Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 38

Thread: Need a lightweight distro...

Hybrid View

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Whakatane, NZ
    Beans
    634
    Distro
    Ubuntu

    Question Need a lightweight distro...

    Hi all,

    I have an old PC which runs XP and Ubuntu 12.04 atm, however 12.04 seems very slow and sluggish. So I'm looking at replacing it with a fully customisable distro which will run WINE programs as well as 12.04.

    I kind of like Fedora, but not sure how lightweight it is in comparison to 12.04, and doesn't seem very customisable. I've tried the Ubuntu Gnome remix which resembles Fedora in looks but doesn't seem more lightweight. Both Xubuntu and Lubuntu look pretty ugly out of the box, though possibly customisable enough to look more presentable.

    Can anyone suggest any other suitable distros which might help?

    Cheers.
    Windows free since '09 - never looked back!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Maine
    Beans
    2,420
    Distro
    Kubuntu

    Re: Need a lightweight distro...

    Hi Baldrick_NZ,

    What is going to be the primary purpose of the machine?

    That desire may drive your choice. Fedora in my opinion is no lighter than Ubuntu. You may want to Give Bodhi a try though it's based on Ubuntu 12.04 but uses the lightweight E-17 desktop which is very customizable.
    There is always Puppy but I don't use it for security reasons here but it will fly on older equipment. and is passable in looks.

    Good Luck I'm sure you'll get more suggestions.
    Wireless script
    Dave
    Registered Linux User #462608
    Morse Code an early Digital Mode.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    I think I'm here! Maybe?
    Beans
    Hidden!
    Distro
    Xubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish

    Re: Need a lightweight distro...

    If you like the ubuntu way of doing things in general, ie the update manager, synaptic (I know it's not in 12.04 as default, but I can't manage without it), using sudo instead of a root account, etc etc, you should certainly try Lubuntu. It is Ubuntu with LXDE desktop and lubuntu themes, and it is very fast and brilliant on older machines.

    If it ran XP it will run Lubuntu like a dream.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Mystletainn Kick!
    Beans
    13,596
    Distro
    Ubuntu

    Re: Need a lightweight distro...

    You can always try something like crunchbang.

    http://crunchbanglinux.org/

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Beans
    8

    Re: Need a lightweight distro...

    Have you tried Xubuntu or Lubuntu in depth ? I have this same issue of old machine and it's running smooth with Xubuntu 12.04, it's way faster then Ubuntu 12.04. And in my opinion, Xfce is way prettier than Unity or Gnome 2.

    I think the distro speed is somewhat more measured by the graphical environment than other aspects.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Beans
    140

    Re: Need a lightweight distro...

    Is your PC a desktop or a laptop? What year is it from? (PCs were still sold with XP until mid or late 2009) If your PC supports DDR3, PCI X16 version 2, I would probably recommend an upgrade over reinstalling everything.

    If it's early 2000s I would recommend a source distro over a binary distro but that depends on how well do you know linux. I personally use Funtoo as it's optimized for the newer intel core and xeon cpu's where as Gentoo has a generic stage3 tarball.

    You could still use ubuntu 12.04 and just uninstall Unity and go with Openbox if you don't want to compile everything from source.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Nora, Sweden
    Beans
    Hidden!
    Distro
    Ubuntu Development Release

    Re: Need a lightweight distro...

    Quote Originally Posted by deadflowr View Post
    You can always try something like crunchbang.

    http://crunchbanglinux.org/
    +1 on that one.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Under that huge rock
    Beans
    98

    Re: Need a lightweight distro...

    ArchLinux is a good lightweight distro with vanilla packages that only installs what you want. It has some incredible documentation to go with it as well. That is my lightweight distro of choice, as long as your not afraid of config files instead of gui options.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Tennessee
    Beans
    3,421

    Re: Need a lightweight distro...

    Quote Originally Posted by Baldrick_NZ View Post
    Hi all,

    I have an old PC which runs XP and Ubuntu 12.04 atm, however 12.04 seems very slow and sluggish. So I'm looking at replacing it with a fully customisable distro which will run WINE programs as well as 12.04.
    Without exact specs its hard to say, but an XP-era machine isn't likely to perform well with any modern desktop environment.

    Pretty much any mainstream distro is fully customizable, you just have to learn how to customize it.

    You don't need to keep swapping distros if you just want to try some different desktops. The ubuntu repositories and PPAs have just about every DE out there. Install a few and see which one works well on your hardware, then spend some time customizing the look. This is ultimately better than jumping through fifteen distros hoping someone shares your sense of aesthetics.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    Guntur
    Beans
    Hidden!
    Distro
    Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin

    Re: Need a lightweight distro...

    Are there any other Linux Operating Systems which offers installation in windows using "WUBI.exe?" aside from Ubuntu??

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •