lubuntu v xubuntu for old laptop

[Kojak Peg]

Hi everyone
which is best, xubuntu or lubuntu for an old Pentium 4, 750Mb Ram, 38Gb Hard drive laptop

I'm using/ learning to use lubuntu at the moment. I use it mainly for web surfing

[ub07]

Lubuntu is probably best, but I'd try Xubuntu because I just prefer XFCE to LXDE. I think that you could get away with Xubuntu because it uses around 400 MB on my system, but my system is 64 bit and uses about 100 MB more than on a 32 bit system that I have.

[Kojak Peg]

Hi ub07
Thanks for the advice. I think I will give it ago.

Cheers

[I2k4]

I would suggest a couple of things:

1) Create a Persistent Live USB installation for any version of Linux you want to try out. Run it for a while before committing an operating system to hard drive. Compare the GUI, the preinstalled software, and see if all your peripheral devices are recognized before diving head first into an empty swimming pool. (Only for example, my netbook had various problems with Xubuntu that did not occur with Lubuntu - your machine may be very different.)

2) All, repeat all, the Ubuntu and derivative (Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Mint) versions from version 11.x onward are far more demanding than the ones up to version 10.10. As I said, just test on Persistent Live USB and compare - in my case I'll live with the end of software support for version 10 in exchange for snappy performance. The version 11+ Ubuntu demands on hardware are comparable on my netbook to those of Windows 7 Starter, and performance lags.

I personally installed Lubuntu 10.10 on my little Atom netbook (1.6 mHz, 1GB RAM), it runs wonderfully as compared to Windows 7 Starter, and I'm leaving it there until the machine dies. But I did not like most of the preinstalled software. I would have could have saved some time if I'd gone with with Mint 11. It's based on Ubuntu 10, and is nearly as fast, and the preinstalled software is what I want. So I suggest comparing Mint 11 along with Ubuntu spin offs.

The main thing, though, is to experiment with Live USB to get a good feel for big differences, and enjoy it.

[black veils]

try xubuntu. change swappiness value, default is high for servers, you only need 10 for normal desktop use.