Some Linux Distros Recommendations?

[PreyBeans]

Hi everyone! I'm running a pretty much ancient PC running with a dual-core processor and 4Gb ram. Windows 8.1 ran fine but wasn't satisfied with it so I switched to Linux last week.
 

I didn't really switch to Linux but I was curious if it can revive my ancient PC. I'm looking for lightweight - midweight Linux distros for browsing and light gaming as well. Linux Mint XFCE has been my option but can a Linux distro replace it, or stick with it?
 

These are my system specs:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 2.93 Ghz
GPU: Intel GMA 4500 (ancient)
RAM: 4Gb DDR3
HDD: 300Gb Hitachi SATA Drive

Thanks in advance!

[Levent]

Mint Cinnamon offers the easiest transition from Windows to Linux imo. If you want something more of a OSX feeling, there is Elementary OS, but it's significantly heavier on resources.

[Drama Lama]

1 minute ago, PreyAtLTT said:

Linux Mint XFCE

xfce is already a lightweight desktop envoirment

you could try Lubuntu but it's probably not a lot lighter

[lgcas]

4 minutes ago, PreyAtLTT said:

Hi everyone! I'm running a pretty much ancient PC running with a dual-core processor and 4Gb ram. Windows 8.1 ran fine but wasn't satisfied with it so I switched to Linux last week.
 

I didn't really switch to Linux but I was curious if it can revive my ancient PC. I'm looking for lightweight - midweight Linux distros for browsing and light gaming as well. Linux Mint XFCE has been my option but can a Linux distro replace it, or stick with it?
 

These are my system specs:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 2.93 Ghz
GPU: Intel GMA 4500 (ancient)
RAM: 4Gb DDR3
HDD: 300Gb Hitachi SATA Drive

Thanks in advance!

When messing around with a VM on a relatively meh laptop (a8-6410), I had the most success with Puppy linux, Lubuntu and stock Debian. I also tried Slitaz which worked well but the setup, at least then (this was probably around 2017-18) was a bit of a pain.

[starry]

Lubuntu is incredibly lightweight and uses a stripped down version of KDE as the desktop environment, which makes it a very easy transition from windows. Mint will always be the most intuitive for a windows user, but Lubuntu is close behind and runs much lighter, and it sounds like your PC needs as light an OS as it can get.

 

Laptop with a first gen mobile i5 currently running Lubuntu very very well. It has the help of an SSD but still.

[PreyBeans]

Thanks everyone! I'd go for Lubuntu

Wait, can MX Linux do?

[PreyBeans]

11 minutes ago, starry said:

Lubuntu is incredibly lightweight and uses a stripped down version of KDE as the desktop environment, which makes it a very easy transition from windows. Mint will always be the most intuitive for a windows user, but Lubuntu is close behind and runs much lighter, and it sounds like your PC needs as light an OS as it can get.

 

Laptop with a first gen mobile i5 currently running Lubuntu very very well. It has the help of an SSD but still.

 

12 minutes ago, lgcas said:

When messing around with a VM on a relatively meh laptop (a8-6410), I had the most success with Puppy linux, Lubuntu and stock Debian. I also tried Slitaz which worked well but the setup, at least then (this was probably around 2017-18) was a bit of a pain.

 

13 minutes ago, Drama Lama said:

xfce is already a lightweight desktop envoirment

you could try Lubuntu but it's probably not a lot lighter

WIll MX Linux work as well? I just found it a while ago.

[Drama Lama]

Just now, PreyAtLTT said:

WIll MX Linux work as well? I just found it a while ago.

I don't see a reason why it shouldn't?

just try it out

[PreyBeans]

2 minutes ago, Drama Lama said:

I don't see a reason why it shouldn't?

just try it out

Sure! I'll try it tomorrow. Thanks everyone!

I'll send here the results

[ProjectBox153]

Just as a note, I use Linux Mint on systems with similar configurations to yours often. I've still got a few Core 2 Duo machines kicking around for various things, and Mint runs very well on them. 

[ProjectBox153]

13 minutes ago, windcask said:

There are people on this site that play around with similar machines because they have fun pushing old, worthless hardware to its limits. There is no reasonable case where you use such a system as a daily driver.

Or, you know, some of us do still daily drive hardware that old. 

[ProjectBox153]

3 minutes ago, windcask said:

Your Ryzen 7 must have been a pretty early engineering sample if it was from '09.

