I’m looking to move to Linux based OS’s on my home PC’s and I want to start (dip a toe in the water) with my slightly venerable desktop!
I’ve never used a linux based OS before and although Im not a total PC novice, Im no means a tech savy I.T specialist either.
So instalation and set-up needs to be straightforwards and idiot proof.
I need basic PC features, a lot of web surfing, some word processing and basic photo/image editing.
My PC is pretty old and the spec is:
Processor: Intel Core 2 6600 @ 2.4Ghz
Ram: 2.00 GB
System Type: 32 Bit Operating System
Hard Drive: 1 TB
I was looking at Ubuntu or Mint, but I’m not sure they’ll work with my older 32 bit architecture?
If anyone can point me to a good (100% free) OS that would suit, I’d be grateful.
Your system should be fine with any 32-bit Linux OS.
If you search for “32 bit linux distros” you will get a long list of site recommendations. Try for example https://www.chippiko.com/2021/10/list-of-32-bit-linux-distro-available.html. Forum Members have their own favourites and Mint, Antix and Peppermint are often mentioned here. The 32-bit Mint will be supported only until 2023 except for the LMDE version, although I could only find it in 64-bit. Peppermint is probably the easiest to start with and has good community support: https://forum.peppermintos.com/.
All Linux OSs come with a large range of applications built in and you can install more from the repositories. The simplest photo-editing s/w I’ve found is “Pinta” and is powerful enough for most users, and secure/private web browsers such as DuckDuckGo can be installed on-line.
Welcome to Linux.
Good luck, and let us know how you get on.
Keith
If you think that’s old, you should see my 18-yr old Thinkpad, with a Pentium M!
Most distros have been dropping 32-bit support and there will no doubt be more to come. The one that will keep on going — they support all manner of things — is Debian, but it’s not too friendly on the PC as opposed to the server. There are two good distros that use the software from Debian to create a carefully-designed package for older, smaller computers. Both have good forums with helpful members — like us, and not like the snooty bunch at Debian.
One is MX Linux. That should probably be your first choice. It uses the Xfce desktop (you actually get to choose your GUI in Linux), which is said to be not too great a contrast to Windows, and would work well on your machine.
The other is Antix. That would be faster, as it uses the Ice Window Manager — the first GUI I ever used some 20 years ago! It’s more hands-on to configure and manage, but not rocket science by any means — just different to what you are used to. I’d say consider it if you find MX a bit sluggish.
A lot of sluggishness on older computers comes from Firefox. Sometimes it’s the only thing that can access a site, but it’s a good idea to install something lighter like Midori as a default.
Can you post exactly what you are running at the moment? Brand, operating system etc? If it’s Windows it should be found via Start/Settings/System/About - or similar.
Thanks for the replies everyone. Much appreciated.
Keith,
I had a look at the links thankyou. I’d found like you, that I am seeing the 64 bit versions but not the 32 bit.
My problem is that when I look at the lists, they all sound good, but I’ve never heard of 90% of them so can’t judge.
David,
lol, my Desktop is nearly that old. Vista was the new OS and apart from a new hard drive that I put in it about 4 years ago and a couple of replaced fans, it’s running the original hardware!
So that must be 2007.
I’ve had to reinstall everything a few times of course.
It was a good spec in it’s day and as I regularly clean all the dust out, it’s still going strong.
I want to remove all the programs that I don’t use, but keep Vista on it so my son can still play some old RTS games that I’ve got installed on it.
Rich,
THanks for keeping your instructions simple… I need that
It’s an 2007 Dell XPS 210 with Vista (service pack 2)
Is this what you are after?
Processor Intel(R) Core™2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz
Memory (RAM) 2.00 GB
Graphics Radeon X1300 Series (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM)
Gaming graphics 1019 MB Total available graphics memory
Primary hard disk 727GB Free (932GB Total)
Windows Vista ™ Home Premium
System
Manufacturer Dell Inc.
Model Dell DXC061
Total amount of system memory 2.00 GB RAM
System type 32-bit operating system
Number of processor cores 2
64-bit capable Yes
Storage
Total size of hard disk(s) 932 GB
Disk partition (C:) 727 GB Free (932 GB Total)
Media drive (D:) CD/DVD
Graphics
Display adapter type Radeon X1300 Series (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM)
Total available graphics memory 1019 MB
Dedicated graphics memory 256 MB
Dedicated system memory 0 MB
Shared system memory 763 MB
Display adapter driver version 7.14.10.830
Primary monitor resolution 1680x1050
DirectX version DirectX 9.0 or better
Don’t be concerned about having only 2GB RAM, despite what some will tell you: I am running Ubuntu 18.04 on 2GB and it’s fine for the uses you’ve mentioned.
