Best Lightweight Linux Distros for 2. This. Hosting. Rocks. With the feedback and requests we got from our Best Linux Distros for Gaming list, we had to do another list of the best lightweight Linux distros. Slax.jpg' alt='How To Install Slax' title='How To Install Slax' />Actually, some of them fit both our categories. Sure, there are other similar lists our there, but this one has up to date info and weve personally tried and tested almost every distro on our old laptops. It took us 7 months to compile this list and a few weeks to update it with new data Weve seen new lists that included distros with their latest update being in 2. Come on, how is that distro still relevant and good in 2. This stepbystep article shows you how to install Kali Linux 2. VMware Workstation stepbystep but you can also use VMware Player which is free. This tutorial. Hello everyone, and welcome to the unofficial list of which OSes work and which dont in Microsoft Virtual PC 2004. I hope this site helps youI tried to install Slacko Puppy 6. Tahrpup 6. 0, both UEFI 64bit, secure boot off as needed, using YUMI UEFI and both OSs booted into a black terminal screen. And dont get us started on how each list is just a rehashed version of the same 5 distros. We purposefully included many distros in our list so you have more options to choose from. All distros are free and can run on 5. MB RAM or less. If youre feeling overwhelmed, just pick any distro. You dont have to throw away your old PCs and laptops. Install a lightweight Linux distro on them and theyre as good as new. Lightweight distros dont even have to be used on old hardware. You can install them on some bleeding edge hardware and get the ultimate performance. Most distros are portable and can run on a Live CDUSB, without a hard drive. Why should you use other OSes full of bloatware and unnecessary stuff when you can use a perfectly fine Linux alternativeAnyway, before we go on with the list, a few quick tips on how to choose the best one for you How to choose the best lightweight Linux distro for you. These guidelines should help, but if youre feeling overwhelmed, just pick any distro from the list below and youll be fine. Any Linux distro is better than WindowsOS X when it comes to old hardware. Linux distros and the software that runs on them are far more optimized and compatible with older hardware. If youre using Windows or OS X and it feels slow, switch to a Linux distro. Indesign Batch Pdf Script. Youre guaranteed to see an improvement in performance. Some older versions of Windows and OS X are fast for older hardware, but they dont get any support or updates, unlike all distros listed here. Choosing the right lightweight distro will depend on what youre going to use it for. Some distros are optimized for certain activities, ie. Are you going to use it for everyday browsingIf so, have in mind that websites have evolved and although the browser and OS itself will perform better, the websites can still be bloated and slow down your Linux. If youre going to use it for random office tasks like word processing, spreadsheets, or presentations the lightweight Linux distros will work just fine. Maybe youd like to use your old laptop as a media device and watch movies on it. Youre good to go, as long as the movie itself is not a full Blu Ray rip. Another guideline is how much youre willing to sacrifice. How much OS features do you really needLinux is for geeks right And you gotta know command prompts and all that stuff yeah Not exactly, in fact that kind of image is starting to fade away somewhat as. News and feature lists of Linux and BSD distributions. Windows 98, 98se, install win98, ISO, USB install. This page provides general information about notable Linux distributions in the form of a categorized list. Distributions are organized into sections by the major. You dont really need all that fancy UI animations and 3. D stuff. Some Linux distros do have great modern UIs, but they do require better hardware. Previous