Changing distribution

[LinuxN00b]

Hi All,

I am fairly new to the world of Linux, but am expecting to be able to completely replace windows OS with one of the distributions.

However testing isn't going quite to plan.

I have an old laptop (ACER Aspite 4810T specs here) which I intend to use as a mobile office, nothing fancy just the ability to access google drive and do some basic word processing. Maybe a bit of coding, but nothing computer intensive.

I have tried Ubuntu (18.04 LTS) but unfortunately the laptop just isn't man enough to run it. I have been toying with the idea of installing Tails on a thumb drive and using the laptop without a distro installed as a large multifunctional hard drive.

My question: Can someone identify the reasons that it won't work for me?

It seems possible to me as long as I can access the hard drive on the laptop from within Tails. I am assuming I can create a directory on the hard drive where I can store my programs, or install the small number I might need directly to the thumb drive.

Thanks in advance,

XC

 

[arochester]

How much RAM have you got? Can it economically be upgraded to the maximum RAM?
There are other members of the Ubuntu family which are lighter and may work e.g. Lubuntu.
Note that you cannot install heavyweight apps on a lightweight distro without affecting its performance.
Distros installed on a CD/DVD/USB will run slower than installing on a Hard Drive.

 

[LinuxN00b]

Thanks for your reply,

How much RAM have you got?

I've got 4GB of RAM, I wouldn't bother upgrading it as I do n't think it'll be worth the effort for a max 8GB.

I have another laptop which I plan to use as a workstation, but that's a different story.

Note that you cannot install heavyweight apps on a lightweight distro without affecting its performance.

Thanks for that, I have a tendency towards scope creep so I'll keep this little nugget in the back of my mind. What counts as a heavy weight app? Are we talking resource use or physical disk size?

Distros installed on a CD/DVD/USB will run slower than installing on a Hard Drive.

Thanks, how noticeable are we talking? Regular hanging or a few extra ms to get where you want to around the system/web?

Thanks again in advance

XC

 

[Deleted member 58530]

Here's what I suggest.

Give Linux Mint 19.3 Xfce a test drive as the Xfce desktop is light on system resources and designed for low powered computers.

A lot of Linux.org users run Linux Mint so a lot of available help.

Have a read and read as many times as needed.

**How to TRY Linux Mint on your Windows PC**

First, you can -- __and should__ -- try Linux Mint before switching to it. Fortunately, unlike other operating systems, Linux distros like Mint make it easy to give them a test run before installing it. First you'll need to download a copy of Linux Mint, which comes with three different...

www.linux.org

Linux Mint Installation Guide — Linux Mint Installation Guide documentation

linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io

Linux Mint 19.3 "Tricia" - Linux Mint

Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable desktop operating system.

linuxmint.com

Welcome to Linux.org XC411.