The problem with older machines is the web browsing, not the system itself. You could use a browser with Java script disabled but a lot of websites will refuse to work.
You have to sacrifice with browser functionality to improve performance.
this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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Yep. All this optimization you see here about "minimal installs" and which DE to choose is completely moot, if opening Firefox takes up more RAM than the entire operating system.
Even 4gb are really low these days, if you actually want to do something in the browser.
I've had good experiences with Midori and Dillo as alternative browsers on low-memory machines. Obviously features will take a hit but they're surprisingly functional. Don't expect to be able to open many tabs but you can do the usual things including YouTube etc.
Try: https://github.com/marmolak/gray386linux <-- It was designed for really old hardwares.
I’ve already tried MX Linux on an old Thinkpad SL400, and didn’t see any difference from plain Debian.
Because it's the stock Debian + custom themes/skins + some crappy useless minitools. The 99% of packages come from the official Debian repository, the rest are only the rice.
If you have newer machine than a real 386:
I guess it depends on what comes with the distro. If you start off with a basic Linux install and add a DE that is low on system resources, like LXQt, you can breathe life into a machine.
Bodhi, antiX and Linux Lite come to mind.
You can also start with a minimal base, Arch, Debian, Alpine, anything, and then add packages.
c2d era laptop. first step if you haven't yet, swap the hdd for a low-cost sata ssd if you can. if you have some homeless sodimms, up the ram, too, if it won't cost anything to do it.
if you're going with mx, you want the fluxbox spin; or opt for antix with icewm instead.
otherwise start with a debian base install (no de or extra sw at install), then add only what you need. peppermint is another option--a basic debian with xfce out-of-the-box and little else. it's what i've been using lately on similar hardware.
for something 'different', you could look at slax.
Thanks. I've already added an ssd drive and upgraded tge ram from 3 to 4gb. Another comment mentioned Icewm so I'm definitely giving it a try.
antiX should be ok, it's very light
Love Antix! It is like the grandfather to MX Linux, but also the little baby?
If you want serious optimizations - then Gentoo is your choice. But seriously, there won't be any serious difference between distributions. What really matters here are DEs and browsers. I would recommend some kind of lightweight window manager like i3 or dwm. If you do not want to configure everything yourself, then your choice is lxde/lxqt. Also, you can use distros without systemd (void, artix, devuan, gentoo etc), but that does not matter that much.
Another alternative to not configuring is using someone else's rice
Bodhi! Another I've found to be lean is Zorin Lite
*buntu can't be counted as lightweight.
Bunsen Labs Linux and, for the experience, Tiny Core Linux
I've always had a soft spot for CrunchBang and its spinoffs, BunsenLabs and CrunchBang++.
All three are just a reskinned Debian, as is MX Linux.
Absolutely. Just makes it a bit faster to get a slightly customised Debian out of the box.
What makes it a bit faster specifically? I've been interested for a long time.
You install and it's lightweight and already customised. If you like it, you're done. Gets you started much faster than customising from scratch. If you mean performance, then it's faster because they don't come with a full desktop environment. They're just using the Openbox window manager. Once you get used so it it's perfectly usable.
What makes it lightweight when it uses the same packages with the same dependencies? And what does prevent me from install openbox on Debian?
Like I said before, it gets you started faster than doing it yourself. If you don't want to configure every little detail yourself then these are great options to get you going.
I use SpiralLinux on my old Inspiron but it's basically just Debian with some user-friendly tweaks. I guess you could try Tiny Core or Porteus or something really small like that.
I used to use WindowMaker on seriously underpowered laptops 10-15 years ago. Seems like it’s still just as efficient. For something more standard interface-wise you could try IceWM.
Another thing to do is build your own kernel without any features you don’t use. Not sure how much of a difference that makes exactly.
So Slackware? If you can cross-compile then maybe gentoo. I'm not sure if Raspberry Pi Desktop is x86.
Raspberry Pi Desktop does have an x86 version.
I'm pretty sure you can have a minimal slack and choose xfce in the installer.
If you have any expectation of privacy, you shouldn't use chromium based browsers. Their purpose is not privacy, and google actively makes sure it will never be.