experience is another big factor you need to consider before you choose a lightweight Linux distro. Are you a beginnerThen dont use Arch Linux. Have you used Ubuntu before Then get a lightweight distro based on Ubuntu. Got used to the Windows XP interface and want something similar Sure, we have the perfect distro for you. Pro tip do a bit of research for your hardware and see if the distro supports it. It most likely will, but just to be sure, you can do a quick google with your hardware model and the distro and you should get some results. Most distros can run on a cheap USB flash drive you dont even need an HDDSSD. This is often referred to as a Live CDUSB. Well include a minimum hardware requirements for each distro, so you can check if the hardware stats you have will support the distro. Most of these distros can run perfectly fine on a Raspberry Pi. Quick overview of the distros included in our list. Now finally, onto the main part, the best lightweight Linux distros for old computerslaptops. Click on the distros name to find more info, screenshots, and download links. Distro. Minimum RAM MBMinimum CPUMinimum Disk Space MBGUIRelease cycle. Notes. Lubuntu. 51. Pentium 4, Pentium M, AMD K8 or newer CPU. At least 2. 66 MHz. LXLEStandard. Beginner friendly. LXLE5. 12. Pentium 3. LXDELTS only. Based on Lubuntu. Arch Linux. 51. 2Any 6. Any. Rolling. For advanced users. Arch. Bang. 25. 6i. Openbox. Rolling. Arch Linux made easier. Puppy Linux. 12. 82. MHz. 51. 2JWMStandard. Portable Live onlyLinux Lite. MHz. 20. 00. XFCELTS only. Great for Windows users. KNOPPIX1. 20i. 48. LXDEStandard. Portable Live onlyPeppermint. Any processor based on Intel x. LXDEHybrid. The Cloud Desktop based on Lubuntu. PCLinux. OS5. 12. Any Intel, AMD or VIA x. KDE, Mate, LXDE, XFCERolling. Not the most lightweight, but it is fast. Trisquel Mini. 12. AMD K6 or Intel Pentium II3. LXDELTS only. Only free software. Porteus. 25. 6Any Intel, AMD or VIA x. KDE, LXQt, Mate, Cinnamon. Standard. THE portable Linux distro. Manjaro Linux Xfce Edition. GHz. 30. 00. 0Xfce. Rolling. Very powerful and flexible. Peach OSI5. 12. 70. MHz processor Intel Celeron or better8. XFCE, Cinnamon, Mate. LTS only. 8 different versions to choose from. Pixel OS5. 12. 1 GHz. Custom environment. Standard. Turn a Raspberry Pi into a fully featured desktop PCModern X2. MHz 3. 00. 0GNOMEStandard. Great for WindowsMac users. Debian. 25. 61 GHz. KDEHybrid. Stable, old, modern, popular. Sparky Linux. 25. CPU1. 00. 00. LXDE, Budgie, Enlightenment, JWM, Openbox, KDE, LXQt, MATE, Xfce. Rolling. Has the most editionsversions. Sli. Taz. 19. 2i. Intel compatible processors. Openbox. Rolling. The lightweight desktop and server OSElive. MHz. 70. 0Enlightenment. Standard. Custom lightweight desktop environment. Bunsen. Labs Linux. GHz. 10. 00. 0Openbox. Hybrid. New and improved Crunch. Banganti. X1. 92. Any Intel, AMD or VIA x. Ice. WM, Fluxbox, JWM, Xfce, herbstluftwm. Cyclical Rolling. Great Live USB Options. Slax. 48. Any Intel, AMD or VIA x. KDEStandard. Portable and modular. Linux Mint. 51. 2Any Intel, AMD or VIA x. XFCE, Cinnamon, Mate. Standard. Beautiful and easy to usewatt. OS1. 92. Any Intel, AMD or VIA x. LXDE, i. 3Standard. Lightweight and fully featured. Zorin OS Lite. 51. MHz. 80. 00. Custom. LTS only. Great alternative to the Windows and Mac OSBodhi Linux. MHz. 40. 00. Moksha customLTS only. Custom lightweight desktop environment. Tiny Core Linux. 48. At least an i. 48. DX CPU1. 1FLWMStandard. Extremely lightweight, but not recommended for beginners. CRUX1. 92x. 86 6. CPUs. 10. 00. Openbox. Standard. Unlike any other. Bonus Distros. Starting from 3 MB RAM Starting from 1. Mixed. Everything. Mixed. Our bonus list. You can find anything there. Lubuntu. Lubuntu is one of the most popular and most widely used lightweight Linux distros out there. Some use it as their main Linux distro on their powerful hardware just because of its performance and beautiful UI. Lubuntu minimum hardware requirements. It can run on just about anything. Pentium 4, Pentium M, AMD K8 or newer CPU. At least 2. 