Questions regarding distros.

[Gary Sherwood]

I love the mint and zorin styles of linux, but I am running a bit of an older machine that was running xp, able to handle 7, its capable of 64 bit but looking for a distro like mint that is not resource intensive. Any suggestions? Heck if you have suggestions of just speeding up mint I would also be inclined to listen. Thanks!

 

[arochester]

It would be helpful to know the basic specs of your computer, particularly how much RAM you have.

You can either use a pre-made distro or build you own using the likes of Ubuntu or Debian - which is not as hard as it sounds.

If you are using Mint you are most probably using the Mate or Cinnamon Desktop Environment. Of Desktop Environments Xfce, Enlightenment and LXDE are the lightest. After that you are looking at Windows Managers which can be a little more difficult.

If you are intent in staying with Mint , look at the Xfce version: http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
Or Zorin look at Zorin Core or Zorin Lite: http://zorin-os.com/free.html ...They possibly wont have as much functionality as the full blown thing.

Others? Have a look at:
Reviving your old PC with Linux, Part V: the Remixes -
http://www.alandmoore.com/blog/2011/10/12/reviving-your-old-pc-with-linux-part-v-the-remixes/
I would add the the list:
LXLE - http://lxle.net/

A word of caution. If you add a few heavyweight apps to a lightweight distro they will slow it down, as though it was a heavyweight distro. Look at:
Best Lightweight Applications for Linux - http://harbhag.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/best-lightweight-applications-for-linux/

 

[Gary Sherwood]

Where could I get a pdf or such for building a debian os? I am running 2.9gb of memory, 2 80gb and 1tb hard drive for storage, my processor is Intel Pentium(R) Dual CPU E2180 @ 2.00GHz x 2 and my graphics is Intel 965Q. Currently running zorin os 9.

 

[arochester]

A "full" Debian install or a "lightweight" Debian install? Although not vastly different.

The NetInstall is probably the best way to go. It will allow you to install Gnome OR KDE OR Xfce (...I cant remember if it includes LXDE). Ubuntu has a similar method, the Ubuntu Minimal CD Image)

The current "Stable" is Wheezy and the current "Testing" is Jessie (which will become Stable in April")

Lightweight, if you know what you are doing and can change bits look at stuff like:
http://www.maketecheasier.com/build-lightweight-linux-for-low-end-laptop
http://linuxpanda.wordpress.com/201...tinst-minimal-iso-step-by-step-with-pictures/
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/minimal

 

[Dervys Perez Reyes]

Well, If you want you really would like to try Trisquel , is a very good distro, and it is completely free...

Regards...