Remember that you don’t have to commit to a particular Linux distribution: try several on “live USBs” or Live DVDs and choose the one you like before installing.
I’ve been looking at peppermintos following your suggestion… and the simple instructions on the site are already making me feel a bit stupid.
I have no idea about md5sum… or how to open a terminal or command prompt in the directory, but hey-ho we learn by trying!
I hope you won’t mind some follow up questions if I get stuck?
hi Atlantia,
If you download the ISO to your harddrive you can then right click the ISO and you should see an option to “calculate MD5sum” checksum" and calculate SHA256" checksum.
There are links there to download either by torrent or direct download.
Download the Peppermint 10 Respin (32 bit) ISO Image via Torrent
Download the Peppermint 10 Respin (32 bit) ISO
I have no idea about md5sum... or how to open a terminal or command prompt in the directory, but hey-ho we learn by trying!
I hope you won't mind some follow up questions if I get stuck?
Hi Atlantia.
No problem. It’s what we’re here for. Just off to do my weekly shop, so will reply later unless someone else does.
System
Manufacturer Dell Inc.
Model Dell DXC061
Total amount of system memory 2.00 GB RAM
System type 32-bit operating system
Number of processor cores 2
[b] 64-bit capable Yes[/b]
I would also recommend MX Linux, and I’m running it on two machines at present. Although one has a reasonable spec the other is a little netbook with only 1.7Gb RAM (usable), and it runs fine on that. I was previously running Mint and was happy with it, but changed over to MX for a variety of reasons that I won’t bore you with.
If you want to try Mint, go to the Mint website, go to downloads, then click on “all versions”. On the next screen scroll down to 19.3 Tricia and to the right of that you’ll see a choice of 3 desktops, Cinnamon, Mate and XFCE. I suggest you go for XFCE as it’s lighter weight. When you click on that scroll down the next screen, and just above the list of download mirrors you’ll see a choice of either 64 bit or 32 bit.
As SeZo has just pointed out your spec says “64 bit capable Yes”. A lot of older machines had 64 bit processors but were only installed with 32 bit systems, as at the time there wasn’t any real demand for 64 bit. So it could be that your machine is capable of running 64 bit, the best way to find out would be simply to try a 64 bit Linux system from a USB stick.
Having said all that I’ve found that on relatively low powered machines (2Gb RAM or less) 32 bit systems tend to be more responsive than 64 bit systems, on 64 bit machines. Well that’s been my experience anyway. Do let us know how you get on.
As you can see, there is lots of choice and I recommend that you try several versions. The download website that gives you the most help might be the one to start with!
As for using the Terminal: this is for a Linux system not Vista (windows has its own command line system) so you won’t need that yet.
When you download your chosen operating system, you will download it as an “ISO file”. This contains the myriad files that comprise the OS all compressed into a single file. It’s important to check that this file has been downloaded without any errors and you do that by comparing the “md5sum” of your file with the value published by the source.
You will probably need to install the md5sum (or equivalent) software. I am not familiar with Windows but you might try How to check the MD5 checksum of a downloaded file. If you need better instructions, try a web search (or other Members might offer suggestions).
It will take a short while to produce a value which you should check carefully against the published value.
THanks for keeping your instructions simple… I need that No problem!
It’s an 2007 Dell XPS 210 with Vista (service pack 2)
Is this what you are after? Yes, and I have a Dell laptop of that vintage that runs Linux Lite perfectly well
Processor Intel(R) Core™2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz
Memory (RAM) 2.00 GB My laptop has less RAM than yours
Graphics Radeon X1300 Series (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM)
Gaming graphics 1019 MB Total available graphics memory
Primary hard disk 727GB Free (932GB Total)
Windows Vista ™ Home Premium My laptop was ex- XP
System
Manufacturer Dell Inc.
Model Dell DXC061
Total amount of system memory 2.00 GB RAM
System type 32-bit operating system
Number of processor cores 2
64-bit capable Yes That’s what I was looking for - 64-bit gives you many more options
Storage
Total size of hard disk(s) 932 GB
Disk partition (C:) 727 GB Free (932 GB Total)
Media drive (D:) CD/DVD
Graphics
Display adapter type Radeon X1300 Series (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM)
Total available graphics memory 1019 MB
Dedicated graphics memory 256 MB
Dedicated system memory 0 MB
Shared system memory 763 MB
Display adapter driver version 7.14.10.830
Primary monitor resolution 1680x1050
DirectX version DirectX 9.0 or better
Modify Message
Ok - one step at a time and don’t worry about how to do it, we on here can walk you through the steps
My advice would be to pick any ‘lightweight’ 64-bit version of Linux you fancy and burn it to disk and/or USB stick. (It depends on whether your laptop has an optical drive (DVD player) or not - if yes, I’d go for burning it to disk as, in my experience, Dell laptops can sometimes be fiddly when trying to boot from a USB).
