini laptop and I promised her that I can install Linux into it.

Dear Gaires,

 

i really like your approach to recycle old hardware.

However, I am sorry to say that from my experience you really can not expect a satisfying experience working on a machine like that.

I refurbished a HP Mini 5102 (Released around 2010? with Atom CPU) - installing 2GB Ram and a new SSD - and the result is, that the real bottleneck is the CPU and besides of writing an email (opening the browser is the real pain here) or light work with LibreOffice there is not much use for standard applications to it.

 

Back to the question:

Actually any distro will do it as long as you do not choose a heavy desktop environment like gnome or cinnamon etc.

And also, since all hardware resources are really limited, installing a complete desktop distro will also bring a lot of stuff you don't really need with it. Not just applications, but also services that are running in the background (like bluetooth etc.). This might have negative impact on your resource usage.

So, in that regard I recommend setting up everything on your own: use a distro you are comfortable with and download the server or minimal version of it. (in my case I just downloaded debian). After installing update the system and install a lightweight, yet easy to use window manager like for example LXDE or even XFCE.

This method though requires more work than just the point and click installation of a distribution like *ubuntu AND in the end of the day there might still not be too much performance increase.

 

TLDR; 

No matter what distro you use, you can not expect a smooth experience. Stay away from bloated distros and/or heavy window managers. You can use it for _very_ simple work but I still encourage you to give it a try.

[sp331yi]

This one always works -- antix-19.2.1_386-base.iso -- almost guaranteed!

[Gaires]

Thanks everyone.

I managed to get puppy linux working, and it was usable. Now I just need to return the laptop to mom and see what she thinks.

[Gaires]

2 minutes ago, Benji said:

The problem is, video playback online would still be a nightmare because, for example, YouTube enforces VP9 videos, something that will not be hardware-decodeable on that old laptop and the CPU will also be too weak to deliver promising results.

I was able to watch videos on it.

The local public broadcastings website worked, just had to let the video buffer and Youtube worked somewhat. It took really long time to switch the video to full-screen on youtube, but mom doesn't really use youtube anyway so it shouldn't be a problem for her.

It was far from ideal, but it's usable and if she wants to live with it who am I to deny her.

[mys31fosu]

Lubuntu or any light distro is still fine for this one, hopefully it still handles day to day tasks just fine.