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Follow general lemmy guidelines.
Just about all Linux distros will have comparable performance.
I suggest focusing instead on which desktop environment to use. LXQt or Xfce might be worth a try, or a plain old window manager if you want to get really lightweight and can tolerate some extra work. Get a live USB image and test drive one.
(For those who don't know, most distros have a variety of DEs and WMs available in their repos. You don't have to use the one that's installed by default.)
This answer has a lot of wisdom. It would have helped me greatly at the beginning of my Linux journey if someone had explained the difference between a distro and a DE, and how they both work. Choosing a DE is probably more important than choosing a distro for most beginners imo
There's a reason why Linux Mint gets recommended a lot because not only is it built upon a stable base and the distro is good (at least lmde), the cinnamon de is easy to use as well.
I found that comment clear most of the fog I was suffering from. I'm grateful to have read it before getting started.
I have another laptop of my own with 8 gigs on it, which I I'm going to convert as well now. Exciting times lol
Thank you for the suggestion, I'll look into that.
Most would do, especially if it has a dGPU. Almost any distro you pick will have very low minimum requirements. Linux is good like that!
Depending on your configuration, you may want to tweak some settings.
Pop_OS! and Linux Mint are very popular for beginners. Pop_OS! especially if you have an Nvidia GPU because they have a specific install just for that. Both are based on Ubuntu, which is based on Debian.
Others might recommend Fedora, which is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux or OpenSUSE. They’re also simple, stable, and reliable like the others, but a bit different under the hood.
pop_os is too heavy for 15 years old PC imo, my vote is to mint
i use it on a 18 year old i7 PC of mine with no issues. it's fine for me. I use the Nvidia install, as i have a 960 GTX, which may affect the performance.
as i said, it really depends on the config. Mint may be the better option.
Yes an 18-year-old high-end system is going to run all right compared to an i3 or an i5 of similar vintage. Hyper threading makes a massive difference.
Agree with everything except about the dgpu. Personally ran into problems due to kernel compatibility with the proprietary drivers that are no longer being maintained with older models like the NVIDIA NVS 5400M on a thinkpad t430 and had to switch to nouveau. Its fine for what I use it for but does have screen tearing on external monitors so a beginner might get frustrated and since the display I/O is often using the dgpu you can't use integrated graphics. So yeah not everything will be seamless for OP if they do have a dgpu
oh, that's unfortunate to hear.
Well tried for Mint Xfce, but it wouldn't take. Two installs and the same repeating error over 10,000 times and counting when I last shut it off. So decided to give Debian a try and I'm pretty sure I went with Xfce as well. And no issues as it booted successfully. Good times!
Maybe I'll do the newbie thing and keep trying out different distros, I'm not sure at this point, but I will say it is nice to have a computer that doesn't matter to me to mess with.
Maybe I'll do the newbie thing and keep trying out different distros,
My dude some people never stop distrohopping, it's not necessarily a "newbie thing." Do whatever you want, that's the beauty of it!
I guess im diving right in. I also have a laptop of my own, with better specs I'm installing linux on now as i type. This one im going to experiement with more, and leave the other one as my banking PC.
Spiral Linux. It's Debian with customizations on top. You probably have a HDD. Flatpak/snap won't play well with that.
You could try Opensuse tumbleweed for newer stuff, not sure how well your machine would hold up.
Puppy Linux might be an even safer choice than spiral Linux if you really want to stay lightweight.
Mint LMDE
Choose the distro that can auto-install all the drivers for you, like Mint. It sounds like you will only run Chrome on it anyway.
It sounds like you will only run Chrome on it anyway.
You misspelled Firefox there!
Yeah I'm thinking the Xfce Edition so far. The light on resource usage sounds appealing.
MX Linux.
And don't try using a webbrowser with modern websites on that thing. I mean how much RAM does that Vaio have?
(You can also try more modern distros. Just don't install the latest desktop environment and expect it tr run smoothly. LXQT or LXDE, XFCE or some slim desktop might be better suited for something old.)
4 gigs on this beast
Well. Go ahead then. 4GB is enough.
I'm done already! I installed debian, it's running well, and I'm going to use it to do my finical stuff ive decided. I've never felt comfortable using windows for that, so this alleviates the most significant portion of stress windows caused me.
I have the wireless shut off on it (actual physical button), and just plug it into the network when I do my banking and th n unplug it again.
I should have done this year's ago. I felt the weight drop off my shoulders.
The debian install was painless. The mint install I tried first wouldn't take for some reason.
👌 Debian is a really good choice from my perspective. I've been using it for the last decade or so. Glad the community could be of some help. And you found some good use for that old machine.
Not bad.
Debian
Give the number one at Distrowatch https://mxlinux.org a try or Puppy Linux https://puppylinux-woof-ce.github.io/ or https://spirallinux.github.io/ The first and the third are Debian based.
Alpine Linux with Gnome somehow works faster then Mint with Cinnamon on my old laptop (i3 3rd-gen).
VAIO? Yikes. Something that old can probably handle Debian Buster with XFCE. Work up from there, and try to stay on kernel 4.x
Void Linux. There's an xfce live image.