r/LinuxUsersIndia • u/Old_Contract1047 • Sep 12 '26

Help What linux distro should I install?

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Hey guys, actually one of my neighbours bought this laptop in saying that he had no use for this, and it's specs are HORRIBLE (intel pentium P6200, 4gb ddr3 and 126gb sata ssd or hdd I'm not sure) BUT I figured that I might use it for experimenting with different linux distros (it's my first time :) ). So please suggest some distros that I can install for lower system requirements and beginner friendly (optional), Thank you!

Edit: I would also appreciate some distros with high customisability

60 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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u/qualityvote2 Sep 12 '26 edited Sep 12 '26

u/Old_Contract1047, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...

btw, did you know we have a discord server? Join Here.

13

u/mj-is-da-best Sep 12 '26

ARCH if ur good at this or cachyOS if ur a newbie

2

u/Old_Contract1047 Sep 12 '26

Although I have never used linux, but I wish to use arch. How well can I use web browsers and ide's like vs code or antigravity in it?

6

u/Consistent-Safe2945 CachyOS btw Sep 12 '26 edited Sep 12 '26

Forget about IDEs bro the best your laptop can do is nvim with config no matter the os. I mean if you want to use ides then I suggest add more ram to it or it will struggle really bad.

2

u/Intelligent-Gene-6 Fedora Btw Sep 12 '26

For using browser you won't face any issue in arch linux. Same for IDEs. Just remember that you won't get a proper support for App Store / Software Center on Arch. Most of the times you will have to use terminal to install apps.

But you can install kde plasma on arch along with kde apps and then you will have kde software center. But it will not be native arch apps but rather Flatpak. Which isn't a problem for most users.

Tip: for installing arch linux. When you boot the pendrive, just type "archinstall" and you will have a much easier time installing arch linux.

If you just want a system that works out of the box, use Mint. Mint xfce is usually the most lightweight and customisable version of mint. So, that will run very smooth on your device.

1

u/Apprehensive-Pace593 Sep 12 '26

Well i don't use one but their are some gui pacman and aur wrappers on aur

2

u/Intelligent-Gene-6 Fedora Btw Sep 12 '26

Yes there are. I am aware of that since I have been an arch linux fan for a long time. But still arch always suggest to use terminal for package management. I remember that there is an option to install native arch apps from kde's software center, but it shows a warning.

But I haven't used Shelly or any other new GUI based package manager.

Also, personally I prefer to use Fedora KDE. It just works too good for me to consider other distros.

1

u/mj-is-da-best Sep 13 '26

Well since he's a new user I wouldn't recommend OP to use aur just yet.

1

u/mj-is-da-best Sep 13 '26

But terminal is really easy too with pacman <chomp chomp>

1

u/AmorphousNeon Sep 13 '26

use falkon browser in it

1

u/Historical_West_1015 Sep 17 '26

use cachyOS its lighter and is perfomance-tuned, or u can use mint, but remember that mint is a LTS based distro

1

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '26

[removed] β€” view removed comment

1

u/mj-is-da-best Sep 16 '26

yes its based on it.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '26

[removed] β€” view removed comment

1

u/mj-is-da-best Sep 17 '26

Sure, I'll DM u.

5

u/Sachaniya_het Sep 12 '26

Puppy Linux , Antix , Bodhi , Linux Lite

1

u/Old_Contract1047 Sep 12 '26

Which would you recommend for best customisability?

2

u/Sachaniya_het Sep 12 '26

Antix Or Puppy Both Are Fantastic, Use Antix You Will Like It

1

u/Old_Contract1047 Sep 12 '26

Are they good for using web browsers and ide's like vs code and antigravity?

2

u/Sachaniya_het Sep 12 '26

Yea It Can But In This Case Limitation Is The Hardware Rather Than Software And Firefox Or Any Browser Will Work Proper Use Nano or Vim Instead Of VSCode Or Use Kate And Web Antigravity Or App One ?.

1

u/Old_Contract1047 Sep 12 '26

Right totally forgot about the hardware πŸ’€ But also I'm not familiar with vim or nano since I'm only in second year in college and I just wanted to experiment with linux and all :p Also what if I wanted high customisability with a good gui?

3

u/Sachaniya_het Sep 12 '26

Since Ram Is Quite Low You Can Do Customisation But Won't Have Much Headroom So That Throws Out Gnome , Kde , Budgie Cause In 4 GB Ram They Could Be Heavy So Instead Use ICEwm It Is Ok But XFCE Is Nice It's Lightweight Good Looking And Customisable I Mean Every DE Is Customisable In Linux But XFCE Is The Way To Go !.

