What is the lowest spec machine that you still use a lot as a primary computer?

[kio_http]

I'm curious to know the weakest computers that you can cope with using a primary computer and the software that you use on it.

Myself I am in a situation where I cannot change the computer at the moment though luckily I have a machine that is capable of doing most things I need (with some compromises) although it can be slow at it sometimes.

The system:

CPU:
Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHz x86 (512K Cache, 1.60 GHz, 533 MHz FSB)

Memory:
2 GB ADATA RAM DDR2

Graphics:
Intel Corporation Mobile 945GSE Express Integrated Graphics Controller (also known as GMA 950)

Display:
10.1 Inch LED Backlit LCD Panel 1024x600

Motherboard:
Intel 945GME chpiset

Storage:
Western Digital 250 GB HDD

Network:
Ethernet - Atheros AR8132 Fast Ethernet
WLAN - Atheros AR9285 (Wifi b/g/n)
Bluetooth - NONE

Connectors:
VGA
USB 2.0 - 3 ports
VGA
3.5mm Headphone Jack
3.5mm Microphone Jack

In case you are wondering its based on an Asus EeePC 1005HA from June 2009. Hardware wise I am quite satisfied except for the plastic material (that looks sleek) but attracts fingerprints and dirt like anything and unfortunately gets light scratches without you even knowing how it got scratched. I would have liked a higher res display but that would have probably made it expensive.

Software and Usage

It always runs the latest version of Kubuntu with KDE (see screenshot). I use it for office use, multimedia (including 720p video), coding, video conversions, compiling, web-browsing.

Challenges
When I am doing something resource intensive on the machine, I make sure only essential processes only are running and sometimes use it in CLI. Video conversions take time and bring CPU usage up but I bear with it. It runs Windows and Visual Studio which is currently essential for me and VS2010 is annoying to use because of performance and display size. I am currently learning python and other stuff to migrate my vs2010 needs to Kubuntu. I am a heavy computer user and this machine is nearly always on doing something. On Windows 7, multi-tasking is not a really good idea. I cannot use youtube above 480p as it quite simply cannot handle it.

What is interesting is performance on KDE has actually improved with every released and the reason I use KDE is I want a modern feel and while openbox is less resource intensive I need a complete shell for multi tasking. I do use openbox if I have to watch a 720p video in a player to reduce CPU load. Ubuntu 11.04 and higher unfortunately gets too slow when multi-tasking on this machine with unity 3D.

I plan to use this computer for around 2-3 years more which is when according to me any new notebook will be an option for me. My dream computer at present would be a nice convertible 12 or 13 inch tablet as a desktop does not suit my lifestyle.

Richard Stallman definitely beats my story thought (http://richard.stallman.usesthis.com/)

Meanwhile I know people who have to retire there Core 2 Quad machine for a Core i7 because its too slow :KS. I've always liked (and by choice) using computers that work for the maximum possible without running obsolete software so I don't feel left out or anything.

So what is your setup that you are pushing to the limits? One of the reasons I am using this is that I need an extremely portable system with a 6 hour + battery life. ... Note: This isn't an old / low performance device that you own thread. Its about sharing how you get the best possible experience out of a device.

[mips]

Myself I am in a situation where I cannot change the computer at the moment though luckily I have a machine that is capable of doing most things I need (with some compromises) although it can be slow at it sometimes.

What is interesting is performance on KDE has actually improved with every released and the reason I use KDE is I want a modern feel and while openbox is less resource intensive I need a complete shell for multi tasking. I do use openbox if I have to watch a 720p video in a player to reduce CPU load. Ubuntu 11.04 and higher unfortunately gets too slow when multi-tasking on this machine with unity 3D.


Have you tried Xubuntu or some other xfce based distros?

My laptop is really old and I just can't handle the slowness with the bigger DE's hence me running Lubuntu on it.

[kio_http]

Have you tried Xubuntu or some other xfce based distros?

