The problem with advancement of technology is that it makes the old gadgets almost obsolete. And it happens mostly in case of computers. We do not buy computers/laptops every six month or every year, well most of us don’t. But the fast pace of software development always make our six-months old PC looks old and slow.
The new Ubuntu, Fedora and all other major Linux distributions relies heavily on upgraded hardware. Gnome 3 and Unity both used 3D hardware acceleration. It seems that with time the major Linux distributions will focus more on utilizing the best of hardware capabilities and running these OS will require good hardware configuration. But what about your good old computer that is low on RAM, disk space, cache memory? Is it time to dispose them because you do not have good operating system to run on it? No, not at all. The beauty of Linux is that it has something for everyone. And in this post we will see some really lightweight Linux operating System that can be run on your grandma’s computer (pun intended, no offense to your grandma and her computer).
1. Puppy Linux:
Like the name suggests, it is a cute little adorable puppy. This highly popular Linux distro is equally lightweight as well. It is available in various sizes with maximum up to 100 MB in total. It can be easily installed on CD and USB drive. It can be run on a computer with as low as Pentium II processor and with 128 MB ram. Amazing isn’t it? Despite of that it has most of the functionalities of a major Linux distro.
2. SliTaz:
SliTaz perfectly fits the proverb “good things come in small packages”. With a total download size of less than 30 MB, it provides the basic functionalities of not only desktop but a server as well. A growing community is always there to provide support. The lightweight has different variants that can even ran from a computer with a memory as low as 16 MB. The maximum RAM requirement for any version is less than 200 MB. With its full features, it is ideal for low-end netbooks.
3. Damn Small Linux:
Damn Small Linux is a mini Linux variant with a size of less less than 50 MB. Starting from a RAM size of as low as 16 MB it can be run at its full capacity on a 128 MB RAM with blazing fast speed. It can be run from a live CD, USB drive and from inside Windows (wow). It also has server capabilities with SSH/FTP and HTTPD and can be run from live CD. It comes with a decent number of application that can be needed in basic OS. When installed on hard disk, it can be used as a Debian OS.
4. Zenix:
A beautiful Debian based Linux OS Zenix requires RAM as little as 60 MB and runs flawlessly with a RAM of 128 MB. It comes with quite decent application package and its stunning killer looks give it an edge over others. Like others, it can also be run in live environment from a CD drive or a USB.
5. The Floppy Linux:
There is no Linux distro with the name “Floppy Linux”. What? Then why did I put it here? Well, Floppy Linux a category of Linux distributions that can be run from, hold your heart, a floppy drive. Yes, the same obsolete floppy drive which you saw years back and the children of this generation have seen only in books and these are the Linux OS which can be used on your grandma’s computer (literally). Providing really basic functions of an operating system, even wireless connectivity, these OS rely heavily on command line while being low on GUI part. The main “floppy linux” are:
These floppy Linux are boon for dying computer with old-age hardware and give you a reason not to throw away the decades old computer.
What do you think? Are these Linux OS reason good enough not to throw your old-box in trash? Do let us know. Please do subscribe to the newsletter to stay updated with latest tips and tricks. Cheers :)
Zenix is no longer being developed, and the website is broken. In fact, it hasn’t been supported by anyone since 2008. As such, it deserves no place in this list. Bodhi is a suitable replacement, capable of running at full throttle on RAMs between 128 and 256 mb, and looking snazzy as hell with E17 for a desktop.
When I last used Zenix on my old laptop of 128 MB RAM, It worked excellent with it. This is why I mentioned it here. By the way, when I wrote the article last week, the site was very well and kicking.
I Use Bodhi Linux with great pleasure, but I’d love to try Zenix as well. Even if it is a bit old It might be worth a try on an old device. Can you tell us a working mirror hosting Zenix OS ?
Can’t believe there’s no mention of Lubuntu!
I’m awaiting Lububtu 12.04 release. I’ve already decided that’s where I’m going from 10.04 LTS Ubuntu.
Ditto :)
Hi Jay,
All the Linux version discussed here has the maximum RAM requirement of 128 MB. Lubuntu is a great lightweight linux distro, but it requires a minimum of 128 MB RAM to function in okay state and 512 MB RAM to function properly.
This is the reason why I chose to omit Lubuntu out of the list as my main focus was on distribution which works great with upto 128 MB RAM.
And add that Lubuntu requires 8gb disk space compared to the rest of the distros listed here.
Ive been loving Lubuntu on my Asus Netbook – So much so that it may become a partner for Windows on my desktop PC when I get around to dual booting. Its great!
Puppy it s the best
Do all these distros allow running AVI and Youtube movies smoothly?
What about Flash?
We can say R.I.P. to both DSL and Zenix. In fact they’re dead. Why haven’t you chosen lightweight Linux distribution that are actively maintained now , e.g. 4MLinux ?
Fool ! It’s Slitaz the Best !
Antix M8 is great for older computers, I tried all the above before settling on Antix. The only one that would successively boot.
