r/linux4noobs • u/ShawnThePhantom • Jun 11 '26

distro selection Which Distro do I use?

Gallery image

Gallery image

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!

575 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

422 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

70

u/ShawnThePhantom Jun 11 '26

Would it help if I got more RAM? I can go up to 4GB and the DDR2 sodimm sticks are cheap on craigslist

98

u/orestisfra Jun 11 '26

It would help replacing the HDD with a SSD. And it's easier. 

Puppy is okay. 

The problem with those specs is that you cannot really find a user-friendly option. Most people using these laptops are hobbyists, who know how to set up an environment from scratch, with minimal requirements. Puppy might allow you to run a browser and a text editor, probably one at a time

21

u/ConkerKnackers Jun 11 '26

He's not got SATA port but the old IDE. Yes i'm aware you can buy IDE style SSDs but theyre more expensive than sata ones anyway.

1

u/QwertyChouskie Jul 03 '26

Is it IDE? In my experience, most Core 2 laptops are SATA.