Old Asus laptop probably still good to go

[Trynna3]

As nobody seems to be interested in my old stuff for spare parts (everything working, just one hinge broken so the lid won't stay up if not leaning against a support) I have decided to give it another life, especially if it has a cd/dvd drive. This is of a business class, mine is of a home premium, but I thing the specs will be very similar. Which Windows like distro would run on it?

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[CaffeineAddict]

This laptop is very old and poor.
I would install Debian on it with some very light DE such as lxde

lxde is not Windows like, the closest to Windows like is KDE but KDE consumes a bit more resource, I think KDE would work fine though.

edit:
Make sure you create large enough swap partition, ex. 4GB

 

[Brickwizard]

this is a 64 bit machine from 2008/9 [similar age and spec as my daily laptop with the T series CPU only upgrades I have made are 4gb ram and swapped the plate spinner for a SSD]
yours only came with 2gb of ram, so unless upgraded to a min of 4gb, it is best suited to light or medium Linux builds, some to try
Mint LMDE
Kubuntu
MX-Linux
Peppermint
Linux-lite
Parrot home edition
Debian stable with driver pack

 

[Trynna3]

Mint LMDE
Kubuntu
MX-Linux
Peppermint
Linux-lite
Parrot home edition
Debian stable with driver pack

Is it the same LMDE I did over the weekend?

 

[Brickwizard]

Is it the same LMDE I did over the weekend?

yep it will run on 2gb but don't expect it to race, especially with the T series CPU [but they are reliable]

 

[CaffeineAddict]

LXDE is the most leightweight desktop, if you want this laptop to run as fast as possible and consume as few as possible then LXDE is your best friend.

The actual distro does not matter much.

 

[Trynna3]

Thanks both, I'll have a look. Why throwing away a machine that still can do the job?

 

[MikeRocor]

Thanks both, I'll have a look. Why throwing away a machine that still can do the job?

2 cores, 2 threads, 2 GB, quarter TB of disk space, 802.11b/g wifi, "fast ethernet" probably means 100 Mpbs.

Right - nobody's interested in your old stuff because only you know that it works and what the history of it is. I've found this out the hard way, so I still have all my old stuff.

There's much that can be done with that machine but it will probably be disappointing as a desktop. It'd make a nice little home web server or backup server (especially with a new HD, since its so old - no sense backing up data onto an ancient HD).

But beware - that broken lid hinge will eventually bite you. I currently have a laptop that I inherited from my son because he used it with a broken lid hinge until it eventually wore through the video cable that runs from the base to the lid/screen. I took the lid completely off and am using with an external monitor. Taking off the lid also takes off the wifi antenna, so it's on wired network. At the time I "inherited" it, it was the best "desktop" I had ever owned.

 

[APTI]

As nobody seems to be interested in my old stuff for spare parts (everything working, just one hinge broken so the lid won't stay up if not leaning against a support) I have decided to give it another life, especially if it has a cd/dvd drive. This is of a business class, mine is of a home premium, but I thing the specs will be very similar. Which Windows like distro would run on it?

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if you want something like windows, then stick with windoze. you will be disappointed because Linux is not windows nor is it windows like.