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Bunsenlabs isn't commandline-only; I'm not sure who gave you that impression. It comes with Openbox, a minimalist window manager. It's similar to Fluxbox, which is what I like to use. The environment may require more configuration on the commandline, because it comes with less stuff out of the box, but it is in no way "not a GUI".
Having said that, the best way to learn Linux is to use it as your daily operating system. Don't make that operating system unnecessarily limited and difficult to use.
You can't learn everything at once, and you're not going to do yourself any favours by making your learning experience a miserable slog. You don't have to suffer in order to learn how to use a computer properly; this is a frustrating myth.
And I say this as someone who thinks the Linux commandline is great and everyone should learn it. I love it, but I don't use it for everything. I use CLIs for things that CLIs are good at, and GUIs for things that GUIs are good at.
When you select your first distro, pick something which is popular, so that you gain the benefits of a large support community and a large package ecosystem. You can't go wrong with an Ubuntu flavour or something like Mint. Bunsenlabs is built on top of Debian, so it's probably also a perfectly OK choice, but don't choose it just because you think it is somehow better for learning. You can install the Openbox window manager on any distro.
- wallpaper > Foggy Forest
- font > Terminus
- conky > will upload
- tint2 theme > Numix edited, will upload
- OB3 theme > bunsen-dark edited, will upload
- OS > BunsenLabs
Download links: https://www.bunsenlabs.org/installation.html#downloads
For those unfamiliar with Hydrogen:
> The distribution consists of configuration and resource packages installed on top of Debian. There are no changes to the way the Debian base system is administrated. > > * Pre-configured Openbox window manager with tint2 panel and conky system monitor > * Assortment of harmonising GTK2/3 themes, wallpapers and conky configurations > * Various configuration and application utilities to maintain this system > * Additional desktop-, multimedia- and hardware-related packages come pre-installed to offer a better “out-of-the-box” experience. >
I am pretty sure that CPU actually supports PAE - it just doesn't report it. There are workarounds, though with 512 MB RAM it may be beside the point. Puppy's a go-to option. BunsenLabs also offers a lightweight, snappy desktop based on Debian and a non-PAE kernel ISO. It's pretty nicely polished.
I don't have a best example, but Xubuntu isn't bad, they need to update their screen shots. I would like Bunsen, if they got rid of the links that do nothing more than just scroll down the page for you.
I like sites that load fast, keep images to a minimum. Good contrast of font vs background, so it's readable. Not crowded messes.
Howabout Ubuntu Mate? It should run reasonably well on your hardware, and sounds appropriate to your use-case.
Ther's also BunsenLabs, a successor to crunchbang, if you feel like trying something a little different. It's basically debian with a pre-configured and lightweight window-manager (openbox), and install scripts for things like dropbox and steam that aren't in the repos.
https://www.bunsenlabs.org/ If you never heard of crunchbang. Then your in for a treat. This distro acts and feels like the old crunchbang distro. Using openbox, tint2, conky and a dark theme. You should enjoy it as well.
If your done looking at DE's, then look at WM's like this one I suggested. But don't stop there.
Try out JWM, Fluxbox and even pekwm, on any distro of your choosing. Then try out some Tiling Window Managers like i3, bspwm and herbstluftwm. You visited r/unixporn before right?
I'm using MX with Xfce. But MX 19.2 has Fluxbox. All you have to do is run a script to get it install mx-fluxbox.sh.
Enjoy. This are my favorite WM above. As for GUI DE distro's, my top five are;
MX(Xfce)
Solus(Budgie)
Netrunner(KDE)
Lite(Xfce)
Voyager(Xfce)
Why not just contribute to Debian instead of creating something that already exists?
Big waste of time and effort in my opinion - it's not like Debian is some feature-complete paragon of user friendliness where there's nothing to do, and the potential userbase of people that want something stable and amateur with no history or even demonstrable ability of support can probably be counted on one hand.
Openbox is neat. If you need themes, you can head over to https://www.bunsenlabs.org/ and grab them straight off their ISO - since Openbox didn't see real development for ages, there shouldn't even be any compatibility issues regardless of how different your OS's package versions are.
https://old.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/5l39tz/linux_distros_ram_consumption_comparison_updated/
https://l3net.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/a-memory-comparison-of-light-linux-desktops/
For a noob, the most reasonable thing would probably be something like Debian with LXDE or Openbox.
Maybe you will like https://www.bunsenlabs.org/
I'm going to add on to the general sentiment of "learn as you go," but with a little more direction.
For me, the biggest aid in learning Linux is getting out of my comfort zone. This can be anything from a new distro to a new terminal command. The trick is to throw yourself into the unknown, so you're forced to sink or swim.
Try a new distrobution that doesn't hold your hand as much. I started with Ubuntu, then went to Bunsen Labs. The Bunsen Labs distro opened my eyes to a LOT that was going on underneath. When I felt comfortable with that, I moved on to an Arch Linux install, which taught me even more.
Just keep pushing yourself into the unknown, and you'll keep learning.
