Collection of Linux Distributions for Old PCs

More than once we have asked ourselves what to do with an old computer, which is there in a corner collecting dust and dirt, whose resources are poor compared to the super pipe we have now. However, nostalgia and the little sanity that remains of us, advise us not to throw it away. In these computers, Linux is a safe bet, not only for costs, but also for reliability, stability and guarantee that you will be able to "resurrect »That computer that you loved so much.


The distros mentioned in this post are little known but, at the same time, they are ideal for old PCs, with few resources; in truth, they are mainly focused on compus ranging from a 486 to more current computers and almost all can work perfectly with just 64Mb of RAM (although some of them even with less).

All the distros include: graphical environment, network support, internet, and a series of minimal utilities (office automation, chat, mail, graphic design, programming, etc.).

MuLinux

http://sourceforge.net/projects/mulinux/

muLinux is a minimalist version of Linux that barely takes up TWO MEGAS !!!. You can download addons and extend the operating system: server extensions (Samba, Smail,…), Workstation extensions (mutt, ssh, PGP,…), XWindow (VGA-16, fvwm95, Afterstep, wm2), VNC, gcc ( make, nasm, yacc & lex, Fortran, Pascal), TCL / TK, Perl language and libc6 support, Wine, DosEMU, Java virtual machine (Kaffe compiler, sshd), Netscape ... It can be run in RAM from CD, or clone it in HDD. There is also an ISO that can be booted from CD that includes XFCE, Netscape, GTK + and Gnome, Gimp, OpenOffice, etc. Obviously, it requires more space, memory, and resources.

Screenshot:

Damn Small Linux

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/l

Incredible distribution that occupies only 50MB, and that can be booted from a CD, a pendrive or a Flash card. It can run remarkably fast even on a 486 computer with 16MB RAM. It has a graphical desktop with FluxBox interface, and it doesn't lack anything: multimedia player, FTP client, web browser, mail manager, instant messaging, word processor, spreadsheet, text editor, image viewer, PDF viewer, system monitoring, games, etc.

Screenshot:

Slax

http://www.slax.org/

Magnificent distribution that occupies about 190MB and that is booted from CD, USB or hard disk, allowing to save the configuration online. It is based on Slackware, and only needs a 486 (or higher) computer with 36MB of RAM to boot (96MB for XWindow with FluxBox, 144MB with KDE or 328MB to run entirely from memory). Includes Kernel 2.6, ALSA sound drivers, support for WiFi cards, FluxBox, KDE 3.5, Abiword, Gaim, Firefox, Flash, Wine, QEmu, MySQL, network and internet tools, XVid, Samba, MPlayer, KOffice, games, etc. .

goblin x mini

http://www.goblinx.com.br/

Lightweight distribution, occupying only 150MB. Includes XFCE, Abiword, Firefox, Gaim, Gcalctool, Gdhcpd, Gimp, Gnumeric, Hardinfo, Urlgfe, Xmms, GnomeBaker, Xpdf, etc. Launches from CD (CD Live)

Screenshot:

lamppix

http://lamppix.tinowagner.com/

This distribution is specially designed for Web developers. Includes MySQL, PostgreSQL, PHP, Apache. There are two versions: one with the XFCE environment (about 200MB) and a mini one (about 150MB), which consumes very few resources when using FluxBox and Firefox.

Screenshot:

XFLD

http://www.xfld.org/

XFLD is a complete distribution used to demonstrate the qualities of the XFCE environment, which is a graphical interface very similar to KDE, but which consumes very few resources. XFLD includes XFCE4.4, OpenOffice, Gimp, Firefox, Thunderbird, Abiword, Wireshark, Gaim, Ruby, Python, Perl, gcc, gnumeric, gXine, vim, etc.

Screenshot:

Xubuntu

http://www.xubuntu.org/

The XFCE4 version of Ubuntu and KUbuntu, whose interface is very similar to that of KDE, but consumes much less resources. It can be run in Live from the CD, or installed on the hard disk. It is a complete operating system, ideal for Pentium II or higher computers, automatically detecting any device, such as USB ports, CDROM, PCMCIA, network, etc. You can surf the internet (Firefox), write emails (Thunderbird), chat (Gaim), browse the file system, use a complete office suite (Abiword and gnumeric), calendar (Orage), listen to music (xfmedia), see movies (xfmedia), edit images (The Gimp), burn CDs (xfburn), etc. You can use it in Spanish.

Linux Vector

http://vectorlinux.com/

Complete Linux distribution with XFCE4, Fluxbox and Icewnd interfaces. It incorporates Firefox, Dillo, Gaim, XChat, MPlayer, Flash, Acrobat Reader, Abiword, XView, GQView, XMMS, etc. The deluxe version incorporates many more applications, such as OpenOffice, Apache, MySQL, The Gimp, etc. It also has a "Deluxe" version that includes some additional options.

Screenshot:

Zenwalk

A distribution to take into account, since there are four versions that adapt to your needs. Use XFCE 4.4, you can surf the internet, manage email, listen to music, watch videos, program in C, Perl, Python, Ruby, etc; scan, print, office automation, image editing, games, etc. You can use it in Spanish.

