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I'm sorry, but this is going to be somewhat vague for now. I'll update this within 24 hours with more details, or as soon as they are available. Whichever comes first.

I am enrolled in an engineering class that requires a year-end presentation. My presentation is a couple weeks out, and I've just hit a roadblock. My previous plan was to haul in and hook up my desktop, but school policy changed and I'm not allowed to do that any more. Instead, my dad has allowed me to use an old laptop for my presentation.

However, this is where the problems begin. His laptop is an XP machine. The software I need for my presentation is PowerPoint (or Libreoffice Impress), Logger Pro (I have the .deb packages), and a couple more programs that I wrote, that will ONLY work on Linux.

My dad has a Dell Vostro 1500, which was released in 2007. Specs are here

He is offering me the laptop he used for a couple years before that, so something probably released in the 2004-2005 range. I don't have specs right now (or even know what laptop it will be, just that it was an XP box and could run CAD software).

I am looking for a distro that has/can/is:

  • Run LibreOffice
  • Install Debian Packages
  • Run Scripts that can listen to hardware
  • Minimal system footprint
  • Preferably Debian or Ubuntu based, as I have experience with these distros

If the older laptop works, what would be a good candidate for a distro that can do the above, while using minimal memory?

If the older laptop does not work, what distro could do the above on a Dell Vostro 1500 (specs, again) quickly and efficiently?

I am aware of options such as Puppy Linux and Tiny Core Linux, but those are not good options. While they run fast, my scripts need something based off of Ubuntu or Debian to run and display correctly.

UPDATE: The older laptop cannot be found, so I am using the Dell Vostro 1500. I have been allowed to partition the HDD, and added a 30Gb (the other partition has 10Gb free space left) partition. I installed Xubuntu (I have 2Gb of ram, and decided to capatilize on it), Logger Pro, Libreoffice, and other software I need. In fact, I am editing this from the laptop.

Some slight issues were had with the trackpad (now THAT was fun to fix, without access to a mouse) and WiFi, but those were issues commonly had and easily fixed.

Azulflame
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3 Answers3

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You can install Ubuntu then. These specs from your link about Dell Vostro are good enough for Ubuntu as their official page says:

A good "rule of thumb" is that machines that could run XP, Vista, Windows 7 or x86 OS X will almost always be a lot faster with Ubuntu even if they are lower-spec than described below.

So if it can run XP, it is good for Ubuntu.

A final recommendation can only be made after exact specs of that laptop will be known.

JuliandotNut
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  • Thank you. I'm going to hold off on accepting any answer until more details are known, but this definitely helps. – Azulflame May 18 '14 at 02:51
  • Just one more point, If the RAM is too low (< 512MB), you can try going for a release before unity (< 11.04) or better upgrading the RAM ;) – JuliandotNut May 18 '14 at 02:58
  • This question may help as well.

    http://askubuntu.com/questions/206407/how-do-i-find-out-which-version-and-derivative-of-ubuntu-is-right-for-my-hardwar

     – JuliandotNut May 18 '14 at 04:13
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If you want Ubuntu, I would recommend the Lubuntu desktop environment. It is much simpler than the default Ubuntu desktop environment. My brother has it on a computer with only about 700 MB of RAM, and it usually runs fine (Firefox gets pretty laggy).

Feldpausch All4
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Lubuntu of Xubuntu would be my bet, though I am biased toward Xubuntu (eye candy mostly). Either one will be fine. More ram never hurt anyone though.. Have a look at the other laptop and see if it runs the same speed as the dell, if you have an open slot there, use it.

Scott Goodgame
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