Alternative OS to MS OS's.

[Paul Black]

Good afternoon,

I was doing some sorting out in the loft over the weekend and came across a ten year [maybe even older] old laptop that has a 75GB HDD, 2GB of RAM, 32-bit and is currently running Windows Vista.

I want to try out [sometime in the near future] something new other than a MS OS [alternative]. I have seen many members here that dual boot MS OS's and alternative OS's [Linux, Lubuntu etc]. I am after an alternative OS that is lightweight and ideally at least includes if possible the following:

Web Browser
Task Manager
Command Prompt
Notepad
Paint
VLC

I understand that there are many different types/flavours of lightweight OS's that can either be installed or can boot and run from a live USB or DVD. On investigation, and this is only an example of course, I saw that TinyCore [Linux distro] is only 11MB in size. I just want something that is lightweight, doesn't use excessive amounts of resources, flexible and mosy importantly highly stable. I am curious what other members use!

Thanks in advance.

 

[Megahertz07]

Your old laptop is much better than mine.
I have Lubuntu (lubuntu lightweight, fast, easier) that is a light Ubuntu version, looks like Windows and works very well. It will work great on your laptop.
Mint OS and Zorin OS are other good OS.
Linux is fast, free and secure.
BUT, (there is always a "but") it isn't windows and most Windows programs don't work on a Linux machine, but there are equivalents for Linux.

 

[iko22]

As examples of two alternative operating systems that work on x86 architecture, I found one that is Android based and another that is UNIX based. The Android derivative is called Remix OS, I understand that it is discontinued now, but it might just work on your computer. Then, the UNIX derivative is called Darwin operating system. The licience is available as open source.

 

[mrjimphelps]

For a lightweight, quality Linux distro, I recommend Elementary OS. It is about the only thing that runs well on my old eMachines computer.

 

[file3456]

Puppy Linux? Or Damn Small Linux.

 

[Snick]

Linux Lite, looks and acts most like windows 7. I have Linux Lite x64, 2.002 beta installed dual boot on old Celeron laptop. Entire OS is less than 1 GB. Based upon Ubuntu and Debian.

 

[Paul Black]

Thanks everyone so far for all the recommendations, information and links, it is very much appreciated.

I have researched the suggestions provided with regard to what features they provide, the system resources they use/need and their capabilities. I noticed that the Zorin OS and Elementary OS require a payment. I have looked at the Remix OS and the UNIX derivative Darwin OS [Open Source OS from Apple that forms the basis for macOS] and don't think that is quite what I am after.

I have downloaded the Lubuntu OS, Linux Mint 18.3 Cinnamon Edition and Linux Lite as these seem very interesting and can be run live from a DVD or USB.

The Linux Mint 18.3 Cinnamon Edition is quite versatile with regard to the fact that it partitions the HDD [although I will partition the HDD myself prior to installing the OS using AOMEI Partition Assistant] along with the fact that it also appears to setup the dual-boot option for you. Please correct me if I am wrong.

The trouble also is that there are several versions for most of these which makes it even more difficult to decide on a particular system!

I think watching some YouTube videos on some of these is the next port of call.

 

[Snick]

This is how I have my dual boot set up. Grub is on Linux partition.
How to Dual Boot Windows and Linux. (The Nontraditional way)
I tried the Linux Lite 3.x versions which are larger than 1GB. Too much bloat for my needs.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi Snick,

What a great video, thanks for posting the link .
I like the use of EasyBCD to incorporate the Grub Boot Loader [add an entry] into the Windows Boot Loader [modify] rather than into the MBR, it just makes sense. Therefore if either one of the OS's goes down you can still boot into and use the other OS.

 

[Snick]

I've experienced bootloader issue when Windows 7 had a major update. It only broke the link to grub. Easy fix with EasyBCD.

 

[Paul Black]

Nice .

 

[michael diemer]

Re: Linux Lite: It is now my favorite Linux OS, and I've tried about 20 of them, with a BSD system to boot. However, the latest Linux Lite, 4.0, does not come in 32 bit. So, you will need to use one that does.

Another nice choice is LXLE. Also, Zorin and Elementary do not require a payment. Elementary really makes you think that, but all you have to do is choose "other" and put in zero. I have used zorin quite a bit, and have never seen that they require a payment (although I have twice made a donation).

I would stay away from unix systems if you're just coming from windows. Stay with linux. You can explore the other stuff later. you will have your hands full just figuring out linux.

