Yes, Linux can revive your old PC
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- čas přidán 30. 05. 2024
- Can a certain light-weight linux distro make old PC usable and secure again? Let's find out!
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Linux requires less resources to run and therefore can help make an old, forgotten and perhaps obsolete PC run decently again. In this video we will be installing various Linux distros on 2008 HP 4510S laptop. While this laptop can still run Windows 7 fairly well and feels snappy, the OS isn't well supported anymore and is not safe to use due to the lack of security updates. Windows 11 or 10 can be installed but makes this PC barely run. So, let's try installing Linux and hopefully make this HP laptop great again!
Today we will test Linux Mint, Pop!_OS and Lubuntu to see if these distros can help our PC run faster!
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CHAPTERS
0:00 Old PC struggles to run Windows
1:33 Linux Mint
2:08 Pop!_OS
2:43 Lubuntu
4:03 Conclusion
Host, Writing: Gvidas Mirinauskas
Video Editing: Gabija Ruzgaitė
Camera: Justinas Kyga
#surfshark #linux #retropc - Věda a technologie
Lubuntu rules
Lubuntu is okay, but U think Kubuntu has better functionality.
lxqt desktop with kwin
Debian >
With KDE of course
@@CentroidYT Yes, I don't like Lububtu anymore
Try installing SSD into this thing. You only need to buy 1 part, yet this 1 part will speed up this laptop by dozens of times.
@@bjpgaming592 linux will also work much faster on an SSD
But outdated CPU will say the opposite thing
@@user-zb9iu5mf8pCorrect. The CPU will present a bottleneck, but upgrading the drive to an SSD and exploring taking the RAM to 4gb, will definitely make Linux much more manageable.
You should have swapped out the HDD for an SSD. Then, you should have installed the XFCE flavor of Linux Mint instead of Mate. That is Mint's light weight version and will usually install and run on a lot more hardware than the Mate or Cinnamon versions.
True! But I wanted to see how it would run without any upgrades
For default Linux mint uses fork of gnome called cinnamon not mate
In Mint, Cinnamon is my favorite. As far as resource usage, it's heavier than XFCE but lighter than KDE, and the same holds true for its customizability. I consider it KDE-Lite, because I can make the interface really, really nice, but it's lighter. For low-end stuff though I do always use XFCE because it's super-customizable too, much more to me than even lighter DE's like LXQT.
@@SurfsharkAcademyyou don't get it, he's saying you need not upgrade. Just install XFCE
@@SurfsharkAcademy IF you were to upgrade to a $75 Samsung 870 EVO SATA 500 GB SSD + 2 * $65 Crucial 4GB SODIMM RAM (DDR2 is now expensive), it would cost you $205. You would have a fairly fast laptop for daily chores, not gaming though.
Sorry to see Mint Mate not work for you, I too am very fond of that desktop. Ubuntu Mate is also a great distro. If you want slightly better looking and more features, I'd say XFCE is also a great choice, right on par with mate, but only slightly more resources than lxde, and less than mate. xubuntu is an excellent distro that served me well over the years.
Worked for me on my hp 4530s by simply clicking uefi on (selecting UEFI) in the BIOS. after install.
I installed Lubuntu somme months ago on old pc with 2go and updated with a small ssd , surfshark installed , runs well for normal use
For first time linux users I would recommend going with debain or ubuntu. As generally these distros are easier to look up help for if something goes wrong. I think what he might have overlooked is that someone going from windows to linux might wanna use a distro that looks like windows. Hence linux light is good because it looks similar to windows. Gnome on the other hand is meant more to look like mac os. Furthermore he forget to mention the support cycle I think debian and ubuntu usually have 5 years of software updates. However ubuntu can get as much as 10 years of security updates.
debian gets package updates every 76 blue moons
I made my old laptop look and feel like Windows 95 (Chicago 95 theme for XFCE) hahha I love it
One question , Why only Lubuntu? There are also More lightweight better linux disto option like name a few, Antix linux , Bodhi linux , Linux lite?
