Best linux distro for a old (07) laptop

[BORTZ]

I have a very old laptop that I would like to wipe and install linux onto. I am open to many a suggestion, but all I ask is that it is easily operable. Like easy to get into and do some light internet browsing.

 

[Arras]

While I haven't checked what happened Linux-wise in a long time, back when I still checked that stuff Linux Mint was quite lightweight while still looking nice and userfriendly. I assume it's still good.
http://www.linuxmint.com/

Edit: There's four editions, not sure which one would be best. I think Cinnamon is recommended, but XFCE might be a little faster?

 

[dfsa3fdvc1]

Arch + i3 WM
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/beginners'_guide

 

[Arras]

Arch + i3 WM
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/beginners'_guide

Arch is a lot of things, but "easily operable and easy to get into" is not one of them.

 

[slimpyman]

my mom had a garbage 07 cheapie (like 300 bucks back then), and i threw lubuntu on it. it was pretty good. than I really wanted some easy software to stream spotify to roku, and I tried out Windows 10. windows 10 ran better than lubuntu on a laptop with 2gb ram, and a cheap amd processor. check it out, you may be impressed like i was.

 

[FAST6191]

What specs? 07 is new enough to possibly be a core2 and a couple of gigs of RAM (or you can easily stick a couple in there, 4 if you are good and inclined to pay rip off prices for DDR2 laptop RAM). Such a thing is still useful for many tasks. If you can bring yourself to spend a bit then a SSD will be a nice upgrade.

That said I can second the suggestion of XFCE Linux Mint. Depending upon what you have you may have trouble with wireless drivers but frankly you should probably already be investing in one of those low profile USB things if it matters to you.

 

[Necron]

Linux Mint MATE ran fine on an old AMD Athlon 2 (1.9ghz) with 1 gb of ram for me. It'll probably be faster with XFCE, so you'll wanna go with that.

 

[BORTZ]

Well, anything build off of Ubuntu is out. For whatever reason, none of them can see my broadcom 4311 wireless card. Point, Kali, and Hydrogen all can, I think because they are Debian based. Kali and Hydrogen are NOT user friendly imo, so I'm using point. Everything seems to be ok, all but I cant get the "Install to harddrive" icon to launch. WTFFFFF

 

[Taleweaver]

Linux mint and lubuntu would be my first picks. But I see the latter is already out. :-\

Something I don't hear much about is android-x86. It basically is its name: android on a pc (they're mostly aiming at old EEE-laptops). I'll be honest: I tried it on old IBM touchscreen pc/monitor combo's we have lying around at work and it had a major bug (the input was exactly mirrored, with no way to get it correctly). But using a mouse, it was surprisingly fine. At the very least, it's worth trying on a bootable USB-stick.

 

[TecXero]

I'd also recommend Mint. Either XFCE or MATE will work fine. MATE's interface is a bit nicer but (out of the box) has troubles with things like caffeine.

 

[Touko White]

What are your computer specs?
I would recommend a distro using XFCE it looks quite pretty and also is rather lightweight.

 

[The Catboy]

If you are going to put Arch on it, Manjaro is your best bet.
I also suggest Lubuntu, Bodhi, Linux Mint XFCE, and Peppermint OS.

 

[BORTZ]

I'd also recommend Mint. Either XFCE or MATE will work fine. MATE's interface is a bit nicer but (out of the box) has troubles with things like caffeine.

Mint, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu cant see the Broadcom wireless card.

 

[TecXero]

Mint, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu cant see the Broadcom wireless card.

Hmm, older Broadcom cards sometimes require manual setup. I'm not sure what model you're running but here's a good place to start: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx

 

[KashiToxicBlood]

gnewsense

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Well, anything build off of Ubuntu is out. For whatever reason, none of them can see my broadcom 4311 wireless card. Point, Kali, and Hydrogen all can, I think because they are Debian based. Kali and Hydrogen are NOT user friendly imo, so I'm using point. Everything seems to be ok, all but I cant get the "Install to harddrive" icon to launch. WTFFFFF

Ubuntu is also Debian based. Broadcom can be a pain in the ass, but if it works on other distros there is definitely a way to get it working on Ubuntu too. Worst case scenario you can always use ndiswrapper with the Windows driver.

 

[grossaffe]

Nobody wants to be the one to recommend gentoo?

 

[KashiToxicBlood]

Nobody wants to be the one to recommend gentoo?

Gentoo GNU + Linux has some nonfree binary blobs in the source code and in releases which is completely proprietary software and should not be endorsed, choose an ethical distro like gnewsense trisquel or xututo. a distro that respects your freedom, I run gnewsense a free BIOS with free hardware designs and free firmware and drivers

 

[grossaffe]

Gentoo GNU + Linux has some nonfree binary blobs in the source code and in releases which is completely proprietary software and should not be endorsed, choose an ethical distro like gnewsense trisquel or xututo. a distro that respects your freedom, I run gnewsense a free BIOS with free hardware designs and free firmware and drivers

While you're at it, you should use an OpenRisc processor.

 

[KashiToxicBlood]

While you're at it, you should use an OpenRisc processor.

I use a free Intel i5 chip that is ran off of free software, a proud member of the Free Software Foundation and a proud user of free software and developing useful free software alternatives to the proprietary ones, im currently trying to make an activinspire free replacement licensed under GPLv3 and after that i wanna make a dissasembler that is as robust as IDA with help of others if needed