Light Weight GNU/Linux for Old Laptops -> Suggestions?

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I like Linux Mint, too... unfortunately (for aunt's laptop), no 32 bit version available.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

From THIS article: I see that Linux Mint Debian is still being offered in 32 bit. That could be a possible option for my aunt's old derelict.

[abarbarian]

I am guessing that there  would not be too much difference between  MX 32 bit Xfce and Mint 32 bit Xfce

[raymac46]

For the aunt's laptop MX 32 bit or antiX would be the way to go. antiX is a bit lighter. But the real problem here is memory and trying to run browsers and watch YouTube. Pure Debian might give you some issues with wifi - or maybe not. The last 32 bit Netbook I had ran antiX.

 

https://mxlinux.org/download-links/

 

https://antixlinux.com/download/

Edited June 5, 2023 by raymac46

[Hedon James]

Ok...Auntie's machine with Ubuntu 18.04 is 32-bit and ChromeOS is NOT an option for 32-bit machines.  Maybe for the cousins and kids(?), but not her.

 

FWIW...Ubuntu has gotten quite "heavy" and bloated, so it's no surprise that her 4GB of RAM is choking on Ubuntu proper.  Lubuntu would've been the way to go with that one, but again....32-bit....so none of the 'Buntus are an option.  Staying in the Debian family is the obvious choice for that one, but 32-bit will limit your options to Debian proper, MX Linux, Antix & BunsenLabs.  That 4GB of RAM will limit you to lighter weight DEs like LXQT, XFCE, or even LXDE (still available in Debian!); or WM destkops (MX-Fluxbox, Antix and/or Bunsen Labs).

 

Debian Bookworm (12) is about to drop next week, and this will be Debian's first release to include non-free firmware....so maybe Debian 32-bit is what you want, and choose a lightweight DE option.  Debian uses systemd by default.  MX, Antix and Bunsen do NOT use systemd.  I believe they use sysvinit.  So if you don't want to provide family tech support for systemd (thinking of your Slackware background), perhaps stay away from Debian proper.  FWIW....MX-Fluxbox, Antix and/or Bunsen are all WM distros and i think you'll be impressed with how well those WM distros run on that constrained hardware.  Might even make you want to tweak your Slackware for increase gain on your personal system?! 

[raymac46]

It'll be interesting to see the specs on the other 2 laptops so that we might be in a better position to recommend something there. Even a 64 bit machine like my old Netbook struggles with only 2 GB of RAM.

[Hedon James]

I'm genuinely interested in what VT decides is the best solution for the situation.

 

In the meantime, knowing the little bit about VT that I DO know, I thought of Porteus as a potential solution.  Full disclaimer....I have no experience with Porteus, so can't provide a first-hand endorsement, but I've seen threads on it here, and other forums, and it seems to be very well done and folks like it a lot.

 

Some boxes that it checks:

• 32 bit version available
• lightweight, with multiple desktops to choose from at installation
• ability to load in RAM, for fast speeds, with minimal RAM requirements
• based on SLACKWARE, which is right in VTs wheelhouse; might come in handy when/if troubleshooting is required
• an active community forum
• http://www.porteus.org/info/why-choose-porteus.html

 

If any of this sounds like a potential solution, check it out further at this link VT:

http://www.porteus.org/

[raymac46]

Looks like another good possibility for that old Dell.

[raymac46]

https://www.makeuseof.com/best-browsers-old-low-end-computers/

[V.T. Eric Layton]

18 hours ago, raymac46 said:

trying to run browsers and watch YouTube.

 

All my aunt and her husband basically do on this ol' Dell of theirs is check their email and pay bills on their bank's website. They not into "Internet" baloney like YouTube vids or such. As stated above somewhere, I could install Slackware on my aunt's system and it would run like the proverbial scalded dog, However, it would create work for me because I would have to go there whenever updates came out and do them. They have no idea how to use the command line. I'm trying to avoid any PITA for me. I have enough of my own PITAS already.