You could try crunchbang https://www.bunsenlabs.org/, but likely you'll have the same camera/mic issue as lubuntu . You'll have to find out what hardware it is (lsusb), and then track down any known issues/resolutions for it
BunsenLabs has the same spirit and is (more) actively developed.
And yeah, I agree, this might be the closest you can get to an absolutely minimal system without primarily using CLI.
LXDE if you "need" to have a desktop, but if you don't mind using openbox, you could give Bunsenlabs a try since it's an Openbox+Tint2+Conky setup of Debian stable with a few custom scripts added on.
Well..."it's more complex out of the box than a minimal install of Debian" would probably be their mindset: if you want to diverge from the distro's path, there is a lot of work to be done to "undo" their configurations.
A few months ago I set up Minibian on my pi-topCEED, and then atttempted to manually recreate a rough approximation of my current favorite desktop enviornment, BunsenLabs, from scratch as a learning experiement. I didn't start with the pi-topCEED's distro, or any other existing desktop distro for the Raspberry Pi, as they of course all had many packages and configuration files that were entirely useless for my purpose (an openbox + tint2 ultrafast desktop).
Technically (as an analogy) I could have started with a swiss army knife distro and then removed the tools I wasn't going to use, but it makes a much cleaner, smaller, and tidier result to start with the frame and just add the blades you'll be using.
Not defending anyone's poor behavior, just figured I'd try to help illuminiate what could potentially be someone else's mindset to try to help further communication and understanding.
Window managers are the programs that manage the windows, i.e. let you resize/move/tile/minimize/close them. There is also a menu for convenience. Some WM add more features e.g. launcher, menu, even panel (I'm talking about Awesome here), but all those features just to let you work with the other programs.
Desktop environments is much bigger and harder to define. They usually contain a WM, a CM (compositing manager, for the eye candy effects), the DM (display manager, which is commonly used to let you log in graphically) and lots of apps like file browser, terminal emulator, picture viewer, etc. Those apps are unnecessarily developed by a same devel, so sometimes DE is more likely to be a software collection, as in Unity or LXDE/LXQt case.
All those things runs on X for now (Wayland in the future, all hail Wayland). X is the thing that keep those apps like Firefox or GIMP to be functional, DE and WM make it easier to use them. To try living w/o DE/WM, put things like these in ~/.xinitrc set init level to 3 and startx:
#!/bin/sh firefox & gimp &
Sorry for these non-sense informations, now back to your question, then yes, you can
> still use a fully functional firefox/gimp/libreoffice etc. without a DE as long as I know how to access and execute these files
For me a nice launcher like dmenu or rofi along w/ WM is enough, but that is not enough for you, then check BunsenLabs out if you don't like LXDE. I'm not saying you should use the software included in there, but rather try and learn the apps they put in there - some of them like tint2 are really cool.
I began linux using Suse. It is pretty slick and polished. Haven't used it as a newb in over a decade though. Ubuntu is mentioned on this thread by others and I personally think OpenSuse is a better experience, but, as a newbie, you need to consider community support (bc it's just about the only support there is). Ubuntuforums is pretty large, though I stopped using Ubuntu years ago because of (Ubuntu) + (Ubuntuforums). OpenSuse's forums are much smaller in comparison though.
You might check out Bunsen Labs which is a newb friendly distro based on Debian Stable but with probably the best and most friendly community in the linuxverse, probably one of the largest too.
bunsenlabs is a nice Debian based distro. I used its parent Crunchbang on an old Macbook with only 512MB RAM. It also has a very friendly and creative community in its forums.
I agree with tetroxid. Bunsenlabs is very nice. Also, from your input it seems you are interested in maybe something more outside the box. I am using Manjaro i3 and it is very nice! You will have to learn some keybinds (not a lot) and its very tweakable. Plus its got Arch behind it, pacman and of course i3!
BunsenLabs (formerly crunchbang) https://www.bunsenlabs.org/index.html
Manjaro i3 https://forum.manjaro.org/index.php?board=53.0
Very nice videos! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1I63wGcvU4&list=PL5ze0DjYv5DbCv9vNEzFmP6sU7ZmkGzcf
I tried Bunsen Linux last year and it ends up using around 89mb of ram.
Used it on my ancient celeron laptop and it makes a decent difference since the laptop only has 768mb ram.
This is a good use-case for bunsenlabs.
It's debian stretch, with a pre-configured lightweight window manager, and non-FOSS repos enabled by default. It's light enough to run on a Pentium II.
Now, for browsing the web, you'll probably want something lighter than firefox. I dunno if Midori or Dillo or something is still maintained, but you'll want to look at alternative browsers.
Office 2003 won't look good on your CV - most of the world has moved on to newer versions. Either way, give BunsenLabs a shot - it's super lightweight and rather nice to use, and you can install LibreOffice easily (or MS Office through Wine).
Lighter desktop environments are definitely the way to go, cpu power would be your bottleneck so minimal processes and fluff would free more power to devote to your tasks. BunsenLabs is the spiritual successor to Crunchbang, a very minimal distro with stable (Debian Jessie) software. Almost all the configuration is done in .conf files so people have make some very modern and impressive eye candy desktops on it while barely adding any overhead.
