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Leaving Windows XP. Should I get Linux Lite?

Hello All,

This is my first post. With all of the news about Microsoft ditching XP, I am trying to choose a new OS. I may be interested in Linux Lite because I have read that is is user-friendly and that it is free.

I am not a techy person. I learn as I go. I have been a lifelong Windows user, but I don't like that I am being forced to buy one of their products, which is why I am interested in the free Linux Lite.

So my question is, will my laptop support Linux Lite? I have a Lenovo R61 that is about 6 years old. I recently replaced the hard drive, so now I have a SATA 7200 RPM, 500 GB drive.

Have I left anything out? Mostly my laptop is just a big toy for surfing the net and the occasional Word document (which I know I will have to replace with some shareware, but I'm taking this one issue at a time). I don't game or anything like that.

If my laptop is capable of Linux Lite, I will have a bazillion other questions about installation, etc., but I will ask as I go.

Thanks!
--Floydcat

Before you attempt this, try linux. It can not replace windows in all situations easily. I would not say linux is easy.

To try linux you can,
Go to SuseStudio and run linux from a web browser.
Make or buy a live CD/DVD/USB and run it from boot.
Install a free Virtual Machine and run linux from within Widnows.

I still use a virtual machine like vmplayer or virtualbox to test linux safely. It is a way to create a software based computer and most steps are similar to loading linux to a real computer.

To be exact. Linux is not fully free. Some people might use restricted tools and apps that are technically not legal in all areas.

There are many distributions of linux. Each tries to make a version to target a specific audience. I've never tried lite so I can't say much about it. Each person has to choose what they like.

Easiest way to find out is to download the ISO, copy it to a USB flash drive or burn it to a CD, and try it out. How much memory do you have? If it's the minimum 512M, that's going to be awfully tight. That machine should support up to 4G, and 2G should be adequate. The only other question would be 64-bit CPU vs. 32-bit. The 32-bit versions of Linux will run on either, so grab that one if you don't know or if memory is tight.

The Linux Lite ISO can just be copied to a raw, unpartitioned USB flash drive and will boot just fine. If burning to a CD, be sure to "Burn as image". Running any live distro from an actual CD is really slow getting started. Running from a USB flash drive is quite a bit faster, so I recommend that if possible.

You should try linux first in a virtual machine, virtualbox is a excelent tool for that purpose and lubuntu in my personal opinion is a easy distro in which you can start this linux journey, lubuntu is a ubuntu's based distribution also with lot documentation and very lightly user interface.

Thanks for the replies.

@rknichols I have 122 GB of free space and I have an Intel core2 Duo. Based on your response I should be okay. I've been reading a lot of articles on free alternatives to Windows, and Linux Lite was one of the suggestions. Linux has been around around for a long time so I feel that I can trust it.

I'm going to try Linux on a test run as the others suggested. Thanks all!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Floydcat (Post 5143395)

Thanks for the replies.

@rknichols I have 122 GB of free space and I have an Intel core2 Duo.

I was talking about DRAM -- system memory. Live CD's don't need any disk space to run, though they might make use of a Linux swap partition if they find one.

122GB should be ample if/when you decide to install to disk.

Every mainstream distro of Linux is free, with the exception of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (commonly referred to as RHEL), which is a server distribution with licensing requirements for support.

I would suggest something more mainstream that Linux Lite. Mint, Mageia, OpenSuse, and Lubuntu are frequently recommended for persons coming to Linux, as their menu structures and desktops are not terribly different from Windows, even though they are pure Linux under the hood.

As Jefro said, Linux will not replace all Windows solutions easily. For most Windows home user applications (office suite, browser, photo editing, drawing, multimedia and recording, etc.), there are excellent Linux equivalents. For some, such as, for example, US income tax software and certain very specialized business applications, equivalents don't exist. For others, such as home accounting software, equivalents exist there will be a learning curve.

Linux is not necessarily hard, but it is different. Windows also has a learning curve, but remember that most persons have spent their entire computing lives learning Windows, so they did not notice the Windows learning curve.

As long as you expect Linux to be different and research differences when you run into them, you should be okay.

Yes. By all means, try linuxliteos!