Little things can matter a lot. For example, if you need a traditional start menu, like in windows, zorin lite would be a good choice. So would mint xfce. xfce refers to the desktop environment (other examples: mate, kde, lxde). xfce has the "whisker menu." It is very windows-like and easy to navigate, while also being attractive. The other DE's, while being easy enough to navigate, do not look like windows, which can throw some folks. My general advice for those moving to linux from windows: go for something that is as close to windows in look and function as possible. This is a bigger move than most realize. Make it easy on yourself. you can always get adventurous later on.

 

[mrjimphelps]

I noticed that the Zorin OS and Elementary OS require a payment.

You don't have to pay anything for Elementary OS - you can enter "0" into the amount block, as I recall. I didn't pay anything, and I successfully downloaded the OS.

 

[mrjimphelps]

I tried Linux Lite, but I found two issues which were dealbreakers for me:

1. I have a shared drive on my Linux Mint computer. I use Samba to share the drive with the network. Linux Lite would sometimes lose the connection to the drive, and I simply could not get it to find the drive. On occasion it would find it, but not very often.
2. USB flash drives didn't work reliably on my Linux Lite computer. Could have been a few bad drives - the ones I tried were all old.

 

[michael diemer]

I tried Linux Lite, but I found two issues which were dealbreakers for me:

1. I have a shared drive on my Linux Mint computer. I use Samba to share the drive with the network. Linux Lite would sometimes lose the connection to the drive, and I simply could not get it to find the drive. On occasion it would find it, but not very often.
2. USB flash drives didn't work reliably on my Linux Lite computer. Could have been a few bad drives - the ones I tried were all old.

I always try to keep in mind that with Linux, what works well on one system may not another. I really like Solus and Zorin, but neither one will continue to work after a certain time goes by. Where Linux Lite always works, is fast and very stable. On this machine. Important not to get discouraged when trying Linux. you may have to try several to find one that is right for you.

 

[AddRAM]

I also recommend Zorin OS 12

Download - Zorin OS Core 12.3 or Lite 12.3

Both are free

 

[Megahertz07]

By a license rule, ALL Linux distros must be free. Companies, like Red Hat, charges for services, never for the software

 

[AddRAM]

I only mentioned those 2 because at the Zorin site it says, Purchase Zorin OS 12.3 Ultimate for 19 Euro, but you can get the other versions for free.

 

[michael diemer]

To expand a bit on the subject, I think it's safe to say that any "flavor" of Mint or Ubuntu is a very good bet, in terms of stabilty and ease of use as a first-Linux distro. although some Desktop Environments of Ubuntu are not as intuitive (Unity, Gnome 3). Ubuntu Mate is the most like Windows, although most DE's can be customized to resemble Windows.

Another thing, many distros are based on Ubuntu. Mint, elementary, Zorin for example. Ubuntu-based distros are usually a good bet, although as I said something about my system does not like Zorin. Solus is unusual in that it's a ground-up distro. Built brand new on the Linux kernel, not based on anything else. It is very close to Windows, and offers three DE's (Mate, Gnome and the flagship Budgie (my favorite - and if you like Budgie but Solus won't work for you, try Ubuntu Budgie). Unfortunately, like Zorin, it always stops working on my system.

A non-Ubuntu distro that is very stable and exploding in popularity is Manjaro. It is based on Arch linux, and one of the few Arch distros that is user-friendly. Offers the KDE desktop, which is spectacular but needs good resources. It did work on my computer pretty well. Has an aero effect. But I found their xfce DE worked better and was easier to use. I'm using xfce on my Linux Lite (it is the default DE). It was also my favorite Mint DE. The Whisker Menu is wonderful, the easiest to use, and very Windows-like.

 

[mrjimphelps]

Yesterday I tried Pixel Linux (https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/pixel-pc-mac/). Pixel Linux is the OS that is used on the Raspberry PI device, and which has been adapted to work on a PC or MAC. Last time I checked, it was available only as Linux Lite; you couldn't install it on your hard drive.

Pixel Linux was FAST on my computer. And it is designed to run on old computers, computers which you thought had no life left in them. Some of these computers can be resurrected by installing Pixel Linux on them.

Pixel Linux had a really solid feel as I used it.

On the negative side, it is oriented toward geeks. Some regular tasks may be a bit difficult to a non-geek user. But I'm sure that with time, the non-geek will figure his way around Pixel. I'm anxious to run Pixel on my old eMachines computer, and also on an old Windows 95 laptop I recently dug out of my junk pile.