Bunsonlabs ( https://www.bunsenlabs.org/ ) now.. rest in peace #!, you'll always be number 1 for me.. sniff. (personal and sometimes at work)
Win 8.1 at work.
All servers are either deb or cent.
> RAM: 4GB?
Back in those days, 4 GB was the amount of ram you'd find only in super high end workstations such as the Mac Pro, even Alienware computers "only" had 2 GB. 4 GB of RAM became common until 2010 approximately. If it's a "Basic" computer (and if it hasn't been upgraded), it's more likely to have just 1 GB of ram, maybe 2, although I wouldn't be surprised if it has less.
Bunsen Labs Linux is perfect for that kind of computer: it's compatible with 32 bit CPUs and it's super lightweight. I have a laptop of the same era running Bunsen Labs without much problem
I'm gonna second the Bunsenlabs suggestion. If you don't want a panel you can remove it but everything should work and be fairly minimal.
One thing, though - Bunsenlabs no longer uses openbox for menus, using jgmenu instead. After playing with it for awhile I switched my openbox menus for jgmenu as well. Highly recommended.
Architectures We offer combined live-CD and installation media for the Debian amd64 (x86-64) architectures and i386 (i686) architectures.
The main focus is on the DVD-sized amd64 ISO, it comes fully featured. The CD-sized i386 ISO is a slimmed down version meant to support older computers, but can after installation be expanded to include all features.
Our main repository currently offers support for the amd64, i386, armhf (arm32v7) and arm64 (aarch64, arm64v8) Debian ports. Note that BL is tested thoroughly only on amd64 and i386, so your mileage may wary on other architectures.
> Lithium. > Released on August 2nd, 2020.
> BunsenLabs Linux Lithium is a distribution offering a light-weight and easily customizable Openbox desktop. The project is a community continuation of CrunchBang Linux.
> The current release is derived from Debian 10.
Hey since you're new, if you're really into this I'm gonna throw you a bone. There's quite a few steps you're gonna want to take before you load up Kali for real.
- Learn to use Linux. There are a few popular distros for new users such as Ubuntu and Linux Mint, you can try either of those. My personal favourite is Bunsenlabs Helium which is more cut down and friendlier for low spec PCs such as yours but requires a bit of understanding. Things you need to do:
- Learn to use the Terminal to perform commands and functions through text.
- Learn to use the sudo and sudo su commands and understand using apt-get to update, upgrade, install and remove applications and software.
- Discover commonly used and popular tools and software commonly found on Linux and just generally get used to using Linux as a daily driver. Browse the internet, use the word processor, that kind of thing. Then try out a command that breaks the whole OS, reinstall from scratch and start all over again. Keep doing this. I've broken the OS many times over the years, it's a good way to learn.
- Learn a language, such as Python. I personally recommend Python Programming 3rd Edition in Book form, not eBook form. Paper is always better. I used this book to learn python myself that is why I recommend it. It's just the right speed. Skip nothing, learn it all. I recommend after completing each module chapter, just try making something with what you've learned. It really helps.
- Now it's time to use Kali. You'll understand why everything came before. Kali will make sense to you now.
Okay forget the number marks. I wrote them in correctly and Reddit's formatting broke them but you get it right? Basically your goal is to understand Linux first.
Oh also I recommend the linux4noobs subreddit.
Go with a Window Manager like Openbox. That is a very light load.
​
BunsenLabs is a nice Linux distro that use Openbox as it's default Window Manager.
​
Before I started ricing my own, I used Crunchbang(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CrunchBang_Linux) for a setup roughly like this. These days the closest is BunsenLabs, These are mostly Debian, but with a pre-packaged i3 setup and light versions of applications instead of elaborate ones. I use it on an ooooold Inspiron ~1500 with one CPU and 4GB RAM with some extra services involved so it can serve as NAS also, it idles using between 200-300MB of RAM. It also usually handles non-free wireless/bluetooth well, in my experience it's handled Broadcom without incident.
The 512M RAM is going to be the limiting factor so if it can take more than that and you can upgrade it, even to 1G you are going to have a much better time in general.
You may find a distro like Bunsen Labs which as a minimum needs 256M RAM and should install on a 32 Bit processor more usable, if slightly more scary for a beginner No matter which distro you install, you should give it at least a couple of G for a swap partition.
So... Bunsenlabs? Successor to Crunchbang.
>BunsenLabs Linux is a distribution offering a light-weight and easily customizable Openbox desktop. The project is a community continuation of CrunchBang Linux.
Cinnamon is a good GUI period. I'm a Linux Sysadmin, and I use Cinnamon - it just happens to do what I need it to do. And it's great for GUI stuff too.
However, it's not all that lightweight. Checkout Bunsenlabs if you want something that'll make your friends jealous.
> I was running BunsenLabs, a distro based on Debian stable
a. this is absolutely crucial information for diagnosing apt, please include it in your future posts aka FrankenDebian. Most people are willing to help even with this, but can only do so if you provide the information up front, your post implied pure Stretch.
b. I had a quick look at Installation which says it's based on Jessie, so you need to use jessie-backports (but then the repo method mentions stretch too, so not sure what the base really is without installing)
> Could you format this as "code" next time, so the linebreaks are preserved?
