Looking for Lightweight Linux distribution for old laptop

[xtopzi]

Hi guys,

I'm getting a laptop that is around 5 years old (sorry don't know the specs). All I remember from using this Acer laptop is that it was fairly slow and performed quite poorly under Vista. As I'm planning on formatting the HDD anyway, though I might as well try a fresh OS that's also lighter.

Been looking at 'novel friendy' Linux distributions and came across Ubuntu. Now there's also other, lighter Ubuntu distributions such as Xubuntu and Lubuntu. I want to use the laptop for email, browsing, text editing etc. That's about it; no gaming, no programs, nothing fancy. The only thing that I might find interesting later is playing with Linux commands (mind you, I know nothing about Linux but would be interesting to own a Linux OS for certain stuff.)

Any of you used lightweight Linux distributions? What would you recommend?

 

[Xp3r7]

Take a look at: http://puppylinux.org
It's really lightweight

 

[xtopzi]

Take a look at: http://puppylinux.org
It's really lightweight

Thanks! Gonna look into that one as well.

 

[Gophering]

I'd back puppy as well, since its extremely lightweight and very well suited for older hardware. It pretty much lives in your mem space, makes it very fast. However, the repo is somewhat limited (should be more than enough for your purposes though).
If you are looking into Ubuntu derivatives, I'd go with Lubuntu personally. Its definitely less bloated then Ubuntu is right now.

You might find this website very helpful: http://distrowatch.com/

 

[MrBlue]

Take a look at Lubuntu.

http://www.lubuntu.net/

 

[rydberg]

You might also take a look at dyne:bolic. It's a linux distro made specifically for old hardware.

 

[thejake]

The best distro for beginners is probably Mint and any 5 year old machine should be adequate for Mint XFCE.

 

[the_demon]

I've always liked Ubuntu when it comes to Linux distros, but admittedly haven't used Linux in some time and "light weight" is also really subjective. It'd be a lot easier for other members to help you if you can look up the model number and grab the specs.

 

[andrejuseu]

I suggest Linux Mint, tried it on my VMware player with 256 Mb RAM and it works fine

 

[muzumbu]

Linux Mint with Mate Desktop. Should be working just fine for you.

 

[JFoulds]

I'd either go for Lubuntu or Slitaz.
Lubuntu has the useful feature of being able to download and run an awful lot of applications compatible with any Ubuntu distro, but Slitaz is just crazy small, and the best hardware footprint distro I've ever used - it'll run on pretty much anything in terms of hardware power.

 

[dewaz]

try knoppix,
but i think win98 is easier.

 

[techblog]

puppy linux would work for a pretty basic machine, since yours is 5 years old go for ubuntu!

cheers!

 

[Lyscer]

I would say ubuntu as well. It has a large following and you should be able to find tutorials on how to do just about anything on it that you need to do. I have ubuntu running on a single core ~1GHZ machine in my basement with 512MB of ram and runs like a champ. Granted, when I deal with it, it is usually from the terminal (command line) because I find it easier to do most things that I need to do.

You could always download a "live" ubuntu cd and put it in and play with ubuntu on the machine before ever installing it and see how it runs. Good luck.

 

[moijeishaianu]

one more hint is to recompile your own distribution, although it may be some andvaced, but I heard that it possible to make even 3.5 inch floppy release