I'll be honest I'm still fairly new to Linux, these distros were just the ones I saw being recommended online but I'll be sure to check the ones you mentioned, thanks !
@@SurfsharkAcademyYeah, I have saw a lot of recommendations for Lubuntu, Maybe It's just like windows 7 with support for old laptop with hdd and cannot be updated more. Yeah, Lubuntu maybe will be the best linux distro as an all rounder linux distro😅And also Other linux distro like I mentioned has some cons like limited support , community , updates, etc. While Lubuntu having no cons so far as I know.
My guess is because lubuntu is an official Ubuntu flavor, and it's the lightest official Ubuntu flavor. However, if you want to be as light as possible, then I would use anti Linux. I wouldn't use anything lighter than anti Linux because at that point, it's an independent distro. Furthermore, each have thier flaws for example. Most Linux distros use an init system called system d some people hate it because they claim it does not follow the Unix philosophy. I tried using Linux distros that don't use system d void linux, which is another good example. However, since 80% of Linux distros use system d, you're gonna be confused as the commands are slightly different between each init system. And from what I read, snaps require system d to run. I tested this myself, and the Snap store won't work on anti Linux because it's does not use system d. Furthermore, you will never see a Linux distro that does not use system d run gnome because from what I read, Gnome needs system d to function. Hence why you never see, for example, void linux ship with a gnome desktop.
And if you're wondering what an init system is, it's basically a manager in charge of running all the processes. And since each one if different they will all function differently.
@@darkiceywolf2953As I read your comment, Yeah that Lubuntu is the lightest favour of Ubuntu, Im saying this Since , It can run on 700 mhz single core and 512 mb ram while others like Antix as you mentioned can work, there are cons and flaws like Though it can run better and smooth, most of these linux distro doesn't have much support , limited community , updates doesn't come frequently and Any problems you face with can be come instantly by just searching in Google, you have to solve the problem by yourself but in the case of Lubuntu , its popular and as soon as Ubuntu releases updates/Or any features , Lubuntu as early as possible releases in their os as well. It can run The basic apps and you can download more apps with no problem and the updates , software interface and etc, are good and no cons I see in Lubuntu except for few computers. I think, cuz of these reasons Lubuntu might be one of the best lightweight linux distro.
antiX is best "works out of the box" solution for old PC.
I was given that very same laptop several years ago, and saved it with MX Linux. All of the Ubuntu derivatives give me problems on some of my low-end devices because Snaps just won't work on them, so disabling those is another setup process step that you don't have to do with Mint. My favorite Debian-based distro now is LMDE...awesome. But Arch feels snappier and more efficient, so I'm running RebornOS on my bottom-end stuff.
Upgrade your computer or laptop with SSD, it cost nothing anymore, I am used to buy lots of stuff from China and 1 of the suppliers has a sales out, its amazing, the price for good working SSD. 2 years ago I did check the top 10 of Distrowatch and I concluded that Linux Mint was mine. I liked the looks of Win XP and Win 7, so for everyone who is used to have Windows, change to Linux Mint (I use Cinnamon) is very easy, but as said, use a nice SSD, a 500GB you can buy for less then 20 USD.
I love linux mint cinnamon edition. I use it on all my computers. I had a high end Toshiba laptop from 2009 and till about 2 years ago when the cpu shorted out. I was running the full blown version Of Linux mint on it with no issues. The last laptop I dug out, was a low end on from about 2006 for my brother's kid to use. I put zorin lite on it. It was about bout 2 years older than the recomended specs, but it works. A little slow, and video isn't that great. but is funtional for school work. Not bad for a nearly 18 year old laptop 🙂 I had wanted to put puppy linux on it, but it was just downright confusing which version to use so I just didn't bother. I'm no techie, I just know enough to put an OS on a drive.
Everybody forgets LMDE is the fourth flavor of Mint... and probably the best
Although it is actually not a flavour. It is based on Debian ( hence the name Linux Mint Debian Edition ),and not on Ubuntu.The Mint team is prepairing for the future. With Canonical ( (K)(L)(X)Ubuntu ) you never know. I like that you mentioned it. I run it with MX, Garuda and Win10 on the same disk.
