What Linux for old Windows XP dell

[Wqwe pumpkin]

I am going to install a lightweight Linux kernel on old Dell Dimension 4600.

Cpu: Pentium 4 2.66 ghz

Gpu: FX 5200

Ram: 2x256mb

Over 80 gbs of hard drive storage.

What would be a good Kernal to install for single tasking and emulating 8 and 16 bit games. It currently has Windows XP installed.

[Wqwe pumpkin]

It is single core single thread and 32 bit forgot to write

[Master Disaster]

Lubuntu is probably the best OOTB choice for an older system.

 

Even better, go with Arch and build your own environment from scratch. You can keep it as lightweight as you want.

[ProjectBox153]

My normal recommendation would be Mint, but that's a pretty heavy load for a single core P4 without Hyper-Threading. I would try Lubuntu and see if that works for you. 

[Dutch_Master]

My advise, as someone who spend nearly 2 years installing Linux on precisely those kind of systems is Devuan. Forget anything with systemd, (which is most (if not all) of the mainstream Linux distro's) because it's too slow. When I initially started at the project we used Linux Mint and we did 2 systems PER DAY. After I made the switch to Devuan, as well as some hardware upgrades to the network (which network?!! Right, the one I'd build for the purpose ) we could do dozens! We didn't, as our supply of these systems was considerable but still limited, so my co-worker and I took the lazy route

[Master Disaster]

20 minutes ago, Dutch_Master said:

My advise, as someone who spend nearly 2 years installing Linux on precisely those kind of systems is Devuan. Forget anything with systemd, (which is most (if not all) of the mainstream Linux distro's) because it's too slow. When I initially started at the project we used Linux Mint and we did 2 systems PER DAY. After I made the switch to Devuan, as well as some hardware upgrades to the network (which network?!! Right, the one I'd build for the purpose ) we could do dozens! We didn't, as our supply of these systems was considerable but still limited, so my co-worker and I took the lazy route

I've never even heard of that distro.

[Wqwe pumpkin]

When I went to lubuntu it said that the latest version is not in 32 bit should I not use lubunto then or use it until April when they drop support

[Master Disaster]

2 minutes ago, Wqwe pumpkin said:

When I went to lubuntu it said that the latest version is not in 32 bit should I not use lubunto then or use it until April when they drop support

If the system doesn't support X64 (some later P4s do support it) then the latest version of Lubuntu (or any Debian based distro) you can run is 18.04.

[Dutch_Master]

1 hour ago, Master Disaster said:

I've never even heard of that distro

You're welcome  

 

Best way to describe it is Debian w/o systemd. Lags a bit behind Debian as it obviously doesn't have the amount of dev's, but usually a new Devuan release comes not long after a Debian release.

[Wqwe pumpkin]

Should I run a kernal that will be outdated soon

[Tech101yt]

On 1/16/2021 at 5:31 PM, Wqwe pumpkin said:

I am going to install a lightweight Linux kernel on old Dell Dimension 4600.

Cpu: Pentium 4 2.66 ghz

Gpu: FX 5200

Ram: 2x256mb

Over 80 gbs of hard drive storage.

What would be a good Kernal to install for single tasking and emulating 8 and 16 bit games. It currently has Windows XP installed.

id'd try Lubuntu or Puppy Linux.