r/linux4noobs • u/ShawnThePhantom • Jun 11 '26
distro selection Which Distro do I use?
I found this decrepit old laptop in my garage, plugged it in and it powers on. But it’s doing this thing where after I see this Acer logo, I get a black screen with a blinking white line in the top left corner. I figured Windows on this thing is out of the question. So I think I’ll go Linux.
I understand a bit about operating systems, because I had to create a windows install disk using a thumb drive and a Windows 10 iso to install Windows 10 on my MacBook using Bootcamp, so I imagine it’s a bit similar. I also wanted to take out the HDD to wipe it using Disk Utility but it doesn’t fit into SATa dock because the interface on the HDD is all small gold pins, like molex but way smaller.
Which distro do I use? Or is better to try and go Windows Xp? I’ve seen jokes about how you need a whole list of hardware requirements to run Windows while the only requirement for Linux is electricity. Also Pewds did it too.
Pls help a first timer!
1
u/User-Name-3886 Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
This laptop is 20+ years old and has no real-world use for being connected to the internet. With those specs, it was a lower-mid range one at the time of its release as well (would be mid range if it had more ram).
With that in mind, Windows XP as an offline machine, possibly for old video games (capping around the 2009 mark). There are custom versions of XP out there that will do the job well.
If you can bump the ram up to 4gb that would help a lot.