Did I say that I daily drive an old system? No. Reread my comment. I know what it's like to have older hardware and not really have a great way to upgrade it. Some of us just don't have the option of calling a business and asking for an old computer. Until February of 2019 my daily driver machine was a Core 2 Duo E8400 system with a GT 710. It did just fine back then, and I still use it to this day. It's no longer my main computer, but I do still use plenty of older hardware. 

[ProjectBox153]

1 minute ago, windcask said:

This thread isn't about you and if OP's situation disallows him from acquiring better hardware for free, we'll go from there. I wanted to point out that he doesn't necessarily need to struggle with his current machine if it isn't strictly necessary.

Sure, I know what the possibilities are. I've gotten machines that perform extremely well for free. Hell, I only paid a total of $35 for the Dell Precision T3500 that replaced my E8400 machine. 

However, you said that there is no reasonable case where such old systems should be used as daily driver machines. In my opinion that's not true, and that's all I was pointing out. 

[PreyBeans]

2 hours ago, windcask said:

Just don't.

 

There are people on this site that play around with similar machines because they have fun pushing old, worthless hardware to its limits. There is no reasonable case where you use such a system as a daily driver.

 

I'm going to assume you live in a place the size of a small town or larger. Call around to any businesses with more than 50 employees. They will most likely have a pile in the corner of 2nd and 3rd-gen Core i5 or i7 desktops and laptops with either integrated video or Quadro NVS. These machines, which are on the verge of being thrown away, will give you probably 4x the performance of this machine. Whatever you pick up will be more than capable of running Ubuntu XFCE, particularly if it has discrete video, and that will give you the easiest path to a livable gaming situation. A used GT 710 or even GT 1030 from a few lawn mowings will turn a crappy low-profile prebuilt with a 250W power supply into something that can function (30fps+) at 1080p on Minecraft, CS:GO, Dota 2 or TF2.

Tbh, I'm fine with my PC. It ran fine when I installed Lubuntu.

[PreyBeans]

2 hours ago, ProjectBox153 said:

Did I say that I daily drive an old system? No. Reread my comment. I know what it's like to have older hardware and not really have a great way to upgrade it. Some of us just don't have the option of calling a business and asking for an old computer. Until February of 2019 my daily driver machine was a Core 2 Duo E8400 system with a GT 710. It did just fine back then, and I still use it to this day. It's no longer my main computer, but I do still use plenty of older hardware. 

Actually, that PC is from an office.

[kelvinhall05]

20 hours ago, windcask said:

Just don't.

 

There are people on this site that play around with similar machines because they have fun pushing old, worthless hardware to its limits. There is no reasonable case where you use such a system as a daily driver.

 

I'm going to assume you live in a place the size of a small town or larger. Call around to any businesses with more than 50 employees. They will most likely have a pile in the corner of 2nd and 3rd-gen Core i5 or i7 desktops and laptops with either integrated video or Quadro NVS. These machines, which are on the verge of being thrown away, will give you probably 4x the performance of this machine. Whatever you pick up will be more than capable of running Ubuntu XFCE, particularly if it has discrete video, and that will give you the easiest path to a livable gaming situation. A used GT 710 or even GT 1030 from a few lawn mowings will turn a crappy low-profile prebuilt with a 250W power supply into something that can function (30fps+) at 1080p on Minecraft, CS:GO, Dota 2 or TF2.

Not the point of this thread at all, and that hardware is far from "worthless." It can absolutely be used as a daily driver; it entirely depends on what OP is doing, and I suspect if they're not looking into a hardware upgrade, either they can't afford it or don't need it.

 

 

OP, basically anything suggested in this thread so far would be a fine choice. Just keep in mind most of the differences between the mentioned distros lie in the DE and OOTB installed software. Personally, I would suggest Arch Linux, however, the install may be a bit daunting if you have zero experience with Linux (even though you can just rtfm for the entire install follow a guide).

[kelvinhall05]

1 minute ago, windcask said:

I am sure you could daily-drive an IBM PC XT if all you did all day was write Fortran code.

 

This is a tech site with a primarily PC gaming audience. Running a system half as powerful as your average burner phone is shooting yourself in the foot in nearly any modern contemporary practical usage, be it web browsing, teleconferencing, gaming, etc.

Did you even read my post? Doesn't seem like you did. You have absolutely no idea if OP needs a new computer, and if they do, whether or not they can afford it. Cmon.

[ProjectBox153]

1 hour ago, kelvinhall05 said:

Did you even read my post? Doesn't seem like you did. You have absolutely no idea if OP needs a new computer, and if they do, whether or not they can afford it. Cmon.

Just drop it. They don't care that people do actually still use such old hardware, and that it's not at all worthless to some people. 

