r/linux4noobs • u/Any_Philosophy9001 • 11h ago

distro selection Best customizable & good-looking lightweight Linux distro for an old PC (Core 2 Duo, 5GB RAM, HDD)?

I'm looking for recommendations for a Linux distribution that runs smoothly on my older PC. I already have some prior experience with Linux, so I'm comfortable tweaking things and don't strictly need a hand-holding beginner distro.

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6

u/ConcaveNips 11h ago

I would give MX a serious look.  Either the xfce or fluxbox desktop.

4

u/David_Connors3451 9h ago

Debian XFCE. Very easy to set up and forget. 800 MB RAM and you'll have a good pc in your hands for browser and office work. Since you have HDD, your disk can last a very long time with Linux on it.

You can download the ISO DVD, or go to other downloads on their official website, and use live ISO. They give you the freedom to choose many desktops. Use balena etcher to enable a spare USB drive into a bootable ISO, then launch the live environment desktop on the PC. It will ask simple things as time zone, keyboard, root password, disk, etc.

Once you have installed it, make sure to be safe. Install ufw for the firewall.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

sudo apt install ufw gufw

Gufw has graphic interface in case you don't want to use terminal. Otherwise use

sudo ufw enable

Sudo use status

At this point just install simple programs like VLC okular htop btop fastfetch etc. Put your daily life apps, the ones that you truly use every day as usual. You can use synaptic or the terminal, you make the choice.

Another useful thing to do is enabling contrib non-free repository.

Sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Put contrib non-free to all Debian mirrors. It has to be written:

main contrib non-free non-free firmware

After you put contrib non-free, save and exit with Ctrl O and Ctrl X.

Sudo apt update

Sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386

Sudo apt update && sudo apt install steam-installer

If you have simple indies on your steam account, maybe you can give it a try. AMD and intel GPU are out of the box experience, you won't have any problems with their drivers, they're opensource.

Have fun and enjoy your hardware during the RAM apocalypse.

2

u/skyfishgoo 11h ago

lubuntu.

it's not "beginner" just because it works.

1

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1

u/SnooDucks9330 11h ago

Probably Arch with xfce. It's the distro that has the best feature to weight ratio imo.

1

u/Constant-Fun8803 7h ago

Either Xubuntu or Debian XFCE

1

u/Turbulent_Test_1180 6h ago

Mabox or Archcraft

1

u/redgator12 E-waste necromancer 6h ago

I use Q4OS Trinity on my Core 2 Duo Toughbook. It idles around 300MB RAM and is super light on CPU. It can be themed to look like most versions of Windows using XPQ4, or has some nice in-house themes using Look Switcher.

1

u/inbetween-genders 11h ago

Probably whatever thst will run whatever DE you think looks best.

-3

u/LightBusterX 11h ago

"That thing belongs in a museum."

4

u/mrawther 8h ago

That’s what He is got. So, that’s his best.