Windows
8 may be lighter than Windows Vista, but it’s nowhere near as
lightweight as these free Linux distributions. If you have an old
Windows XP PC or a netbook, you can revive it with a lightweight Linux
system.
All of these Linux distributions can run from a
live USB drive, so you could even boot them directly from a USB drive.
This may be faster than installing them to the computer’s slow, aging
hard drive.
Puppy Linux
Puppy Linux is designed to be extremely
lightweight. When installed to a USB flash drive, it consumes only 100
MB of space — 256 MB if you want the version with a full OpenOffice
office suite instead of more lightweight office applications. Puppy
Linux is loaded to your computer’s RAM when you boot it up, so it will
run entirely from RAM and be as snappy as possible. The computer’s old,
slow hard drive won’t be a factor. You can even save your files and
customizations to the USB drive containing Puppy Linux — there should be
plenty of space considering how small Puppy Linux is.
Puppy Linux has very low minimum system
requirements and requires only 128 MB of RAM, although at least 256 MB
of RAM is recommended. It offers the most basic applications you’d
expect — an extremely lightweight web browser named Dillo, and other
programs like an email client, media player, text editor, and image
editor. It uses the Openbox window manager by default.
VectorLinux Light
VectorLinux Light is the lightweight edition of
Vector Linux. The developers claim it works well on systems with 256 MB
of memory — you could even install the Barebone option instead, which
will give you a graphical web browser that the developers say performs
well on even a Pentium 3 with 128 MB of memory.
VectorLinux Light isn’t optimized for booting from
a USB drive and running from RAM in the same way that Puppy Linux is.
VectorLinux doesn’t offer a live environment of the latest VectorLinux
Light you can take a test drive with at all — it must be installed to
your computer’s hard drive before you can use it.
However, if you plan on installing a Linux system
to disk, VectorLinux Light is similar to Puppy Linux, with similar
system requirements and included applications. You’ll find all the
typical programs included — web browser, email client, chat program,
text editor, and image editors. It uses the JWM window manager, which
previous versions of Puppy Linux used, by default.
Between Puppy Linux and VectorLinux, you should
probably go with Puppy Linux — it’s better supported and allows you to
run it from a USB drive or just take it for a test run much more easily.
VectorLinux’s installation process is less automatic and more dated. On
the other hand, choice of Linux distributions often boils down to
personal taste, so you may want to try VectorLinux Light if you don’t
like Puppy for some reason.
Lubuntu
Lubuntu is based on Ubuntu — it’s an Ubuntu
derivative, which means it’s based on the same software as Ubuntu but it
includes a different graphical desktop environment and included
software. Lubuntu is the most lightweight derivative of Ubuntu,
including the lightweight LXDE desktop instead of Ubuntu’s default Unity
desktop. Because it’s based on Ubuntu, you can install programs from
Ubuntu’s software repositories. The Ubuntu compatibility may also be
useful if you ever need to find information about a problem — the web is
full of tips for troubleshooting and tweaking Ubuntu, and many of them
will also apply to Lubuntu.
This distribution is a bit heavier than Puppy. For
example, it includes the full Chromium web browser — based on Google
Chrome — instead of more lightweight web browsers like Puppy Linux and
VectorLinux Light. Its documentation says it requires at least 256 MB of
RAM for daily use, but 512 MB is recommended. It will take up more disk
space when installed, too.
Lubuntu is ideal for Ubuntu users who are looking
for the most lightweight Ubuntu desktop system possible — or at least
the most lightweight Ubuntu desktop system possible without creating
your own from scratch. It requires more RAM so it won’t perform quite as
well as Puppy Linux or Vector Linux Light on older computers with 256
MB of RAM.
If none of these Linux systems runs well, then
your old computer is probably way overdue for an upgrade. These Linux
distributions may be tiny and lightweight, but they’re not magical. Even
if you’re just using them to browse the web, the modern web is heavier
than ever.
If you’re a Linux geek, you have other options for
getting a tiny, lightweight operating system. You could install a
minimal Debian, Slackware, or even Ubuntu system without a graphical
desktop and install the most lightweight graphical desktop possible — or
skip the graphical desktop entirely and use terminal programs like the
W3M web browser.
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