systems suitable for the new user
- Thread starter Tarq
- Start date
spacebanana
New Member
Linux systems are very light, it will mostly depend on the desktop environment you use. But even if you use a heavy desktop, it will mostly only affect ram usage
You have 2GB of RAM, this is very low, so you will want to use swap memory
What kind of tasks will you do in this computer?
Since you can make your Linux system be configured however you want, any distro is suitable for this hardware, depending on how you set it up, or if you don't want to configure, how it is like by default.
I would recommend using the desktop Xfce or LXQt for less ram usage, but nowadays heavier desktops use similar amounts of ram too, so you probably can get away with Plasma and Cinnamon, etc.
You have 2GB of RAM, this is very low, so you will want to use swap memory
What kind of tasks will you do in this computer?
Since you can make your Linux system be configured however you want, any distro is suitable for this hardware, depending on how you set it up, or if you don't want to configure, how it is like by default.
I would recommend using the desktop Xfce or LXQt for less ram usage, but nowadays heavier desktops use similar amounts of ram too, so you probably can get away with Plasma and Cinnamon, etc.
Brickwizard
Well-Known Member
Welcome to the forums, OK so you have a Dell Insperon with an I3 twin core quad thread CPU, this is capable of running any Linux distribution BUT you only have 2Gb of ram, many will run on just 2Gb of ram, So I would recommend you use a medium or lightweight build for better performance. Some of the popular choices in the mid/lightweight range are,
Mint LMDE
Kubuntu
Lubuntu
MX-Linux
Debian stable with non-free driver pack
Linux Lite
there are many others
Mint LMDE
Kubuntu
Lubuntu
MX-Linux
Debian stable with non-free driver pack
Linux Lite
there are many others
I've been using my favourite, Devuan/XFCE, on a 2GB ram machine quite happily, I use it on the internet (with Firefox), & play music & videos, as well as simple time waster games (PySolFC/Xpat2/Xshisen), so you will be fine, but you might like to give it some swap space, (2GB should suffice), just to help it along. 
www.devuan.org
Welcome to devuan.org | Devuan GNU+Linux Free Operating System
Free GNU+Linux base OS. Devuan is a fork of Debian without systemd. Devuan provides a safe upgrade path from Debian, to ensure the right to Init Freedom and avoid entanglement.
www.devuan.org
I think that at first I would like a system similar to the Windows user experience, then we will gradually enter the world of Linux and recommend it to people until I get used to it and be able to understand it and deal with it day after day This is the strategy
Pretty much everything recommended above will look familiar to a Windows user.
I like to tell those I've converted that things are generally where you'd expect to find them. Like, in the menu you'll have "Internet" and that'll be where there's a browser. If you look under Administrator, there will be things like settings.
This is pretty standard for some desktop environments. That's the bit you're likely to work with and see, the desktop environment (or DE when abbreviated). Things will be pretty much where you'd expect them to be.
As much as I love Debian, I'd avoid it as a rank beginner. There are some oddities (like setting up repos) that can be weird for a new user. I'm biased, but I'd also suggest giving Lubuntu a spin.
I like to tell those I've converted that things are generally where you'd expect to find them. Like, in the menu you'll have "Internet" and that'll be where there's a browser. If you look under Administrator, there will be things like settings.
This is pretty standard for some desktop environments. That's the bit you're likely to work with and see, the desktop environment (or DE when abbreviated). Things will be pretty much where you'd expect them to be.
As much as I love Debian, I'd avoid it as a rank beginner. There are some oddities (like setting up repos) that can be weird for a new user. I'm biased, but I'd also suggest giving Lubuntu a spin.
Take your time and do one thing at a time with certainty.
Just a suggestion: try downloading Linux and run it in a VM so you can see how it runs and works.
It was my experience years ago, that I had to actually install Linux to begin to be able to understand how to runs and how to run it.
The one Linux distro that looks a little bit like Windows on the Desktop is ZorinOS (Basically Ubuntu under the hood) by looks not by functionality. ZorinOS may require more than 2 Gig's of RAM, IDK.
Q4OS also looks a lot like the Windows desktop however; it's Linux based.
Lubuntu is a cool distro IMO for beginners.
Agreed, Debian does have it's oddities and the installer isn't friendly IMO if your new to Linux and have more that 1 HDD.
this is true, especially if you install version with Trinity Desktop (which needs less memory) and then choose the Wine_classic theme.
It then looks like this:
Attachments
G'day Tariq, you're back.
Helpers, be aware that the OP has only 2 GB of RAM.
VM solutions are therefore really out of the question.
Cheers
Wizard
Helpers, be aware that the OP has only 2 GB of RAM.
VM solutions are therefore really out of the question.
Cheers
Wizard
wendy-lebaron
Active Member
Also it seems the OP was running 32-bit Windows for the screenshot.
I would have recommended Ubuntu in the previous decade... but not today because they dropped 32-bit support long ago. There are not that many 32-bit operating systems around that are still being updated.
Debian still supports 32-bit with v12 "Bookworm" but it could be difficult to use for a total beginner. Therefore a descendant might help such as Q4OS. Install Q4OS with Trinity desktop environment only if you're used to Windows98 and WindowsXP way of working. (In other words, file manager and web browser combined into one called Konqueror.) KDE Plasma might look enough like Windows but might not be to everyone's taste and it's known to require a lot of memory and CPU time. KDE on Q4OS is one of the lightest, which might allow it run on a 32-bit computer with only 2GB RAM, but then finding more memory for web browser and other heavy applications could be hard.
The screenshot in the first post of this thread is from Windows10 which means you should try to check out Q4OS both in Trinity and in KDE, to see which one suits you better.