Once the Linux medium has been sorted and the laptop BIOS arranged to boot from it, then you can ‘try before you buy’**, if you see what I mean? On boot, you can opt to try out the OS for as long as you like before installing it - a very useful feature and if you don’t like the look of it, simply repeat the process with another distro and go again. CAVEAT: Any distro will run more slowly from disk/USB than when installed. This is not a fault of Linux but of the reduced capabilities of the disk/USB compared to a HDD. Once installed, I guarantee you will be amazed at the speed at which Linux runs - and a damned sight faster than Vista ever did
**This is just a figure of speech, of course. If you choose to go the DIY route (and why not - it’s not too difficult to do and it’s a great learning experience as well) then the cost is zero - or minimal if you need to purchase a re-writable DVD or USB stick.
Have a trawl through the distros and come back when you are ready to go!
Well,
You guys are great, however it appears I’m a bit of a disaster!
Unfortunately, I had to put this project on the back-burner for a few weeks due to a family bereavement and once it got back on my radar, my wife’s trusty Samsung laptop running windows 7 (that we use for the kids homework) started playing up and running super slow.
After a few days of the basics, clean-up, defrag, remove google drive, remove and update virus protection, make sure firefox is up to date etc… It didn’t seeem to have fixed the problems.
I assumed it was either something was corrupted and in need of a clean reinstall of the OS or at worst it was a HD problem and it might need a new one (it’s about 8 or 9 years old).
It’s a 64 bit intel i3 2.2ghz with 4G of ram.
Well, I found the “Samsung Windows7 recovery disk” and thought ‘yay’, do a scrub and reinstall of Windows 7 and if it’s all stable, put Windows 7 back on alongside a nice 64 bit Linux OS to try before I go to putting it on the Desktop as well!
Might as well only risk messing up the one PC at a time!
So in with the recovery disk, f2, boot from disk and off we go!
Or not of course.
I have now realised that the recovery disk seems to not be as ‘comprehensive’ as the Dell one’s are and I’ve got a laptop that has lost all programs apart from the windows 7 and won’t even recognise the network adaptor or go online.
I’ve got a horrible feeling I’ve just lost all the drivers and samsung programs off of the laptop.
Have I effectively ‘bricked it’?
My Dell desktop is simple for a full reinstall, I guess I just thought all PC’s would be the same.
Hmmmm, In device manager the ‘Network adapters’ Bluetooth Device: Personal area network and RFCOMM protocol TDI are both working properly, but below that in ‘Other Devices’ the ethernet controller, network controller, PCI simple communications controller and SM bus controller as all showing a yellow warning icon over them and when I click on them it says no dirvers installed.
If you want to install Linux and dump Windows, then you can do this easily. What you can’t do is re-install Windows if Linux is already on the PC. Linux is happy to install alongside anything, but Windows is not that flexible. Is it just Windows on the PC?
First thing is to back up all your personal files, and you can do that easily by using a Linux Live Disc/USB. If you’ve used Live discs before then you’re almost there and we can help you over any hurdles.
Sadly not so simple.
As the Smasung laptop was playing up already, I decided to guinea-pig it for the Linux as I was going to have to do a reinstall of the Windows 7 OS.
The plan was:
Clean reinstall of Windows 7 so the Mrs can use it for the kids homework as usual.
Then add Linux for us to try out and once we are familiar with it, put it on the desktop as well.
I’ve done a boot from disk o reinstall Windows 7, but I’ve lost the ability to go online or connect to a network and I can’t figure our how to fix it?
Before I started I only saved the Mrs pictures to a disk for her and didn’t think I’d need to worry about basic hardware drivers.
I assumed the laptop would retain the basic ability to go online an upadte if needed.
I can’t help you at all with Windows - sorry: perhaps another member can suggest something. But I advise you to back up all your personal files before you do anything else!
If the PC is used solely for homework and basic office work, then is there a need for Windows? Might be an opportunity to guide the family towards a real operating system. [is my bias showing?]
No, you are right and that was kind of what I was thinking.
I just didn’t expect the laptop to lose the ability to connect to a network.
I’m assuming that without that I can’t get any further?
Perhaps I can download the basic driver set from the samsung website…
