What would you suggest?

[JustThatCarGuy]

Okay, so I have two laptops that I'm trying to set up that my parents have that they would like working again, whatever

My parents are a bit older. They would just go online a little bit. Maybe browse the web for a little bit. That's probably about it

The two laptops they have one A Dell d630 with 1 GB ram and 80 GB storage

The other a Dell d1516 with 1 GB ram and 160 gig storage

What Linux should I use that would be easy to install easy for them to use more minimalist type thing that wouldn't put too much strain on the processors and the limited memory

Any suggestion or guides with this would be very much appreciated


I have tried running Ubuntu and lubuntu on the 1516 but neither one of them want to work

 

[KGIII]

Your big problem will be RAM.

Your next big problem will be the speed of those HDDs.

You'll need a lightweight distro. The CPU in the first is slower than the 2nd one listed. The first one is pretty slow.

If you can increase the RAM, that'd be great. If you can upgrade from the HDD to an SDD, that'd be also great. Neither of those would make for powerful machines and would likely be more expensive than just buying one or two refurbished laptops off eBay.

 

[Condobloke]

G'day JustThatCarGuy, Welcome to Linux.org

If these were my parents, I would not wish for them to suffer the agony of a dead slow system.

So, I would increase the ram. Perhaps put an SSD in each one, with some decent storage.

Opposed to that would something perhaps like puppy linux...others will know more about that, than I do.
Distros of that nature will present their own challenges.

 

[gvisoc]

Hi, welcome to the forums.

I'd echo the point about the RAM made by @Condobloke and @KGIII but also think positive -- I am pretty sure that you can find plenty RAM modules to max those laptops up for pennies on the dollar. Try eBay. You just need to find the specification sheets of those laptops to make sure you nail the type, speed, capacity and size of the modules.

On another topic, I would also recommend to make better thread titles so that more forum users come to help.

 

[JustThatCarGuy]

G'day JustThatCarGuy, Welcome to Linux.org

If these were my parents, I would not wish for them to suffer the agony of a dead slow system.

So, I would increase the ram. Perhaps put an SSD in each one, with some decent storage.

Opposed to that would something perhaps like puppy linux...others will know more about than I do.
Distros of that nature will present their own challenges.

They are fond of the laptops themselves I wouldn't be opposed to upgrading the hardware for them just need to find some ddr2 ram I have the SSD I can put in it once I make sure they would be able to use the Linux

I tried giving them my Lenovo Thinkpad it's not Linux but windows 11
as I do not use it as much

They would not have it :/

 

[Condobloke]

They would not have it :/

with windows 11 on it......they show good taste !

 

[deb_user]

The distro matters less than the desktop environment. With low RAM, something like XFCE or LXDE will be much better than something like Gnome, which will eat 1GB of RAM before it's fully loaded. The kernel is the same in any distro, it's the DE that makes a difference.

 

[tpkusr]

Hi JustThatCarGuy,

For 1gb ram I would suggest lightweight Linux like porteus or slax. My personal favorite is porteus Linux.

Porteus Linux is super fast ( it runs from ram), very minimal and user friendly. It has a forum if you need any help.

You can dual boot porteus with windows.

I have written a step by step tutorial on how to dual boot porteus Linux with windows without partition and without USB Drive.

Here is the link

https://fixmyos.hashnode.dev/dual-boot-linux-with-windows-11-without-usb-drive-or-creating-partition

 

[Brickwizard]

Dell d630

OK so i will concentrate on the Dell d630 this machine is from about 2007, with a T Series CPU and 1gb ram, it is capable of running lightweight distros like Linux-lite, Xubuntu, Bunsen-labs & a few others it will even run Mint LMDE albeit a bit slow,.. Its a Dell you can make it a comfortable daily drive for banking, e-mails a bit of surfing etc , it would benefit from taking out the HDD and replacing with an SSD, and upping the ram to 2 GB [motherboard maximum] a re-used SSD and ram for a machine of that age is relatively cheap I had a T series a year or so younger until I dropped it last year] with the extra ram and SSD it worked fine, may be still slow by today's standards [but if your parents are similar in age to me then speed is immaterial]

 

[kc1di]

Hello @JustThatCarGuy Welcome to the Linux.org forum, enjoy!
You have already gotten some good advise. I would only add that anti-x may work well also they won't be fast but should work.
stay away from heavy weight distros. and up grade the machines if you can with more ram and SSD. Good luck.

 

[theLegionWithin]

I'd suggest purchasing some newer hardware and toss those two ancient laptops. refurbished laptops (ie retired from businesses) can be easily obtained, will have significantly better hardware (future proofing) and will expand your options on what distros you can use.