which is the best linux distro for an old laptop

pc linux

tom*;
Welcome to LQ!!

You will need to tell us some specs on the laptop but, there are many choices. Take a look at http://distrowatch.com .....One common bit of advice is to try anything in the top 10 on their "hit list", but not all of those will be good for older hardware----look at the minimum system requirements.
Without knowing the specs, what is your basis for this recommendation?

It depends on the specification, but if you have 512MB of memory and a 1GHz processor, anything will run: Fedora and Ubuntu are fine on my 7yr-old Thinkpad.

With 265MB and 400MHz you can manage a conventional but lightweight distro like CrunchBang.

With 128MB and 166MHz you need a specialist distro like Puppy (get 4.3, not the rather experimental 5.0).

I've used all of these, and can recommend them for reliability and ease of use. Some lightweight distros can be a bit of a wrestling match to get working (Absolute, Slitaz, Vector).

Puppy, Austrumi, Vector.

Puppy and a few others support real old systems. If it is a 386....

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look into Linux Jazz collection. You can customize each of the distros inside to fit your machine...

PCLinux is KDE...its an "old" computer. You want something with a stripped down Gnome at the most. Maybe XFCE, Fluxbox, Icewm, Enlightenment, etc.

Something you could try and do is go to Distrowatch.com and search for distributions they recommend for older computers.

try xubuntu, light and fast

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

This question is asked all the time here on LQ so I'm sure a result from a search would benefit.
You have not provided enough information to make a recommendation. What are the specs for the laptop and age?

'How to Ask Questions the Smart Way' would be one link you should look at to help us to help you in the future.

I do suggest that a LiveCD from 'The LiveCD List' will help you by providing the means to test drive a GNU/Linux distro on the laptop.

Just a few more links to aid you;

Linux Documentation Project
Rute Tutorial & Exposition
Linux Command Guide
Utimate Linux Newbie Guide
LinuxSelfHelp
Getting Started with Linux
Bash Reference Manual
Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide
Linux Home Networking
Virtualiation- Top 10


The above links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

My recommendations, dealing as a non-profit promoting Linux and using contributed, older PCs:

1) PIII with 512 MB RAM -- antiX 8.5 (Debian)
2) P4 with more RAM -- Salix 13.1 32-bit (Slackware) or Mint9-lxde (Debian/Ubuntu-derivative); as someone said, PCLXDE (Mandriva-derived) is good, too, it's a matter of choice and preference.

I don't deal with netbooks or PCs older than about year 2000, so if yours is older than a PIII, I can't help you.

Have fun!