Lightweight distros for old computers

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supertuxkart
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Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by supertuxkart »

Question from the Linux Mint 13 reaches end of life in April announcement.

And for people which cannot migrate to a newer distro ?
The EOL repos only ?
I installed Mint 13 on a 2001-2002 machine a couple of years ago and it's the only one i like tough i tried some others distros.
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Moem
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Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by Moem »

supertuxkart wrote:And for people which cannot migrate to a newer distro ?
Sorry to answer a question with a question, but what do you think the answer to this question is?
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killer de bug

Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by killer de bug »

There are several light distro out there, and you will have to try them. Peppermint is one example.
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Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by austin.texas »

akar wrote:Yes, sad to see Maya reach EOL. It has served me so well.
My senti-mint exactly. RIP. My ancient non-PAE Pentium M loves Mint 13.
killer de bug wrote:There are several light distro out there, and you will have to try them. Peppermint is one example.
Peppermint OS is an excellent example.
Mint 18.2 Cinnamon, Quad core AMD A8-3870 with Radeon HD Graphics 6550D, 8GB DDR3, Ralink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
Linux Linx 2018
supertuxkart
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Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by supertuxkart »

Moem wrote:
supertuxkart wrote:And for people which cannot migrate to a newer distro ?
Sorry to answer a question with a question, but what do you think the answer to this question is?
Well. Mint Mate 13 is so excellent on older hardware and work perfectly on this 2001-2002 machine, i would like the developer will keep it updated. :D
And i tried several different distros, but no-one is good as Min Mate 13 for the tasks i do.
Obviously i am an expert about hardware and i know why is not possible.
Now, Firefox will not support anymore 32bit linux, also.

PS
Sorry for the misunderstanding.
"Now, Firefox will not support anymore 32bit linux, also" means :
there's not more support for some older machines due by the hardware is not more supported, not all 32bit machines.
Last edited by supertuxkart on Tue Mar 14, 2017 12:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by supertuxkart »

xenopeek wrote:It will be unsafe to continue to use Ubuntu 12.04 / Linux Mint 13 for anything on the Internet, and irresponsible to suggest to anybody else that it is "fine". Newly discovered security bugs can and do also affect older software versions and as such, with Ubuntu 12.04 / Linux Mint 13 not receiving any upgrades to their software after April, these operating systems will be at increasing risk as time goes by.

If you look back over the past few years to the critical vulnerabilities caused by security bugs like Beast, Heartbleed, Freak, Poodle, and Shellshock you know this is not an exaggeration. In time, new critical vulnerabilities will be come to light that also affect older software version and those will not be solved on Ubuntu 12.04 / Linux Mint 13.
Yes i know, that's the same advice i would give at the same question.
But i'm so sorry, because as isaid it is the most excellent distro which works on this older machine.
In case i will turn on Slitaz if it supports this hardware.
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Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by JoeFootball »

supertuxkart wrote:Mint Mate 13 is so excellent on older hardware and work perfectly on this 2001-2002 machine, i would like the developer will keep it updated. :D
Linux Mint 13 leverages the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS codebase. Canonical supports its LTS releases for five years. Ubuntu 12.04 LTS was released five years ago this April, hence its EOL.

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Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by supertuxkart »

Trapper wrote:If you find that LM 17.3 or newer doesn't work well for you, LM 17.2 may be the good choice. It's supported the same as LM17.3 and comes without all the transitional systemd and hardware issues you may experience with 17.3 and beyond. I'm not kicking anything new. I am just saying some people with older hardware may be better off with 17.2.
Mint 17 does works in those old machines, but it is slow as a turtle.
Then it's not possible to wait a couple of minutes just for opening a single browser page.
Ubuntu 12.04/Mint 13 are the last excellent distros which can comply with the hardware as i suggested to many people with older machines.
Last edited by supertuxkart on Sun Mar 12, 2017 12:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by supertuxkart »

JoeFootball wrote:
supertuxkart wrote:Mint Mate 13 is so excellent on older hardware and work perfectly on this 2001-2002 machine, i would like the developer will keep it updated. :D
Linux Mint 13 leverages the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS codebase. Canonical supports its LTS releases for five years. Ubuntu 12.04 LTS was released five years ago this April, hence its EOL.

Joe
Well i know everything about Joe,
But the dream to keep a great distro on this ancient machine ....
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Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by Moem »

supertuxkart wrote:Well. Mint Mate 13 is so excellent on older hardware and work perfectly on this 2001-2002 machine, i would like the developer will keep it updated. :D
Yeah, I can understand why you would love it if that could happen! I hope you'll find another distro that suits your needs and that you will be able to love just as much.
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Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by turtlebay »

supertuxkart wrote:
Trapper wrote:If you find that LM 17.3 or newer doesn't work well for you, LM 17.2 may be the good choice. It's supported the same as LM17.3 and comes without all the transitional systemd and hardware issues you may experience with 17.3 and beyond. I'm not kicking anything new. I am just saying some people with older hardware may be better off with 17.2.
Mint 17 does works in those old machines, but it is slow as a turtle.
Then it's not possible to wait a couple of minutes just for opening a single browser page.
Ubuntu 12.04/Mint 13 are the last excellent distros which can comply with the hardware as i suggested to many people with older machines.
May I humbly suggest you have a look at PCLOS (PCLinuxOS) which is fast on older machines - http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=09741. as a substitute for Mint 13. Sorry Mint admins but we have to try to look after those with older hardware as not everyone can afford new just to keep up with modern resource hungry distros!
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Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by Moem »

turtlebay wrote: Sorry Mint admins
There is no rule here that we can't mention about other distros, or recommend them to others. It's cool 8)
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Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by xenopeek »

If you have an older computer that can only run 32-bit software and it doesn't officially support PAE—like a computer with an Intel Pentium M processor—the chance is good you can use Linux Mint 17.x and 18.x anyway. Instructions for this from the release notes: "To boot Linux Mint on CPU which do not officially support PAE please use the 'Start Linux Mint with PAE forced' option from the boot menu." If it doesn't work on your computer you can instead use LMDE 2 as that works with any 32-bit processor.

