please recommend linux version for old IBM Thinkpad
 

Hi All,

I have an old IBM Thinkpad with the following:
Intel Pentium 4 processor
CPU Speed 1.60 ghz
Installed Memory 512 MB

This is my first time exploring linux options, so I'm looking for a version that will run on this laptop.

Currently, there is no OS on the laptop, so I will also need some instructions on the best way to download the OS and then load it. I can use a disk (my preferred) or USB (if required). If you can supply links to the suggested OS, I'd appreciate it.

I've read a bit about mint and puppy, but since I have no frame of reference, I figured I'd ask for some advice first.


If you need any further info about the laptop, let me know.

Thanks for your suggestions!

Hi & Welcome to LQ.

Give Anti-X a spin. It's designed for older pc's.-:)

http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

Basically you would download the .iso and burn that .iso to a CD/DVD and than run it to install it.

Make sure your machine is set to boot to the cdrom drive in the BIOS or to usb; which ever method you want to install Linux.

IF your using a Windows machine to download the .iso and you want to create a bootable usb you would use Rufus.
https://rufus.akeo.ie/

Hello and welcome to LQ.

I'd be a bit suprised if you can use a usb to boot. Maybe a usb cd drive but I'd rather think a usb flash won't do.

You will have to have some working machine to create a cdrom or possibly a floppy disk. It gets way more complex to try it from a floppy.

Anyway I suspect you need some minimal distro made for older hardware. As above, antix. Might look at slitaz too. Might be able to run a BSD based distro on it.

Normally folks download an iso file. They use a program to "burn" that iso image to a cd drive. Use best quality cd and don't use a cd-rw. Burn at slowest speed.

Might be able to buy a cd rather cheaply. Some place in walnut creek ca used to sell disc's. Maybe purplus still has them. Distrowatch has sites that sell discs if you can't burn one.

I run Lubuntu on a Pentium 3 laptop with 250M RAM.

Download the alternate 32 bit.

http://lubuntu.me/downloads/

Does it have to be Linux? Because I had an amazing experience with OpenBSD on my T60.

There's a listing of some here.
https://thishosting.rocks/best-light...linux-distros/

My recommendation would be for AntiX, I know people who have run it on old Thinkpads. :)
http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
https://www.antixforum.com/

For Thinkpad advice and information, look here
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki

I have a Thinkpad X31: that's much older than yours. The limitation in your case is not the CPU, but the RAM. There's also the question of booting: USB is doubtful and you may (like me) only have a CD drive.

If you can boot from USB or DVD, then Salix or MX Linux should be fine. If you can only use a CD, then it's going to be AntiX, which is actually just a cunningly-designed installer for Debian stable.

Thank you all!

I will explore the suggestions and get back to the thread with what I finally choose.

This is my first try at anything like this, so I appreciate the help. If I get stuck, I'll do my best to work through it before coming back with questions. Been busy with the holidays, so haven't had a chance to explore this as much as I wanted until now.



Thanks again!

You're Welcome.

Happy New Year!

I couldn't get Lubuntu to even boot 75% of the time on my netbook, and it wasn't as lightweight as Debian with LXDE when it did, though if you're a complete newbie I wouldn't recommend straight away going to Debian, but I quite like it over other distros and have a below average knowledge (compared to a lot of the regulars here) of how Linux works.

Plus isn't Lubuntu supposed to be switching to LXQT whenever it's ready; and how does performance compare to LXDE or XFCE?

My netbook has 1GB of RAM and an Atom N270 (equivalent-ish to a Pentium 3).

not sure if you're asking something?
usually i would recommend to start a new thread, but this one is easy to answer:
you need a really dedicated distro for old computers.
everyone likes to use the lightweight label; that's not enough.
you need something like antiX.

I use Puppy Linux on my old T43P laptop and even older Dell Latitude.
I prefer the older Debian based versions.

Hi all,

I am having a bit of trouble. I downloaded and burned a cd with antix-17_386-full.iso.

I am trying to boot my IBM T30 from the cd, but I am getting the error "Operating System not found"

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks

Did you access your BIOS and make sure that it is set to boot to CD first? Also, how did you burn the CD?