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I'm installing linux distributions on computers I find in the neighborhood's garbage area.

these computers are, hardware speaking, still working... nothing broken.., problem is: most of these computers are 8-15 years old.

some are netbooks, but most are laptops. a few towers as well.

the target functionality/usage of these computers differs, I give them as charity to people who can't afford a computer but still need access to internet and can't afford smartphone as well. (these people live in a third world country I visit every now and then... don't ask..)

sometimes they just function as live streaming TV for those who don't have TVs or that the only thing in TV is government's brainwash material.

these computers are too low on resources for ubuntu 16.04 (video lagging/delay in visual video compared to sound/video freezes, GUI get's slow and stuck etc.)

my question is: which linux distribution is the most lightweight and will be most potent to work with these kind of computers? doesn't it change by the target use of each computer (as I specified above)? Lubuntu? Xubuntu? Linux Lite?

Tripod Appads
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  • I vote for Lubuntu. I'm running it as a server on an old netbook and it runs very fast. I tried Xubuntu as well but I found a slight increase in performance as well as less memory usage with Lubuntu. – Delorean Oct 07 '16 at 16:31
  • Damn Small Linux! Just kidding, I'd recommend Debian… – wb9688 Oct 08 '16 at 15:53

3 Answers3

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As this is asking the question on an Ubuntu site, the only recommendation I can give is Lubuntu, which is the least resource heavy of the official Ubuntu flavours. I've used it on machines over 10 years old, and not had any issues.

There are other lightweight varieties of Linux such as Puppy Linux, or Trisquel Mini. You could even create a minimal Arch Linux installation with a lightweight desktop environment installed, though that's going to be a much more involved process. Advice on these distros is outside the remit of this site though.

Arronical
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From my own experience, a Dell Latitude D520 (around 10 years old, Centrino dual-core 1.8 GHz and 2 GB RAM) runs very well on Kubuntu -- which is one of the heavier Ubuntu flavors. A little over a year ago, I was running another, very light distro, on a laptop I bought used in 1998, with 300 MHz 32-bit CPU and 384 MB RAM, total storage 16 GB -- and my other computer with similar hardware specs (266 MHz, 512 MB RAM) is capable of running either Lubuntu or Xubuntu 32-bit on a 60 GB hard disk shared with Windows 98.

Zeiss Ikon
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  • so when speaking of of ubuntu only, seems we can say that Lubuntu is lighter than Xubuntu? as of so, I don't see how Xubuntu will ever suit my needs better than Lubuntu and that's already narrows it down. thanks – Tripod Appads Oct 07 '16 at 17:12
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You can try xubuntu 14.04.5 LTS. Xubuntu is light enough to run on old computers. I tried this version.

I recommend using xubuntu 14.04.5 LTS version because this version is supported by 2019. Source: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LTS and https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

or you can try using Lubuntu Desktop for lighter experience.

isandroid
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