Linux Lite

mrjimphelps
NewLounger
Posts: 13
Joined: 18 Aug 2016, 23:52

Linux Lite

Post by mrjimphelps »

If you have an old, lame computer (e.g. 2 GB of RAM), and you are wondering how you might still be able to use it, try Linux Lite: https://www.linuxliteos.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here is the computer I installed Linux Lite 32-bit on:

EMachines W5243
AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3800+
2 GB of RAM
238 GB hard drive

The machine originally came with Vista.

In the past, I have run the following OSs on this computer: Windows Vista 7, 8.0, 8.1; Linux Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu, Puppy, Mint, Lite. The only OSs which gave me decent performance were Windows 8.0 and Linux Lite. Linux Mint was pretty good, but not as good as Linux Lite.

I created a Linux Lite flash drive with Linux Lite 32-bit, then booted the computer from the flash drive. It ran really well in that configuration. (I think an OS runs fast from a flash drive, because it is in fact a type of solid state drive.) I then went ahead and installed Linux Lite on the hard drive. I have not been disappointed. For example, YouTube videos play without any buffering.

The only two caveats I have at this point are:
* I haven't been able to do updates from the GUI; I have to do them from the command line. But that is easily addressed by creating a shortcut to run the update command.
* There probably isn't any decent antivirus software available for a computer this lame. I use Sophos on my other Linux computer, but it has 4 GB of RAM, and you don't even notice that Sophos is running. But when I had Mint 32-bit on this computer, Sophos slowed things down to a crawl. There may be another decent A/V for Linux, but Sophos is the only one I know about. Hopefully this won't be an issue for you.

You will actually enjoy using that old computer if you run Linux Lite on it!

User avatar
John Gray
PlatinumLounger
Posts: 5401
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 08:33
Location: A cathedral city in England

Re: Linux Lite

Post by John Gray »

mrjimphelps wrote:If you have an old, lame computer (e.g. 2 GB of RAM)
All my charity's 60-odd, 5-10-year-old, PCs have 2 GB of RAM and run Windows 7 Pro quite nicely, TYVM!
John Gray

Venison is quiet deer, and quite dear.

User avatar
Rudi
gamma jay
Posts: 25455
Joined: 17 Mar 2010, 17:33
Location: Cape Town

Re: Linux Lite

Post by Rudi »

TX Jim.

I have an old "mini" laptop with 2GB ram that has been demoted to an entertainment PC. It is running Linux (a distro from the Ubuntu line) and it is working great for this purpose. All it does is play movies or music and for this purpose it is perfect. I frequently run updates on it from the built in software updater and other than this, I perform very little maintenance on it, barring clearing out items from the bit that I deleted. I still use Windows for all my computing simply because I have a work laptop that I use daily, but to know and use these free Linux OS's and the apps that come along with them is great, not having to spend a dime on software and still be able to cover most...if not all your computing needs.
Regards,
Rudi

If your absence does not affect them, your presence didn't matter.