Which Linux?

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Have an ancient Toshiba Satellite laptop with an Intel Core Duo T2250 processor 1024 mb SDRAM, 80 gb HDD that I’m trying to prevent going to the great HDD in the sky.

Somewhat familiar with Linux having fooled around with Ubuntu a few years ago.

Suggestions for a Linux distro that would accommodate this ancient machine? Used nearly exclusively for e-mail, word processing and spreadsheets.

Thanks

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Get Lubuntu (a light version of Ubuntu), burn it to USB and see if it will boot the machine.

cheers, Paul

p.s. I hear Silicon Heaven isn’t that bad…

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Ronaldmarr

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There are others to consider for low-spec legacy devices.
Although more RAM opens up more comfortable choices and a better all-round experience.
Based on your current memory of 1Gb, I’d be looking at the following
(excluding puppylinux and anti-x which will also run albeit not pretty but functionality is also there)

1. Linux Lite (ubuntu/ deb GUI xfce) min specs 1GHz CPU, 768mb Ram.
https://www.linuxliteos.com/

2. Zorin OS Lite (ubuntu/ deb GUI xfce) min specs 700MHz CPU, 512mb Ram.
https://zorin.com/os/

3. SparkyLinux ( deb/ LXQt or XFCE stable version) various low end specs dependant on choice.
https://wiki.sparkylinux.org/doku.php/minimum_system_requirements
They have their own APT repo with lots more ported apps and tweaks than Lubuntu
https://sparkylinux.org/

Whichever distro you opt for, remember to validate the checksums after iso download and before creating a live media.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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wavy, Ronaldmarr

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Thanks for the tip on Zorin. It’s always “something” with computers; the old Toshiba is a 32 bit machine an most current distro’s are for 64.

Zorin works pretty good on this old relic.

Thanks

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Microfix

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Revisiting this, there’s another I seemed to have inadvertantly forgotten..

Q4OS – Trinity Edition 32bit (GDPR compliance)
https://q4os.org/downloads1.html
Min specs: 300MHz CPU / 256MB RAM
Had this on our 2010 Atom 166Mhz CPU / 2Gb RAM/ SSD netbook as a hardware install and functions better than Windows 7 starter ever did on the device. Has some nice GUI packages to make it look and almost feel like Win2k or XP for a nostalgia trip.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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If you intend using the Tosh laptop in a mixed environment LAN then I would suggest Linux Mint Xfce. It’s the least demanding Mint version hardware-wise (current is v21 ‘Vanessa’ which is a Long Term Support version).

My reasons are:

• Linux Mint ethos of KISS – Keep It Simple.
• Good handholding/automation of Samba for file/print sharing.
• Very good community support tailored to ‘newbies’ with clear instructions/explanations.

Unfortunately there’s still a tendency IMO for some support forums for other Linux distros to assume a basic knowledge of Linux that may not yet have been achieved… which leads to having to do further research to understand answers to questions.

I suggest a look at the support forums for each distro you are considering. I personally prefer the very clean lines and structure of the Linux Mint community support forums:

By comparison, have a look at Ubuntu’s two community support forums – Ask Ubuntu and Ubuntu forums:

Have a look around each support forum before choosing a distro.

Hope this helps…

EDIT: I’ve just seen the suggestions from @Microfix. I’ve used both Linux Lite and Zorin Lite some time ago (3 years) and liked both of them for being easy to use.

 

 

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wavy, Ronaldmarr

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I have experience using sparky Linux and Puppy Linux on older PC’s – both are extremely lightweight.

I’d say Puppy Linux is your best bet but what do I know?

https://puppylinux-woof-ce.github.io/

has various 32bit ISO’s based on Slackware, Ubuntu or Debian

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