• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Which Linux version would you suggest?

E

Executioner

Senior member
I have an old IBM T60 laptop that is just sitting around doing nothing. Even though it has a 32 bit processor and 2 gigs of ram, it would be a perfect to learn a bit about Linux. I've been looking at 2 so far:
Mint
Zorin

For Mint, not really sure about the different versions:
Cinnamon edition
MATE edition
KDE edition
Xfce edition
http://www.linuxmint.com/

Zorin has a simple selection - the free version.
http://zorin-os.com/
 
For an older laptop like that I would recommend PeppermintOS. It's what I first learned on when I had an old Sempron lappy. It will run smoother due to your hardware limitations but still give you that lovely Linux taste.

Mint Cinnamon is what I use now.
 
^^^Tons of options is very true. So many it can be very confusing for first time users. Throw the different desktops into the mix and it can get complicated real quick.

Hey Executioner give Mint Cinnamon a try and see how you like it. I think it has to be the most user friendly disto around hence the popularity. They don't call it the noobs distro for nothing. We all start somewhere.🙂
 
I like Mint, but for some reason it performs slowly on lower end systems whereas Debian is pretty fast (such as on my i3 4010U NUC). Personally I'm a Debian guy (since 1998). Not a fan of Ubuntu but oddly I like Mint which is a spinoff of Ubuntu.

Mint has out of the box features good for HTPC and media type stuff, Debian you pretty much have to go from the ground up once you install it with XFCE or Gnome.
 
I have a couple of t60s, one with 32bit proc and one with 64bit proc and 3gb and 2.5 gb of memory respectively. You can use any linux distro, just use a lightweight desktop environment to minimize memory usage (i.e. LXDE, XFCE). I suggest a distro with a large community around it for ease of getting help (i.e. debian, arch, *buntu). I personally use debian with the LXDE desktop environment. Booted to the desktop, the os uses about 125 mb memory and is quite snappy. Depending on the screen resolution and whether you have discreet graphics you may also be able to reflash the bios to use libreboot. Here are some links which might be useful:

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:T60

http://libreboot.org/docs/hcl/index.html#supported_list

https://l3ne******************2013/04/30/lightweight-debian-lxde-desktop-from-scratch/
 
kommisar said:
I have a couple of t60s, one with 32bit proc and one with 64bit proc and 3gb and 2.5 gb of memory respectively. You can use any linux distro, just use a lightweight desktop environment to minimize memory usage (i.e. LXDE, XFCE). I suggest a distro with a large community around it for ease of getting help (i.e. debian, arch, *buntu). I personally use debian with the LXDE desktop environment. Booted to the desktop, the os uses about 125 mb memory and is quite snappy. Depending on the screen resolution and whether you have discreet graphics you may also be able to reflash the bios to use libreboot. Here are some links which might be useful:

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:T60

http://libreboot.org/docs/hcl/index.html#supported_list

https://l3ne******************2013/04/30/lightweight-debian-lxde-desktop-from-scratch/
Click to expand...
Thanks for that info. I'll check out the links. I rather try something different than *buntu, since I did look at it a couple of years ago, unless they have changed radically to the current version.
The Zorin link I posted looked interesting also. Reminds me a lot of the old XP.
 
That third link is directions for building a lightweight desktop environment using a debian net install, the most bare bones of all the installs and results in the smallest memory footprint. It is what I used. It is for wheezy, which is old stable now but the instructions work in jessie, you only need to install the lightdm package with lxde "apt-get install lxde lightdm" since it no longer is automatically installed with the lxde package. The URL in the previous post doesn't work, because I think it points to a blogging site that is being censored by anandtech. Try searching for "debian lxde desktop from scratch" in your browser and it should show up as one of the top 2 hits.
 
To the best of my knowledge Zorin is a fork of Ubuntu. You said you tried *buntu in the past but want to try something different. Just thought I'd let ya know.
 
bbhaag said:
To the best of my knowledge Zorin is a fork of Ubuntu. You said you tried *buntu in the past but want to try something different. Just thought I'd let ya know.
Click to expand...
Your right about Zorin, as I did a search to confirm. Maybe it was the desktop that I liked in Zorin. I don't remember the Ubuntu version I tried including the desktop option.
 
Ya that's one of the things that really confused me when I first started using a Linux based system. There is the OS and then there is the desktop. On Windows they are one in the same on Linux not so much.

FWIW I think vanilla Ubuntu has the Unity desktop and holy crap is it awful. Not to mention they disable a lot of media features out of principle but that's another soap box.

That's why I recommended PeppermintOS or Mint Cinnamon. They have more traditional desktop environments. I think Peppermint uses LXDE(which would be great for you btw) and Mint has Cinnamon or Mate and a couple others I think.

Anyway, best of luck on your renewed attempt on learning a *nix based system. I will tell ya choosing the right distro from the start can go long way. It's cool to see you doing some research before you jump in.
 
Last edited:
The ranking on the right here is a fair indicator of whats currently popular in the linux community:

http://distrowatch.com/

Id roll with linux mint if you are new. Cinammon is a very nice desktop environment. So is MATE but its geared for the linux users that preferred the old GNOME 2 desktop environment. Cinammon has a lot in common with windows desktop environment.

KDE is a lot like windows as well, its not perfect and has some annoyances but its different enough from Cinammon to be worth a look if you dont like Cinammon.
 
Well thanks for all the info, but I'm going to postpone installing it on the T60. I just got a call from my daughter who is in college and she needs a laptop for one of her classes. I'm glad I waited before wiping 8.1 off.
 
I like Mint KDE. I've tried other desktop environments and I find KDE has the most features, but try them all and pick one you like.
 
I know you said you'd hold off, but if you want to try something different from Ubuntu, I've recently found Korora for myself, and I'm liking it a lot. Use the xfce desktop if you're worried about performance, otherwise get the cinammon one.

It's fedora-based, so it traces its lineage to red hat.

You could always toss it into a VM if you still have an itch you want to scratch. I recommend vmware workstation player.
 
Yes I do have the VMWARE player installed on my laptop, with XP and Xubuntu 14.04. I may decide to install another version to play around with, until I decide which one I like the best.
 
Last edited:
Would you consider Ubuntu Mate 15.04? I wasn't a fan of the new Ubuntu with that side bar crap either but I tried out Ubuntu Mate and love the crap out of it for its looks and ease of use.Plus with mate you dont get that shitty side bar thing. Maybe you should give it a try I bet you'd like it?
 
Executioner said:
I have an old IBM T60 laptop that is just sitting around doing nothing. Even though it has a 32 bit processor and 2 gigs of ram, it would be a perfect to learn a bit about Linux. I've been looking at 2 so far:
Mint
Zorin

For Mint, not really sure about the different versions:
Cinnamon edition
MATE edition
KDE edition
Xfce edition
http://www.linuxmint.com/

Zorin has a simple selection - the free version.
http://zorin-os.com/
Click to expand...


I would go for Ubuntu 14.04LTS if you want long time stability,if you don't like the Unity desktop use Classic flashback desktop,don't go for good looks of a desktop,what you want is Ubuntu trouble free OPS,i use to install many nice looking desktops in Ubuntu and in the end all a had lots of issues,you should install a Linux Distro with desktop installed already ,and not install a Distro and then try this and that Desktop, that is a path to lots of issues,if you like this or that desktop,just check Distrowatch.com where they have all the info of the distros including desktops installed from the scratch.
 
You can try Linux Mint MATE, it should perform better than Cinnamon. Other distro that I would recommend is Lubuntu, it should serve you well, considering your low configuration.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top