 

Ideally, if they (auntie) had the $, I would recommend a Chromebook, as I did for my pal Ron's mother a few years ago. They are basically bulletproof machines... VERY low maintenance required by family IT guy.

 

The two laptops that belong to my cousin's lady are going to be problematic, I believe, because she is a hardcore Windows user and needs it for her work, personal docs, etc. My guess is that both those machines are far, far out of date with regards to the Windows installed on them. There's at least two years worth of updates needed and there's probably all kinda of malware and viruses on them, I would be thinking. Should be interesting.

[abarbarian]

5 hours ago, Hedon James said:

I thought of Porteus as a potential solution. 

 

Good suggestion.  I have played a little with Porteus over the years but only from a usb stick.

 

From the Porteus site,

 

http://www.porteus.org/faq.html

 

Quote

Unlike a standard Linux installation, Porteus exists in a compressed state on your storage media, with no /root, /bin, /usr, etc. directory structure on the media itself. The familiar Linux file structure is created on the fly (i.e., 'live') in your computer's RAM during the boot process, which only takes about 20-30 seconds to get from pressing the power button to full productivity on a relatively new computer. Porteus is modular in design, which means that extra software comes in the form of 'modules' which can be activated and injected into this live file system. Software does not need to be installed and uninstalled as you may expect with other operating systems which take numerous amounts of clicks and agreements; you simply double click on a module and it is activated and ready for use in a second or two. To remove this software, just double click again and it will be deactivated. It's that simple!

 

From the Porteus forums,

 

https://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php?t=10538

 

Quote

For those who are unaware, in the Porteus Setting Centre (see menu>System/Administration>), there is an "Porteus Updater" tool.
This tool checks for available updates to the base modules and enables the downloading those updated modules and replacement of the old modules(upon reboot),
or in the case of booting from an ISO or another readonly installation, simply downloading to a location of your choice.
 

 

An a very information packed article

 

https://medium.com/@fulalas/porteus-5-review-a-different-and-powerful-linux-distro-33df8789a758

 

Quote

It is hard to believe that a full modern operating system with up-to-date desktop environments can take only 350 MB, when distros like Ubuntu take 10 times that. Even running the whole system in RAM, Porteus manages to use less RAM than most popular distros. And the overall performance is far superior. How can Porteus achieve that?

Porteus is optimized to avoid most of the files that are not critical — and boy there are many. Language, help and man files, for instance, are not shipped by default, although the user can download them from the Porteus server. It also strips unneeded symbols from basically all binaries and libraries [3]. And wallpapers, themes and icons in each desktop environment are usually limited.

 

As Porteus is modular I guess you could strip out any unneeded programs from the base install to lighten it up even more fairly easily. Certainly one to consider.

[raymac46]

Quote

she is a hardcore Windows user and needs it for her work, personal docs, etc.

Well that is great but you can't be a hardcore Windows user these days and run anything less than Windows 10. And there are some older CPUs like Sandy Bridge where you cannot get updates any longer for that. Personally I don't want to support Windows on anything less than Win 11. I tell folks that's all I run so I have no current expertise with older versions.

If the lady needs it for her work, her employer should furnish the tools. Besides you can configure Libre Office to handle 99% of any Windows requirements, or use Microsoft 365 online.

I would not try to support out of date Windows versions; you'll just run into a world of hurt.

Having used Chromebooks myself and seeing my sister in law happily use one as her daily driver, I agree with you that they are great for seniors and naive users.

Really looking forward to hearing the rest of this story.

Edited June 6, 2023 by raymac46

[abarbarian]

https://www.debugpoint.com/32-bit-linux-distributions/

 

https://www.debugpoint.com/lightweight-linux-distributions-2022/

 

Quote

List of significant distros that dropped support of 32-bit recently

Since you went thru the above list, it’s always to remember that a bunch of distros which depended on Ubuntu dropped their 32-bit support. From the version Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa, Ubuntu officially closed the support for 32-bit. Hence all the Ubuntu-LTS variants are also forced to follow this decision.

Here’s a brief list of awesome distros which unfortunately discontinued the 32-bit support in the recent past.

