Revitalization of an old laptop. Installation of the correct Linux version

[Pan_Melas]

Good day to the community

I have an old laptop, an Acer Aspire 1524WLMi, which was bought back in 2006 for professional reasons (to be used during attending ships' constructions and repairs). Its basic use was a text reader/writer, emailing, storing professional photos, using of Skype for communication with family, some basic use for listening to music, especially through Internet, reading news etc.

When purchased, it had Windows XP Home 32-bit pre-installed, with a second unallocated partition on its disc, where the IT guys of the marine company I was working at, installed a Linux, the version of which I don't remember now, it seems that it was an old KDE version.

Its basic hardware configuration is (was):

Size: 15.4" WXGA Wide TFT LCD Screen
Motherboard: Acer Proprietary
Chipset Type: VIA K8N800
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 – 3400+, 2.2GHz, Socket 939 (??) Series "Venice"
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce FX Go 5700, 64MB
HDD: Hitachi Travelstar PATA/IDE 2.5", Model:IC25N080ATMR04-0, 80GB,
RAM: 2x256MB DDR333
LAN: 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet
Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g Wireless LAN
Card Reader: MMC/SD/SM/MS/MS Pro 2/1 Slot
Optical Drive: DVD-Dual (support DVD±RW)
Power: Dual Power – AC Adapter and/or Li-Ion Battery.

Back in 2011, when its system disc started showing signs of fatigue and weariness, I replaced it with a new Western Digital PATA/IDE 2.5" Scorpio Blue WD1600BEVE 160GB, while I had already replaced the pre-installed RAM DIMMs with two larger DDR400 ones 2x512MB, making it a total of 1GB.

In fact, a few days ago, I purchased form Ebay.com two new DDR400 DIMMs, 2x1GB, intending to replace the existing ones. The price was awfully low, so I thought that it was worth buying them.

4 or 5 days ago I tried to make a new clean installation of Windows 7 Pro 32-bit on it. The installation was successful, although a little painful and slow, but when finished it was proved that even this Operating System is kind of "heavy" for this computer. Not to mention that I had some other problems, finding drivers for some of its subsystems, like its integrated Wi-Fi controller and its NVIDIA graphics card. For the first, I could not find a driver and I just installed an external USB Wireless Ethernet Controller. For the NVIDIA card, after a long search, I managed to install a general use driver, recommended by the NVIDIA stuff, since they did not have a driver for Windows 7 for this card.

After this experience, I decided to go to a Linux clean installation. At the beginning, I was thinking for Linux Mint 18.1 Serena, but the fact that this is old hardware made me place this thread and question.

Summarizing:
- Is Linux Mint 18.1 good for this laptop?
- If not, what is the next best choice?
- Is it advisable to install a 64-bit or a 32-bit OS?
- Will I have any problems with drivers, after installing Linux, like those I described above, when installing Windows 7 Pro?

Thanks in advance for your attention.

 

[R_1]

My vote is for puppy linux or linux light.
I would not suggest using mint linux on a single core system.
puppy linux is binary compatible with ubuntu or slackware - choose one, is small and the entire OS can run from the RAM so response is very fast even on a single core system.
linux light I know works very well on a dual core but it too is small and is suitable for older systems
unless you need to address more than 4GB of ram there is no need for an x64 variant.
possible wireless issues depending on chipset but I have rarely had driver issues

http://puppylinux.com/
https://www.linuxliteos.com/

 

[Pan_Melas]

My vote is for puppy linux or linux light.
I would not suggest using mint linux on a single core system.
puppy linux is binary compatible with ubuntu or slackware - choose one, is small and the entire OS can run from the RAM so response is very fast even on a single core system.
linux light I know works very well on a dual core but it too is small and is suitable for older systems
unless you need to address more than 4GB of ram there is no need for an x64 variant.
possible wireless issues depending on chipset but I have rarely had driver issues

http://puppylinux.com/
https://www.linuxliteos.com/

Thank you so much for your reply, mate.

While waiting for a reply post here, I searched around the Net and I found some interesting discussions here and there. In a forum in my country, besides Puppy and Linux Lite, some guys are also discussing solutions around Lubuntu, while some are also talking for Mint Xfce.

Given that very soon my laptop's RAM will be 2GB, what is your opinion about these solutions?