I never fall under the bell curve as far as distros go. No mainstream for me.

Instead of Debian per se, I use antiX ; instead of Slackware per se, I use Salix. And I certainly don't use Canonical 'buntus, but LinuxLite and (earlier when trying out razorqt) SalentOS are/were more to my liking.

Have fun doing it -- that's what it's all about, besides being Free.

BTW -- I'm on my other half's PC, which is currently running linuxmint-15-xfce (I see that orange logo in the lower LH corner, again!)

Hi,

You can use these links to help in burning a selected ISO image to disc;

Quote:

Media burning

M$Windows:
Windows Burn tutorial <- 'Nero' Live Video for the newbies who burn the iso instead of the image of the iso.
Imgburn <- 'ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit!' + Freeware

-- MD5SUM:
M$Windows iso md5sum checking <- LQ Post on how too
md5sum.exe <- M$Win Application to perform md5sum checking.
winMd5Sum Portable <- FREE + Good for all M$ Windows
Linux:

NoBurn:
Mount ISO image under Linux <- Mount ISO using the loop device
Slackware® 12 installation with the ISOs but without burning them! <- Janux_NET
Burn:

DVD-Authoring with Linux <- By Rainer Jochem
ISO, CDR, and CDRW media in Linux <- Techniques for media use & how to accomplish it!
CdromMd5sumsAfterBurning <- 'Describes some ways to check the validity of a burnt CD, either via the md5sum or via cmp (compare)'.
cdparanoia.SlackBuild rworkman's <- 'Cdparanoia is a Compact Disc Digital Audio (CDDA) extraction tool, commonly known on the net as a 'ripper'.'

Then you can/could try;

Quote:

Minimal/Optimized Gnu/Linux Distributions:

Minimal/Light Weight:
Puppy Linux <- 'Puppy really is small, the live-CD typically being 85MB, yet there really is a complete set of GUI applications. Being so small, Puppy usually loads completely into RAM, which accounts for the incredible speed.'

Simplicity Linux <- 'Simplicity Linux is a Puppy Linux derivative with LXDE as the default desktop environment. It comes in four editions: Obsidian, Netbook, Desktop and Media. The Netbook edition features cloud-based software, the Desktop flavour offers a collection of general-purpose software, and the Media variant is designed to provide "lounge" PC users with easy access to their media.

Linux Mint <- 'The purpose of Linux Mint is to produce a modern, elegant and comfortable operating system which is both powerful and easy to use.'

antiX <- 'antiX is a fast, lightweight and easy to install linux live CD distribution based on Debian Testing for Intel-AMD x86 compatible systems. antiX offers users the "antiX Magic" in an environment suitable for old computers. So don't throw away that old computer yet! The goal of antiX is to provide a light, but fully functional and flexible free operating system for both newcomers and experienced users of Linux. It should run on most computers, ranging from 64MB old PII 266 systems with pre-configured 128MB swap to the latest powerful boxes. 128MB RAM is recommended minimum for antiX. The installer needs minimum 2.2GB hard disk size. antiX can also be used as a fast-booting rescue cd. At the moment antiX-13 "Luddite" comes as a full distro (c690MB), a base distro (c400MB) and a core-libre distro (c135MB) for 32 bit and 64 bit computers. For those who wish to have total control over the install, use antiX-core and build up. Present released antiX-13.2-full version, 05 November 2013: isos and md5sum files available 'Luddite'

Tiny Core Linux <- 'Tiny Core Linux is a 12 MB graphical Linux desktop. It is based on a recent Linux kernel, BusyBox, Tiny X, Fltk, and Flwm. The core runs entirely in memory and boots very quickly. The user has complete control over which applications and/or additional hardware to have supported, be it for a desktop, a nettop, an appliance or server; selectable from the project's online repository.'

VectorLinux <- 'VectorLinux is a small, fast, Intel based Linux operating system for PC style computers. The creators of VectorLinux had a single credo: keep it simple, keep it small and let the end user decide what their operating system is going to be. What has evolved from this concept is perhaps the best little Linux operating system available anywhere.' + 'VectorLinux 7.0 "Light'

Lubuntu <- 'Lubuntu is a fast, lightweight and energy-saving variant of Ubuntu using the LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) desktop. It is intended to have low-resource system requirements and is designed primarily for netbooks, mobile devices and older PCs.'

