vote4pedro
New Member
I am thinking of installing Linux on an old laptop of mine. It wont run any of the newer Windows versions. I'm looking for recommendations on what version of Linux to use. It's a older HP laptop that was running Windows 7.
Which version of Linux to choose?
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vote4pedro
New Member
Its 64 bit. 500gb and 4gb of ddr2
That will run just about any distro you like. It won't be super fast... but it should work.
Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSuSE, are all good distros. Easy to install, reliable and easy to use.
As long as it's 64 bit, most older hardware should work.
Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSuSE, are all good distros. Easy to install, reliable and easy to use.
As long as it's 64 bit, most older hardware should work.
Condobloke
Well-Known Member
G'day vote4pedro, Welcome to Linux.org
Put an SSD in it in place of the hard drive.
That will lift its performance big time.
An extra stick of ram would also work wonders
Put an SSD in it in place of the hard drive.
That will lift its performance big time.
An extra stick of ram would also work wonders
Welcome to the Forum.
I have a 13 year old Laptop running Mint Cinnamon 21.1 with no problems...you could try 22.1
It's 64bit...i5 CPU...4GB of Ram and also came with w 7...I switched the 500GB HDD for a 500GB SSD which did make it a little faster but 13 year old CPUs are not going to be as fast as a modern i5 CPU.
It's also Legacy which was the best...being very old should anything fail except the SSD it will end up being a paper weight...sad but true.
I have a 13 year old Laptop running Mint Cinnamon 21.1 with no problems...you could try 22.1
It's 64bit...i5 CPU...4GB of Ram and also came with w 7...I switched the 500GB HDD for a 500GB SSD which did make it a little faster but 13 year old CPUs are not going to be as fast as a modern i5 CPU.
It's also Legacy which was the best...being very old should anything fail except the SSD it will end up being a paper weight...sad but true.
Welcome to the forum, your machine should run most builds of Linux [avoid Pop] [see
the links in my signature below]
the links in my signature below]
Hello @vote4pedro
Welcome to the linux.org forum, enjoy!
as has already been said almost any distro of linux would work I would try Linux mint XFCE first as it's a bit lighter on resources that Cinnamon. But both would work. how be it slowly. Best advise would be to download and try several distros live see which one meets your tastes and needs. Enjoy!
Welcome to the linux.org forum, enjoy!
as has already been said almost any distro of linux would work I would try Linux mint XFCE first as it's a bit lighter on resources that Cinnamon. But both would work. how be it slowly. Best advise would be to download and try several distros live see which one meets your tastes and needs. Enjoy!
i'd say try any of them if it's an old laptop like that, but antiX and minimalist distros like puppy linux are built specifically for old machines. Given what you say about specs, mint and ubuntu will work just fine, there's a learning curve with all of them, but as long as they have guided install (all the distros i mentioned do, i believe) and it's not just a command line only environment (none of those distros are) then it's pretty easy.
i've never seen anyone recommend that to someone who isn't experienced with linux, interesting.
theLegionWithin
Well-Known Member
low ram will be a limiting factor, but unless there's an ssd in there it'll be terribad slow. maybe shoot for a lower-specs distro or just go headless (no GUI).
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