[PreyBeans]

On 2/19/2021 at 1:23 AM, windcask said:

I am sure you could daily-drive an IBM PC XT if all you did all day was write Fortran code.

 

This is a tech site with a primarily PC gaming audience. Running a system half as powerful as your average burner phone is shooting yourself in the foot in nearly any modern contemporary practical usage, be it web browsing, teleconferencing, gaming, etc.

Well, Euro Truck SIm 2 is working fine lol

[Cmin]

All pretty much any popular are lightweight enough and documented enough. Those are two things most new users should prioritize IMO.

[WolframaticAlpha]

On 2/16/2021 at 6:03 PM, PreyAtLTT said:

Hi everyone! I'm running a pretty much ancient PC running with a dual-core processor and 4Gb ram. Windows 8.1 ran fine but wasn't satisfied with it so I switched to Linux last week.
 

I didn't really switch to Linux but I was curious if it can revive my ancient PC. I'm looking for lightweight - midweight Linux distros for browsing and light gaming as well. Linux Mint XFCE has been my option but can a Linux distro replace it, or stick with it?
 

These are my system specs:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 2.93 Ghz
GPU: Intel GMA 4500 (ancient)
RAM: 4Gb DDR3
HDD: 300Gb Hitachi SATA Drive

Thanks in advance!

If you are a windows user and still are not comfortable with the terminal, I would say, use linux mint. It has drivers for all the stuff. I am against ubuntu cuz snap uses a lot of resources. The mint software shop is awesome. The user interface is awesome. Especially good is it's implementation of a driver manager. I could not use an old broadcom card on Ubuntu MATE & Debian. Worked ootb in Mint.

 

However, if you want the maximum speed, easy setup but aren't afraid of getting your hands dirty, I'd say try a Debian install with gui installer, and a lightweight DE/WM like LXqt/LXde/xfce.

 

If you want a nice distro, with a lot of software, and aren't afraid of upgrading, I'd say try using Manjaro.  Just run a live copy of manjaro and see if it suits you.

 

 

In the end, stop caring about the distro. It's all about the package manager.

 

PS: I use Clear Linux and Debian on my machine.

 

 

 

[WolframaticAlpha]

On 2/16/2021 at 6:19 PM, PreyAtLTT said:

Thanks everyone! I'd go for Lubuntu

Wait, can MX Linux do?

Eh, It's a fad. Unless you are a sysadmin, I'd say stay away from MX. 

[WolframaticAlpha]

On 3/1/2021 at 8:54 AM, Cmin said:

All pretty much any popular are lightweight enough and documented enough. Those are two things most new users should prioritize IMO.

Somewhat.  But have you seen system Usage of popos and garuda?

[Giganthrax]

Just yesterday, I installed Lubuntu in a very old laptop (i5 cpu, gtx 310 gpu, 4gb ram, 5400rpm hdd) that's supposed to be used for playing videos in VLC, internet browsing in Opera, possibly working in google docs, and remote desktop access to my main computer via Parsec. 

 

I must say, I'm quite impressed so far with how well Lubuntu runs on this ancient hardware. Aside from a few bugs I quickly managed to deal with, the distro was easy to set up and feels very snappy to use despite being installed on an HDD. The only time I notice it's running from an hdd is during boot, when it takes a couple minutes to fully get to the desktop. 

 

For comparison, when I tried installing Windows 10 on the same HDD, the disk was constantly on 100% usage, and it took ages just to get updates done and the overall user experience felt extremely sluggish and uncomfortable.

 

TLDR: Lubuntu definitely gets my vote when it comes to reviving an old system. 

[PreyBeans]

On 3/2/2021 at 1:08 PM, WolframaticAlpha said:

If you are a windows user and still are not comfortable with the terminal, I would say, use linux mint. It has drivers for all the stuff. I am against ubuntu cuz snap uses a lot of resources. The mint software shop is awesome. The user interface is awesome. Especially good is it's implementation of a driver manager. I could not use an old broadcom card on Ubuntu MATE & Debian. Worked ootb in Mint.

 

However, if you want the maximum speed, easy setup but aren't afraid of getting your hands dirty, I'd say try a Debian install with gui installer, and a lightweight DE/WM like LXqt/LXde/xfce.

 

If you want a nice distro, with a lot of software, and aren't afraid of upgrading, I'd say try using Manjaro.  Just run a live copy of manjaro and see if it suits you.

 

 

In the end, stop caring about the distro. It's all about the package manager.

 

PS: I use Clear Linux and Debian on my machine.

 

 

 

Just tried Arch, using the terminal was fun and I installed KDE