Damn Small Linux <- 'Damn Small Linux is a business card size (50MB) live CD Linux distribution. Despite its minuscule size it strives to have a functional and easy to use desktop. Damn Small Linux has a nearly complete desktop, including XMMS (MP3, and MPEG), FTP client, links-hacked web browser, spreadsheet, email, spellcheck (US English), a word-processor, three editors (Nedit, nVi, Zile [emacs clone]), Xpdf, Worker (file manager), Naim (AIM, ICQ, IRC), VNCviwer, SSH/SCP server and client, DHCP client, PPP, PPPoE, a web server, calculator, Fluxbox window manager, system monitoring apps, USB support, and soon it will have PCMCIA support as well. If you like Damn Small Linux you can install it on your hard drive. Because all the applications are small and light it makes a very good choice for older hardware.'

CrunchBang Linux <- 'CrunchBang Linux is an Debian-based distribution featuring the light-weight Openbox window manager and GTK+ applications. The distribution has been built from a minimal Debian system and customized to offer a good balance of speed and functionality. CrunchBang Linux is currently available as a live CD; however, the best performance is achieved by installing it to a hard disk.'

ArchBang Linux <- 'ArchBang Linux is a lightweight distribution based on Arch Linux. Using the Openbox window manager, it is fast, up-to-date and suitable for both desktop and portable systems.'
CDlinux <- 'CDlinux is a compact Linux mini-distribution. It ships with an up-to-date version of the Linux kernel, X.Org, Xfce window manager, and many popular applications. It has good internationalization and locale support, and is highly user-configurable.' + 'Based on Slackware' + 'Older but still useful'

CRUX <- 'CRUX is a lightweight, i686-optimised Linux distribution targeted at experienced Linux users. The primary focus of this distribution is "keep it simple", which is reflected in a simple tar.gz-based package system, BSD-style initscripts, and a relatively small collection of trimmed packages. The secondary focus is utilization of new Linux features and recent tools and libraries.'

Linux Lite <- 'Linux Lite is a beginner-friendly Linux distribution based on Ubuntu LTS and featuring the Xfce desktop.'

If you want to test drive then Get Your ISO, LiveCD & Pocket OS;

Quote:

ISO:

LQ ISOs <- 'This site is designed to meet all of your Linux distribution download needs, including searching for fast mirrors, receiving email updates when new versions of your favorite distributions are released and reading reviews.'
Distrowatch <- 'Great Source for ISO'
BitTorrent Review <- Why you should use it!

LiveCD:

The LiveCD List <- Very Good List
LiveCD Wiki <- 'Good detailed explanation plus resource'

Live USB:

Live USB_Wiki <- 'A live USB is a USB flash drive or a USB external hard disk drive containing a full operating system which can be booted. Live USBs are closely related to live CDs, but typically have the ability to save settings and permanently install software packages back onto the USB device.' + 'system administration, data recovery method' + includes distribution table reference

Above links are from Slackware®-Links. More than just Slackware Links.

Hope this helps.
:hattip:

One thing that that hasn't been mentioned is the GUI. In Windows, it's built-in, but in Linux, you get to choose: big or small, plain or fancy.

KDE: the king of bling. If anything on the desktop can rotate, zoom, or bounce, it will! Some find it pretty, others pretty irritating. Make sure you have a couple of GB of RAM to get the best results.
Unity and Gnome. If you like a conventional computer to look like a tablet, these are for you.
Xfce and Mate. Traditional desktops, which will not come as too much of a shock to an XP user.

The best distros for a beginner are currently (in my opinion) Linux Mint (Mate or Xfce) and PCLinuxOS (KDE or Xfce). My reviews:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/review...p/product/2625
http://www.linuxquestions.org/review...p/product/2559

If you only have 512MB, then the Xfce version of Mint would be OK. Linux Lite is not bad, but not as friendly as Mint:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/review...page/15/sort/7

there is a brand new version of antiX called MX-14 that is meant for new users coming over to linux. It doesn't have quite the learning curve of antiX. But it will run on older hardware pretty well.

mepiscommunity.org/mx to check it out.

or check out my youtube channel in my signature below for some helpful videos.

