Looking for working Linux Distributions to install on my old laptop

MrLinuxUser12 · 05-17-2017, 09:33 AM

Good day!

I currently have Linux Mint 10 installed on my old laptop, which works rather fine - at least it's able to satisfy all of my needs for now. Due to security and software concerns, though, I've been adviced to look out for a newer version of Linux. Obviously, the newest big Linux Distributions won't run, or rather, won't install on my laptop, which is why I'm asking for your advice.

Here's what I know about my laptop's hardware:

Code:

Brand:   Belinea
CPU:     Intel(R) Celeron(R) M CPU 530 @ 1730Mhz; 32bit Architecture
RAM:     2015M,  with 1024KB L2 Cache

So far, I've got two Linux Versions to run: Linux Mint 10 w/ LXDE, and AntiX 16.1. Unfortunately, I find AntiX to be fairly unintuitive and hard to use as a beginner.
Other Versions I tried are Linux Mint 18.1 LXDE, Linux LXLE 16.04.2.32, Fedora 25, and Puppy Linux (aka. Slacko) x86. They failed installing due to terrible graphical glitches which rendered the navigation through probably shown menus impossible. Linux Mint 10 and AntiX do have their own glitches on startup, but once the system is actually running they are gone and don't show up unless you are suspending the computer during the session.

I really only plan on using this old laptop for work, which is why I thought Mint 10 was enough for my purposes. But if someone happens to know another still updated, leightweight on ressources, and not very hard to use Distribution, I'll be happy about any hint.

Timothy Miller · 05-17-2017, 09:48 AM

You could always install a more "full featured" desktop on AntiX such as XFCE. The beautiful thing about being based on Debian is that it has the Debian repositories which are some of the largest in all of linux-dom.

MrLinuxUser12 · 05-17-2017, 10:02 AM

@Timothy Miller
Well, knowing Linux and seeing how modular AntiX seems to handle Desktops, I suppose it's only a matter of installing a few packages there?
But even then I'm still unsure if that could really solve the problems in terms of usability I am worried about. Those are, for instance, copying files from one place to another (It opens some kind of directory window as opposed to the Copied-To-Clipboard I'm used to, and I have yet to find out how to get the former to work), or setting up a wireless network connection (The included network manager doesn't seem to find my wireless network, and a manual setup asks me for data I am not familiar with - a problem Mint 10 didn't have).

Timothy Miller · 05-17-2017, 10:30 AM

With XFCE, it has more of a "traditional" file manager, and you could use the nm-applet, a plugin that runs in the system tray and does all your network management for you in a pretty gui.

Of course, AntiX also doesn't have many wireless chipsets firmware installed by default (since debian is libre by default and most firmware is non-free). Do you happen to know what wireless card you have? If not, can you post the output of

Code:

lspci -nnk

(or you can post it even if you do know your wireless card just so we can be sure)?

MrLinuxUser12 · 05-17-2017, 11:01 AM

@Timothy Miller
Thanks to a tool a friend recommended to me, I do know the model of my network card:

Code:

Network:   Card-1: VIA VT6102 [Rhine-II] driver: via-rhine
           Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR2413/AR2414 Wireless Network Adapter [AR5005G(S) 802.11bg]
           driver: ath5k

If you happen to be interested in the more advanced information delivered by your suggested command, I did attach it in a textfile so this post doesn't end up completely cluttered.

I'd find it to be a bit strange though if it was really a problem related to missing drivers like you appear to suggest, since the default network manager does find two of the networks I do not own. I'll look forward to your next ideas though.

Timothy Miller · 05-17-2017, 11:06 AM

Ath5K is nice, one of the few truly free wireless chips. Works out of box on just about everything.

Do you happen to know what the default network managers name is? I don't use AntiX very often so am unfamiliar with what it defaults to.

DavidMcCann · 05-17-2017, 11:16 AM

Your laptop has the same CPU and RAM size as mine! I use Salix, which has the Xfce desktop. Salix is Slackware with extra software and user-friendliness, so very reliable. If you want to stay in the familiar territory of Debian derivatives, try MX. But you could just get used to Antix, since you know it actually works!

I'm a bit puzzled by copying a file via a clipboard — is that some Windows thing? To move a file using a file manager,
1. navigate to the folder it's in, right click, and select "cut"
2. navigate to the folder you want it in, click on "edit" and select "paste".
It's not rocket science!

Suspending is something I do not recommend: it's often a bit unreliable on older machines, as the firmware can be a mess that was only tested with Windows.

MrLinuxUser12 · 05-17-2017, 12:17 PM

@DavidMcCann
Well, you'll understand with the screenshots I have attached.

The first one shows the context menu I get upon rightclicking the folder I'd like to copy. Yes, it is in german, but I can assure you that it doesn't contain the option "Cut" ("Ausschneiden") for some reason. Rather, the combination CTRL+X deletes a file in this distro.
So, if I try to copy it to the clipboard (You know, the place files, text and whatever else you copy goes under Windows), I rather get the window seen in screenshot 2. I did realise I made a mistake the beforegoing times though, as I tried to copy the folder into /home/ by changing the path. Apparently, I don't have permissions for copying files directly into /home/, and have to resort to copying to /home/USER/.
All in all the feature is probably quite useful once you're really familiar with the Linux File System. The network problem stays, though.

Regarding the other OS you suggested, I'll take a look at it some time in the future. Thank you!