looking for a distro for this hardware

[Elysian890]

Hi guys, I'm looking for a linux distro for an old computer

here are the specs:

single core Sempron 1250 CPU 2.2GHz but crran OC a little bit tho, trying to get it stable
2GB DDR2 ram at 800MHz
Asrock N61PS board with GeForce 6150 onboard GPU
It currently has a 320GB laptop drive, SATA, 5400RPM
Plus it has DVD drive, card reader, floppy drive and a USB wireless receiver
notice: board can't boot from USB so I'll have to use the DVD drive to install

I've tried Windows 7 and 10 and they both perform horrible, 10 takes ages to start, like 5 mins to login, it constantly hangs
it used to have XP but I don't want to reinstall it can't even run Chrome nowadays, I'm looking for a lightweight OS... computer will be used for home and office tasks, like editing documents, browsing websites, watching some YouTube or mp4 videos (current windows 10 can't even play a 480p without lag) and playing some kids games, those are in .exe format but I think the os could run them using WINE, I'm looking for something easy to use with a nice UI

By the way, i've tried latest Ubuntu and it was way too slow, didn't performed as I expected, same issue with Mint or Debian... so I could use some help here as the computer will be a birthday present

 

[EricFarmer7x]

LXLE is a Linux Distribution (Distro) that should run well on low-end hardware. I have had personal experience using it a cheap laptop myself and it ran well. It is based on Ubuntu.

http://lxle.net/

 

[spankmon]

I have a Sempron 145 2.8GHZ, 2GB DDR2 800 mhz, refurbished Hitachi 250GB HDD tower, very similar to yours, connected to our living room TV... mainly for watching Netflix and Youtube videos at 1080p resolution. It has a discreet video card (AMD HD 5450, cost $30) and works well for its purpose. But I did need to overclock the cpu to 3.2GHZ before videos would play smoothly (standard dvd's also work fine). I have Mint 17.3 installed (Mate version) and using the standard open source graphics driver. The compositing is turned off always... makes all the difference for good video playback. It is a bit slow to boot up, and to install updates. But still it is an acceptable performer for light duty tasks. Using the stock AMD cooler and it sometimes stays on for days at a time with no overheating. Actually surprised me that it works so nicely. The grandkids play Half Life 2 (using Steam) and Diablo 2 (using Wine) with no problems.

 

[Elysian890]

I have a Sempron 145 2.8GHZ, 2GB DDR2 800 mhz, refurbished Hitachi 250GB HDD tower, very similar to yours, connected to our living room TV... mainly for watching Netflix and Youtube videos at 1080p resolution. It has a discreet video card (AMD HD 5450, cost $30) and works well for its purpose. But I did need to overclock the cpu to 3.2GHZ before videos would play smoothly (standard dvd's also work fine). I have Mint 17.3 installed (Mate version) and using the standard open source graphics driver. The compositing is turned off always... makes all the difference for good video playback. It is a bit slow to boot up, and to install updates. But still it is an acceptable performer for light duty tasks. Using the stock AMD cooler and it sometimes stays on for days at a time with no overheating. Actually surprised me that it works so nicely. The grandkids play Half Life 2 (using Steam) and Diablo 2 (using Wine) with no problems.

PC used to have an old GeForce 9600GT but it died, I might have some old cards somewhere, i'll see if one of them still works
Question, how do you OC that CPU? I've tried overclocking via FSB and managed to get it stable at 300x10 (default is 200x11) and lowering memory freq to 533 so it has 799.5MHz again which should be good as that's its clock, but randomly the screen turns black and there's nothing I can do except restoring the BIOS and reverting changes, cpu performs good at every benchmark or stress test but that happens randomly, all voltages set to manual with a little extra, that's the only way I've found to oc it as the multiplier is locked, I'm, of course, using async PCI, still working on that and looking for a solution, maybe adding a graphics card...

Anyway getting back to the topic, I'm downloading Mint 18 "Sarah" with MATE enviroment, and LXLE to give them a try, thanks

 

[spankmon]

I have a different ASRock motherboard. A785GM-LE AM3 socket. I just kept upping the multiplier until I got smooth video playback. When I reached 3.0GHz it was necessary to increase the cpu voltage slightly so it wouldn't black-screen. No FSB increase, so the RAM and PCIe are still stock settings. I probably wouldn't have needed to OC if mine was running on a lower resolution, but that's just guessing. The Sempron 145 in mine has a second core, but it's disabled. When I unlocked the second core... it wouldn't run at all.

You have integrated NVIDIA graphics, and my guess is that the sluggish performance you experienced was because the distros you installed all had compositing enabled by default, and the open source NVIDIA driver is not very good (but it is improving). You might find a recommended proprietary driver for your chip in the Drivers Manager of your operating system that is currently installed. But probably not. Compositing is easy to turn off on some desktop environments (XFCE, Mate) but also reduces the beauty of the desktop since there are no transparency effects. Weaker graphics chips will exhibit poor performance when using compositing... mouse lag, video tearing and stuttering, slow load times for menus and windows. Your setup may work ok by turning off compositing, without the need to overclock. Or an upgrade to a better video card may be enough. The lighter desktops like LXLE or Budgie might be just what the doctor ordered, but my opinion is that compositing is the problem regardless of desktop environment.

P.S. Sorry for the long post.

 

[Elysian890]

I have a different ASRock motherboard. A785GM-LE AM3 socket. I just kept upping the multiplier until I got smooth video playback. When I reached 3.0GHz it was necessary to increase the cpu voltage slightly so it wouldn't black-screen. No FSB increase, so the RAM and PCIe are still stock settings. I probably wouldn't have needed to OC if mine was running on a lower resolution, but that's just guessing. The Sempron 145 in mine has a second core, but it's disabled. When I unlocked the second core... it wouldn't run at all.

You have integrated NVIDIA graphics, and my guess is that the sluggish performance you experienced was because the distros you installed all had compositing enabled by default, and the open source NVIDIA driver is not very good (but it is improving). You might find a recommended proprietary driver for your chip in the Drivers Manager of your operating system that is currently installed. But probably not. Compositing is easy to turn off on some desktop environments (XFCE, Mate) but also reduces the beauty of the desktop since there are no transparency effects. Weaker graphics chips will exhibit poor performance when using compositing... mouse lag, video tearing and stuttering, slow load times for menus and windows. Your setup may work ok by turning off compositing, without the need to overclock. Or an upgrade to a better video card may be enough. The lighter desktops like LXLE or Budgie might be just what the doctor ordered, but my opinion is that compositing is the problem regardless of desktop environment.

P.S. Sorry for the long post.

Mint MATE works like a charm now, googled how to disable desktop compositing, indeed it takes a bit to start but computer will likely be turned on 24/7 or in sleep mode, luckily fans are really quiet

 

[spankmon]

Turned on 24/7. Then you'll also appreciate the low power usage. Uses less than half the current of the other computers in my house. Yours will make a happy gift. Thanks for the best answer vote. Also, some of the screensavers will run poorly without compositing, most will work ok.