• Linux Mint 20 and above
• Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa and above
• All the official Ubuntu flavours (such as Lubuntu and Xubuntu) from 20.04 onwards

 

 

 

[securitybreach]

Arch did so in 2017

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I linked to that same site (32 bit Linuxes) in a post above, @abarbarian.

 

I should be going over there tomorrow some time to see what's what with those laptops. I'll probably bring them home to tinker with and then advise her of what's what after that.

[raymac46]

Well, I am sure you can handle things but it will be interesting to see how everything gets worked out.

I guess my only concern would be that no matter what distro you choose for your aunt's old Dell, see if you can identify a lightweight browser that might meet her needs for email and online banking. I have found Falkon and Midori to be pretty useful on the old Toshiba. Maybe SeaMonkey might work, or Pale Moon.

Edited June 7, 2023 by raymac46

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I'm not sure if any of the lightweight browsers are available in Ubuntu's repos, and I don't want to go through the potential nightmare of installing from outside those repos. And actually, aunt's computer is no super-dooper hurry issue at this time. They're happy to login, check emails, pay bills. Her husband told me yesterday that we could drop that old laptop to the bottom of the priority list... at least until they start to have issues with it.

 

He has an old tower system (surplus from the school he used to work for) sitting in a back room over there. I have no idea what the hardware on that thing is, but I'm guessing it's probably 5-8 years old or so. H3LL, the Frankenputer I have here on my desk was built from parts dug up from the computer graveyard back in 2016. I'm pretty sure I can get his old tower up and running... and towers are MUCH easier to upgrade compared to laptops. Plus, they'd love to be using the big monitor rather than that little laptop screen. We'll see....

 

As far as cousin's two laptops go, if they're not too thrilled about being converted to Linux, then they're screwed because I'm sure those old laptops (neither used in the last two years) are running Win 7 or 8, maybe. Those will NOT be able to be updated. Microsoft would choke those laptops to death trying to d-load years' worth of updates. And neither of those systems could run Win 10... even if they had the $ to pay for it.

 

So, bottom line here is that, in their ignorance (quite common with folks and computering), they think Eric, The Electronic Wizard, must know everything in the world and be able to wave his magic wand and turn their laptops into screaming hi-perf machines in a matter of minutes with no $ invested. I'm going to have to bust their little dream bubble, I believe.

[raymac46]

As far as I know Midori and Falkon are available in Ubuntu repos, but if you are not going to upgrade their OS I can see how it makes sense to leave things be. If it ain't broke...That said, Ubuntu 18.04 has now reached EOL so I don't know if the repos are even still online.

The desktop system sounds like a real possibility if it can be brought back to life.

If the cousins have not used the laptops in two years, I can't see how they' could possibly object to using Linux on them. That is the difference between dead and useful. They have to learn that Windows is no longer an option with these machines.

One thing I do with diehard Windows users is install Wine and Winetricks, so they can at least try to run some Windows programs on Linux.

This story just keeps on getting more interesting.

Edited June 7, 2023 by raymac46

[V.T. Eric Layton]

OK, finally got over to aunt's house earlier. Here's what we have...

 

Ada (cousin's lady) has two laptops. One is a relatively recent (5 year old or so) HP. The other is a little Acer that is a few years older.

 

I got the HP up and going and scanned clean for ca-ca. She can use it now with no issues. However, the Acer is wasted (the Win 7 OS). We're going to see if Ada will let me install some Linux on that Acer and then let my aunt and her hubby use it; to replace that ol' Dell dinosaur that they're currently using.

[securitybreach]

34 minutes ago, V.T. Eric Layton said:

OK, finally got over to aunt's house earlier. Here's what we have...

 

Ada (cousin's lady) has two laptops. One is a relatively recent (5 year old or so) HP. The other is a little Acer that is a few years older.

 

I got the HP up and going and scanned clean for ca-ca. She can use it now with no issues. However, the Acer is wasted (the Win 7 OS). We're going to see if Ada will let me install some Linux on that Acer and then let my aunt and her hubby use it; to replace that ol' Dell dinosaur that they're currently using.

