For old PCs, could we install Ubuntu 10.04 LTS even is in its end of life?

Question

I have an old desktop PC Pentium 4 with 1 GB of RAM, and it really sucks with Windows XP or even with Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise Pangolin) and exactly when I want to watch videos or films, I thought to install an old distribution of Ubuntu. Maybe it will make it better... So I installed Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot), but I was shocked with no updates, and then I understood that this in its end of life distribution.

So I searched a little bit, and I got that Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) is LTS, but this is also in its end of life.

My questions are:

If I installed the Ubuntu 10.04, how is it going to work normally or I will get problems?
Sometimes I think this is a hardware problem. I think a Pentium 4 with 1 GB of RAM doesn't suck on YouTube or during watching a movie?

Related (but maybe not a duplicate): How to know which Ubuntu is right for my hardware? — Eliah Kagan, Aug 31 '14 at 07:35
Also take a look here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/336007/ubuntu-on-hp-510-laptop/489512#489512 — v2r, Aug 31 '14 at 09:31

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:25

It is possible, but not recommended. All development has stopped on end-of-life (EOL) versions. 10.04 is still supported as a server until May 2015, but not the desktop version.

Reasons to avoid using EOL versions are:

There are no bug fixes or security patches, making your system less safe.
The software is older and will not have the latest features, including any bugs that may have been fixed.
The repositories have been moved, making it more difficult, but not impossible to install new software.
If you run into any difficulties you will find it more difficult to get support on this site and Launchpad questions on EOL versions are off-topic, and you will just be asked to upgrade. The Ubuntu Forums are less strict in what questions are acceptable, but you are still less likely to get a good answer than if you are using a supported release.

I would suggest you take a look at the question How to know which Ubuntu is right for my hardware? and choose either Xubuntu or Lubuntu instead.

I'd rather see you move away from Ubuntu completely to another supported Linux distribution than use an outdated unsupported OS. Though if you do decide to go to another distribution you will have to use the support they provide and not this site as we support official Ubuntu variants only.

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 31 '14 at 11:30

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It's better to avoid older versions, as they might not be supported if we come across any bugs. Try Lubuntu. It's very low hardware requirements.

edited Aug 31 '14 at 11:30

Peter Mortensen

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answered Aug 31 '14 at 07:20

Gdek

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mchid · Answer 3 · 2014-08-31T11:40:53.873

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If you have 1 GB of RAM, you should have no trouble running Xubuntu, Ubuntustudio, or even Debian Gnome Shell.

edited Aug 31 '14 at 11:40

answered Aug 31 '14 at 07:30

mchid

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is Xubuntu more lightweight then Lubuntu ?? – Bakrchess Elkotri Aug 31 '14 at 07:33
Yes, it does require more ram but is overall less process intensive and is more stable. – mchid Aug 31 '14 at 07:36
I run ubuntustudio on a pentium4 with roughly 1G of ram and it runs just fine. (Ubuntustudio uses the same XFCE desktop as Xubuntu). – mchid Aug 31 '14 at 07:38
OK i will try it and i will give you a feedback thank you @mchid – Bakrchess Elkotri Aug 31 '14 at 07:39
@BakrchessElkotri Just to be clear, I was speaking of versions 14.04 and 12.04. (debian version 7). – mchid Aug 31 '14 at 15:06
ok @mchid i tried Xubuntu on live CD, i like it i watch a movie on it and its really smooth, but on YouTube still breaks. maybe if i install it it will work better... so i will install it and we see :) – Bakrchess Elkotri Aug 31 '14 at 21:09

For old PCs, could we install Ubuntu 10.04 LTS even is in its end of life?

3 Answers3