@nostupidquestions is it true that linux cannot run on a laptop without any SSD ?
I had gone inquiring at a couple of local stores regarding restoring my 2gb Ram laptop with 500gb HDD. At both of the places l was told that l need to put in at least 4gb of fresh ram + insert a bare minimum SSD, otherwise windows wouldn’t run on it.
When l said that l’d be working on linux, this technician guy told me that even linux has become heavy these days. Not sure what he meant by this, but extra ram burns a lot of holes, not mention about the price of SSD.
So, l just want to make sure. Is it true that modern machines won’t work without any SSD or machines with 2gb rams are simply fit for the museum ?
with 2gb ram, linux might work, actually. i’d go for ‘lightweight distros’. but firefox has become hungry …
@phr l’d be working on lynx.
He’s a big box store professional; in other words constantly confidently incorrect.
Also trying to sell you something … potentially on commission.
I my Raspberry PI got Linux running on an SD card. Thats not SSD either, is it?
Is drive? Is solid state?
sd is ssd
Darn
I mean, kinda
Just download a minimal build for a distro. Include a window manager instead of a desktop environment. It will have some problems running browsers and other biggish apps but still be usable.
@Sanctus something like fluxbox ?
I’ve never used it so I can’t recommend. I can recommend like an arch minimal build or a Debian headless build to start with, both of these builds will drop you into just a command line at first unless you add extra packages. My laptop is setup as arch minimal + i3wm, obviously Idk if this fits your needs, maybe minix or something would be better.
@Sanctus what is minix ?
You can still run a modern Linux from a floppy disk. Run it from a USB drive or a HDD, they are cheap.
If you want to run a modern current linux distro on a laptop with only 2gb of ram and 500gb then your options are very limited, but it is possible.
For example. Void Linux with Enlightenment will work. A browser will work ok for basic websites but heavy apps like Gmail will be unusably slow.
If you have no option to upgrade, you can still use a machine with those specs to run linux apps like Abiword, Gnumeric, GIMP, etc very well.
Also, putting in any SSD drive to replace the spinning one is the single best upgrade you can make in terms of performance and longevity on an old laptop.
No.
In system requirements, windows vs any normal linux distro isn’t even contest. That said, 2 gb is very little. You’re gonna have to find a lightweight distro meant for old hardware.
Linux can easily be run on your 500 MB HDD, it can also be run from an USB stick or even a DVD.
Linux can even run on the original Raspberry Pi, a single board computer with only 512 MB RAM!
You should probably look for a distro that is made for older systems, but if you do that, it should work very well. There are obviously limitations with only 2GB RAM. So I wouldn’t use a resource heavy desktop like KDE/Plasma.
@Buffalox Hello my Danish Friend !
I “inherited” my sons netbook, which had 32GB flash, because Windows plus Office wasted 27GB and then wanted to download an 8GB update. I installed Kubuntu with LibreOffice and a number of other packages I needed for the project, and was way below 5GB used.
2GB is cutting it short. Not for Linux, that runs fine. But the modem internet doesn’t, regardless of what browser you use.
2x2GB RAM shouldn’t cost much, that’s useless for AI.Mx Linux or base arch with a lightweight desktop environment will work fine.
@zewm you work on MX Linux ? I’m thinking of fluxbox.
You can run Linux just fine from 2GB and a HDD, but expect it to be slower. Modern web browsers alone require that much RAM.
@jenesaisquoi l’d be working on lynx basically.
Firefox should be ok, if you don’t open many tabs nor very complex webapps
No, this is wrong, Linux can run on an HDD.
Linux runs on a potato, you may need to be picky about the distro the more resource constrained you are, but that’s it.
Or may want a bigger potato for convenience.
Or a sweet potato for a better user experience.
Or a bag of potato chips for a more Windows-like experience.
I used up all my potatoes. Does plantain work as well?
Plantain, turnip, yeah it’s all good!
No
