Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Which distro would you install on a celeron 2gb ram laptop for a lay person to use? (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Friend has an old laptop with windows 10 that he doesn't use because too slow and freezing all the time. Wants to revive it to leave at his lab in grad school for browsing the internet and editing stuff on google docs so he doesn't have to carry his newer laptop everyday.

I suggested Linux but I myself always used Debian and I am not sure it will run decently with such low specs. Was thinking maybe Debian 11 with xfce or something? Any better options?

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 19 hours ago (3 children)

To be honest, I wouldn't on a 2Gb laptop. It'll run Linux just fine but the minute you use a browser or office suite you'll have memory problems.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 hours ago

Maybe he's going to run Links and Wordstar!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 hours ago

Last time I checked (a few years ago) Firefox has half the memory usage of Chrome, in practice.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 12 hours ago

This!

Even 4GB RAM is low for web browsers and they're gonna struggle, A LOT, even with just one tab open, is going to be painfully slow to not want to use it anymore.

Old laptops like this, don't have hardware video decoders for YouTube or any video in AVC or HEVC códecs that is used everywhere today.

You can use Gnumeric for spreadsheets and Abiword for docs if Libreoffice is too slow.