Recmmendation for old laptop

[Habbam]

I'd like to install Ubuntu on a fairly underpowered laptop.

Intel Pentium M (like III) 1.5 Ghz
Memory: 512MB (not possible to upgrade due to faulty motherboard socket)
7200 RPM 60GB hard drive

Should I install the server version because it's the least resource hungry, the netbook version or the desktop version. 32bit edition of course.

I am currently running Windows XP and intend to put Ubuntu in a separate partition.

Btw, I am a total ubuntu newbie.

[coffeecat]

The gnome desktop version of Ubuntu will run quite happily in 512MB RAM. My old laptop had only 512MB RAM and I ran every version of Ubuntu from Dapper (6.06) to Karmic (9.10) on it. You've got plenty of HD space and the processor should be able to cope.

Try running the live CD before installing - yes 512MB is enough to run in live mode as well. Running from the live CD will be much slower than a hard disc install but it will show you whether or not all the hardware is detected and configured properly. Depending on what other hardware you've got, you might want to try 9.10, 9.04 and 8.04 to see which runs best.

[rideonXX]

Will most of the currently available applications run with 3 versions you mentioned trying?

Thanks, kel

[mjwilson1313]

id reccomend 8.04 hardy im using it on a 512k p3 laptop with 20gig and running great

[lswb]

You can install whatever 32bit version you like. I ran my old P3 650Mhz 512MB laptop from ubuntu 5.10 through 8.04 without any performance problems. My current laptop is similar to what you mentioned, 1.4Mhz Pentium M. I do have 1G memory installed but even with 3 or 4 programs open I rarely see memory usage over 300-400 MB and have only seen swap being used a few times in a year.

Also, maybe you've already checked, but perhaps you can install a single 1GB memory chip.

[phillw]

Hi

If you are concerned that maybe Gnome may stress your laptop too much (it is more resource hungry) there is another, slimmed down one called fxce.

The really good news, is that Xubuntu gives you the choice of both & is designed for low RAM also. http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu/xubuntu You choose which you want when you boot - So you can try both :-)

It is a full, upto date, Ubuntu (i.e. 9.10) - Just needs less resources.

You may want to give it a try.

Regards,

Phill.

[fallingleaf]

I'm running Ubuntu Karmic on a 1.13 GHz Thinkpad T23. I set the processor speed to fixed minimum (about 750MHz) in the BIOS because it's in a hot environment. I mostly use it to download torrents but it seems to run fine for general web surfing purposes. In the end, it depends on what you are trying to do with the machine.

Xubuntu is definitely an option as the previous poster mentioned. I have tried it a few times but have always found it lacking in features.

Puppy Linux is something to look into also. The problem with Puppy is that it doesn't offer the huge software repositories that Ubuntu/Debian have.

[Habbam]

I installed the regular 9.10 desktop version. Kept the XP partition and created a swap partition and an ext4 partition. It seems to be running ok, but when I started Firefox the system locked up. I didn't know how to recover so I had turn the machine off manually.