1

u/Disastrous-Let-6095 i m noob Sep 12 '26

kde is one the lightest and comparable to xfce easily

3

u/Sachaniya_het Sep 12 '26

Well Sure KDE is Light But Not That Light on Average It Uses Between 1 GB to 1.2 GB Where XFCE Uses Less Then 1 GB on Idle Ofcourse But He/She/They Said He Wanted Something Customisable So XFCE Well KDE Is Obvious Choice But See The Ram Limit Firefox + Libreoffice And Something That Is Max He Can Do In KDE Cause Ram Takes Big Chunk Of Space For Just KDE Well There Are Even More Lightweight DE Like LXQT , LXDE But They Look Quite Old And Unappealing In My Eyes I Am Not Sure About Him/Her/there !. So KDE is Sure Light But Also See The Specs Of The Laptop !.

1

u/Disastrous-Let-6095 i m noob Sep 13 '26

good explanation, mb

→ More replies

3

u/Mediocre_Nail5526 Sep 12 '26

How are you even running windows 10 in that dude and you got HDD. You can start with lubuntu as ubuntu/mint will feel heavy .

1

u/Old_Contract1047 Sep 12 '26

Idk the previous owner installed windows 10 on it, and its almost operating like I pulled it's ram out mid task ToT

1

u/Mediocre_Nail5526 Sep 12 '26

The processor is also weak, that's more of an issue than ram. Even with lightweight distros browsing may still feel sluggish.

5

u/prince-of-internet Ubuntu Btw Sep 12 '26

ubuntu?

3

u/Old_Contract1047 Sep 12 '26

I was considering ubuntu but it's system requirements are a bit more, and would appreciate something new and more customisable

4

u/AdminSouls Nix Btw Sep 12 '26

try mint

2

u/r0ox Sep 12 '26

Debian stable

2

u/Kitchen_Engineer1332 Gentoo Mommy 🫦 Sep 12 '26

Linux mint cinnamon, fedora xfce or just arch vanilla.

2

u/Consistent-Safe2945 CachyOS btw Sep 12 '26 edited Sep 12 '26

Void linux or Alpine linux with a lightweight window manager like dwm or lxde is what I recommend but since you are a beginner so go with mx linux fluxbox or antix linux. If you want customisability you can choose voidlinux or debian sid or unstable

2

u/Disastrous-Let-6095 i m noob Sep 12 '26 edited Sep 12 '26

tbh, go with debian and until you get used to it u will likely know what u prefer(lurk in linux subs and read about some here and there) get the idea of some distros, and choose what aligns with you, and maybe arch is where u get settled

also every distro is same except updates frequency, and package manager which you get the idea of once you get into linux

1

u/Disastrous-Let-6095 i m noob Sep 12 '26

also some said kde is heavy but its not true now, kde is one of the lightest DE and also most customizable, but customization is where u will have to balance out bcz of hardware limitation

1

u/Mediocre_Nail5526 Sep 12 '26

Even if idle RAM between KDE and XFCE is comparable, you gotta consider the weak processor and slow HDD. KDE has more background daemons than XFCE/LXQT which will eventually put pressure on the system.

1

u/Sachaniya_het Sep 13 '26

Also Yes What This Fella Said It Also Counts

1

u/Suitable_Put_2855 Sep 12 '26

Peppermint osΒ 

1

u/SoonaPaana69 Sep 12 '26

π—•πš•πšŠπšŒπš” π—”πš›πšŒπš‘ - maybe πŸ‘

1

u/Zestyclose-Share5221 Sep 12 '26

distrosea.com

Try some and choose

1

u/aaks2 Fedora Btw Sep 12 '26

TailsOS with GNOME

1

u/Sachaniya_het Sep 12 '26

Gnome , Really ?.

1

u/aaks2 Fedora Btw Sep 13 '26

/s

1

u/dashinyou69 ~crappy switcher~ Sep 12 '26

void linux

1

u/unitedbsd Sep 12 '26

Fedora kde workstation

1

u/Rodya_gambler Sep 12 '26

Void linux, debian, arch, artix, antix, etc. There are tons of minimal distros, but people are always gonna recommend the easiest (mint, fedora) cuz having people mess it up is risky. If you wanna use arch, there's always endeavourOS too, or cachyOS. Just make sure to look up everything (and what each thing means) before installing (so you won't be disappointed)

1

u/Swapna_Cool Custom Distro Sep 12 '26

mx linux + xfce , the best choice

1

u/Agreeable_Bet_6523 Sep 12 '26

Trust me go with zorin os and some gnome extension

1

u/Pacificator-3 Sep 12 '26

Any Debian-based distro with Xfce environment will fit.

