Linux for an old laptop.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Linux for an old laptop.

Posted: 10/4/2014 7:38:24 PM EDT

I have an old laptop that I'm trying to find a use for.

It has Win2K on it but I was thinking of installing a version of Linux.

Here are the specs for the laptop.

Basic specs are:

800 Mhz CPU

384 Megs of RAM.

I have tried running linux on it before a long time ago and had problems getting the Belkin PMCIA Wireless card to work.

Any ideas?

Posted: 10/4/2014 7:39:54 PM EDT

[#1]

Debian

Posted: 10/4/2014 7:40:33 PM EDT

[#2]

Burn a live distro and try it out. If it works, fo to a full install.

Posted: 10/4/2014 7:47:11 PM EDT

[#3]

I've got a really old Toshiba Satellite I run Unity on and VB Window's 7. I use it every now and then for the hell of it.

Old Intel Dual CPU T2370 @ 1.73GHz × 2 with video ran by an Intel 965GM x86/MMX/SSE2 using 2 gigs of RAM. At times it struggles but on Unity, it's pretty smooth. You may be pushing it with that laptop of yours...

Posted: 10/4/2014 7:56:51 PM EDT

[#4]

The live distro cd can be a bit laggy, but it is very useful for getting a good idea of how things look and what is hidden where. For an old laptop, I would suggest puppy Linux, a very lightweight distro. If you want to dump some money in the hardware, upgrade the drive (if you can) to a 5400 or 7200 rpm unit and maybe add a faster class of memory. Also bump up to a half gig, maybe a full gig of memory. Probably won't ever use it all, but it is cheap.

Posted: 10/4/2014 8:00:48 PM EDT

[#5]

Slackware

Posted: 10/4/2014 8:03:38 PM EDT

[#6]

Lubuntu has worked well on my netbooks. If you want a little more functionality, try Xubuntu.

Posted: 10/4/2014 8:07:13 PM EDT

[#7]

I've been putting xubuntu on older machines with good results lately

Posted: 10/4/2014 8:07:56 PM EDT

[#8]

Quote History

Quoted:
The live distro cd can be a bit laggy, but it is very useful for getting a good idea of how things look and what is hidden where. For an old laptop, I would suggest puppy Linux, a very lightweight distro. If you want to dump some money in the hardware, upgrade the drive (if you can) to a 5400 or 7200 rpm unit and maybe add a faster class of memory. Also bump up to a half gig, maybe a full gig of memory. Probably won't ever use it all, but it is cheap.

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I have an old Toshiba with a 300 Mhz Pentium II and 196 megs of memory that ran circa-2010 Puppy Linux fairly well.

Posted: 10/4/2014 8:11:17 PM EDT

[#9]

Quote History

Quoted:

I have an old Toshiba with a 300 Mhz Pentium II and 196 megs of memory that ran circa-2010 Puppy Linux fairly well.

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Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
The live distro cd can be a bit laggy, but it is very useful for getting a good idea of how things look and what is hidden where. For an old laptop, I would suggest puppy Linux, a very lightweight distro. If you want to dump some money in the hardware, upgrade the drive (if you can) to a 5400 or 7200 rpm unit and maybe add a faster class of memory. Also bump up to a half gig, maybe a full gig of memory. Probably won't ever use it all, but it is cheap.

I have an old Toshiba with a 300 Mhz Pentium II and 196 megs of memory that ran circa-2010 Puppy Linux fairly well.

Holy crap! That's an old machine! I bet it played Oregon Trail really we'll though.

Posted: 10/4/2014 8:12:47 PM EDT

[#10]

Quote History

Quoted:
Lubuntu has worked well on my netbooks. If you want a little more functionality, try Xubuntu.

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I agree. It's been a while since I've messed with the *nix scene, but I do have a thumbdrive loaded with Ubuntu's netbook image for my netbook. I really need to sit down and do a proper dual boot on that device.

Posted: 10/4/2014 8:22:29 PM EDT

[#11]

I've had good luck with Ubuntu. Also, several others have suggested light versions of it. I haven't used Lunbuntu or Xunbuntu but that could be a good bet.

Posted: 10/4/2014 8:23:42 PM EDT

[#12]

Wary Puppy is tailored for older hardware.

Posted: 10/4/2014 8:25:08 PM EDT

[#13]

Been wanting to do this to an old XP machine that I have in the garage.

Just for surfing the interwebs, cataloging build pictures of projects and such. Pretty light duty stuff.

Posted: 10/4/2014 8:36:30 PM EDT

[#14]

Another vote for Puppy, itwas designed for out-of-date equipment.

Posted: 10/4/2014 8:39:49 PM EDT

[#15]

I wiped an old laptop and threw Linux Mint onto it. It runs surprisingly fast, considering the laptop is maybe 7-8 years old, and was slow as hell before the swap.

Posted: 10/4/2014 8:40:46 PM EDT

[#16]

Quote History

Quoted:
Another vote for Puppy, itwas designed for out-of-date equipment.

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Posted: 10/4/2014 8:56:38 PM EDT

[#17]

I use Ubuntu, I would never go back to windows.

Posted: 10/4/2014 8:57:34 PM EDT

[#18]

Quote History

Quoted:

I wiped an old laptop and threw Linux Mint onto it. It runs surprisingly fast, considering the laptop is maybe 7-8 years old, and was slow as hell before the swap.

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Really shows you how bloated Windows is/can be....

Posted: 10/4/2014 8:59:32 PM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:
I have an old laptop that I'm trying to find a use for.

Any ideas?

View Quote

Just kidding -- Recycle it.

Posted: 10/4/2014 9:04:54 PM EDT

[#20]

distrowatch.com

I'd put one called AntiX on there, its Debian tailored for older systems.

Esp if you are going to make it a 'server' type system, AntiX has a console only setup thats fast, and you can use a remote login to maintain it.

Posted: 10/4/2014 9:10:50 PM EDT

[#21]

Quote History

Quoted:

I use Ubuntu, I would never go back to windows.

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this

i went w/ it after widoz crashed. used a usb version to get what I could from the hd, then loaded unbuntu.

probably 3-4 times faster to load, and all the programs work better.

fuck windoz

06 vizio

Posted: 10/4/2014 9:12:07 PM EDT

[#22]

LXLE is the flavor you are seeking.

I have been running it in some VMs on a desktop and it is very nice. Hell, I have an old POS laptop with Winders 7 and running it in VMware on top of 7. Still works well.

Posted: 10/4/2014 9:15:15 PM EDT

[#23]

I have a net book with XP on it. I installed Ubuntu and that works like a charm. I did a duel install so I can still get to my kindle. Kindle does not work with Ubuntu that I know of

Posted: 10/4/2014 9:23:31 PM EDT

[#24]

Quote History

Quoted:

I have a net book with XP on it. I installed Ubuntu and that works like a charm. I did a duel install so I can still get to my kindle. Kindle does not work with Ubuntu that I know of

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Tried Calibre or Kindle in Wine?

I am working on my next build now, my first OS install is going to be a hypervisor.