![]() BunsenLabs The BunsenLabs Linux ProjectīunsenLabs is a community continuation of the CrunchBang Linux (#!) project which was discontinued in 2013. It’s one of the more aesthetically pleasing lightweight distributions, and it also happens to be completely free of systemd. The larger antiX releases come with plenty of software to get you started including web browser Firefox, office suite LibreOffice, media players like MPlayer and XMMS, and some interesting command-line interface (CLI) apps for torrenting, watching YouTube, and reading news feeds.Īs you’d expect, antiX is lightweight and snappy even on older machines. It is available in four flavors: a full release of around 1GB, a base release of 700MB (perfect for fitting on a CD), a core release of around 300MB, and the barebones net release at only 150MB. The documentation states that antiX should run on “antique” Pentium II/III systems with only 256MB of RAM, with 4GB of disk space required for a full install.ĪntiX is based on Debian and uses a combination of the IceWM window manager and ROX Desktop. It can help you breathe new life into an old machine, even if it has an older 32-bit processor. Not all lightweight Linux releases are designed specifically with older hardware in mind, but antiX is. Its graphical environment is a bit barebones, but it’s fast and runs almost anywhere. It works with 64-bit and 32-bit architectures but has no support for UEFI. ![]() ![]() Puppy Linux comes with virtually no software, which makes it ideal if you want to build your own minimalist Linux environment. Recommended system requirements for the 64-bit release are described as an Intel Core2Duo with 2GB of RAM. Opting for an Ubuntu-based distribution for example would provide support for Debian packages, while a Raspbian release makes it easy to install Puppy on a Raspberry Pi device. This means you can pick from Ubuntu, Raspbian, or Slackware-based Puppy Linux releases, depending on your preference. Puppy Linux describes itself as a collection of multiple Linux distributions that share the same principles, a unique set of apps and configurations, and the same consistent behaviors and features. It uses a combination of JWM and ROX Desktop for a lightweight desktop experience. The average release weighs in at about 300MB, making it one of the smallest (but not the smallest) releases on this list. No list of lightweight Linux distros would be complete without Puppy Linux. Unfortunately, Linux Lite isn’t designed for 32-bit machines, with the project going 64-bit only from version 4.0 onwards. There’s also easy-to-follow documentation to get you started, covering many of the basic issues you may encounter including troubleshooting wireless networking and graphics performance. Linux Lite is a Debian-based distro, built on the LTS (long-term support) release of Ubuntu, so you get excellent software and hardware compatibility out of the box. There are lighter distributions out there, but they’re often not as user-friendly as Linux Lite. In terms of system requirements, you’ll need a processor that can hit 1.5GHz, 1GB of RAM, and 20GB of hard drive space if you want to install Linux Lite to disk. Not only is Linux Lite designed to be lightweight and responsive even on older computers, but it’s also designed with Linux newbies in mind (particularly Windows users). This is reflected in a simple, Windows 95-esque Xfce desktop environment that uses a familiar taskbar with a “Menu” button that looks almost identical to an older Windows “Start” menu. For a similar experience with the Xfce window manager, check out Xubuntu. ![]() If you like the idea of a Debian-based distribution but Ubuntu feels sluggish, Lubuntu is a great start. Lubuntu comes with a selection of pre-installed applications including web browser Firefox, media player MPlayer, and the Transmission BitTorrent client. It still maintains the same broad software support for Debian binaries seen in the full-fat release, plus the excellent APT package manager. The project doesn’t specify minimum system requirements in each release, but instead notes that ideal computers “should not be more than 10 years old (although some older computers are known to work as well)”. For that reason, Lubuntu no longer comes with 32-bit support for older machines that lack a modern processor.
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