My laptop is really old and I just can't handle the slowness with the bigger DE's hence me running Lubuntu on it.

I can assure you KDE 4.7 and higher (now at 4.9) flies on this machine even with all eye candy. The GMA950 graphics card isn't that bad.

[Nytram]

I've got the Asus 1005ha and it's running Arch with Gnome Shell on it. The performance is good but not great, but good enough for my needs; to the extent I don't feel a need to upgrade anytime soon.

I'm not a gamer though, or a "power user," I surf the web, chat on IRC and do some coding from time to time. Video clips or whole videos play fine, as do Java applets and Flash.

It's a decent little netbook and all the hardware works out of the box on Linux, when the time to upgrade comes I'll look for something similar.

[kio_http]

I've got the Asus 1005ha and it's running Arch with Gnome Shell on it. The performance is good but not great, but good enough for my needs; to the extent I don't feel a need to upgrade anytime soon.

I'm not a gamer though, or a "power user," I surf the web, chat on IRC and do some coding from time to time. Video clips or whole videos play fine, as do Java applets and Flash.

It's a decent little netbook and all the hardware works out of the box on Linux, when the time to upgrade comes I'll look for something similar.

Interesting. I tried Gnome 3 shell a really long time back on Ubuntu and it was GTK3 apps were laggy such as software center. Has performance improved since the initial Gnome 3.0 release?

[Jakin]

HP with celeron @ 768 mhz and 512 ddr2 ram

It was my first bout with windows (win98 was the preinstalled OS) and it was TERRIBLE. (purchased late '99)
After 6months of constantly having to reinstall the OS, i pitched the HDD, add an 80gb and ran OpenStep.. later dual boot with Ubuntu gutsy gibbon.. its not a bad machine really.. i can view youtube videos even- albeit low resolution.

Now i wouldn't call this a primary computer, but i do mess with it quite often, i would even more if i could figure out how to get the modem to connect via usb or something. (it used to work)

[Sunships]

Sony Vaio FS550, 768 MB RAM - running Crunchbang 10 quite happily.

EDIT, it's not really a primary computer, but I will take it with me on the train if I need to watch films or something. My main computer is a desktop.

[Nytram]

Interesting. I tried Gnome 3 shell a really long time back on Ubuntu and it was GTK3 apps were laggy such as software center. Has performance improved since the initial Gnome 3.0 release?

I don't think the performance has improved since Gnome 3.0 or at least I've not noticed it. I'm using Arch rather than Ubuntu though, so maybe that makes a difference, I think Arch is lighter on resources.

[Paqman]

I use a machine almost identical to that kio_http. I've done a few upgrades:


1Gb RAM boosted to 2Gb
Intel b/g wifi card swapped for Intel b/g/n
Hard drive replaced by Intel X-25V 40GB SSD


I'm posting this right how from it, plugged into a 19" monitor at 1280x1024. I use Jupiter Applet to extend battery life and handle the changes in screen resolution.

I've done a few things on the software side to make it a bit more perky. I use preload and have stuck as much as possible into RAM. I use Unity 2D and it works fine. It's a little slow at times, but it's a netbook so that's to be expected. I suspect the SSD takes a lot of the edge off that, I'm not sure I'd want to use it with a spinny magnetic drive.

I wouldn't even bother trying to convert video on it, that's just masochism.

[Ibidem]

Almost the same as my current main...
Aspire One, Atom N270@1.6 GHz (single-core, hyperthreading, 32bit/sse2; hw can't go past 2 GB RAM, IIRC).
Actually, it spends most of the time at 800 MHz...
Same gfx.
1 GB RAM, 160 GB/5400 RPM HDD, RTL8102E 10/100 Ethernet, Atheros AR5007 wireless (the biggest pain you can get-and part of why I'm running Lucid)

