Thank you Timothy Miller and beachboy2 for setting me straight. It definitely will make finding something I like easier. I think I'll try Mint MATE first.

hat_man,

Do let us know how you get on with Linux Mint MATE.

Hello again. I hope everyone had a fine holiday. I just burned a Linux Mint 19.1 MATE version and an using it now. Just running it from the CD at this time. So far so good. This machine is just an internet and email machine so Mint probably can do way more than what is needed. it does seem to boot very slowly, but that may be the machine or the fact that it's coming from the disc. Is there anything I should try and do or access to make sure all is running as it should? Connects to the web fairly easily but does always ask for the WiFi password after every start-up. It really seems like a Windows machine at this point but I know it isn't. Linux is Linux and Windows is......well I'll let you insert whatever you want here. I am really liking it so far and if this is how it is supposed to run, I'm kicking myself for not doing this sooner.

Like I said, if there is anything I should be looking for or trying while I'm still booting from a CD let me know. I am anxious to wipe this machine clean and install Linux on the HDD so I won't have to boot from a disc any more. Maybe someday I'll even figure out how to properly use the terminal, but I'm happy with baby steps for now.

hat_man,

This link will help you understand the actual installation process etc:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ossible-38100/

MX Linux or Xubuntu are considerably lighter and more suitable than Linux Mint MATE for your hardware.

https://mxlinux.org/wiki/system/iso-download-mirrors/

https://xubuntu.org/release/18-04/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifxDEv23MGQ

I had picked Linux Mint because it seemed to be "user friendly right out of the box". Would some of the sluggishness be from running from the CD? If it is, then I may stay with Mint.

The other distro I had considered was Linux Lite. Again, it seemed to be pretty user friendly straight away and came with most everything I would ever need for this machine.

The short answer, yes.

Thank You camorri. I'll have to go to the main laptop and burn a Linux Lite to try also. I am really liking Mint so far, but as I get older I guess my patience meter times out quicker.

Your processor supports 64-bit:
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Bobcat...s%20E-450.html

32-bit distros are going to fade soon, so, stick to 64-bit distros if you can but watch for the disk space (75 GBs as you said).

1 members found this post helpful.

I had Ubuntu MATE 18 32 bit.??, don't remember, and Linux mint 19.1 MATE 32 bit running on a 10-12 year old Acer laptop w/ 150 GB HDD 2GB RAM/ and probably a single core AMD processor. Everything ran really well until the display went south on me. It's in the closet now. Then got a Lenovo T430 laptop W/i5 processor, 180 GB SSD, 8 Gigs RAM running 19.1 Linux Mint MATE 64 bit, on Newegg for around $180.00 or so, Runs like lightning too.

I have MX Linux 19 on my Acer Laptop. Runs great. MX Linux 19 would work well for your needs.