Yeah, I was trying markdown nesting, so it should have been code indented within quote, but looks like that doesn't work on reddit - I did ninja-edit it the same as you suggested, but you must have already read it by then.
If you are going to change your GNULinux distro and you have in mind some more "pure" debian based linux maybe try bunsenLabs a GNULinux distro with a light GUI and derived from Debian Jessie (It works like a charm).
>An installation from the live ISOs uses approximately 2.1G of space on the hard drive.
https://www.bunsenlabs.org/installation.html
It is basically pre-configured Debian with Openbox. It will save you a lot of work.
This is the correct answer. Picking an outdated version is incorrect. Any new Ubuntu will support your mac. In fact any frequently updated distro should support it. And be far more secure than mac os.
I suggest Debian SID for you because you want up to date security and are a developer; SID is updated in real time & Debian has the largest repos (because it has the most developers) of any distro. Ubuntu is based on Debian testing which identifies, but doesn't resolve problems. Which is why Ubuntu has more problems than Debian [based on my personal experience, others may have different opinion]. In SID, software (& security) issues are resolved in real time. Pick window manager or desktop environment of your choice. If you want Debian preconfigured for low overhead, based on stable, go with bunsenlabs and if you want Debian SID preconfigured, go with VSIDO. If you do not want systemd, then go with VOID, besides, it's probably lower overhead than most other distros you're going to try. Note that VOID is not a Debian derivative but independently developed; the Void forum is a pretty friendly place.
But you could probably save yourself the hassle by upgrading memory, trashing your preference lists (after backing up, of course). This combo has almost always worked for me. Well, closing all unused apps & cloud features too.
first, realize that linux is not windows. it works differently. so first advice, don't expect it to act the same as msw. often for newbies this is very frustrating.
the os itself is non-existent. there is the linux kernel (with many variants). there is the GUI (with a zillion different choices). there are services/daemons. and init systems. and kernel modules ("drivers"). and userland packages (applications).
many who come to linux are overwhelmed by the vast choices, and esoteric configuration options, etc. but, if you approach it with an open mind, and interest in learning, you'll be fine.
i suggest joining the online forum for the distro you use. Ubuntu is always a popular choice. its forum is pretty big. i use Ubuntu now and again. i think other distros are better for different reasons, but to be honest, Ubuntu does a TON for the linux community and though i don't always like their choices, i'm glad for their efforts.
another thing to consider, choose a distro with the biggest repos. this means, they have the most precompiled software for your system. there are no bigger repos than Debian. Ubuntu is a rejiggered Debian. i like regular Debian better though.
i think the best forum of all is the bunsenlabs forums, a welcoming, affable, knowledgeable, and helpful community. the devs are very active in the community. it is super light weight. it is basically a preconfigured Debian. this is my suggestion for you.
other popular distros for beginners include Mint, OpenSuse, Manjaro. you might like elementary OS too.
after you get comfy in your distro, you might be bit by the distrohopper bug. get ready.
Were I you, I'd install Debian with Fluxbox on that thing, which is
- The most lightweight and stable distro - WM combo ever. I have one on a flash drive use it on my school computers, some of which only has 500MB of memory or so, to do net surfing (still can run Firefox on those things LOL), reading documents, solving simple assignments, etc.
- Fluxbox is complete by itself, really. It's more like a super lightweight DE with a panel, a launcher, wallpaper manager and easy GUI config. Getting a lightweight desktop usually requires a lot of effort putting things together, e.g. this WM with this panel and that menu and another alien launcher and lots of configurations. Otherwise you'll need to use the apps set made by others, and their idea of lightweight might surprise you (e.g. the *buntu thingy). One exception is BunsenLabs (or it's earlier version #!, as I'm not so sure when I see the fancy screenshots), you should check it out, I guess.
Not so sure if this will be easy for you but put some effort on it and you will learn something, either you will stick with GNU/Linux in the rest of your life or not. Good luck.
Occasionally I use a Thinkpad from 2001. I use Bunsenlabs. It runs pretty quick but the interface and maintenance may a little challenging in the beginning. I guess Bunsenlabs performs somewhere between Lubuntu (problably slower) and Puppy (probably faster).
debian minimal, install xfce as needed
or go for Bunsenlabs, the continuation of Crunchbang
Try this: https://www.bunsenlabs.org/
It's very lightweight and you'll look l33t without trying. If that's not your thing, go for Lubuntu, Ubuntu-MATE or Xubuntu. They're all lightweight, customizable and very similar to Windows XP and OS X.
Also, checkout distro watch: https://distrowatch.com/search.php?category=Beginners
Well, you've several options, IMHO:
- CrunchBangPlusPlus: CBPP or #!++ is a CrunchBang Clone based on the actually Debian. My choice.
- BunsenLabs: The official CrunchBang successor developed by the former CrunchBang-Community
- TweakOS: An independent project, also based on the CrunchBang-idea with a stable Debian base
All these distribution are really fast and stable, it's a matter of taste what you'll try.