Now installing a 32-bit operating system could be an adventure. I would see about doing a disk clone of the entire internal disk that Windows resides in, before trying to install anything. These days, the emphasis is on 64-bit and UEFI, on leaving or not leaving a 2MiB space in the very front of the disk for "MBR programs" and that other junk. I'm not saying this stuff to discourage or to bore anybody, but it could be easier even for people dealing with Linux everyday.
Find an USB disk that is 16GB at least, which you aren't using for anything else and go looking for ISO's of 32-bit operating systems. Take it one at a time. Make sure you get a live mode ISO, even one that cannot install. The idea is for you to check it out and stay with it until you like it or you decide it doesn't go with your goals.
You will have to set your computer to be able to boot from an external USB disk, rather than the hard disk. This might mean visiting the BIOS settings of your machine to change the boot device order.
EDIT: Come to think of it, there might not have been Windows10 32-bit, but does it allow installation on a computer with only 2GB RAM? :O
That much RAM is just not enough for 64-bit. The pace of technology is cruel. I'm on an 11-year-old laptop with 4GB RAM and it is barely sufficient and cannot do virtual machines. Must run the web browser, preferably with no other application because they conflict with each other. It doesn't matter which Linux OS. "swap" partition in 64-bit OS with only 2GB RAM is going to be a great issue with the main disk, sending it to failure much faster. That's why I proposed 32-bit OS.
Otherwise if you really want to go with a 64-bit OS you should consider upgrading to 4GB RAM in the very least.
I would have recommended Ubuntu in the previous decade... but not today because they dropped 32-bit support long ago. There are not that many 32-bit operating systems around that are still being updated.
Debian still supports 32-bit with v12 "Bookworm" but it could be difficult to use for a total beginner. Therefore a descendant might help such as Q4OS. Install Q4OS with Trinity desktop environment only if you're used to Windows98 and WindowsXP way of working. (In other words, file manager and web browser combined into one called Konqueror.) KDE Plasma might look enough like Windows but might not be to everyone's taste and it's known to require a lot of memory and CPU time. KDE on Q4OS is one of the lightest, which might allow it run on a 32-bit computer with only 2GB RAM, but then finding more memory for web browser and other heavy applications could be hard.
The screenshot in the first post of this thread is from Windows10 which means you should try to check out Q4OS both in Trinity and in KDE, to see which one suits you better.
Now installing a 32-bit operating system could be an adventure. I would see about doing a disk clone of the entire internal disk that Windows resides in, before trying to install anything. These days, the emphasis is on 64-bit and UEFI, on leaving or not leaving a 2MiB space in the very front of the disk for "MBR programs" and that other junk. I'm not saying this stuff to discourage or to bore anybody, but it could be easier even for people dealing with Linux everyday.
Find an USB disk that is 16GB at least, which you aren't using for anything else and go looking for ISO's of 32-bit operating systems. Take it one at a time. Make sure you get a live mode ISO, even one that cannot install. The idea is for you to check it out and stay with it until you like it or you decide it doesn't go with your goals.
You will have to set your computer to be able to boot from an external USB disk, rather than the hard disk. This might mean visiting the BIOS settings of your machine to change the boot device order.
EDIT: Come to think of it, there might not have been Windows10 32-bit, but does it allow installation on a computer with only 2GB RAM? :O
That much RAM is just not enough for 64-bit. The pace of technology is cruel. I'm on an 11-year-old laptop with 4GB RAM and it is barely sufficient and cannot do virtual machines. Must run the web browser, preferably with no other application because they conflict with each other. It doesn't matter which Linux OS. "swap" partition in 64-bit OS with only 2GB RAM is going to be a great issue with the main disk, sending it to failure much faster. That's why I proposed 32-bit OS.
Otherwise if you really want to go with a 64-bit OS you should consider upgrading to 4GB RAM in the very least.
Last edited:
Brickwizard
Well-Known Member
not uncommon for 32 bit windows to have come free as standard back then, and if you wanted 64 bit you had to pay for it.
Also if you read the system report you would have spotted it has an I3-m330 cpu which is 64 bit, also making the machine a 2010/11 build, so it will be both UEFI and USB bootable [using the short boot menu [F12 at boot for a Dell]]
vs2-free-users
Active Member
Hi,
i recommend this to ist lightweigt as possible an other option is rockylinux with xfce desktop which have a long support time.
wendy-lebaron
Active Member
You have that privileged technical information but I don't.
I spotted a big goof from M$: "system directory: C:\Windows\system32" which is not right on 64-bit. I saw that and the OP's machine having 2GB RAM and that's why I figured it was 32-bit. But then I said to myself, wait a minute, but Windows10 comes only in 64-bit doesn't it?
Brickwizard
Well-Known Member
No, a machine of this age would have been W7 or W8 out of the box,
this is a cut from the Windows upgrade to W10 document...
"If you had a 32-bit versions of Windows 7 or 8.1 installed on your PC and upgraded to Windows 10, Microsoft automatically gave you the 32-bit version of Windows 10."
You may think this, but it's all to do with nearly 40 years experience of building and repairing computers [as a hobby] and over 20 years of being a full time Linux user,
Sorry, no. I have one of each - a 64-bit Windows 10 and a 32-bit Windows 10. Both have "C:\Windows\System\" and "C:\Windows\System32\" directories. (FYI: There is no "C:\Windows\System64\" directory on either system.)
wendy-lebaron
Active Member
I'm only pointing out the goof in the "system information" display of the first post.
I was not lucky to be able to upgrade Windows7 from a half-broken laptop, like you guys were able to.
The 64-bit system directory on Windows should be "SysWOW64" not "System64" but anyway...
I was not lucky to be able to upgrade Windows7 from a half-broken laptop, like you guys were able to.
The 64-bit system directory on Windows should be "SysWOW64" not "System64" but anyway...
