Trying to rescue a 1GB RAM laptop

mindbleach , 28 days ago

Use an old distro?

I first installed Ubuntu 4 or 5 on a Thinkpad T42 with 512 MB of RAM. I used it until about version 10, when they forced everyone to use left-handed window controls. It all ran about as well as XP did on that machine. Might be unsafe to bring online, nowadays, but if it gets borked do you really care?

LeFantome , 27 days ago

You do not necessarily have to use an old distribution. In some ways, a modern one is even more efficient.

The biggest problem is the shift from 32 to 64 bit which makes the same software take 2 - 3 times more RAM.

Next is the desktop environment. KDE is surprisingly light compared to 4 but GNOME is a beast and KDE 3 lighter. KDE is still available as Trinity. GNOME 2 (still not that light ) is available still as MATE. Most of the X11 Window Managers from back in the day or still available and still as fast and light as ever.

A modern 32 distro with a decent DE is more capable than old stuff and almost as performant.

Check out Q4OS 32 bit with Trinity for example.

notthebees , 29 days ago

Maybe try bunsenlabs? It’s uses openbox instead of a de.

I run it on a pentium m laptop and it runs well enough

Pentium m 735, 1 gb of ddr ram

possiblylinux127 , 29 days ago

First install an SSD if you haven’t already. Next install ublock origin in Firefox ESR and tighten down the security settings to max plus turn off all telemetry, studies and other “features.” Don’t use a Mozilla account as that adds overhead.

It still will be slow but it should be usable with a few tabs. Do not try to do video playback as the old GPU doesn’t support modern video formats so the CPU ends up decoding it all.

ewigkaiwelo , 30 days ago

Try Bodhi Linux - you can burn it to CD/USB or copy it on a Ventoy USB stick to test before installing and it is available for 32 bit systems