You want a real distro - cyberpunk, minimal, but still debian based. Then get this one:
https://crunchbangplusplus.org/
...legacy of the original #!
There's also the BusenLabs linux distro - another "fallout" from the demise of #!
Supposedly, Busen is the "blessed" version (that is, the original maintainer of #! gave his "thumbs up" to it) - but honestly, I think ++ should get that title.
Ultimately - minimal is where you want things. Another approach to get this same effect is to start with the Ubuntu minimal distro, base command line version, then build up. Drop X, openbox, conky, and a few other items on there (look into how #! is done, basically - there's only a few parts), set up your theme, etc, a few fonts...
...and your in.
I also think that is the best solution. Power off then power on is OK, but waiting for stuffs for RAM to get written to a flash drive (aka hibernating) while you need to go to the bathroom is bit too much. And Mint with full of bloatware is not sth should be recommended to be installed on a flash drive for everyday use on a portable. OP should try sth more lightweight such as BunsenLabs.
ah, no. crunchbang++ is not crunchbang. bunsenlabs is made by people from crunchbang forum. and it is nice!
https://www.bunsenlabs.org/index.html
not sure if it is still being developed. kinda slow.
> I do miss Crunchbang though, that would have been my answer a few years back.
I would check out the Crunchbang++ and BunsenLabs projects if you are missing the #! feel :D
Looks pretty much like the discontinued CrunchBang, a Debian derivative.. I love the minimalistic getup on a Debian base.
If anyone's interested, there are two successors of #! that I know of, keeping the spirit alive with up to date packages:
CrunchBang++ (seems to be down at the moment..)
edit: the CrunchBang++ website is up again.
In case you did not already know, avoid a linux distribution that has a resource hungry window manager. For example I would recommend Lubuntu (LXDE) over Ubuntu (Unity). I currently use bunsenlabs very fast and it is like ubuntu based on Debian.
I totally get the LXDE love, but I have to recommend openbox distros too... I've been running crunchbang linux (RIP) on an 2008'ish netbook for YEARS, and it still performs awesomely! As crunchbang linux is dead, the torch was picked up by bunsenlabs linux and crunchbang++, I'm running them both on different older machines, and still, the performance is outstanding.
I've always had a soft spot for BunsenLabs. And it's Debian based, so stable.
And if you look at the screenshots on their homepage, rather pretty.
https://www.bunsenlabs.org/index.html
It's recommended that you have 2gb ram and 20gb Hard Drive.
So that could work.
I used Debian-based CrunchBang Linux (now defunct) on an Acer Aspire One netbook with those specs and it worked quite well. BunsenLabs and CrunchBang++ are successors to CrunchBang that you might have a look at.
> I have an old used elitebook 8440p, it takes a fev minutes to boot up
Does that laptop have a HDD? I think that's the main factor in how long the system takes to boot, even a $30 cheapo SSD will outperform a HDD that's several years old. And you can always reuse it in other computers too, so it's a worthwhile investment.
If it's not the drive, and the system wasn't this slow to boot when you first installed it, try systemd-analyze blame, it will show which services are taking up the longest at boot time. (Note, you may have to run it with "sudo").
However, if you do want to switch distros: BunsenLabs? From what I've seen it's designed to look pretty and be lightweight.
Also, it's Debian-based: on one hand, most of your existing knowledge should transfer over nicely. On the other, you may have to fiddle with the system a bit: Debian is the "ideological" distro that doesn't distribute proprietary software by default, so you may have to activate the non-free repos and manually install/enable/configure some pieces that are enabled by default in Mint for the convenience of the user.
I've used Crunchbang on laptops with similar specs way back when. So I'd say go for bunsenlabs (which is one of the successors to it) or if you want something arch based you could look into archlabs. Whatever you choose should allow you to code just fine.
I feel you. Openbox is nice, been using it, so have a look to BunsenLabs Linux . It's a curated distro , minimal with a good community that is trying to follow your rules for the packages they provide.
I think a package/port which sets up a DE and a few necessary applications would be nice.
CrunchBang Linux and BunsenLabs Linux have very nice OpenBox setups.
Slax has a nice FluxBox implementation.
BunsenLabs Linux: https://www.bunsenlabs.org/ Slax: https://www.slax.org/
BunsenLabs is a spiritual successor to Crunchbang Linux that worked well on netbooks and similarly powered systems.
You could get a lot more performance with a RAM upgrade; the T42 maxes out at 2x1GB pc2700 DDR1 ram. This can be had for $10-$20 on ebay pretty easily.
Haven't noticed a lot of difference between XFCE and Mate recently, as far as resource use. If you're feeling a bit more adventurous you might want to try BunsenLabs, which has a pro-configured Openbox desktop built on top of Debian 10. It's about as light as you can get using a Debian base.
In your poll, I voted for elementary OS as it has a slick look and feel, but you could also consider BunsenLabs Linux, as the default Openbox desktop UI, as well as the Conky system monitor, will supply you with new learning experiences.