Screenshot:




dreamlinux

http://www.dreamlinux.com.br

Distribution based on Debian, which uses the XFCE 4.4 interface, and has two versions, one specially focused on design and multimedia, which includes OpenOffice, GimpShop, Inkscape, Blender 3D, Gxine, Mplayer, Kino DV, AviDemux, GnomeBaker, Audacity, etc. It can be booted from CD or installed on the hard drive. Support the Spanish language. You will be able to browse the internet (Firefox with Java plugins, Flash, audio, video, etc.), manage email, chat (aMSN), read PDF files (Evince), organize your tasks and agenda (Orage), office automation (OpenOffice) ), listen to music (XMMS and Gxine), edit audio (Audacity), extract audio tracks from CDs (Grip), burn audio CDs (Gnomebaker), record videos from a digital camera (Kino), edit videos (AviDemux), copy DVD's (XdvdShrink), play any multimedia file (MPlayer), etc.

Download DreamLinux

sam linux

http://sam.hipsurfer.com/

Very complete distribution that uses the XFCE4.4 interface and the 3D Beryl + Emerald interface. Includes: OpenOffice, Abiword, Gnumeric, Orage, Firefox, Opera, Gaim, Xchat, gFtp, Skype, VNC, putty, MPlayer, gXine, Xmms, Grip, GnomeBaker, RealPlayer, TV Time, Gimp, eVince, FLPhoto, GQView, XSane , games, security tools, Wine, BlueFish, etc.

Download Samlinux

Screenshot:


18 comments, leave yours

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *

*

*

  1. Responsible for the data: Miguel Ángel Gatón
  2. Purpose of the data: Control SPAM, comment management.
  3. Legitimation: Your consent
  4. Communication of the data: The data will not be communicated to third parties except by legal obligation.
  5. Data storage: Database hosted by Occentus Networks (EU)
  6. Rights: At any time you can limit, recover and delete your information.

  1.   Let's use Linux said

    Thanks Marcos! A hug! Paul.

  2.   Juniors Calderon said

    Good post!
    Great to recover old pc xD

  3.   Juniors Calderon said

    And it is good indeed!

  4.   hugi said

    Puppy Linux was missing! 😀 that's the one I use 😀

  5.   Let's use Linux said

    If it can be…

    2012/11/28

  6.   Christian said

    Lubuntu missing

  7.   Daniel Soster said

    Very good! I'm always looking to lift an old PC. one that I used and it gave me a lot of results is TINY CORE http://distro.ibiblio.org/tinycorelinux/welcome.html it works from CD and connects to the internet at the touch.

  8.   MARCOS_BARRI said

    VERY GOOD CRAZY I CONGRATULATE YOU..RE CAPO !!!!!!!

  9.   claudio said

    Hello, I am a psychologist, passionate about free software, I have just started a small project to help low-income people to be as up-to-date their computers as possible, I am from Nicaragua and as you know, a $ 300 computer is a real luxury, The fact is that most of the people I help have a pc with very very slow xp running with about 250mb of ram, the question is, I need a light distro that goes a bit fast and that at the same time their browser plays fluently youtube, since these people use these computers for video and educational things, some are in libraries and things like that, you could recommend me, I have tried lubuntu 12.04 but it is slower than xp

    1.    let's use linux said

      Make it look similar to WinXP: Bodhi Linux (Enlightenment) or Crunchbang (Openbox).
      You can also try these distros: https://blog.desdelinux.net/las-mejores-mini-distribuciones-linux/
      Hug! Paul.

    2.    JOSE BEJARANO said

      Greetings Claudio, you could try manjaro or asturix lite uses few resources and they have what it takes, they are very good.

  10.   claudio said

    by the way it also has to reproduce sounds

  11.   FSAR said

    I am nothing on this subject, but I admire for the sacrifice and time that the person uses to expose their knowledge in order to help another person with little knowledge, everything that is written, if one tests, and does as must do, most have no errors

  12.   Alexandra said

    hello I saw this post, and I just wanted to know if someone can help me .. recently install xubuntu 7.10 alternate on an old pc and everything is fine .. the only thing is that the codecs to play videos and music no longer exist because they no longer It has support, and searching the web I found several links to update, I did it but the problem continues .. if someone could tell me where I can locate them, I would greatly appreciate it.

    1.    sieg84 said

      Maybe it will help you to change the repositories, rather the direction to old releases there are already several guides for that.
      luck

  13.   johnk said

    Hello, greetings to all, thanks for the contribution since those of us who seek to know linux for something have to start and these are 10, I would like to start from 0 but, well, something is something and better than nothing.-

  14.   jose said

    Zenwalk I tried to install this operating system in an ibm piv processor intel 2800 memory ddr400 1.5 gb and nothing I installed it in an intel processor e3.2 ddr3 8 gb and fast and how complicated to install it I do not think it is for low-resource pc anymore linux is becoming like windows leaving the middle class or lower if you can bring your pc up to date

  15.   Mario said

    José not all Linux are for that. In fact there are many versions for luxury pc and most of the most used as redhat are for business servers. There are some distros to revive old gadgets but nowadays it only works if we do not take into account the light or we are working in an SME whose old PC can be reused due to the lack of resources for the it area.