Need help in choosing an OS
I am using an Asus E202s. It is limited by its dual core processor and 2gb of ran which i un-upgradable. I am a new user to Linux but I have tried them booted in a live environment. I want to install a low spec Linux OS onto this laptop. I have mainly typing related work, so I don't need anything else. What OS should I choose? I have narrowed down my options between puppy linux, antix and lxle.
Please help. Thank you. |
It's not 7 years old yet, so the only notable limitation is 2G of RAM, which shouldn't be significant for your stated use.
There are several DEs suitable for a 2G environment besides those used by Puppy, AntiX & LXLE that can be installed on any of the distros in wide use. TDE can be installed in place of or in addition to the default DE on Debian, Fedora, Mageia, openSUSE, *buntu and others. KDE/Plasma can actually be quite lightweight, but to lean it down requires a good bit of pruning of preselected optional settings. LXDE, LXLE's DE, is available via the same list above and lots more, and the same can be said of the WMs and DEs provided by Puppy and AntiX. IOW, your best choice may be better based on more emphasis on support (popularity = more people to help with your questions) for your distro and your preferred DE or WM, and less on professed "weight". For what you want, and what you've narrowed it to, I'd pick LXLE. The other two IMO are intended for older, more limited hardware than yours. |
I'm running Devuan Live, which is actually installed, on several old laptops, which only have 2GB ram, no problem.
(AntiX, MX Linux, are also sure to work OK, as I have had them installed before too.) Basically, anything that doesn't use the big desktop environments, (KDE/GNOME), should be OK. |
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In general though you might look at running a bare Window Manager instead of a full Desktop Environment. FVWM is light, but highly customizable as shown by the Crystal theme. Ouroboros might be the lightest of all though. The programs are going to use a lot of RAM though regardless. Nothing will help you with Chromium or Firefox, for example. How complex is the typing? If it's mostly text, even LaTeX, then you could look at Geany or Emacs (either X or noX). If you are talking about standard word processing then you can experiment with AbiWord, Calligra, and LibreOffice. |
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You can try one for a few days/weeks/months and if you find it not to your tastes and not sufficiently configurable then you can state exactly what you liked/disliked to get more useful targetted advice. |
antiX would be my choice. It works on most any old and/or low-spec computers.
A swap file may be used -- documentation on the subject is available at the main site -- easy! |
For any who might be wondering what it means to run on old hardware, here's some data:
Code:
# inxi -CGS |
This math changes when you start open bloated webpages. Opening just one web page in a full-featured web browser can take more RAM than your OS with light WM.
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PC is still running. Suggest such a (short, easy to type) URI .
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Isn't it mandatory for each member in threads like this to recommend his/her own? I think there are millions of threads "what distro" and all of them are filled with personal favorites.
OK, I hate to do it, but I'm doing my duty here. I recommend Gentoo of course. Gentoo allows you strip down the binaries and reduces memory footprint, leaving more for applications. My desktop uses bare 100 MiB with GUI up, ready to use. Indeed, you cannot build much with weak CPU and 2 GiB RAM, but no worries. You can build in NFS chroot from a more powerful machine. It is all pure fun, sleepless nights, abandoned girlfriends, you are going to miss all that and much more if you do not install Gentoo! |
I recommend EasyOS.
Mine also has 2G of Ram, with Libreoffice Writer & Chrome Browser opened (3 tabs), memory used is: Code:
# free -m |
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Of course, if typing is all/mainly what you want to do, there is the Wordgrinder program that runs from a command line, no need to even install a graphical environment of any sort. :)
http://cowlark.com/wordgrinder/index.html |
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