My 84-year-old mother uses Linux Mint on a small-form-factor PC that I handbuilt for her. Very stable and it does everything she needs.
If you're really keen on learning, might you consider one of the BSDs? A steep curve, but fun to experiment with on a secondary computer.
Podrias explicar a que te refieres con problemas de rendimiento? Osea, con ese procesador y esa cantidad de ram no hay mucho margen de maniobra. Yo tengo una toshiba nb205 con un atom n280. Por lo que se, intel no diseno el driver grafico para linux de este procesador, sino que se los escargo a una empresa que no hizo un buen trabajo por lo que el performance es bastante patetico aun cuando era nuevo. Solo encontre dos OS que funcionaban bien ( lease para reproducir contenido en 480p, programar en python y navergar un poquito con firefox) Windows 7 y Bunsenlabs. Lo unico es que yo tenia 2gb de ram que rescate de una laptop rota.
No se si es el mismo caso con el procesador que tienes, pero a lo mejor te sirve de algo esa informacion.
The issue is the modern web requires a lot of cpu power. Maybe if you can force every web page into mobile mode you could get by with that. https://www.bunsenlabs.org/index.html This is a super light version of Debian. You can run it on old Pentium ms so give it a whirl.
See https://www.bunsenlabs.org/installation.html#netinstall-script under package-based install and netinstall. Bunsenlabs is not so much a different distro but "just" some nice config on top of debian.
> , that is would it be as smooth, or smoother than BunsenLabs.
Monkey dishwasher? No idea what "smooth" is supposed to mean. It is the same software, so it does the same thing. The only question is how much you want to/have to do by hand.
> And if I want the openbox integration, which version of Debian do I download?
There only is one version of debian. Unlike the *buntus, it does not pretend that debian with kde or debian with gnome are somehow different distros. If you are asking about stable/testing/unstable, there are two answers:
If you have to ask, use stable.
Stable foundations (unrelated to not crashy) means you install it now and everything will just keep working for years. So not being "cutting/bleeding edge" is a plus and with backports/flatpak/snap/appimages/nixpkg you have access to (most of) the latest stuff anyways.
Host-Hardware is not an issue. I tried VNC using the tightvncserver and the realvnc desktop client. I also tried teamviewer but the controls were too choppy for regular use. I tried clearOS, debian, elementaryOS, linux mint, lubuntu, manjaro and xubuntu however right now I am runnning helium and it works quite well with VNC. I found out about helium yesterday and immediately gave it a shot and its working great with VNC so far. https://www.bunsenlabs.org/
openbox is much easier then a Tiling Window Manager. openbox is a Stacking Window Manager.
Try out BunsenLabs(openbox default WM), to get a good feel about openbox. I think you'll like it, since your really didn't like i3.
Time to upgrade your hardware. So your not so limited of your choices. Get a decent PC and you can enjoy KDE or any DE, include Xfce and Cinnamon, which would be even snapper with better hardware.
You should consider a minimalist distro, if it fits your needs.
For instance, you can install a Manjaro, as suggested by /u/yotties, BunsenLabs or, if you're experienced enough with GNU/Linux command line, even a Debian base system, then add a light desktop environment like OpenBox (plus tint2, obmenu, obconf, etc.) to keep your system as light as possible.
Don't install NVidia proprietary drivers, unless the free Linux module (nouveau) isn't compatible with your laptop's NVidia chip. I'm pretty sure the free driver consumes less power and could extend battery time.
I'd vote for Bunsenlabs when it cones to clean openbox debian. But I dont think thats what OP is looking for. I never thought I'd say that but KDE may be a good choice here or maybe something mate or lxqt?
I think you should check out Bunsenlabs. My laptop has roughly the same specs as you list, only fitted with an i5 CPU. It's quite light weight, and has a very active community to help you solve potential problems. The requirements you list, trackpad working, dual boot (in fact, dual/multiboot is always an option, at least if you're installing Debian-based distros on top of another OS) and being light weight. Upon first boot into the system, it greets you with a setup wizard that lets you choose to install a lot of additional things you might need.
I've been using Bunsen, and it's predecessor Crunchbang, for years now. I think it really suits slightly older and slower laptops and computers.
Lubuntu is fairly lightweight so I don't see why it wouldn't run.
BunsenLabs Linux if you want something lighter.
MS teams runs fairly well in a web session so you wouldn't need to install anything.
If you have the cash though I'd advise getting a new laptop at some point, the one you're using is old as f**K.
Yes, from it's website (https://www.bunsenlabs.org/): BunsenLabs Linux Helium is a distribution offering a light-weight and easily customizable Openbox desktop. The project is a community continuation of CrunchBang Linux. The current release is derived from Debian 9.
Helium from bunsenlabs is lightweight, based on debian 9 and runs openbox.
The default interface has icons to switch apps and packaged with Firefox ESR (although you can install whatever browser you want).
It should run on pretty much any hardware.
Spent some time today configuring my recently acquired X201 for holiday travel. It's an i7 model, which I bumped up to 6GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. Dual-booting Windows 10 Pro and BunsenLabs Helium at the moment. This is my first ThinkPad in years... coming from two different Celeron-based i-Series to an X30 to a T42 which died with various motherboard failures. Fun fact: I went to a school that was part of IBM's ThinkPad University program.