Again, thanks in advance

 

[R_1]

lubuntu is a version of ubuntu that uses the lightweight windows manager LXDE. it will run better than full ubuntu with unity, but with a single core I would go with something smaller.
Mint xfce is basically the same as above but for mint linux (which is also based on ubuntu) that uses the lightweight xfce window manager instead of the more usual MATE or Cinnamon*.
the smallest linux that I know of that has a gui is tiny core linux it is a whopping 12MB. but I thought that may be a bit too far to go.
http://www.tinycorelinux.net/screenshots.html

No matter which distribution you choose to install to the machine, you should still download a copy of puppy. its not meant to be installed but it can be, the entire OS and apps run from ram. it is my go to tool for booting a borked install of anything.

were at the point that almost all OS's will have 64-bit support so I doubt that the choice will make much difference but the 32-bit variant will be smaller in terms of total size.
with 2GB the choice is yours. Call it in the air.

*the WM I am using now to type this

 

[skittle]

My vote is for puppy linux or linux light.
I would not suggest using mint linux on a single core system.
puppy linux is binary compatible with ubuntu or slackware - choose one, is small and the entire OS can run from the RAM so response is very fast even on a single core system.
linux light I know works very well on a dual core but it too is small and is suitable for older systems
unless you need to address more than 4GB of ram there is no need for an x64 variant.
possible wireless issues depending on chipset but I have rarely had driver issues

http://puppylinux.com/
https://www.linuxliteos.com/

Thank you so much for your reply, mate.

While waiting for a reply post here, I searched around the Net and I found some interesting discussions here and there. In a forum in my country, besides Puppy and Linux Lite, some guys are also discussing solutions around Lubuntu, while some are also talking for Mint Xfce.

Given that very soon my laptop's RAM will be 2GB, what is your opinion about these solutions?

Again, thanks in advance

xfce and lxde consume about same amount of resources. 2GB RAM is fine for almost any daily task. I sugest stick with an LTS version of Lubuntu or Xubuntu.

Puppy linux and other linux's are great but quickly you will find they are too limiting.

 

[Pan_Melas]

My vote is for puppy linux or linux light.
I would not suggest using mint linux on a single core system.
puppy linux is binary compatible with ubuntu or slackware - choose one, is small and the entire OS can run from the RAM so response is very fast even on a single core system.
linux light I know works very well on a dual core but it too is small and is suitable for older systems
unless you need to address more than 4GB of ram there is no need for an x64 variant.
possible wireless issues depending on chipset but I have rarely had driver issues

http://puppylinux.com/
https://www.linuxliteos.com/

Thank you so much for your reply, mate.

While waiting for a reply post here, I searched around the Net and I found some interesting discussions here and there. In a forum in my country, besides Puppy and Linux Lite, some guys are also discussing solutions around Lubuntu, while some are also talking for Mint Xfce.

Given that very soon my laptop's RAM will be 2GB, what is your opinion about these solutions?

Again, thanks in advance

xfce and lxde consume about same amount of resources. 2GB RAM is fine for almost any daily task. I sugest stick with an LTS version of Lubuntu or Xubuntu.

Puppy linux and other linux's are great but quickly you will find they are too limiting.

Thank you too, mate, for your advice.

As far as I understand from your post, you also do not suggest Mint for this old laptop.
Am I right or not?

I am now downloading the 32-bit Xubuntu ISO (hope this is a LTS operating system) and I will also download the 64-bit one, just for having it, in case I decide to experiment with it during installation choice.

Cheers and thanks again.

 

[skittle]

Mint is basically Ubuntu with a few visual things modified. No major difference.

Ubuntu has different release for LTS (long term service) 16.04 is latest LTS. Feel free to use newer though..

No reason to use 64bit with only 2gb ram.

 

[Pan_Melas]

....Ubuntu has different release for LTS (long term service) 16.04 is latest LTS. Feel free to use newer though....

Thank you so much for this clarification. In order to be at the safe side, I have downloaded both versions, the 16.04 LTS one and the newer 17.04, which is not marked as "LTS".

By saying "Feel free to use the newer though", I understand that the 17.04 version may not be a LTS one, but it will soon be one.

Am I right on my understanding or not?
If I am not, does this mean that the 17.04 will NEVER be a LTS one or it may take quite some time until it becomes so?

 

[skittle]

The next LTS release is 18.04 (April 2018)

https://www.ubuntu.com/info/release-end-of-life

 

[Pan_Melas]

The next LTS release is 18.04 (April 2018)

https://www.ubuntu.com/info/release-end-of-life

Thank you so much for this useful information