On distrowatch – how about ConnochaetOS 0.9.1 released today, runs on a Pentium 1 64M RAM, maybe worth looking into :)
sounds interesting
Arch with a LXDE desktop is plenty fast on a 1.6 gig single core with 512 meg ram.
is there any of them with wifi
All of them..
Vector Linux is pretty good, and it has wifi, though wifi didn’t work for me with VL light until I installed it, not live.
Slackware 13.37 on 8 years old athlon XP with 768 mb of ram….
I surely missed this one.
What do you mean finding one light enough for the P4s? I run full mainstream distros on P4s all the time…
Unbelievable! This Linux Operating Systems is ROCKS! i have 2 old pc’s and i test it! i said… stand up! oh! yeah! it’s alive!!!
What About Xpud? is it being actively developed.
I run ConnochaetOS on a 233MHz with 64MB RAM. One can do all the work they used to do back in the days when the computer was new, but with today’s software. It’s not so new any more, instead it’s GNU.
I’m using Porteus 1.2. distibution. So far, it works quite well on my laptop.
Great work. Appreciate you putting this together. My first distro was slackware in 1995 on CD(elf). Linux is a great alternative. I’ve seen linux worn on a shirt(small 486 firmware board), and connected to glasses, playing Quake, that was ten years ago. Let’s get fired up!!!
Most of these are valid OS’s. Puppy,Slytaz and DSL are the lightest I have used, but configuration of WIFI is diffacult at best. A direct eithernet connection is easiest. The configuration can be done, but a great deal of reading and having a copy of what to do in front of you when you actually do it really helps. I have also tried tinyos(nogui). If you try this one you will see what I am talking about. Learning NDISwrapper and WICD(pronounced Wicked) will help. OS’s that will have a desktop and functional menu’s and configuration below 200mb(ram) will always be limited, but are configurable if you are willing to spend the time. An option that I have not seen listed in here is that you may be able to “shoe horn” a larger os onto a hard drive with imaging software. This lets the ram free up to help set up the os. This takes a lot of carefull setup, but lets a larger os run on less hardware. Care must be used in selecting applications to be used also. Firefox, Internet explorer, Safari, or many of the browsers are resource intense programs. Window managers are another way to critically reduce ram usage. LXDE, XFCE, Fluxbox, Openbox, are just a few choices. These don’t have the “eye candy” as the high end hardware, but are fully functional. In the end you will have to make choices to run a modern OS on limited hardware. Even windows 3.1 can be set up to do modern things. Check out freedos or Reactos. Remember; Dos was the first OS and came out on everything when the first machines came out. and still has it’s functionality. Other extreme light weight OS’s that I have seen here that need mentioning are Knoppix, Open SUSE, and Peppermint(older versions). If your machine can boot any of these, you may be able to configure your wifi easily.
Damnsmall Linux has been reborn and is active once again, with two recent releases in a short span of time. Nice to see it active again.
AntiX with full LXDE runs on 64 MB RAM. Much lighter, than Lubuntu. HDD usage is also much smaller. Since iceweasel uses ~40MB of RAM to display a single page, web surfing with AntiX is possible on 128 MB. Of course you need 256 MB to run web browser with multiple tabs open and Skype (80 MB alone) at the same time.
I managed to go down to 32MB idle with fluxbox. It’s uses debian testing repos.
These all do pretty well on old computers with low RAM. I highly agree with Puppy Linux and Slitaz being on your list. Damn Small Linux does a decent job on running on some old PC’s as well and deserves to be there. It surprises me though, that you didn’t include AntiX on that list. It performs pretty well on old computers, and it is light weight as well.
I did my own test on this to see what were the best light weight linux distro’s for old computers. I tested out various light weight linux distro’s to see what would perform the best on some pretty old computers. I tested them on computers with 64mb of RAM, 128mb of RAM, and 256mb of RAM. Puppy Linux, AntiX, Slitaz, and BrowserLinux all did well. Slax did alright with 256mb, but much better 512mb of RAM.
In my test and comparison Puppy Linux, AntiX, Slitaz, BrowserLinux, and Slax were the one’s that worked the best for me with the old hardware I was using each one of those on. I did a write up and created a list about which one’s worked the best for these dinosaur machines, which can be found here: http://jponline.hubpages.com/hub/Best-Linux-For-Old-Computer
I tested all of these on really old PC’s and laptops, and they all performed well. Puppy Linux, AntiX, Slitaz, and BrowserLinux were the best in terms of speed and performance. Slax was very cool. It ran decent on a 256mb computer of mine. It ran much better on 512mb of RAM equipped computer though. So I wouldn’t recommend using it on a computer with less than 256mb of RAM. Preferabley 512mb of RAM.
I tried hard to find a linux distro that would beat Puppy Linux’s ease of use, AP installer options, speed with little RAM, and couldn’t really find anything to beat it. AntiX came close in terms of speed. And of course, if you can get Slitaz to boot up or BrowserLinux you can get them to run like lighting.
I used tinycore linux on thin client about 13 mb of hard disk and it runs on128mb ram computers