@@patricktrakzel9657 IT is a flavor of Linux Mint
Because it is called Mint.
LMDE 6 is a great choice
I am a Linux user and I would tell you to that the best choice is to keep Windows and spend less than $40 to upgrade to a SSD and the memory to 8GB. The laptop will fly compared to what it was. If you arent already a Linux user, the modest performance gain by switching to a Linux distro is not worth the effort of switching operating systems. Even if you are a Linux user and you were going to keep this laptop, you should pay for these upgrades anyway.
Mageia 9 Xfce would run on it. It might have some issues if you try multitasking, or have too many Firefox tabs open at one time, but it would work. My brother is running Mageia 9 Plasma on a Core 2 Duo desktop, but the RAM has been upgraded to 8GB and it has an SSD. I also have it running on a Core 2 Quad with 4GB and no SSD. Slower, but still usable. BTW, Mageia is rpm-based, like Fedora, so it will not run your Surfshark Linux app, but it works adequately by using the Openvpn protocol with Network Manager. Still, it would be nice to have an rpm-based version of your app someday.
I brought back to live and installed Chicago95 (a win95 theme for XFCE) on top of my very lightweight distro (AntiX) running on an Intel Duo 2 GB DDR2 Dell D830 ThinkPad and I love it lol, I can experience the nostalgia on a modern, more secure and faster OS
(I have a more "modern" rice with rounded edges, transparency, blur, like cool app launchers and all on top of my Arch with Qtile, its so damn clean and efficient to use)
(I have only tried Ubuntu a little before and now installed Arch on a USB, on my PC, Debian on a touchscreen 32bit laptop and yeah AntiX)
You should have tried out manjaro xfce edition its really lightweight and works good i tried it on my old laptop which had only 2gb ram and very low specs and it ran fine
I love linux. I don't game on my 'puter so I have no use for any windows distro.
windows distro?
I have an old laptop circa 2005. It is a 32bit machine with 2 gb of ram. It originally came with windows xp. I tried putting windows 7 on it but it just runs way too slow. Which distro of linux would you recommend trying? It has to support a 32 bit machine. I think Mint and Lubuntu are only 64 bit. Thanks!
AntiX, Q4OS (trinity edition) or eLive
ok. i mean not to mention you could theorethically run the OS from ram and still have more free ram than you would with windows(tho boot times might suffer with that method). while a core2duo should thorethically be enough to run windows 10, it would definetly be sluggish specially if there is an update happening in the background.
I have Hp pressiro v2000 i need to revive it how can i do , i want to attend classes on it ?
I know this video is old, but, Puppy linux will do amazing on this.
Basically, decision that matters 'the most' in most cases is not the distro itself, but what desktop environment you choose.
imagine getting a laptop from 2005 with windows xp to be able to run youtube with few problems. I did that.
"Better" linux DE options for older hardware would be lxqt (in your case it was in the form of lubuntu) and xfce 🙂
* whispers * surfshark flatpaaaaaaaak....
🙂
I have old Dell Latitude e6420 laptop which has hdd 500 mb space and 4 gb ram. I want to bring it back to life and for me my favourite lightweight linux distro is Peppermint OS. At least for me. My laptops works well and faster than before with it. I tried lubuntu but for me it was too ugly. I tried zorin lite but it was slow and from time to time it freezed for loong time and you can't do anything on it. So I chose Peppermint and for old hardware it became my favourite.
I have the same problem with linux mint. I tried many times to install it and always failed. Hopefully they'll find a solution to work around that in the near future. (Its always the hp laptops, i dont get it)
Worked for me on my hp 4530s by simply clicking uefi on (selecting UEFI) in the BIOS.
