The next four could be called mid-sized distributions:
A full install, including XOrg and development tools, needs only 750 MB of harddisk space. It's focused on desktop usage and it includes email clients, graphical web browser, an office programs with word processor and spreadsheet, and so on. DeLi is a Linux Distribution for old computers, from 486 to Pentium III or so.Feather can be installed on a USB stick, but AFAIK not on a hard drive.
It is just like DSL a Knoppix remaster (based on Debian), includes software which most people use every day.
Puppy Linux is another installable live CD.
DSL can be run completely in RAM, and it can install more programs from an online repository.
It is a 50 MB live CD, but it can also be installed on the hard drive. Damn Small Linux, a.k.a DSL is a popular extremely small distro.It will be interesting to see how they have developed in the last years. I have already during the last seven years used most them for at least some time as my main desktop system. During the next few months I will install them on one of my computers.
I will not present any detailed review of the distributions as I intend to present them later one by one in more depth. The rest two can be used as the basis of a custom lightweight system. Eight of these distros are meant to be lightweight, and do not demand newest hardware. (this can change depending what version you’re using).Ĭonsidering that it is based on Ubuntu, you’ll have plenty of support and resources available online as you can follow the Ubuntu tutorials.In this post, I will introduce ten most useful and best known lightweight distributions. Linux Lite is based on Ubuntu LTS (Long Term Support) releases.Įven though it’s a lightweight distro – it comes baked with some essential tools.įor instance, you may find Firefox for web browsing, Thunderbird for emails, Dropbox for Cloud storage, VLC Media Player for Music, LibreOffice for office, Gimp for image editing and Lite tweaks to tweak your desktop. Even a beginner will be able to use it on older computers easily. CPU: Pentium 4 or Pentium M or AMD K8 or higherĪs the name suggests Linux Lite is a lightweight Linux distro that does not need high-end hardware to run it.
Minimum hardware requirements for Lubuntu: However, I’d suggest to always prefer to select an application that doesn’t consume a lot of system resources. Software and repositories are the same so you will get all the software that you were using on Ubuntu from their repositories. Lubuntu has fewer packages pre-installed consisting mostly of lightweight Linux applications. Lubuntu supports older computers that have been buried (Just kidding! You can also use Lubuntu on modern hardware). Lubuntu is one of the lightest derivatives of Ubuntu so it specializes in speed and the support for older hardware. In fact, it is one of the official flavors of Ubuntu. From Ubuntu 18.10 and above, you will find LXQT as the default desktop environment and could find LXDE as the default in its previous releases. As the name suggests, a member of the Ubuntu family but it utilizes either LXDE/LXQT desktop environment. Next on our list of best lightweight Linux distributions is Lubuntu. Support for 32-bit systems: Yes (older versions)