Does your old thinkpad have the nVidia Quadro NVS 140M graphics card and 2GB RAM?
Onebuck's list, Minimal/Optimized Gnu/Linux Distributions, hits most everything I can think of except LinuxLite and MX-14, both use xfce. Try 'em all!

Hi,

Quote:

Originally Posted by hilyard (Post 5143908)

This list is for;

Quote:

Optimized:

Salix <- 'Salix is a Slackware-based Linux distribution that is simple, fast, easy to use and compatible with Slackware Linux. Optimised for desktop use, Salix OS features one application per task, custom package repositories, advanced package management with dependency support, localised system administration tools and innovative artwork.'

Slackel <- 'Slackel is a Linux distribution and live CD based on Slackware Linux and Salix OS. It is fully compatible with both. It uses the current version of Slackware and the latest version of the KDE desktop. The Slackel disc images are offered in two different forms - installation and live.'

EasyPeasy <- 'EasyPeasy (formerly Ubuntu Eee) is an Ubuntu-based distribution for netbooks. It uses Ubuntu Netbook Remix graphical user interface and includes open source as well as proprietary software.'

Bodhi Linux <- 'Bodhi Linux is an Ubuntu-based distribution for the desktop featuring the elegant and lightweight Enlightenment window manager. The project, which integrates and pre-configures the very latest builds of Enlightenment directly from the project's development repository, offers modularity, high level of customisation, and choice of themes. The default Bodhi system is light -- the only pre-installed applications are Midori, LXTerminal, EFM (Enlightenment File Manager), Leafpad and Synaptic -- but more software is available via AppCenter, a web-based software installation tool.'

Alpine Linux <- 'Alpine Linux is a community developed operating system designed for x86 routers, firewalls, VPNs, VoIP boxes and servers. It was designed with security in mind; it has proactive security features like PaX and SSP that prevent security holes in the software to be exploited. The C library used is uClibc and the base tools are all in BusyBox. Those are normally found in embedded systems and are smaller than the tools found in GNU/Linux systems.'

Leeenux <- 'Leeeenux is an Ubuntu-based commercial Linux distribution tailored to netbooks. Several editions, depending on the user interface are available; these include Unity 2D, MATE and LXDE desktop environments.'

I have more to add but too busy doing other commitments. Updates will be done once I have time to check things out.

I felt the OP wants were more minimal for older hardware so I did not include the last list.

Hope this helps.
:hattip:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Floydcat (Post 5143352)

Have I left anything out?

Most important: Ram size?

I found a specs page for the R61
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/deta...cID=migr-67735

That says your ram size might be 256MB, 512MB, 1GB or 2GB. Do you know which of those you have?

That has a big impact on your Choice of Linux Distribution and Linux Desktop and 32-bit vs. 64-bit.

At 256MB, you would want minimal everything: a lite distribution with lite desktop and 32-bit (even though you have a 64-bit CPU).

With more ram, you have more flexibility in your choices.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rknichols (Post 5143383)

How much memory do you have?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Floydcat (Post 5143395)

@rknichols I have 122 GB of free space

Quote:

Originally Posted by rknichols (Post 5143413)

I was talking about DRAM -- system memory.

In case you still don't understand the question rknichols and I are asking, try this: (I hope it works the same in your XP system as in mine)

Right click on the My Computer Icon and select "properties" from the menu.
That brings up a "System Properties" dialog with the "General" tab selected. That has a summary of system information at the bottom of which it tells you how many MB or GB of RAM you have.

@johnsfine
1.99 GB Ram. Incidentally, I'm still leaning toward Linux Lite because it has a lot of good reviews and it seems geared toward people like me that have never used Linux before. When I replaced my hard drive about a month ago, I went ahead and made a Linux Lite boot up disc. Haven't tried it yet, but I think that next weekend I will just go for it and see what happens. My current system is imaged on an external hard drive, so I don't think I have anything to lose.

Thanks.