This machine will likely be seeing tons of boring productivity, Stardew Valley and Torchlight II.
I know you already got a lot of feedback but I would suggest you try out bunsonlabs Helium.
I've used Arch, Ubuntu 12, 14, and Mint 17 in the past and liked them all but lately really been digging BL. BL Helium is super super light (around 260mb ram at start up), and after initial install is complete on first boot a setup script (called 'bl-welcome') will help you install a bunch to tools for development right away.
I've used it for dev work, but also for light steam gaming and watching movies with vlc and Kodi. It comes with synaptic package manager (not the most intuitive but very stable).
Plus it has a cool minimalist ui which I really like. It's not trying to be windows or osx it anything other than itself.
Said something about this not so long ago.
If you want a lightweight distro based on Arch or Debian your best bet would be to go with arch and Debian. For Debian you can use Debian netinstall(or a live image with a lightweight DE) and for arch you can use the latest cd and build it up yourself.
KDE used to be the king of bloat.
Openbox WM all the way. Check out BunsenLabs, it's basically just Debian with some install scripts; set up with Openbox and the Tint2 panel. Super lightweight while remaining robust.
> there is no standard distro for this
Bunsen Labs is the community-maintained version of Crunchbang. BL is based on Debian 9 and Openbox. They even build isos for 32-bit and ARM processors.
Bunsenlabs could feet your needs.
They offer a configured openbox session on top of debian, they have their own repo on top, providing few packages.
Edit: Iso based on Debian 9 at the moment, update to 10 is planned...
Q4OS Live ISO based on KDE
I quickly downloaded and ran the Q4OS KDE Live ISO and it's indeed just a live environment to show the GUI. It's quite fast on my laptop (running it in VirtualBox). I don't like the menu/navigation. But that's because I am used to XFCE4. But overall it's just Debian with some modifications.
Q4OS Trinity Install
- Installation: hmmm... the classic install is just like Debian. Didn't try the auto install.
- First run: nice login screen
- First run: the option to choose for some profiles. I did choose the "Full featured Desktop [..]" which starts downloading and installing a lot of packages
- The folder /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ contains Debian Buster sources and other sources. This means you aren't limited.
- The GUI looks & feels a little bit like a combination of Windows XP & Vista
I could work with this but I just prefer Debian + XFCE4. On the other hand I am also running BunsenLabs Linux on an old laptop [ https://www.bunsenlabs.org/ ]. That's very light weight.
In your case I would choose for Debian Buster + that KDE Plasma thing.
Openbox is around. You need to study more about Window Managers.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/window_manager
For openbox look at https://www.bunsenlabs.org/
For JWM(Joe's Window Manager) Look at Manjaro JWM Edition
https://manjaro.github.io/homepage/public/download/jwm/
For Pekwm. Not sure which Linux distro use this one. You have to look. Or just install it and play around with it. I'm currently using Pekwm myself, along with MX.
Check out:
Openbox & Tint2 based distro Bunsenlabs
It’s been said in other comments - but you don’t have to get a new distro to change the look and feel. Bunsen Labs is based on Debian but the super simple UI and preinstalled terminal (Terminator) and file explorer (Thunar) are perfect for me.
Right-click to get a customizable menu. Alt-F2 to run a program by typing the name. Setup key combinations to open applications.
I don’t think I’ll ever go anywhere else.
BunsenLabs Linux, previously known as CrunchBang. A Debian based very lightweight distro that works amazing on those specs, I know because I have an old Latitude D620 with the same specs that runs it.
OR my very favourite (which I happen to use on my laptop but because it's openbox it's very lightweight bunsenlabs - it's debian based fully customisable. works out of the box.
This would be a good platform to run bunsenlabs.
It's essentially a pre-configured Debian with OpenBox. Requires some of the lowest system reqs possible for a modern OS.
It doesn't take much at all to get a lightweight linux distro like what used to be known as Crunchbang to dual boot with Chrome OS, and if you do that you've got a lot more possibilities.
- Working with raw debian repos, no Ubuntu customization
- Lack of a DE means it's just the Openbox WM on top of plain Debian
- Can function as a server or workstation
- bare-bones means you'll be scripting a lot - with a really good community
Window Managers are fun to. So if you want light and can get used not having a GUI. Then a Window Manager might be for you. Try out i3 for starters. If you don't like using a Tiling Window Manager. Then try out either openbox or JWM.
For openbox try out this distro. https://www.bunsenlabs.org/ or just install openbox what ever distro your using now.
For JWM try out this distro. https://manjaro.github.io/Manjaro-JWM-16.06.1-released/ or just install JWM what ever distro your using now.
Light is better, I think. That's another reason not to use a GUI Desktop Environment.
I have the second netbook, the single core 1.6gz will be a pretty big bottle neck. I would recommend BunsenLabs, it has pretty low overhead but expect apps and media heavy webpages to be slow.
Also upgrading the ram to 2gigs and a faster SSD will help a lot on the speed
There is nothing much to learn.
