How to install LM Xfce on this small SSD again?

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DiaNobb

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How to install LM Xfce on this small SSD again?

Learning to run lightweight linus distros on my old laptop:
Lenovo ThinkPad T540p , Nov. 2013
CPU : Intel Core i7 i7-4710MQ 2.5 GHz
RAM : DDR3L-SDRAM 1600 MHz 8gb
HDD1 : SanDisk SSD U110 16gb
HDD2 : SATA 2.5" HDD 1TB 5400rpm WD10JPVX
DVD : DVD±RW
GPU : NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M Intel HD Graphics 4600

This is what I have tried:
After Windows was removed from this laptop, istalled many times of: Puppy Linux, Bodhi Linux, Antix, Linux Lite, Linux Mint xfce, MX Linux. Some of them were installed on the SSD more than one time.

The last one installed on this SSD was MX Linux, three times. But, after MX Linux, no other Linux OS could be installed on this SSD any more. The message: Failed to open the device'/dev/sdb3': Device or resource busy (udisks-error-qurk,0)

Want to install LM Xfce on the SSD. Please help.

The SSD is formatted in Disks, as the screenshot.

The first screenshot is the SSD formatted in Disks of LM 22.3 Xfce.
The second screenshot is LM Xfce installer can not install, showing the tap "Continue" in grey.

Thanks.
DiaNobb
 

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Your SSD only has 16 GB.

"What are the system requirements to run Linux Mint?

2GB RAM (4GB recommended for a comfortable usage).
20GB of disk space (100GB recommended).
1024×768 resolution (on lower resolutions, press ALT to drag windows with the mouse if they don’t fit in the screen)."

From:

Frequently Asked Questions - Linux Mint

Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable desktop operating system.
www.linuxmint.com www.linuxmint.com
 
Maybe try Puppy Linux or another one that could be run from a usb stick?

I'd think even MX Linux would need to be squashed to fit in. I run MX Linux and it takes 18gb on the root partition alone (okay, KDE version). But surely you would need a few bytes for your home?
 
OK so does your machine have an expansion slot for an SD card,, Then this is what I use to do use to an old acer with16 GB HDD and 1.5gb ram] pick a distribution that will just fit on the HDD, when installed move the home folder to a class 10 SD expansion card of at least 16gb, then if I didn't like the desktop on the installed Linux I just changed it.[ usually to LXDE] [I loved that machine, not the fastest but reliable and with just an 8 inch screen use to fit in the poachers pocket of my topcoat, and travelled Eastern and Southern Europe with me
 
Addition,
Linux Lite might fit your bill it needs around 10gb to install [but if you do as i said in above post you could have plenty of room for daily home computing
 
Alpine fits. Your i7 is decently fast enough, but what speed is the USB drive and ports on that system, that's going
to be the big speed bottleneck. Puppy could work, it pretty much loads into RAM anyway.
 
I just remembered I had a stock Acer Chromebook with 16 GB hard drive on it around here (the one I normally use was upgraded to a 64 GB hard drive). Turned it on to see what I had on it. Only 4.86 GB of the hard drive used. It has Fedora Xfce on it.

Code: 
$ inxi -F
System:
  Host: fedora Kernel: 6.14.9-200.fc41.x86_64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.1 Distro: Fedora Linux 41 (Xfce)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: GOOGLE product: Peppy v: 1.0
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: GOOGLE model: Peppy v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: coreboot v: MrChromebox-2408.1 date: 09/14/2024
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 7.3 Wh (17.8%) condition: 41.1/45.1 Wh (91.1%)
CPU:
  Info: dual core model: Intel Celeron 2955U bits: 64 type: MCP cache:
    L2: 512 KiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 798 min/max: 800/1400 cores: 1: 798 2: 798
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: Sunplus Innovation HD WebCam driver: uvcvideo type: USB
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.16 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.6 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting dri: crocus gpu: i915 resolution: 1366x768~60Hz
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 vendor: intel mesa v: 25.0.7 renderer: Mesa Intel HD
    Graphics (HSW GT1)
  API: EGL Message: EGL data requires eglinfo. Check --recommends.
  Info: Tools: api: glxinfo de: xfce4-display-settings x11: xdriinfo,
    xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
  Device-2: Intel 8 Series HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
  API: ALSA v: k6.14.9-200.fc41.x86_64 status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.7 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR9462 Wireless Network Adapter driver: ath9k
  IF: wlp1s0 state: up mac: 92:eb:48:31:c3:a4
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Foxconn / Hon Hai driver: btusb type: USB
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: down bt-service: enabled,running
    rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes address: B0:10:41:0D:28:0E bt-v: 4.1
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 14.91 GiB used: 4.86 GiB (32.6%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Kingston model: SNS4151S316GD size: 14.91 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 13.31 GiB used: 4.49 GiB (33.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/dm-0
  ID-2: /boot size: 973.4 MiB used: 366.6 MiB (37.7%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda2
  ID-3: /boot/efi size: 598.8 MiB used: 19.4 MiB (3.2%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda1
  ID-4: /home size: 13.31 GiB used: 4.49 GiB (33.7%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/dm-0
 
