Ubuntu 14.04 on an old computer

[herrcule]

Hello everyone,
I have currently the 12.04 LTS version of Ubuntu. My computer is quite old, it is a Toshiba Satellite M 30-204 with an Intel Pentium M at 1.6 GHz and 512 Mo RAM.
Of course everything's not fine, but I somehow manage to make it work with the current Ubuntu version.
Does the 14.04 LTS version more resource-intensive? Is it better to keep the 12.04 LTS or can I switch to the 14.04?

Thank you in advance,Dam

[christopher9]

Lubuntu 14.04 might just be what you need..nice and easy on system resources...www.lubuntu.net (http://www.lubuntu.net)

[Dennis N]

I have the same processor, Pentium M 1.6 ghz (Pentium M 730), running Xubuntu 14.04 on a Dell, and it runs very well. A difference is I upgraded the RAM to 2 gB so that helps. I have not used regular Ubuntu on this laptop since 8.04.

[grahammechanical]

I would say the 14.04 uses less memory than 12.04. That has been my experience. Have you been updating 12.04. You should now have 12.04.5. Run


lsb_release -a

If you have 12.04.5 then you will have the same hardware stack as 14.04. How much memory does System Monitor show is being used? How much of its own memory does the graphic adapter have? I class the graphic adapter as a key component in getting a suitable user experience. It might be better to remain on 12.04.

If you have enough hard disk space you could install 14.04 to its own partition and dual or triple boot and then you will get a real test of 14.04. Right now I am using Utopic Unicorn (14.10 development branch) and System Monitor shows base memory usage of 32% of 1GB RAM. Now when I first installed 12.04 it was 70% of 1GB RAM. So, things are getting better.

Regards.

[Claus7]

Hello,

usually on old laptops xubuntu is my 1st choice, since it is much less resource intensive.

Regards!

[Dennis N]

Some data on memory usage: Xubuntu 14.04 + Firefox + Audacious + Htop = 484 mB of memory used. With your 512 mB you can't have much running. It might be wise to add another memory module if you plan to use that machine.

[Ksiencha]

Try Linux Mint 17 Mate (http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2627), really decent on my old laptop.

[herrcule]

Thanks to all of you for the replies !