I'm running Lucid 10.04, and probably will till 2015. The only wireless driver that's not prone to flake out is an old Madwifi that needs 2.6.3x or older.
I use IceWM, and these days also CDE (had it running within 2 hours after I read it had been released).
I first used icewm on a Thinkpad 600X (1999, 550 MHz PIII, 64-384 MB RAM depending on the day, i810 gfx, Dapper Drake, 6 GB/ ????RPM HDD), which I replaced when it no longer could be persuaded to turn on. When I discovered that Xfce on the Acer was slower than icewm on the old machine, I switched back to icewm.
The Thinkpad is the slowest I'd really find pleasant to use with "full" Linux.
I've got a Dell Dimension L800 (PIII@800 MHz, 256 MB RAM, 160 GB HDD now, Conexant modem/Broadcom Gigabyte Ethernet both unused, 2xUSB 1.2, PS/2 ports, i8xx gfx), and that is somewhat usable, with the right programs--I'll use Xpdf, Ted, Links2, Gnumeric, Softmaker Office, and so on, with icewm, jwm, twm (yes, really), or mwm.

The Pentiums we had running Windows 95 went to the recycler, though :-(.

[drawkcab]

I'm just going to say that Linux Mint Debian Edition w/xfce flies on my n270--all the moreso with lxde. Running Gnome or KDE seems like insanity to me.

[mamamia88]

My 3 old netbook that i'm using right now as my primary machine. got it hooked up to a secondary monitor and have 2gb ram in it and it's absolutely awesome with xubuntu.

[Bachstelze]

I'm currently in the process of setting up a semi-old machine (Athlon 64 X2 2.2 GHz, 1GB of RAM) to keep at my parents' place for when I come back for the weekends. It will be running FreeBSD with XFCE, so far I haven't had any challenges except of course ports compilation takes a bit longer than on modern CPUs.

[OrangeCrate]

An IBM Thinkpad (T43), with a 1.8Ghz CPU, 2GB Ram, and an 80GB hard drive.

[mastablasta]

My main desktop is Athlon 64 3.4Ghz (i think) single core. I wonder if i could upgrade it to a later AM3 CPU since motherboard is AM2+

hmm. anyway 2 GB DDR2 ram plenty of disk space, a 512MB ATI 3650 card. with Windows XP as OS of choice. use it to play videos, manipulate pictures, online banking, tax reports and games. i also have Xubuntu installed in Vbox on it for testing websties and various tool on LAMP (hosting company has LAMP).

secondary is newer celeron 3300 dual core with older components (1.3Gb DDR ram, RAdeon 9600XT 256MB), running Kubuntu 12.04. It is mostly used for websurfing, picture manipulation, book editing. nothing special. light computing.

third one is an old laptop with impropper configuration (it was a gift). it is windowsXP certified yet came with 256Mb ram (32MB taken by GPU) and has a max capacity of 384MB. who came up with this idea? anyway it's cracking all over the place lately (don't know why). with 1.2Ghz Athlon it is running Chrunchbang stable XFCE and is used for portable web browsing and office work as well to watch an occasional video. i am not sure if anyhting other than old dos games would run on it. it is also not so much portable anymore since batter got busted. :-) i am not sure if it's worth buying a new one anymore. battery lasted 1.5h on windowsXP and 2.5h on linux when it worked.

[Bachstelze]

I'm currently in the process of setting up a semi-old machine (Athlon 64 X2 2.2 GHz, 1GB of RAM) to keep at my parents' place for when I come back for the weekends. It will be running FreeBSD with XFCE, so far I haven't had any challenges except of course ports compilation takes a bit longer than on modern CPUs.

Mostly done:

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/9920/screenshot2308201215091.th.png (http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/9920/screenshot2308201215091.png)

Now I just need to install all my programs. As you can guess, compiling Firefox and THunderbird takes a lot of time on this machine...

[Erik1984]

Mostly done:

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/9920/screenshot2308201215091.th.png (http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/9920/screenshot2308201215091.png)

Now I just need to install all my programs. As you can guess, compiling Firefox and THunderbird takes a lot of time on this machine...

