There are many versions of Linux operating systems and the link below shows the Puppy Linux home page and those lightweight OS., really extend the working life of older computers, I found the installation procedure a bit tricky, but I got there. Puppy Linux Home
Hi Jeff I have an older computer and wish to change the is to Linux but being not very computer literate it scares the pants off me. Maybe one day... Regards Jeremy
@JEFF JOHNSON ??? I rest my case. I'll get a daughter to find the spec and come back to you. Regards Jeremy
Fair enough! These links show other Linux operating systems which I like, but they are not as lightweight as the Puppy Linux ones. Trisquel 8.0 LTS Flidas | Trisquel GNU/Linux - Run free! Zorin OS: Your Computer. Better. Main Page - Linux Mint
I'd like to steer away from MS (Win 7 Home with Firefox as my regular browser) but the change to Linux scares the pants off me. I did try Ubuntu years ago, but just couldn't get on with the layout. I seem to recall there were issues with Thunderbird too, but forgotten what now! Things like "flavours" as seen in Puppy just turn me off - I don't want to eat the damn thing for heavens sake!! Confused.derek
Anyone wishing to make the change would do well to check out Lubuntu 18.04 LTS (64-bit) . I have installed it on several older laptops and PCs with excellent results. All features like wi-fi, touch pads, etc. just worked without fiddling and the desktop environment will be comfortable for anyone who is used to Windows. There is a vast repository of software available for installation at the click of a mouse, OpenVPN and Teamviewer work flawlessly and I have not been able to fault it in terrms of convenience, productivity, speed or reliabilty.
Hello Derek, Linux Zorin is designed to be as similar to Windows as possible to make the transition from Windows to Linux simpler and the Firefox browser can be used with it as it can with many Linux OS.. Zorin installs as a full package ready to use, except that the firewall does have to be activated and that is a very simple procedure, there are a large choice of programs shown in the software centre which can be added individually if required. I have tried at least a dozen different Linux OS., and the links for the ones which I like are shown in my previous posts. Obtaining assistance from a Linux user may be helpful. The link first link below shows how to install Zorin and the second link shows a review.
There are some programs in Windows 10 which I prefer to use and they are the image handling program and the disk management program. Many Linux OS., systems have the Gimp image handling program and I have not learned how to operate that yet.
I have 2 older Dell laptops and a Dell desktop. One laptop has Manjaro Linux. Manjaro is based on Arch Linux. It comes in several flavors but my personal choice is Manjaro Gnome. This is a very easy install and it is also very easy to transition from Windows to Manjaro. The second laptop has Antergos Linux which is also based on Arch Linux. Arch Linux is a very stable OS. Antergos is also very easy to install and transition from Windows to Linux. My Dell desktop has Anarchy Linux installed and is based on Arch Linux. Anarchy is more of a challenge to install. I've tried installing Anarchy on a laptop but for some reason it won't hookup to the wireless I have in the house. It will find the wireless I have but it won't as already stated it won't hookup. It does work great with an eithernet cable and since it is a stationary computer that works for me. Once installed it is easy to use. I like this one the best of the 3 I'm using and maybe if I had a newer laptop or desktop it may work with the wireless. All of my computers are at least 8 to 12 years old. I've been using Linux OS for 20 years off and on. Cheers
Also been using Linux as my daily driver on all my machines since 1998. Started with Slackware, then Red Hat, SuSE, and settled on Gentoo for about 15 years. Always preferred KDE over Gnome. However, the functionality of LXDE and PCManFM has improved so much, KDE has become so top-heavy and compiling apps like Chromium so time-intensive that the advantages of Gentoo are far out-weighed by the convenience of e.g. Lubuntu. Even my 85 year old mother is using it for her email and banking, scanning and printing on her USFF Dell. As far as older computers go, I draw the line at 64-bit CPU's and then at least 2GB RAM. With less RAM, modern web browsers like Firefox and Chromium become just too slow to be useful. If all you want is a reliable computer, Core2 Duo PCs and Laptops and RAM upgrades for them are so cheap (often free) that it is simply not worth the effort to fuss with anything older.
There are so many Linux OS., which means in my opinion, that we are spoilt for choice. I have a Dell Inspiron 9300 laptop which is over 13 years old and has a single core processor and 2gb., of ram., it's currently running Zorin 12.4 the 32 bit version and it works fine for checking e-mail and browsing Ebay and general browsing on the internet, that laptop and it's siblings were built like tanks. It's to cold to be in my shed fettling lamps and I enjoy getting old computers running again and I had an old Lenevo R61e laptop which was not working, it can only handle a 32 bit OS., so I fitted 3 gb., of ram., and tested the laptop with XenialPup 7.5 and then installed that OS., and that old laptop works well again. There is also a shuttle XPC bare bones pc., waiting in the wings, but that will have to wait as the power supply unit needs to be repaired.
