Strapped for hard disk space? Install one of these lightweight Linux distros to make your PC usable again.

Do you have an old PC lying around gathering dust? How about a small-capacity USB flash drive sitting, unloved in a drawer? You can reuse your old computer and a USB flash drive by installing a tiny Linux distribution.

Mini Linux distros are great as they require fewer system resources than other options yet still deliver a whole operating system experience, and we have nine of the smallest Linux distros for you to choose from.

  • db2@lemmy.world
    74·
    11 months ago

    tl;dr:

    ArchBang
    Tiny Core Linux
    Absolute Linux
    Porteus
    Puppy Linux
    SliTaz
    antiX Linux
    Bodhi Linux
    Linux Lite

    • LeFantome@programming.dev
      5·
      11 months ago

      I was impressed with antiX as a light-weight system. If you are ok with a tiling window manager, ArchBang is good too.

      They are essentially stripped-down Debian and Arch respectively.

    • Montagge@kbin.earth
      5·
      11 months ago

      I didn’t care for PuppyLinux as it didn’t run well with even just Firefox open. I also didn’t care for the updating structure that seemed to be the idea that you just don’t update packages between releases. I could be wrong on that, but that was what I got from reading on how to keep things up to date. I did like how small it is and how it loads into memory on boot.

      AntiX wouldn’t let me install any packages or update. It would keep telling me I needed to wait a few hours to access the repos. I did like how you could swap between several desktop environments easily.

      • kanzalibrary@lemmy.ml
        41·
        11 months ago

        AntiX wouldn’t let me install any packages or update. It would keep telling me I needed to wait a few hours to access the repos. I did like how you could swap between several desktop environments easily.

        Just manual change the repo and problem solved…

        And I need to clarify this because AntiX IMO, under category Permacomputing for low power consumption without too much sacrificing the function than others [in my experiment].

            • Montagge@kbin.earth
              1·
              11 months ago

              Gotcha! I’ve never done that before so it didn’t occur to me to do it.

              Luckily Xubuntu did the trick on that old laptop

              • kanzalibrary@lemmy.ml
                1·
                11 months ago

                Luckily Xubuntu did the trick on that old laptop

                yeah, because ubuntu have more stable repo server than antix. but if i comparison two of them in power consumption, antix used less power 3x in ram than xubun.

      • BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world
        2·
        11 months ago

        The lack of systemd was something I couldn’t get over. I mean the alternative service managers are good but a few apps I really need have a strong dependency on systemd and the adapter packages just weren’t working. Otherwise I highly recommend AntiX. It made my old netbook feel useful again.