Photo editing? I am thinking RawTherapee and GIMP.
make sure to defrag the older hard disks, it probably explains the slowness on windows 7.
i have linux mint on my laptop (and windows 7 for old games)
LMDE 6 is great 😃
i will tell you how to fix booting linux mint. when you turn on computer and see that text where you can choose to get to bios with del or f2. hold or clicks SHIFT or ESC to get to grep. Then You will need to chose option compatibility mode then boot normaly, get into desktop, set up driver and restart. that fixed mine mint 21.
ps its XFCE
You should have tried 32Bit Ubuntu MATE Edition....
Maybe for a future video!
There is no such thing as 32bit Ubuntu MATE, only 64bit.
The security thing is FUD to push people to buy new software and VPNs. You can use WinXP or a stripped down Server 2008 on the PC, and use other old software of its time without compromising on the features. You still had to struggle finding a Linux that runs ok. It's a disgrace. All software today is made on heavy frameworks to display a basic dialog.
Swapout your HDD for an SSD. Install LMDE 6. Job done.
The "edge" version of Linux Mint would have worked with this laptop. The reason why the live usb worked but not the installed version, is because the live usb uses a newer kernel. The edge version of mint, that installs a newer kernel, would work with this laptop fine.
I have dual boot system with Windows 10 and Solus Linux also Windows installed on M.2 SSD and Solus Linux installed on regular laptop HDD but Linux much faster boot, shutdown and application loading. If Linux has native commericial applications that available on windows easily Linux get win.
Kubuntu linux works great on my hp laptop
Xubuntu is lighter than Kubuntu
I am just now seeing this video and questioning that you were not able to get Mint Mate to boot. I see nothing about what you tried to do to troubleshoot it either.
It would get stuck on a bootloop, I've tried changing settings within Rufus, different USB sticks and Mint versions but nothing worked, I'd love to revisit it in a later video if there's time
Very True!
Yes
I literally am in the process of doing this.
This video is amazing, idk if it counts but i installed chrome os flex on my grandma's laptop and now she can email without waiting 15 minutes
That's great!
I had my windows xp pc from 2011 and i didnt upgrade it only for ram and now its working fine with windows 8.1
Yes, but no more browser updates for 8.1 will force you to switch to linux in one year at the latest.
@@user-lx6ou3bl6b well I'm planning for creating my own lite windows 10 version and maybe windows 11 because my CPU supports x64 arc and Linux didn't work with me and the community for it is small
Debian with flatpak. FTW
Here’s what I’m thinking I have and old laptop slowly aging in the closet I have a desktop not laptop so what if I get old laptop and install light weight Linux to make it run bare ably and then use it as mp4/mkv player
Thanks for the video. The only thing is that income tax software requires either a Windows or a Mac. From what I hear, Wine is hit or miss.
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Ok
Linux plus google docs is more than enough
Lubuntu is one of the best linux distros ❤
For older pcs or laptops you may be right but if we are takling about newer and more capable computers than i would recommend something differen. (At least a different desktop environment)
Fedora with lxqt my fav
@@vulnoryxI think mint is best middle ground between heavy and light distros with look and lightness
@@BhushanPatil-gz5fk especially for new linux users.
@@vulnoryx yea
Mint XFCE might be the ticket since it's designed to be lighter.
Indeed I believe so as well!
I installed mint XFCE on a dual core thinkpad yoga with 8gb ram. Pretty overkill but runs flawlessly out of the box and uses less than a gig of ram at idle.
I use Mint Cinnamon on a 2013 celeron laptop and it works well if u disable animations.
LMDE 6 👍
You can simply install on your old PC, Windows 10 Lite or Windows LTSC Edition, that's it.... 🙂
You're talking about a custom rom of Windows and a version of Windows made for enterprise where it's not easily available without skepticism (Don't install a pirated iso from the internet or a custom rom)
Manjaro Xfce or Bodhi Linux are much better than Lubuntu 👍
Just give them a try!
4qos the best for old pc
Great.
yes and no. By no, I mean more distros are dropping 32 bit.
Crap hardware will always be crap hardware, no OS can fix that.
❤
If u want, try LocOs Linux too, very usefull OS!
Well if your laptop can’t support Linux,then it’s obsolete
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Yes