Recommendation for distribution/OS

[SwaILLIDAN]

Hi, I have just been given a PC that has Windows XP installed on it and I would like to install a Linux OS instead. Considering the processor is AMD Sempron 2200+ 1.5 GHz single core, what kind of a lightweight Linux distribution and what operating system in particular would you recommend and does it meet the minimum requirements for any?

 

[Brickwizard]

what is the PC [make model number] the full spec will influence my suggestions

 

[Brickwizard]

I will assume for now that the PC is around 16 yrs old and has a 32 bit motherboard and cpu.....
32 bit systems are gradualy being dropped by many main stream builders so choice is getting limited.
so for a 32 bit Distro
Mx-linux 32 bit
debian stable 32 bit
peppermint re-spin 32 bit [this is coming to its end of life]
or ultra lite distro's
Puppy
Q4
Sparky
other suggestions may come when I know the full specifications

Bwiz

 

[KGIII]

See also:

Light-weight Linux distribution - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Condobloke]

my choice.

Mx-linux 32 bit

 

[SwaILLIDAN]

what is the PC [make model number] the full spec will influence my suggestions

Alrighty, thanks, here it is

 

[Brickwizard]

sorry your windows print don't tell me much at all the only useful bit of information is that it only has 250mb of ram so I would either stick to the ultra lite builds or invest a few pence in a stick of 2gb DDR2 -333 mhz ram [second hand ddr2 is cheap if you look around ] there is no point in any more as it is unlikely the motherboard will support more than 2gb,
the other point is that it is unlikely that it will support USB boot so You will need some DVD-R [again assuming it has a dvd r+w built in

 

[SwaILLIDAN]

sorry your windows print don't tell me much at all the only useful bit of information is that it only has 250mb of ram so I would either stick to the ultra lite builds or invest a few pence in a stick of 2gb DDR2 -333 mhz ram [second hand ddr2 is cheap if you look around ] there is no point in any more as it is unlikely the motherboard will support more than 2gb,
the other point is that it is unlikely that it will support USB boot so You will need some DVD-R [again assuming it has a dvd r+w built in

How can I check the characteristics further in more detail? Also, what does the 2000 MB virtual memory denote?
And I believe this is the model info, does the information here help or will I have to find the details for my PC in particular? https://www.asrock.com/mb/VIA/K7VT4A PRO/

https://www.cnet.com/products/asrock-k7vt4a-pro-motherboard-atx-socket-a-kt

 

[Brickwizard]

Oh and one last thing befoer I depart for the night [its 11=20 pm here] If you can raise a bit more cash you could install a second hand Athalon-64 socket A-3200 CPU [it will still only run 32 bit operating systems because of the motherboard] but quicker

 

[SwaILLIDAN]

Aalrighty, thanks a lot to everyone, have a direction as to what to do

 

[Brickwizard]

Also, what does the 2000 MB virtual memory denote?

keeping it simple this is a windows thing, windows often needs far more ram to run than Linux & mac so it forms a small partition on your harddrive which acts as extra ram Ram

 

[Brickwizard]

asrock.com/mb/VIA/K7VT4A PRO/

I have fitted quite a few K7 series motherboards in the past, and as I suspected in my second post, it is only 32 bit and max 2gb ram, in its day it was an excellent piece of kit and today it is still functional for normal home computing use [but not gaming]

 

[Leonardo_B]

The problem is 32bit support and lack of light weight desktop environments. Most of the light weight desktop enviroments that are base off openbox and flux box . openbox is still geting updates, but every slow on develpmont .so all based on it has bugs too. I dont know how much you know about programing but if you willing to learn programming and clone other people config files. Then a window manger will be light weight while working well . like i3 or sway.As for which distros. you might have to be look at a older one. As for software you going to have download lots of appimages so u can get the latest software(not sure if appimg support 32bit) by going will a older distro the .deb package are out of date. Snap packages i would not bother with them. you mostly going to be looking at debian based distros. you need to look a this youtube channel