MzQ1NjExN2 said:
Storage: total: 14.91 GiB u
Click to expand...
you have a 16gb drive with just over 1gb reserved for the machine [sound,graphics etc] you have around 10gb used for the OS and just over 4 for storage
 
Brickwizard said:
you have a 16gb drive with just over 1gb reserved for the machine [sound,graphics etc] you have around 10gb used for the OS and just over 4 for storage
Click to expand...
Here is a screen shot from the file manager:
1774272603659.png


Where does it show 10 GB used for OS? I looked at the inxi output above and couldn't find anything.
 
sorry miss read it you have approx 10 GB of a 16gb Kingston SSD free,. worth running an integrity check if its showing less, if it is OK then there are hidden partitions which i would expect as its a chrome book to to run the sound and graphic drivers.
 
MzQ1NjExN2 said:
Your SSD only has 16 GB.

"What are the system requirements to run Linux Mint?

2GB RAM (4GB recommended for a comfortable usage).
20GB of disk space (100GB recommended).
1024×768 resolution (on lower resolutions, press ALT to drag windows with the mouse if they don’t fit in the screen)."

From:

Frequently Asked Questions - Linux Mint

Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable desktop operating system.
www.linuxmint.com www.linuxmint.com
Click to expand...
Thank you.
The SSD, 16GB, is tight, yet LM Xfce runs well on it. I tested many lightweight Linux OSs, LM Xfce runs the best, to my opion, on it.
DiaNobb
 
Goatmilk said:
Maybe try Puppy Linux or another one that could be run from a usb stick?

I'd think even MX Linux would need to be squashed to fit in. I run MX Linux and it takes 18gb on the root partition alone (okay, KDE version). But surely you would need a few bytes for your home?
Click to expand...
Thank you!
MX Linux runs very well on this 16GB SSD, fast but not as smoothly as LM Xfce. Saying this is based on my own feelings only. I ran LM 22.3 Xfce on it for a week or 10 days. No any issue.
DiaNobb
 
DiaNobb said:
Thank you!
MX Linux runs very well on this 16GB SSD, fast but not as smoothly as LM Xfce. Saying this is based on my own feelings only. I ran LM 22.3 Xfce on it for a week or 10 days. No any issue.
DiaNobb
Click to expand...
The latest version of MX Linux is running the newest version of Xfce which is 4.20.1.
Code: 
inxi -F
System:
  Host: mx-latitude5490 Kernel: 6.12.74+deb13+1-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.1 Distro: MX-25.1_x64 Infinity October 02  2025

The latest version of Linux Mint Xfce is running Xfce 4.18. The newer version of Xfce may be a bit heavier.
 
Brickwizard said:
sorry miss read it you have approx 10 GB of a 16gb Kingston SSD free,. worth running an integrity check if its showing less, if it is OK then there are hidden partitions which i would expect as its a chrome book to to run the sound and graphic drivers.
Click to expand...
I never really used this machine so I'm not sure. But I bought like four of these and they all had Xfce installed on them just fine. I think they were all Fedora Xfce so same distro.
 
MzQ1NjExN2 said:
I was able to install Linux on a 16 GB Chromebook (Acer C720P-2625 Chromebook 11.6" Intel Celeron 2955U 4GB DDR3 16GB SSD) if I remember correctly. I think the distro I used was Debian. May want to try out Debian Xfce.

View attachment 30885

From:
Click to expand...
Thank you!
Tested 3 or 4 time running LM 22.3 Xfce on the SSD. It ran smoothly without any issue. The only issue is that LM 22.3 Xfce takes more time to boot to the desktop, around 18~20 seconds. It runs well when it is over the starting point.
DiaNobb
 
MzQ1NjExN2 said:
As per MX user manual:
View attachment 30886
Click to expand...
Thank you!
Sorry. I really do not know much of computer tech and knowledge. To me, as long as it run well without any issue, it is good enough for me. I feel that LM Xfce is the best for me to run it on the SSD. MX Linux is fast, very fast. On the internet, I feel that LM Xfce is smoother than MX Linux. So, I hope to install LM Xfce and use it on this laptop.
DiaNobb
 
MzQ1NjExN2 said:
The latest version of MX Linux is running the newest version of Xfce which is 4.20.1.
Code: 
inxi -F
System:
  Host: mx-latitude5490 Kernel: 6.12.74+deb13+1-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.1 Distro: MX-25.1_x64 Infinity October 02  2025

The latest version of Linux Mint Xfce is running Xfce 4.18. The newer version of Xfce may be a bit heavier.
Click to expand...
Thank you!
Do not know what edition of MX Linux it was that I tested. It was only a month or 50 days ago that I downloaded it and ran it. I installed it and ran it 3 or 4 time. Then no other distros or editions could be installed on this SSD any more.
DiaNobb
 
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