66 MHz. MB RAM3 GB Disk Space or moreAnything more is just a plus. The requirements listed here are for the 1. LTS release, other releases may have slightly different requirements. Lubuntu facts and features. The lightweight Ubuntu. Based on Ubuntu, without any bloat. Has all the essential lightweight software pre installed office, browser, media players etc. Uses LXDE. Future releases will use LXQt. Universal USB Installer Easy as 1 2 3. Universal USB Installer aka UUI is a Live Linux Bootable USB Creator that allows you to choose from a selection of Linux Distributions to put on your USB Flash Drive. The Universal USB Installer is easy to use. Simply choose a Live Linux Distribution, the ISO file, your Flash Drive and, Click Install. Upon completion, you should have a ready to run bootable USB Flash Drive with your select operating system installed. Other features include Persistence if available Ubuntu, Xubuntu, and Lubuntu Casper Persistence feature works with FAT3. NTFS formatted drives. Larger than 4. GB casper rw is possible only when the USB drive is formatted with the NTFS filesystem. NOTE To add multiple Linux Distributions, System Tools, Antivirus Utilities, and Windows Installers to your USB, try YUMI Multiboot USB Creator. Universal USB Installer 1. September 2. 7, 2. Changes. Update to support Pure. OS, Cent. OS Installer, and Ubuntu Mini Netboot Installer. Neighbourhood Map Machine 2.0. Fix various broken Debian, Lubuntu, and Xubuntu links. IMPORTANT The Windows to Go option requires the USB be formatted NTFS with 2. GB free disk space to hold the virtual disk. See FAQ for more info. IMPORTANT NOTE Your USB drive must be Fat. NTFS formatted, otherwise Syslinux will fail and your drive will NOT Boot. Bootable USB Flash Drive Creation Requirements Universal USB Installer 1. Windows Vista781. WINE to create the USB Win 9. XP2. K WILL NOT WorkFat. NTFS Formatted Flash Drive. MBR partition only GPT will not work PC with a BIOS that can boot from USBYour Favorite Linux ISOFeel free to inform me of unlisted Live Linux distributions or version revisions, and I will do my best to update Universal USB Installer UUI to support them. Universal USB Installer Recent Changelog 0. Version 1. 9. 7. 9 Update to support Pure. OS, Cent. OS Installer, and Ubuntu Mini Netboot Installer. Fix broken Debian, Lubuntu, and Xubuntu links. Version 1. 9. 7. 8 Update to support KDE Neon, Devuan, Vinari OS, and Ubuntu Budgie. Version 1. 9. 7. 7 Added casper rw creation progress banner. Corrected casper slider max size relative to fat. Version 1. 9. 7. 6 Correct broken Ubuntu and Linux Mint installer options when no format option is chosen. Version 1. 9. 7. 5 Add filesystem type to drivelist. Include message box to notify of NTFS filesystem requirement for Windows to Go option. Version 1. 9. 7. 4 Add Windows to Go VHD option. Added more info for syslinux warning. Added Diskpart NTFS format option. Version 1. 9. 7. 3 Temporarily limit format option to removable media. Version 1. 9. 7. 2 Add Try via DD Overwrites disk and Try Unlisted Linux ISO GRUB options. Update to support Antergos. Version 1. 9. 7. 1 Quick fix to correct Show All ISOs font. Version 1. 9. 7. 0 Add Show All ISO option. Update Step 1,2,3 labels. Replace empty spaces in filename with dashes. Update to newer GRUB4. DOS. 1. 21. 31. Version 1. Update Get Drives function to ignore system and network drives. Update to support Chalet. OS, and Bunsenlabs. Version 1. 9. 6. 8 Switch back to use 7 Zip 9. Version 1. 9. 6. 7 Update to support Cyborg Linux. Upgrade to 7 Zip 1. Version 1. 9. 6. 6 Update to support Cub Linux. Version 1. 9. 6. 5 Update to re support Archbang, Archlinux, newer Dban, and Cent. OS. Added Syslinux 6. Version 1. 9. 6. 4 Update Links, remove Archlinux until a fix is found, disable feature to close all open explorer windows when format option is selected. Update Syslinux 4. Version 1. 9. 6. 