I already spent a quite a bit of time with different Linux operating systems. My first step to a complete migration from Windows to Linux was a dual-boot configuration Win7/Ubuntu. Thus I was able to switch between Windows and Linux at any reboot. Of course the data harddisk was accessible from both OS'es, so no problem there, too. Since this PC broke down a few years ago, I've been using Linux only, starting with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and then migrating to Xubuntu 16.04 LTS (because I didn't want to familiarize myself with Ubuntu's previous Unity desktop environment). Currently I'm using Xubuntu 18.04 LTS. It's lightweight, has all the features that I need and there was only little to no reason for fiddling with the OS so far. Almost all programs that I use are available for both, Windows & Linux: LibreOffice, Thunderbird & Lightning, Firefox, Opera, Clementine, Xnview, Pinta/Paintdotnet, VLC, etc. Even watching Satellite TV on the PC works well (I installed a DVBS2 card). In particular, for image processing/archieving/resizing/converting I use XNview MP which is also available for Windows with almost no difference. My "Lanterns" folder (mostly images) has now reached 25GB, and the standard "Images" folder has a similar size. My music collection has now reached 73GB and gets properly maintained with Clementine. Simple Windows programs will mostly run without problems inside the WINE emulator. I never made an attempt go get back to the windows world, especially since Windows 10 would have to be installed now.
Greetings and a happy new year and best wishes to all... I jumped on the Linux boat many years ago and had great fun researching linux distros and toying about with them , there are many... so without further words to all including the very aforementioned knowledgeable advice given here I suggest one has a glance at .. DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. This site will give the information on all new and old relevant linux systems and their availability for new/ old systems ... one can tinker around and look at reviews and make a considered choice at what system could be best for your computer ... you will see there is a list and a " hit parade " I suppose of the popular and unusual .. and what you will feel most happy with. I have one old lap top ...a Compaq 610 which I have never ever updated since 2013 ... based on a Debian system.. It fell by the wayside in 2013 ..and its processes taken aver by Bunsen Labs ..Crunchbang Linux...so no updates for 5 years ... tomorrow I could turn this old Pentium machine on .. it would fire up and surf the web faultlessly .. I spent half my life working with computers and systems .. give Linux a go I say best wishes for the new year
I have now checked the Shuttle XPC computer which I mentioned in my previous post and the mother board was knackered as well as the power supply unit, so I have scrapped those two parts, but I kept the case and all of the other reusable parts.
I have 2 very old Dell 32 bit laptops. I tried installing Zorin with no luck but was able to install Sparkylinux 32 bit which is based on Debian. The web browser used is Otter and it is very fast. Most distros use Firefox, Chromium or Chrome which are made for a 64 bit system so in order to make these web browsers work these browsers have to be fooled to made them run on a 32 bit system and that is why they are very slow. The Otter web browser is designed for a 32 bit system that is why it is so fase. Another good web browser is Flashpeak Simjet. For now I'm very impressed with Sparkylinux. I hope the new year is a great one for all. Cheers, Norman
Hello Norman, thanks for the tip about Sparky Linux and the Otter browser, did you try to install the lightweight version of Zorin? However, your computers are functioning now so that is the main thing and I have also had Zorin fail to install on some computers and Linux Mint too. I also tried to install Linux Peppermint 32 bit on an old laptop which originally used Windows XP., and it would not install. I have noticed that some Linux OS., often fail to install on hard drives which have one or more bad sectors. I now use a DBAN type of program which is part of Zorin's disk management program to erase drives and after that I reformat the hard drives in the hope that it will improve them and so far it does help, if the drives are going to be used with Windows, then after they have been DBANED they have to be reformatted using the Windows disk management program, because Windows does not see the Linux format. To use that procedure I first of all fit the drives into external hard drive caddies and connect them to a computer with a usb., cable, then it's just a matter of opening the disk management program and selecting the correct drive from the list of drives which the program sees. I obviously have different sizes and types of caddies, so that I can work on 3.5 and 2.5 Sata., hard drives and the old IDE., hard drives.
Hello Alec/Rangie, in my opinion Puppy Linux is an excellent OS., and it will often restore a computer to working order when no other OS., will! PS., I also use the Zorin DBAN type of program to erase usb., flash drives.
@JEFF JOHNSON Hi Jeff, To be truthful I didn't see the Zorin lite so maybe that's my problem. I've downloaded it and giving it a go again with Zorin lite. I have also tried many different linux os on different computers and have had mixed results. Some will install without any problems and then others won't. Most of the linux systems are too feature rich to much running in the background to run on most of the 32 bit systems so one has to find a very lite linux os. Even if you can find a linux lite os firefox is still a turd. Granted it is a powerful web browser but it is just too damn slow to run properly on a 32 bit system. Flashpeak Slimjet works pretty good and so does Palemoon but both are still very slow compared to the Otter web browser. The Otter web browser is a royal pain in the backside to install it in most linux os. I tied the Zorin lite and it doesn't work either. Cheers, Norman
Hello Norman, Sparky Linux is the OS., for that computer then. I downloaded it today and then used the BalenaEtcher program to make a live flash drive and tested that OS., and it does the job well enough.
Hi Jeff, I was able to install Linux Mint on this old 32 bit problem child. Firefox is very slow but I was able to install Otter on Linux Mint. sudo add-apt-repository ppa:otter-browser/release sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install otter-browser This does come from the Ubuntu respostories. Cheers
