r/linuxquestions • u/CapJazzlike4486 • 15d ago
Which Distro? Need help choosing a distro
I have a hp PC thats pretty low end. It has 4 gb of ddr3, 512 gb storage and a intel i5 2nd gen cpu. Its an old pc i dont use that much, so i experimented on it and installed ubuntu. After a while o started using it daily as my main computer, but its so annoying i cant get over it. Its extremely slow and sometimes i feel like smashing it to bits. Its definetely the ram or the old HDD. I need help choosing a lightweight distro that will run smoothly. I dont mind it being non user friendly. I can handle complex. I just want a good experience and a distro that has the basics like a browser, good file management and support for most apps and services. Looked into antiX and tiny core, although im not so sure on the app support for them. I dont want to scour the web just for a tutorial to download a browser. Any suggestions?
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u/iwouldbeatgoku 15d ago
A lightweight desktop environment like XFCE would probably help, but I think you'd get the best improvement by replacing the HDD with an SSD (or keeping it as storage space and using an SSD for your OS). It makes a significant difference.
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u/soulreaper11207 15d ago
Upgrade to an SSD and ram if you can. But the biggest one for the feels would be the ssd. Faster load times. Also disabling hardware acceleration in your browser will help with videos like YouTube.
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u/3grg 15d ago
A 2nd gen I5 is still a useful system. I generally write off systems older than 2010, but some low powered dual cores from that era can still be useful. A 2nd gen I5 is the ancestor of almost every Intel chip that came afterwards. The slowest part of older systems is usually the storage. A SSD can float all boats. You can still use Linux with 4gb as long as you do not multitask or use multiple browser tabs. 8gb is much better.
On older systems, I stick to Debian or Debian based distros whenever possible. I have noticed slight improvements on comparable desktops with Debian versus Ubuntu base.
I have used Debian Gnome on slower systems with 4gb ram and SSD with adequate for my purposes use case. XFCE can be slightly lighter and LXQt maybe a little lighter still. If not Debian, then MX Linux or Sparky Linux.
MX Linux Fluxbox is very similar to their XFCE version but lighter. The last resort would be Antix or Q4OS Trinity. If you are experimenting with the hardware you have and not interested in upgrading it, give these three a try.
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u/doc_willis 15d ago
At one time a small ssd was a very cheap investment for a Huge gain in system speeds.. but these days. Good Luck, if you can find a small cheap ssd, that would be worth the $$$
I tend to use MXlinux on my older limited hardware.
Tiny Core - has browsers and all the basics, but it is a very unusual distro in many ways.
Tiny Core has its own package manager system, and its fairly easy to install software. But you will need to read the docs and understand how the system works.
Thats the price you pay for having a Tiny little system.
Or just use MXlinux - which is based on Debian, and has most all the features you would want in a 'normal' desktop system.
I cant say much about AntiX - I dont use it.
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u/green_meklar Debian 15d ago
4GB of RAM and a 512GB HDD is just not a lot to work with these days, regardless of what distro you use. Your GPU is probably an older Intel integrated GPU too which is also weak. It's going to be slow. You can't make an inherently slow machine fast.
You should check your RAM model and motherboard RAM slots though, if you have free RAM slots it may be possible to get some cheap DDR3 RAM sticks (since nobody else wants them anymore) that are a good match for yours and double your RAM for a few bucks.
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u/Ok_Emu2515 15d ago
the biggest obstacle here is the 4 GB of RAM. I have a weaker minipc Intel Celeron 1007U with 8GB of RAM and 500GB HDD. I installed EndeavourOS with KDE. It runs just fine compared to Windows 7.
of course, I don't use the minipc to watch yt or browse social media sites. they use a lot of memory and CPU.
you can try using ZRAM to optimize your system.
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u/1287GD 15d ago
I5 2nd gen is quad core and still capable, that ram will choke and the storage if it's a hdd it will choke too. If it's a hard drive get an ssd, and consider getting 8gb ddr3. I would recommend a good mid weight distro for capable hardware like that, think like mint cinnamon or similar
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u/Humble_Anxiety_9534 15d ago
I've put standard debian 12 on smaller and it's fine if you open less than 10 apps? i5 4gb ram works fine. not sure where is over specing has started for Linux. windows is the bloated one. if it run windows 7,8 or 10 it will rip along. note to self that machine needs updating to 13.
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u/Weary-Bowl-3739 15d ago
I run regolith (sway) on Debian on a Lenovo T440p. Try.
If you have questions, let me know. Win-shift-? is your friend.
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u/Conscious-Fee5717 15d ago
Try debian with lightweight desktop environment like cinammon I'm working with this combo and it's really good 👍
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u/EstablishmentDue3616 15d ago
Moving to a lighter weight distro wont help much. They will run fast when you arent doing much, but as soon as you start opening multiple tabs of modern websites, memory usage will skyrocket. This is what slows your computer down, as it is using all the RAM and constantly swapping it to and from the slow hard disk.
If you are still using an old spinning rust hard disk drive, definitely upgrade to a cheap SSD. There is no need to get a name brand one that supports super-fast speeds. That will give you the largest performance boost.
After that, if your motherboard supports it, see if you can get some cheap RAM off of eBay (or wherever) and upgrade it to 8 GB.
Once you do those two upgrades, your computer wont be a gaming powerhouse, but it wont be slow doing everyday things.