Just take whatever non-arch distro you like and use the netinstall/minimal install. This will give you the same starting point as an arch install without having to fiddle with partitioning, locales and bootloaders manually. You still can fiddle if you want to, obviously, or even use the arch install guide with debootstrap instead. However, an annoyingly manual install is not a benefit in my opinion.
You then have a fairly basic install without a GUI. For a server you would then install whatever software you need. For a desktop, you probably want to just install a desktop meta package, see here for a list of DEs. Done.
If you want something more manual in the direction of /r/unixporn , you basically pick and choose the components:
- A window manager, which more or less falls into either stacking (like most you are familiar with) or tiling like awesome (that is the name).
- A panel or dock and a systemtray
- File manager and so on
- background things like keybindings, volume control, power saving etc.
As a good introduction, I recommend bunsenlabs, which gives you a very nice setup based on openbox.
- LXQT is quite stable, depending on how you define stability. Maybe not as much as LXDE, but probably more than KDE.
- I suggest you try BunsenLabs:
- It's Debian based, so you'll already be familiar with the internals.
- It's super lightweight.
- You can install LXQT and Kwin if you want to try something different.
elementary os is the most mac looking out of the box.
personally i'd go with bunsenlabs if you're new to linux though. it is easy to install, is basically debian stable (the largest repository of software) but pre-configured (exceptionally well, actually), and their forums are the absolute best and friendliest. when you need help or are confused, you're most likely to get it there and without judgement or rudeness.
google chrome will install on any linux. when you open the app it self updates, on every distro. though it is pretty heavy so could be sluggish on older hardware depending on your setup.
[fyi though, you can make any distro can look like anything, including mac, if you know how.]
Debian Sid. I ran it for years before the systemd switch. Sid never bit me :D but I always read apt-listbugs, and basically updated every single day. Anyway, the jump to systemd started a huge amounts of problems. I think they are ironed out now.
If you want a preconfigured SID, go check out VSIDO. Forum is small, but super friendly. VastOne is the captian, tip top guy.
If you want preconfigured stable, go check out Bunsenlabs, incidentally, I think their forum is the best in the linuxverse.
If you want Debian without systemd, try Devuan.
stable is really too outdated for most desktop users. if it's just themes and icons, though, i recommend adding bunsen-themes from the bunsenlabs-repo: https://www.bunsenlabs.org/repoidx.html?k=name-description&v=bunsen-
Those themes don't work in stretch aka testing, yet, unfortunately.
If you have some Linux experience you can try BunsenLabs https://www.bunsenlabs.org/ https://www.reddit.com/r/BunsenLabs/ It is basically Debian with some scripts and improvements. Much like Mint is Ubuntu with improvements. BunsenLabs uses very little resources on startup, below 200 MB of RAM.
If you are not experienced, Use Mint with XFCE or Mate, or Xubuntu, or Lubuntu.
bunsenlabs based on the antiquated crunchbang. Works great with low ram. Also, a small accident could render that machine "not working anymore." 10 dollar prepay phones have more ram and processing power than that thing. I understand being "frugal" but at the same time, that ~~space heater~~ machine is just wasting electricity compared to a ~~current~~ five year old machine.
When I was your age, Ubuntu Gnome was just called Ubuntu.
To be helpful: every time I need a distro for a resource-stingy machine, I start with bunsenlabs (since crunchbang got murdered in its prime). I don't know if i'd use "beautiful" to describe the DE, but "cute" or "not ugly" work. Not a supermodel, but you wouldn't be ashamed if your friends saw you with her.
I am running bunsenlab Linux (basically crunchbang) on a old Dell Inspiron 910 mini and it runs awesome. I tried lubuntu and Peppermint on it before and found peppermint to be pretty good but Bunsenlab Linux openbox UI really works with such a small screen better than LXDE imo plus everything is noticeably faster. https://www.bunsenlabs.org/
I love openbox, anything else feels very kludgy to me now. I rarely have to touch a mouse, I have control of what everything looks like, etc.
I'm not going to go into all your concerns on recommend you take a look. Grab a live cd of bunson labs https://www.bunsenlabs.org/ (they picked up where crunchbang left off) and try it out (it's my desktop distro of choice). Their default implementation is a good starting point. It's a small distro so will run fast on anything.
Enjoy.
This isn't the first time I've been reminded about #!, but I just looked it up and there seem to be at least two new active forks/continuation projects: #!++ & BunsenLabs Linux
OMG 6.1 really.
Mandrake 1999-09 6.1 Helios
Have fun with that one. I can see that you are. Try something better then something that old.
BunsenLabs Linux https://www.bunsenlabs.org/ would be much better then Mandrake 6.1. As I'm using BunsenLabs Linux in my Virtualbox now.
BunsenLabs Linux is a great distro offering a light-weight and easily customizable Openbox desktop. current release is Hydrogen1, built on top of Debian Jessie, which is super stable or you can use jessie-backports in sources.list to get latest packages. It's a community based continuation of CrunchBang Linux. I'm new to linux and I find it very easy to install and the forum support is second to none.