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Best Linux distro for ancient laptop

k_benlevi
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Hi, I have a Sony Vaio PCG-TR3A laptop from 2004. It has 1GB of RAM, and a 1GHz Pentium M which doesn't support PAE (It actually does, but it's not set in the CPU flags, so for all purposes, it doesn't). Looking for a lightweight distro that will run on non POE 1core CPU that I could possibly still get some work done. Thanks

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I believe CentOS 6 is the only distro with a stable enough 32 bit implementation. I have had lots of issues with other popular distros.

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2 minutes ago, JackEnright said:

I believe CentOS 6 is the only distro with a stable enough 32 bit implementation. I have had lots of issues with other popular distros.

Is it user friendly?

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2 minutes ago, k_benlevi said:

Is it user friendly?

It resembles windows a bit, depends on your definition of user friendly. 

I WILL find your ITX build thread, and I WILL recommend the SIlverstone Sugo SG13B

 

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16 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

It resembles windows a bit, depends on your definition of user friendly. 

Thanks, I'll check it out.

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44 minutes ago, k_benlevi said:

Is it user friendly?

CentOS is a server distribution, I wouldn't recommend it to resuscitate an old laptop. Debian should support it, and Linux Mint (Debian edition) should support it too while being a lot more "user friendly".

Don't ask to ask, just ask... please 🤨

sudo chmod -R 000 /*

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I second Linus Mint. Maybe go for an older version, like 17.3. Whichever version you go for, go for the XFCE version. It's the most lightweight of all of them.

System Specs: Second-class potato, slightly mouldy

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Fedora with LXDE or XFCE would probably work for you, if not then CrunchBang++ will definitely work but it's a very minimalist OS (and it's my Linux OS of choice).

-KuJoe

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Lubuntu is really lightweight, but I have had issues with installing packages before when using it on a 32 bit machine. Maybe you should consider what desktop environment you like the most.

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2 hours ago, YellowJersey said:

I second Linus Mint.

So do his employees. Nothing brings cheer to the office like a fragrant boss :D

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Puppy linux is specifically made to run on low end systems. Same with "Tiny Core"

 

Download a live CD/USB of both and see which one you like better. 

 

I recommend the program "Yumi" for creating the bootable usbs. (It's super simple, it LITERALLY gives you the download link for the distribution you select. And you can put multiple builds on the same USB)

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antiX, It did work pretty well on a 2003 Acer TravelMate 800 laptop with a Pentium M 1.6GHz, 512mb ram, Mobility Radeon 9000

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General X58 Xeon/i7 discussion

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Some of the specs of these systems might not be up to date

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PC 6: Intel Core2 Quad Q9550 @ 3.8GHz, Asus P5KC, 8GB DDR2, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470, 120GB SSD and 500GB HDD

HTPC: Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.0GHz, HP DC7900SFF, 8GB DDR2 800MHz, Asus Radeon HD 6570, 240GB SSD and 3TB HDD

WinXP PC: Intel Core2 Duo E6300 @ 2.33GHz, Asus P5B, 2GB DDR2 667MHz, NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT, 32GB SSD and 80GB HDD

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On 11/8/2018 at 7:52 PM, imreloadin said:

So do his employees. Nothing brings cheer to the office like a fragrant boss :D

XD

System Specs: Second-class potato, slightly mouldy

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