That doesn't look bad at all. How is the support for your hardware on BSD?

[Bachstelze]

How is the support for your hardware on BSD?

It has a nvidia graphics card so no problem on that front since nvidia releases its drivers for FreeBSD as well (but I have tested the builtin ATI one and it seems to work fine too). The ethernet is a standard Realtek so it works fine too, I haven't tested the sound. Like I said it's all pretty old hardware, so support for it is quite mature and robust, unlike a lot of new hardware.

[mips]

My main desktop is Athlon 64 3.4Ghz (i think) single core. I wonder if i could upgrade it to a later AM3 CPU since motherboard is AM2+

Start a new thread with your motherboard make & model and we'll tell you what your options are ;)

[Duncan J Murray]

Primary computer - 1.3Ghz Pentium-M, 256 upgraded to 1Gb, 32mb ati radeon, 1024x768, 14", 40gb -> 250gb Thinkpad T40. Coming up to 9/10 years old. Runs 10.04 fine, but don't think it'll upgrade to 12.04 easily.

[angry_johnnie]

Two machines, actually:

1st:

Dell Inspiron 2500 Laptop (about 11 years old). Has a Pentium III 800mhz cpu, 128 mb of ram, and a 20 gig hard drive. No dvd, only cdrom. It has a floppy unit... and it works! :p The battery still lasts for about half an hour. No wifi, although it does have a working pcmcia slot for that. It's currently running Debian 6 with lxde and slim. I use it every day, to play movies for my daughter, some browsing, some coding. Vlc works fine. Iceweasel works fine. Even flash video plays ok, although it did perform better with puppy linux. I switched to debian for the larger repositories. The only complain i have is that it won't give me a display larger than 800x600... but I suppose that's good enough for what it does.


2nd:

7" Smartbook. wm8505 300 mhz cpu. 2 gb nand flash drive. 128 mb ram. This one is also running debian 6. I had installed fluxbox at first, but finally opted for icewm as it is much lighter. Icons on the desktop are provided by rox-session. No display manager. Surprisingly enough, after a couple of days of research, i managed to get everything to work: sound, display, wifi... heck even gnash works. It will take ages to load and I have no intention to go on youtube using this machine, but it does work. I also use this every day. Mainly for coding, some browsing, and a few games. I'm currently typing on it. My biggest headache with this machine was finding a good lightweight browser. Midori worked, but it was slow and i really didn't like it. I'm currently using dillo, and it's amazingly fast. i also use links2.

These are the two machines i use the most. My desktop pc, which also runs debian 6, is useful when i want to convert video or some other resource-intensive stuff, but it's 750 watts vs 9 volts on this little arm device. My wife has her own laptop, running mandriva 2011, and a tablet, so usage of the desktop pc has become minimal.

[Annorax]

I have an original Apple iMac from 1998 runnins OS 8.6. After I threw in a 256MB stick of RAM (up from the original 32MB), it works great for basic internet browsing.

[cariboo]

I built a system several years ago, with a AMD 3800+ cpu 2GiB of ram, an Nvidia 9400GT graphics card and dual monitors. I usually run the development version on it, but due to time constraints, it's still running Precise, updated from alpha 1.

I have several P4's and Celeron's, but as far as I'm concerned, they are all to slow for day-to-day usage. They'll probably end up going to the recyclers in the next couple of months.

[kio_http]

I'm just going to say that Linux Mint Debian Edition w/xfce flies on my n270--all the moreso with lxde. Running Gnome or KDE seems like insanity to me.

When I originally used KDE back in 2009 it was definitely a bit sluggish on my n270 system with 2 gb RAM. But with all the improvements to KDE especially kwin recently, it works really fast and desktop effects at 60fps so I'm not complaining.

Programs like 1080p playback can get slow but KDE itself is very responsive; much more than Gnome -shell and unity when I last tried. Gnome uses less RAM but for some reason, cpu usage is high and system gets slow.

See the link in my signature to see how I configured it.