Vanilla Debian vs LMDE 6

[Cookiehead]

Hello,
I'm thinking about installing a Debian or debian-based OS on an old 32 bit laptop I have. I installed Debian and debian-based LMDE 6 in a VM with the specifications of the laptop to get an estimate of the performance. I found both to be similar (probably obvious, cause they're both Debian under the hood), but I wanted to get opinions and suggestions about which one is better in the long run (how stable it is, support for it, etc).
Thanks

Spoiler: Laptop specifications if you need them

Intel Pentium T2060 (2 cores, 1.60GHz), 1GB RAM (which I will be upgrading to 2GB), 120GB HDD (which I will be upgrading to a 256GB SSD). The default OS, Windows 7, ran decently fast with aero off.

 

[Brickwizard]

I found both to be similar (probably obvious, cause they're both Debian under the hood)

Welcome to the forums

You have answered your own question there, both are stable and reliable, the only difference are the bells and whistles, there are very few 32 bit Linux left on the shelf as we expect these to lose support in the next year.

Some other 32 bit offerings you may consider are

Antix
Bunsun Labs
Devonian
Sparky
and any of the 32 bit Puppy Linux

 

[kc1di]

Hello @Cookiehead
Welcome to Linux.org forum, enjoy!
both LMDE6 & Debian are good choices and both are very stable. I find that Debian may be just a bit faster but that's just my opinion and no proof to back it up. As @Brickwizard has said there may be other choices that you should check out also.
Good luck in your search.

 

[Cookiehead]

Thanks for your replies, they were helpful

 

[bob466]

Welcome to the Forum.

 

[GatorsFan]

You can also check out Devuan - they have a 32Bit version which is based on Debian but has no systemd, which does use more resources then SysVInit - So Devuan is faster then Debian and with limited resources it may be worth a look

Devuan GNU+Linux Free Operating System

Free GNU+Linux base OS. Devuan is a fork of Debian without systemd. Devuan provides a safe upgrade path from Debian, to ensure the right to Init Freedom and avoid entanglement.

www.devuan.org

 

[Cookiehead]

You can also check out Devuan - they have a 32Bit version which is based on Debian but has no systemd, which does use more resources then SysVInit - So Devuan is faster then Debian and with limited resources it may be worth a look

Devuan GNU+Linux Free Operating System

Free GNU+Linux base OS. Devuan is a fork of Debian without systemd. Devuan provides a safe upgrade path from Debian, to ensure the right to Init Freedom and avoid entanglement.

www.devuan.org

Thanks for that, i'll check it out

 

[Freepoorman]

Hello,
I'm thinking about installing a Debian or debian-based OS on an old 32 bit laptop I have. I installed Debian and debian-based LMDE 6 in a VM with the specifications of the laptop to get an estimate of the performance. I found both to be similar (probably obvious, cause they're both Debian under the hood), but I wanted to get opinions and suggestions about which one is better in the long run (how stable it is, support for it, etc).
Thanks

Spoiler: Laptop specifications if you need them

Intel Pentium T2060 (2 cores, 1.60GHz), 1GB RAM (which I will be upgrading to 2GB), 120GB HDD (which I will be upgrading to a 256GB SSD). The default OS, Windows 7, ran decently fast with aero off.

I installed LMDE, but I didn't like it... too much customization is necessary to make it feel right for me, Debian 12.5 is awesome though. I have been using it for a couple of days now (Xfce DE), and it is very very cool.