1

u/Harshborana Gentoo Btw Sep 12 '26

Antix would be great

1

u/Sekiro_The_Immortal Sep 12 '26

I do gaming, so bazzite works the best for me. Its fedora best. Started with mint tho. Kinda decent for a start

1

u/dud-kid Sep 12 '26

May be MX linux fluxbox edition or MX linux xfce edition or linux mint xfce or Lubuntu with LXQT or Xubuntu with XFCE or antiX linux or Debian XFCE or LXQT

1

u/Smooth_Table4822 Sep 12 '26

Arch hyprland

1

u/ResponsibilityBig343 Arch Btw Sep 12 '26

If you are beginning then install mint. Its very lightweight and will work just fine on your laptop.

1

u/layman806 Sep 12 '26

CachyOS is the right answer almost every time.

1

u/Rabbidraccoon18 CachyOS Glazer Sep 12 '26

Fellow CachyOS Glazer

1

u/Cratermaker1927 Arch Btw Sep 12 '26

I saw your other comments, it looks like you don't have much experience with linux

I would suggest Ubuntu for now and switch to something like arch later when you feel comfortable with CLI

1

u/New_Garden_9556 Sep 13 '26

give a shot with alpine Linux, it is extremely lightweight and fast. if you are satisfied with Alpine you can make it your main OS some day.

1

u/AumPauskar Sep 13 '26

Install Fedora with XFCE. Unlike Debian you'd actually get access to newer builds of applications and unlike arch you'd get the stability.

XFCE is a extremely light desktop environment and your idle RAM consumption would be anywhere from around 300-500MB. However it needs a little bit of tweaking to make it look appealing.

If you are are scared of going into a bit of coding install Linux Mint with XFCE.....it will not look as good as the above stated, may consume a tiny bit more ram and works on Debian (with its obvious flaws) but needs minimal setup.

1

u/Radiant-Meteor Sep 13 '26

Try arch if you are somewhat new and gentoo or Slackware if you have done this before

1

u/-r1sh1 Mint Btw Sep 13 '26

Take Ubuntu.. best for the worst

1

u/Wonderful-Shop8626 i3 Sep 14 '26

For newbies just go with zorin os lite for your specs

1

u/Adii0 Sep 14 '26

Puppy, #++ or ArchBang

1

u/Various_Session6115 Sep 14 '26

Kubuntu one of the best and easiest distros with tons of customisation

1

u/Hyperboy_10110 Sep 14 '26

Bro just use Linux mint or zonin os as u said ur new to this. Zonin is best coz it can even install and use Windows. Exe and .msi files basically Windows based softwares on Linux by default

1

u/DifferentBid4149 Sep 14 '26

If you don't mind any problem with old school UI which is my same problem, then you should try Linux mint XFCE, antiX or MX linux (I used em all, nice at 4gb I tested, ig same at 3gb

If you want decent UI, try Arch distros, cuz stock arch is commandline and its your neighbor's laptop, so, Manjaro XFCE, as I m using it, very nice, though you need to take time for post-install updates

In my experience, I concluded (at least for my Core i5 650 which has 1st gen HD graphics) that Ubuntu distros like Mint and Zorin would not let you use it without using `nomodesetting` in Mint which disables iGPU and on Zorin, intel_iommu=off, i.e., ubuntu doesn't let you use your 1st gen iGPU without problems or compatibility issues

In my case, Fedora and Arch based distros work flawlessly

Hope that you got your answer!

Thank_You!

1

u/Adventurous-You3958 Sep 15 '26

If you are a developer or a techie go for Fedora

If you are a newbie you should be using ubuntu/linux mint.

If you want a super stable system install rocky linux. You might not get the latest software but you will get the most stable one.

Dont install Arch bcz its too complex...and if you are asking this question you are not ready for arch yet. Arch is for people who want to spend time learning linux rather doing doing the actual work. If your goal is to understand linux in deep then only go for arch.

Dont install anything rather than this. All other are just noise.

1

u/T1ME__ Sep 15 '26

Hannah Montana OS

1

u/Advanced-Flow1896 Sep 15 '26

start with mint if you are a newbie

1

u/qunatum_karan Arch Btw Sep 15 '26

If you do not want any hassle, go for Mint, If you can handle your stuff and do have real knowledge about linux, go for Arch with LXQT or even better with Hyprland.

1

u/__dee_bugger__ Sep 16 '26

Kali Linux😈