Which Ubuntu?

[Liam Proven]

On Tue, 15 Nov 2022 at 20:46, Ian Bruntlett <ian.bruntlett at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I am working on some seriously old and slow laptops that have been given to a charity I'm volunteering for. They have slow hard discs and not that much memory (i.e. 1GiB upwards).
>
> I'm looking for an Ubuntu variant that does not mind running on low-end hardware. Any suggestions?
>
> The computers will be given to people attending an I.T. tuition session.

Looking at the other comments in the thread:

Lubuntu will work but only if the machines have 64-bit CPUs. No Ubuntu
versions supports 32-bit any more.

*But* it will be dog-slow on a 1GB PC and borderline unusable. I would
not recommend it.

Puppy is not well-designed and not very secure: I would avoid it too.

DSL is obsolete.

Alpine Linux is usable on low end kit, but complex and hard to use.

AntiX is cryptic and hard to use; I also would recommend avoiding it.

The best bet for very low-end PCs is Raspberry Pi Desktop. It's just
Debian 32-bit, but cleverly trimmed down to use minimal RAM. I would
echo the recommendation of that in the thread, and strongly suggest
avoiding everything else discussed.

And visit CEX and you may be able to pick up more RAM for these
machines for pennies. I have maxed out several old laptops with RAM
from CEX for just £1-£2.


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