3 Update to support Caine, Pentoo, Parrot Security OS, and Windows 1. Installer untested. Version 1. 9. 6. 2 Update Links, remove discontinued projects. Version 1. 9. 6. 1 Update to support GRML 2. Cent. OS 7, Runtime Live CD, and Clonezilla 2. Version 1. 9. 6. 0 Update to support Linux Mint 1. Rebecca. Update several broken links. Version 1. 9. 5. 9 Update Links. Version 1. 9. 5. 8 Update to support Linux Lite. Version 1. 9. 5. 7 Update to support Ubuntu Mate, Cent. OS 7, ESET Sys. Rescue Live, Linpus Lite, and minty. Mac. 091. 21. 4 Version 1. Update to support Ubuntu, Edubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, and Xubuntu 1. Linux Mint 1. 7, and Debian Live 7. Version 1. 9. 5. 5 Update to support Peach OSI0. Version 1. 9. 5. 4 Update to support newer syslinux version packed with Tails and Clonezilla. Version 1. 9. 5. 3 Update Ubuntu, Cent. OS, Debian, and Linux Mint Download Links. Version 1. 9. 5. 2 Update to support Desinfect, Antivirus Live CD, Fedora 2. LXLE Desktop, Kon Boot Purchased, Sparky, Solyd. X, and Manjaro Linux. Version 1. 9. 5. 1 Modify chain. Insane Primary MBR partition error. Version 1. 9. 5. 0 Add Open. Suse 3. 26. 4bit Entries. Version 1. 9. 4. 9 Fix broken Ubuntu Server options. Version 1. 9. 4. 8 Fix broken Kaspersky Rescue Disk 1. Reconfigure to auto detect ISO size. Version 1. 9. 4. 7 Re Enable Ubuntu Persistence Features. Version 1. 9. 4. 6 Fixed TAILS and Kon Boot entries. Added Falcon 4 entry. Version 1. 9. 4. 5 Wildcard selections to ease user choices, automate config append, and remove manually created config files. Version 1. 9. 4. 4 Added Ubuntu, Edubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, and Xubuntu 1. Version 1. 9. 4. 3 Added AOMEI Disk Cloning tool, and g. New. Sense. 0. 91. Version 1. 9. 4. 2 Drop down now displays Volume Label, and Capacity of each drive. Version 1. 9. 4. 1 Update to support Ubuntu 1. Version 1. 9. 4. 0 Update to support Fusion Linux 1. Peppermint 4. Add persistent option to Ubuntu 1. Version 1. 9. 3. 9 Update to support newer Avira Antivir Rescue Disk. Version 1. 9. 3. 8 Update to support Deft Linux 8. Version 1. 9. 3. 7 Update to support Knoppix 7. Sugar on a Stick 1. Fedora 1. 9, Pear OS 7, Korora 1. Antix 1. 3. 0. 62. Version 1. 9. 3. 6 Update to support Ophcrack 3. Fix broken Ubuntu Server 1. InstallerAlternate options. Version 1. 9. 3. 5 Update to support Linux Mint 1. Ubuntu Server 1. 3. Installers. 0. 51. Version 1. 9. 3. 4 Update to support Ubuntu 1. Ubuntu Gnome 1. 3. Debian Live 7. 0. Version 1. 9. 3. 3 Update to support final release of Ubuntu 1. Kubuntu 1. 3. 0. 4, Lubuntu 1. Xubuntu 1. 3. 0. 4, and Edubuntu 1. Version 1. 9. 3. 2 Update to support REMnux, Linux Mint Debian 2. Kubuntu 1. 3. 0. 4, Lubuntu 1. Xubuntu 1. 3. 0. 4, and Edubuntu 1. Fix some broken links. Version 1. 9. 3. 1 Condense Code to make updates easier. Added support for Kali Linux and Tails 0. Version 1. 9. 3. 0 Correct broken Ubuntu 1. Desktop entry. 0. Version 1. 9. 2. 9 Update to support Mythbuntu 1. Desktop amd. 64, Debian Live 6. Implement another attempt to address Insane primary MBR partition. Cant find myself on the drive I booted from error. Allow Spaces in Unlisted ISO Filenames. Version 1. 9. 2. 8 Update to support Ubuntu 1. Desktop amd. 64, Ubuntu 1. DVD amd. 64, Edubuntu 1. G4. L Ghost for Linux. Version 1. 9. 2. 7 Update to support Ultimate Boot CD 5. Comodo Rescue Disk 2. Elementry Luna. Switch back to Syslinux 4. See Additional Help Section for Insane Primary MBR messages. Version 1. 9. 2. 6 Update to support Ubuntu 1. Temporary switch to Syslinux 4. Insane primary MBR partition. Cant find myself on the drive I booted from errors. Version 1. 9. 2. 5 Update to support Ubuntu 1. Archlinux 2. 01. 3. XBMCbuntu 1. 2, and Crunchbang 1. Version 1. 9. 2. 4 Update to support Fedora 1. Fixed various broken links. Version 1. 9. 2. 3 Update to support Tails 0. Comodo Rescue Disk. Version 1. 9. 2. 2 Update to support Debian 6. Correct several dead links. Fix broken LMDE 2.