Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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I have an Asus laptop from 2007 (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Like the title says I want to install a Linux distro on my old laptop. I am currently looking into installing a SSD, but I want to learn a distro for fun! I haven't been able to find a good current resource aside from the Linux Masters here, so I am actually asking for help on the Internet! What distro is the best!?

https://imgur.com/8zldESD

EDIT: thanks so much everyone for your recommendations and advice! I installed a couple of different systems before deciding that I think the laptop may be able to support Fedora with KDE plasma (my favorite flavor of the installs so far) and I'm finding it really attractive and easy to use. You will see once I get some more disk space used how the performance holds up! If it runs into trouble I might switch the machine back over to mint with, that one seemed to run really well and was pretty familiar seeming from my Windows days, also seem more low end and booted a little faster. I think I might even end up switching to Linux on my desktop I had so much fun with it last night!! I really appreciate all the information and will probably be experimenting with a more lightweight build on this computer in the future! I'm a Linux user and it was easier than I ever thought! ❤️

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 21 hours ago

I'd say it's the most stable, but not necessarily the most lightweight, no. It certainly can be if you know what you're doing; get a netinst image and build it up from TTY and you can make it as slimline as you want. KDE is a pretty intensive suite of programs, offering almost a complete 1-to-1 replacement of Windows, so it is definitely not lightweight, but it's probaby the easiest to learn how to use Linux on, especially with Discover being an organised software store to find programs in. If you want lightweight and don't mind getting frustrated because you don't know Linux basics, don't go for KDE but try something like LXDE instead. Looks like older Windows and generally functions fine, but doesn't have Discover. You could still install it via something like Synaptic though. I believe most distros, including Debian, should have it available. You need to separate the user environment from the distro in your mind; Arch, Debian, Fedora, or other distros are just a collection of available packages which are installable and updatable via their respective package managers. Gnome, KDE, LXDE, XFCE, and other desktop environments are not bound by what distro they run on and are what you work with in the foreground. You can distrohop and use the same graphical frontend on another distro and it will work the same.