 

Well being only 5 years old, you should be able to install any linux distro as it is 64bit. That machine should be able to handle win 10 or 11 just fine.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

If she agrees... Linux Mint is what's going on that Acer.

[raymac46]

Did you investigate the desktop PC system?

You could also set up Porteus on a USB drive so she could try Linux out on the HP lappy without borking anything.

Edited June 8, 2023 by raymac46

[V.T. Eric Layton]

18 hours ago, securitybreach said:

Well being only 5 years old, you should be able to install any linux distro as it is 64bit. That machine should be able to handle win 10 or 11 just fine.

 

Yeppers, but... she doesn't want to do that. She loves her Windoze. So the HP is going to stay the way it is, but the OS on the Acer was trashed (over 825 pieces of malware and viruses). She'd been using it for years with no AV. The McAfee that came with it expired after the first thirty days. Amazingly enough, the HP didn't have any malware/virus issues because it was using Windows Defender.

 

She did ask me what I thought she should get when she has the $ to buy a new laptop. I told her to buy a Chromebook. She's the type that needs a laptop that is nearly bulletproof and requires ZERO thought on her part to keep it running.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

3 hours ago, raymac46 said:

Did you investigate the desktop PC system?

 

Nah... it's buried in some closet in the back. They won't be able to dig to it for a while.

 

I have Porteus on CD and thumb drive. However, Porteus does not come with a browser (or much else). Things like browsers, file managers, etc. must be built and loaded into modules that are loaded when Porteus loads. This is definitely NOT a convenient Linux to try to "convert" anyone with.

[raymac46]

I think Erik has had good luck with MX-Linux on a thumbdrive. Or you could just install Linux Mint Xfce on the USB drive and call it a day. You'll need a thumbdrive to install anyway on the Acer.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I've found when converting MS Windows folks to GNU/Linux, that as long as you set the desktop up to look kinda' like Windows and use a standard browser like Firefox, the folks don't even know that they're not using Windows any longer. My aunt and her husband transitioned painlessly, as did my brother, and a few friends I converted over the years. They're all still very happy with their computers... even though they're all ancient dinosaurs (the computers, I mean... well, and some of the people, too, actually).

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I'll probably get that ACER over here sometime in the next couple daze. She has stuff on it she wants save, if possible (10 bazillion pictures). Oh, and speaking Acer... their website support SUCKS! I cannot (even with the model number) find out the system specs on this laptop. I also need to find out how to enter BIOS and how to boot from DVD on that machine.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Normally, when I wipe a machine in preparation for a GNU/Linux install of some sort, I boot the machine using Porteus or Slax to get me a command line. Once I have that command line, I can easily manipulate (using fdisk and parted), set-up, change, and wipe/format that hard drive.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I'll also be using Porteus or Slax to grab all of her pictures and put them on a thumbdrive (as a backup) and adding them back onto the newly installed Linux Mint on that machine. I can't do it any other way because the Win OS is so corrupted that when you try to boot it, it comes up to the Win Start page, but the CPU stays a 100% because of all the trash (malware/viruses) trying to communicate with the outside world.

 

I warned this woman that her accounts and private information is probably already compromised. I told here she should change her work, banking, online shopping, and other important ID/PWs SOON! I can imagine what kind of passwords she uses. Her password for Windows on these two computers was a four-digit number... HIGH SECURITY, for sure.

[raymac46]

2 hours ago, V.T. Eric Layton said:

I've found when converting MS Windows folks to GNU/Linux, that as long as you set the desktop up to look kinda' like Windows and use a standard browser like Firefox, the folks don't even know that they're not using Windows any longer. My aunt and her husband transitioned painlessly, as did my brother, and a few friends I converted over the years. They're all still very happy with their computers... even though they're all ancient dinosaurs (the computers, I mean... well, and some of the people, too, actually).

I've found that the easiest converts are the grandkids. They use Google Suite for school so as long as you set them up with a copy of the Google browser thay are good to go. They are very OS agnostic.