So i have a bunch of pc’s/laptops/computers and such that my family members refuse to depart with even though there really bad. so far they mangae to keep 4 bulky computers in total, we do have some new-ish ones but theses ones im talking about need some loving.1 computer is 32 bit and has 2gb of ram, the other 3 have 64-bit and range from 1gb of ram- to 2 and one of which has only 75 space hardrive.
are there any linux distros that might work becasue im a noob who uses windows so im very lost. any tips or suggestions or something would be great.
also if im posting in the wrong plac eplease let me know in the comments.
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For the 32-bit machine, Debian 12 with XFCE or LXQt. There’s lighter desktops but those get outside of noob territory.
I did this with an old server at work recently, it’s an old 2GB DDR2 single-core 32-bit VIA CPU. It’s maxes out at 2GB because it only has a single RAM slot, but despite this it’s ok with Debian 12. You get to have modern software on “e-waste”.
For the others, try to bump them up to at least 4GB of RAM, 8 preferably, and throw Linux Mint on them. Either the XFCE edition or the flagship Cinnamon desktop, it’s very performance even on older hardware I’ve found.
And if you really want to make them feel faster. Ditch those hard drives and get some cheap SATA SSD’s. It makes all the difference in the world.
EDIT: spelling mistakes
Try mint with Xfce - on 64 bit machines and then go lighter.
alright and are you sure that is the best starter option? also what can i do on linux compared to windows?
Mint is a great distro for people who want their PCs to “just work.” Very little to no tinkering past initial setup, it has a solid base and won’t need daily or even weekly updates, you should experience very little in the way of hardware issues – especially since you’re working with older hardware.
Mint is based on Ubuntu but has been largely “de-canonical-ified” which I feel is important, especially if you’re looking for performance. But that basis in Ubuntu means a wide, wide, wide array of software available to you will little to no fussing about.
XFCE is a perfect choice for older hardware (and older people, lol) because it’s simple, but familiar. It doesn’t try new things, it’s not fancy, it’s not innovative in the design space. It follows the design paradigm most folks are used to. Task bar, start button, desktop, done. That’s not to say it’s ugly or outdated, it can still be a gorgeous desktop environment. But it doesn’t overload you with bells and whistles no one needs and it sips resources compared to, say, Gnome or KDE.
Linux Mint with XFCE is also my vote.
Think of it as Windows 7 in terms of functionality but with a Windows Vista/XP GUI.
That said, your CPU’s performance will increase noticebly on Linux.
best option
Ubuntu is popular and new-user friendly. And xfce is generally lighter on resources. It’s a good choice.
What can I do
Almost everything.
Some proprietary apps you’ve used from windows may not be available, but equivalent ones would be available on linux.
But stuff like browsing the web(provided that you don’t open too many tabs, because you have low ram) and watching movies n all is quite good.
What all things fo you intend to do on it? I think it’ll be easier to check that the things you want are there.
Anything with Xfce or MATE, such as Mint Xfce or MATE
I’d like to do something similar on my Pentium 3 box. Maybe Debian with a really light WM would be a good fit, maybe IceWM? It only has 512MB of RAM though so I might have to go even lighter than Debian. I also have an Athlon XP box with 2GB of RAM, but that’s too new to be fun. :p
Not a Linux power user, still very much new although I’ve done a bit of distrohopping before.
I loaded Fedora with KDE on an old laptop from 2012-13ish last weekend. Been having a good, smooth run with it so far so that’s where my vote goes. However, the memory specs you indicated for your family’s hardware might be tough.I’ve said my peace about distro and desktop environment in another comment, but to answer the piece about what you can do as compared to Windows, Linux can do the vast majority of all your daily tasks. There are a couple of big sticking points, generally.
Microsoft products, i.e. Microsoft Office. There are alternatives available in the Linux space that do a great job and are good enough for probably 95-98% of people, but there are cases where they don’t quuiiiite match up. Formatting PowerPoints, for example. You may save a *.pptx from LibreOffice and a colleague will open it in Microsoft PowerPoint and it doesn’t look the same at all.
The other major software suite that keeps people in Windows is Adobe. Photoshop? Lightroom? Premiere? Not available on Linux. Again, there are alternatives, but they’re never quite as good. I say this as a photographer that runs 100% Linux all the time, I miss my photo editing software! I used Capture One, but the same principle applies. There’s no Linux release, and you can’t get it running on Linux no matter how much you tinker.
The third biggest sticking point is gaming. You can game on Linux. It’s better now than ever. I run AAA brand new releases on my PC, and again I’m 100% Linux. BUT! It does frequently require a little more elbow grease to get working than people are used to, and often times you can never get it to work 100% as well as it would in Windows.
Sorry for the big wall of text. But finally I just want to say, none of this is to dissuade you from putting Linux on those machine. Quite the contrary! I want you to be aware of what the pitfalls may be, so you can look out for them. I’d hate for you to go in expecting everything to be 1:1 with Windows, only for something to not work and it feel like a bad experience in the end.
Would also recommend Debian or Puppy. Maybe also take a look at Distrochooser?
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I’d suggest Linux mint Debian edition, at least for the 32bit machine. Many distros have stopped supporting 32bit lately.
It should be fairly user friendly.
My favorite very light is peppermintOS, I think you may have to go back to version 10 for 32 bit though.
I’ve been using Sparky Linux on my 2015 Lenovo Flex 2. Has 4g of ram, but that’s way excess for this OS. With my 4g, I can easily run vs Codium, chrome, Firefox, GIMP, and even Minecraft with mixed success. Haven’t checked storage space much, but I know I have a lot of bloat that I installed after the fact. It comes with basically only the packages you need to run the OS. You can pick which desktop environment you want at install, I use KDE but it supports xFCE for an even lighter setup.
Edited to add:
It’s Debian based also, most packages I just install the latest Debian version and it runs fine.
I would suggest Mint. Considering the hardware, the XFCE version. Have you looked into any hardware upgrades for these machines? I’ve found that a simple ram or hdd–>ssd upgrade can be rather inexpensive these days.
There are a lot of distros which are more focused on old hardware than Mint, but Mint definitely wins in the “this distro will be familiar and discoverable to people who are used to Windows” department. If it works, it’s great for that reason.
Ya, I think in a case like this, it’s best to go with the most user friendly and easy to pick up distro
For a more “friendly flavored” distro, MX Linux is Debian-based and comes with a bunch of quality of life tools
MX Linux seconded. It’s available in 32-bit versions, too.
I haven’t used it on a machine with less than 4GB though, but it runs well on an old Dell laptop from 2009.
Void’s xfce desktop release is awesome for old hardware but it takes a bit to setup.
Puppy Linux runs on a potato of any architecture and is super user friendly (grandpa certified)! Only 300 MB or so. https://puppylinux-woof-ce.github.io/