Linux Mint 17.x and 18.x do require more free disk space for the installation (9 GB instead of 5 GB for Linux Mint 13) but otherwise the system requirements are comparable. The MATE edition and certainly the Xfce edition would be an option for older computers.

If MATE or Xfce are too heavy you can also switch to LXDE. Just install the packages lxde and lxde-common. I recommend you do that with the following command to also get the additionally recommended LXDE packages installed:
apt install --install-recommends lxde lxde-common
Then logout and on the login screen select to login to a LXDE session (use the gearwheel icon in the top right of the login box).
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Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by supertuxkart »

turtlebay wrote:
supertuxkart wrote:
Trapper wrote:If you find that LM 17.3 or newer doesn't work well for you, LM 17.2 may be the good choice. It's supported the same as LM17.3 and comes without all the transitional systemd and hardware issues you may experience with 17.3 and beyond. I'm not kicking anything new. I am just saying some people with older hardware may be better off with 17.2.
Mint 17 does works in those old machines, but it is slow as a turtle.
Then it's not possible to wait a couple of minutes just for opening a single browser page.
Ubuntu 12.04/Mint 13 are the last excellent distros which can comply with the hardware as i suggested to many people with older machines.
May I humbly suggest you have a look at PCLOS (PCLinuxOS) which is fast on older machines - http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=09741. as a substitute for Mint 13. Sorry Mint admins but we have to try to look after those with older hardware as not everyone can afford new just to keep up with modern resource hungry distros!
Yes, but there's only a single 32bit community maintained version.
64bit does not fit the CPU.
Anyway thanks.
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Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by supertuxkart »

xenopeek wrote:If you have an older computer that can only run 32-bit software and it doesn't officially support PAE—like a computer with an Intel Pentium M processor—the chance is good you can use Linux Mint 17.x and 18.x anyway. Instructions for this from the release notes: "To boot Linux Mint on CPU which do not officially support PAE please use the 'Start Linux Mint with PAE forced' option from the boot menu." If it doesn't work on your computer you can instead use LMDE 2 as that works with any 32-bit processor.

Linux Mint 17.x and 18.x do require more free disk space for the installation (9 GB instead of 5 GB for Linux Mint 13) but otherwise the system requirements are comparable. The MATE edition and certainly the Xfce edition would be an option for older computers.

If MATE or Xfce are too heavy you can also switch to LXDE. Just install the packages lxde and lxde-common. I recommend you do that with the following command to also get the additionally recommended LXDE packages installed:
apt install --install-recommends lxde lxde-common
Then logout and on the login screen select to login to a LXDE session (use the gearwheel icon in the top right of the login box).
Thanks for the hint.
As first i will try in my Mint 13 VM ( usually together the real machine, i have always a second copy in VB to find-out the behaviour of the same OS during some tasks which maybe can damage the system or in a external USB HD ) and i will do an installable DVD iso with systemback.
Anyway i am quite sure it will not work.
The AGP video card has lack of support starting from Mint Mate 14 and it is very slow, also.
So i will try with Mint 17.x, in Mint 18 i assume it will be worse.
In case, i will tell the results with this hardware for people who is looking to replace the great Mint 13.
turtlebay

Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by turtlebay »

It's a free download, so try it. If it's too slow, bearing in mind that a Live session running off a DVD will always be slower than an installed system, then try either the XFCE version of Mint ( http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=09710) or a lighter distro such as PCLOS 2017 ( http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=09741)
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Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by xfrank »

For a successful replacement of LM13 we need to know in details:
a) memory usage, b) responsiveness of the system, c) hardware recognition
If LM18.1 doesn't meet well the above criteria (excessive memory usage, sluggish behavior, bad recognition of some hardware) would not be a suitable substitute of LM13.

There some distros that, in my experience, would work well on old/weak hardware and are somewhat similar to LM13, for example Peppermint (Lxde+Xfce), Linux Lite (Xfce) or Point Linux (Mate), but there are more.
Active Distros in my computers: LM21.1 (Mate,Xfce); MXLinux (Xfce)
turtlebay

Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by turtlebay »

Agreed, one I've tried recently is PCLOS ( http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=09741 )
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Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by Pjotr »

I've installed Peppermint 7 on two old netbooks, and it's really very nice and lightweight. As it's built on Ubuntu 16.04, the code base is excellent. The mix of LXDE and Xfce is a bit weird, but generally it works well, with only some small unimportant bugs. A worthy replacement of Mint 13 Xfce.

The only important disadvantages I found, are the following:

1. Lack of localization for the Peppermint-only packages (English only, no possibility for translators to translate them yet);

2. Peppermint uses a very old version of Mints Update Manager, which has no update policy tool and which should be used with level 4 and 5 enabled.

I've had a discussion about that with one of the Peppermint devs: they discourage disabling those levels, because they use only Ubuntu repo's and no Mint repo's. Disabling level 4 and 5 could therefore lead to inconsistencies in Peppermint.

Which is of course a pity: the protection of the level system is a very important feature.
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Re: Lightweight distros for old computers

Post by sfrusciante »

There exists up-to-date distros capable of running on very old machines without giving up on security. No reason to stick to LM13.
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