Morning,

Cleaning out my old computer area I found my Dell D600 & D610. They are running XP professional.

Any suggestions as to what Linux I should install?

You should share at least the processor, memory, and hard-drive specs when asking such a question.

Also, some people just say whatever they run themselves, which isn't necessarily the best option.

See https://distrowatch.com/search.php?ostype=Linux&status=Active&category=Old+Computers for distros dedicated to running on older hardware.

Or search at https://linux-hardware.org/?view=computers to see what others are running on similar devices.

With the Y2K shenanigans I somewhat changed my attitude. I had a company-supplied laptop for on-call (compaq gateway IIRC) that just stopped - phht. Prior to that I tried to resurrect everything - now I just junk them if I can't easily make them work.

Toss them - hit ebay for a cheap (working) alternative. There are probably community groups that will take them off your hands and put them to better use.

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Put a cheap SSD in the D610 and run Puppy Linux Fossapup64 with a frugal install or no SSD at all, just run from a USB stick.
That's about all one can do with these dinosaurs. I used one for years.
The D600 is not worth messing with, IMO.

It obviously depends on the amount of memory they have — Antix or Puppy are obvious choices. Or, just for fun, install Haiku or Kolibri. Old laptops with a Pentium M can still be useful. I have an IBM X31 which I got for taking out to libraries, since I prefer a desktop for daily use. A couple of years ago it kept me going when my old computer died on Christmas Eve.

Try AntiX on them, or Tiny Core Linux.

Devuan, (Debian without systemd), also has 32 bit, maybe start with a 'minimal live', & see how you get on.

My vote is for AntiX. I have it running on a Acer AspireOne netbook with Atom 1.66mhz processor and 1GB ram.

gogetta,

Welcome to the LQ forums.

Neither of these Dells is a ball of fire. It depends on your patience level. and your RAM amount(s).

Unless you are donated extra RAM, I cannot see the point of spending an extra penny on these.

Someone with a similar problem using antiX:
https://www.antixforum.com/forums/to...after-install/

Good luck.

EDIT: @JayByrd, in Slackware forum, got the nVidia graphics driver working using SlackBuild. He opened up a usable alternative for Slackware to be installed and used on the 610. Just FYI!

Slackware 32bit. Ran it on D600 and D610 laptops. Had to max out the ram and used xfce. Look for archives of older versions. Think 14.0 was the last one I used.

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Edit: oops, D610 (not 620), so 32-bit only and 'most' distros have/are dropping support for 32-bit. (but the stuff I found about D620 is kind of interesting, so I'll leave it)

https://history-computer.com/dell-latitude-d620/ (dated today!!!)

US$value: about $10 per GB of ram already in.
(Maybe cut that in half because 32 bit)
D600&610: max 2GB (620: 4gb)

The D620 might(?) have a 64bit CPU. (what CPU exactly is in each?)
https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us...7-mhz-fsb.html
^ 32-bit with VT-x!!! (I did not know that that exists!!!)

Are you like me, someone who enjoys playing with old 'junk' laptops?

P. S. Reddit has an 'active' ('noisy') /r/FindMeADistro

I've used both of these machines in the past and antiX is a sure shot; it'll work if there is anything functional in the system. On the antiX Forum there are a couple of guys that even get antiX working on 32-bit netbooks with no functional disk remaining. They obtain a working USB with antiX on it and run it from USB. One guy uses a really old system as a music player while using other systems for other tasks. But unless the D600 and D610 have been junked, they'll do at least SOME basic work from USB. If you get a cheap SSD and replace the hard drive with a matching SSD (don't get NVME SSD, that's too new, get the old style SSD and that'll work). Even if you don't put a dime into it, antiX ought to work out; that's what I use on all of my old systems.

What syg00 said.
Unless there is a very specific task you need it for toss it. You can run the lightest Linux on it and still, when you fire up a browser this laptop will be too slow for you to enjoy using it. You can use a light browser like Dillo, but then you may not get the experience you are used to. Toss it. I bought a 2 years old Lenovo i5 once for $150 from eBay, peeled off the Windows sticker and sold it for $50, now this $100 laptop has served me many years, even its large-capacity battery is holding real well. I can use full featured browsers without choking the CPU and GPU. I can watch hi res videos on external display.

Thanks for the suggestions. I am not actually going to use the laptops for anything. as I could just put another browser on them and run them with XP and things just be fine.