Looking for a slim Linux distribution for a low end laptop

[Tataffe]

Hi everyone,

 

I bought a cheap laptop two years ago (Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E525, A4-3300M 2x 1,9 GHz, 4GB RAM). At first I needed it for an engineering student's purposes like CAD that only runs on Windows. By now I do not run any Windows-requiring applications on it any more, so I considered swapping from Win7 Pro to Linux.

 

So now I'm looking for a Linux distribution that is "user-friendly" like Ubuntu, with moderate hardware requirements to be able to run smoothly. Should be capable of running stuff like Firefox, Skype, Open/LibreOffice, basic Surf/Communicate/Office stuff. Broad driver ability appreciated.

 

I have already used Ubuntu and Mint, but I am open for other experiences as well.

[TheSLSAMG]

ElementaryOS is your best friend. Based off of Ubuntu, but much nicer and simpler.

 

Minimum System Requirements

• 1 GHz x86 processor
• 512MB of system memory (RAM)
• 5GB of disk space
• Graphics card and display capable of at least 1024x768
• CD/DVD drive or ability to boot to a USB drive

Source: http://elementaryos.org/

[Bluejay0]

Elementary OS. A few of my buddies recommend it.

[CwGoh]

ElementaryOS is your best friend. Based off of Ubuntu, but much nicer and simpler.

 

Minimum System Requirements

• 1 GHz x86 processor
• 512MB of system memory (RAM)
• 5GB of disk space
• Graphics card and display capable of at least 1024x768
• CD/DVD drive or ability to boot to a USB drive

Source: http://elementaryos.org/

 

That looks really nice.

[TheSLSAMG]

That looks really nice.

It is. I ran it for a while because Windows was being a complete ****, and even now I still use it occasionally.

[CwGoh]

It is. I ran it for a while because Windows was being a complete ****, and even now I still use it occasionally.

 

I guess it beats Ubuntu/Mint's ass regarding resource management? I'm really looking into installing this into my lappie.

[TheSLSAMG]

I guess it beats Ubuntu/Mint's ass regarding resource management? I'm really looking into installing this into my lappie.

I mean it is Ubuntu, so it should be the same regarding resource management.

[Tataffe]

ElementaryOS is your best friend. Based off of Ubuntu, but much nicer and simpler.

 

Minimum System Requirements

• 1 GHz x86 processor
• 512MB of system memory (RAM)
• 5GB of disk space
• Graphics card and display capable of at least 1024x768
• CD/DVD drive or ability to boot to a USB drive

Source: http://elementaryos.org/

 

Wow, that was quick

 

I will have a good look at ElementaryOS, thanks for your advice everyone

[lutzee]

Alternative lightweight Linux distros:

 

CrunchBang #!: Based on Debian, running the openbox window manager, sits happily idling on 100MB of RAM. s

Lubuntu: Specifically designed for running on older PCs, uses the LXDE desktop environment

[Pholostan]

Think I saw a blog post about something similar:

http://www.everydaylinuxuser.com/2013/10/12-great-linux-operating-systems-for.html

[IdeaStormer]

Lubuntu : http://lubuntu.net/

Damn Small Linux : http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

Slitaz : http://www.slitaz.org/

Unity Linux : http://unity-linux.org/

VectorLinux : http://www.vectorlinux.com/

Puppy Linux : http://puppylinux.org/main/index.php?file=Overview%20and%20Getting%20Started.htm

Tiny Core Linux : http://www.tinycorelinux.com/

[Guest Gazzer96]

Lubuntu is your best bet.

[IdeaStormer]

Lubuntu is your best bet.

 

Why?

[mrconan]

crunchbang #!

[Guest Gazzer96]

Why?

It is extremely light weight- it only uses around 94MB of RAM (when nothing is open), no real bugs, loading times are very fast even for a older HDD and it is great for battery life.

[lutzee]

It is extremely light weight- it only uses around 94MB of RAM (when nothing is open), no real bugs, loading times are very fast even for a older HDD and it is great for battery life.

 

Other reasons its good,

For newer users having a full desktop environment available, rather than just a window manager as provided by some of the other distros mentioned above is much better for the new user.

 

Although some of the other distros mentioned will run on even less RAM than 94MB

The guy doesn't actually have a bad laptop, I've seen people with much much worse laptops still running under boated windows

[Billbob]

A 32nm dual core laptop with 4gb of ram doesn't count as anything near bad linux wise, you should be able to run pretty much any distro you want with no problem. A good place to browse distros is here: http://distrowatch.com/.

 

Edit: I use xubuntu and find it reasonably sensible, if you are finding mint/ubuntu not very snappy, have a play with this: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwapFaq#What_is_swappiness_and_how_do_I_change_it.3F.

[Tataffe]

The guy doesn't actually have a bad laptop, I've seen people with much much worse laptops still running under boated windows

 

It's always relative, isn't it?

 

Sometimes you just don't have the choice. CATIA required Windows. Now that I'm done with that part of my studies, I can switch my laptop to a slim Linux without any feature loss and an improvement in speed and responsiveness.

 

I also had a Toshiba Satellite Laptop from 2006 with Mint 11 on it and it was bad.

[psyduckcraig]

ElementaryOS is your best friend. Based off of Ubuntu, but much nicer and simpler.

 

Minimum System Requirements

• 1 GHz x86 processor
• 512MB of system memory (RAM)
• 5GB of disk space
• Graphics card and display capable of at least 1024x768
• CD/DVD drive or ability to boot to a USB drive

Source: http://elementaryos.org/

I was going to say the exact thing. The thing with Ubuntu now is its getting more harder to run as they are beefing up the OS. I havent used Elementary yet but its on my todo list. 

[dark-D]

have a look at antiX if you feel in the mood. it is not as 'user-friendly' as ubuntu, but it is a lightweight distribution based on debian testing, the majority of the apps that you mentioned are included, skype and the graphic card drivers can be installed via smxi. the forum is full of helpful people, excluding me, that will help you to solve future problems or questions that you have.

 

i see that you are from germany. if you feel like going to the max, give the popular siduction a try, the founding members are from germany and can help you with your questions, and i believe that they have face to face meetings, it is better to see on hand than reading how to use/alter something in linux.

[Rhizo]

I'd probably recommend one of these:

 

Crunchbang

Slax

Arch

and perhaps ubuntu minimal

[joshuamurphy]

I'd probably recommend one of these:

 

Crunchbang

Slax

Arch

and perhaps ubuntu minimal

I would strongly recommend NOT arch for a first distro. Arch is awesome but you have to know Linux very well first.

[Tataffe]

I went with Lubuntu now. It works fine, runs fast, just had to fix the sound codecs