Best operating system to run older configuration PC – Lubuntu

Choosing Lubuntu:

LatelyI was pushed to use my 7 year old PC for an emergency which had Windows 7 in it. It was very tough for me to use the old PC as compared to my latest one, even though it had 1.5GB or RAM and Dual Core Processor. I even had thoughts to install Windows XP to achive better performance.

Before starting anything, did some research to if I can find a Linux distro that could consume very less resources. I was always fond of the Ubuntu distros for as long as 10 years.
I was very fond of receiving the Ubuntu distro CDs that was transported freely to my remote village earlier in 2004 or 2005.
With that fondness I searched the latest distro and then came the Lubuntu (Lite-Ubuntu). I installed it in my PC with dual boot configuration. I should say that the performance is very impressive.

About Lubuntu:

Lubuntu is a good operating system for many old computers, but not for all of them.
Some computers have too little horsepower or memory. A rule of thumb is that the computer should not be more than 10 years old.
Lubuntu is recognized as a member the Ubuntu family by the developers of Ubuntu and has the same release nomenclature.

System Requirements, as per Lubuntu site:

We have done many tests and we've found out that Lubuntu can be installed on a Pentium II or Celeron system with 128 MB of RAM, but such a system would not perform well enough for daily use.
With 256MB - 384MB of RAM, the performance will be better and the system will be more usable.
With 512MB of RAM, you don't need to worry much.

If you like to use the system for normal activities like general browsing, viewing mails etc., the above config would be great.
But if you intend to use it for video watching like using Youtube, I must warn you, the browser you use could eat up all all memory.

Differences between Lubuntu and Ubuntu:

1. Different Desktop Environment (DE) – Lubuntu uses LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) while Ubuntu uses Unity as the default DE.

  • Both Lubuntu and Ubuntu share two major important things: same Core System and same Repositories.
  • Lubuntu and Ubuntu belong to the same family and talking about each as totally different two systems is not correct since they have some things in common.
  • They even share the same Forum Area and share many Wiki Pages. Other than that, they are the same.
  • The DE is what makes Lubuntu a lightweight OS, and of course the selected applications too because we make sure to use the lightest applications which are not resource hungry.
  • However, you are still free to use any application available in Ubuntu’s repositories, as long as your computer can run it.

2. Different Default Applications

Lubuntu Application Function
Xpad Stickies
Evince PDF Viewer
Gnumeric Spreadsheet
Abiword Docs
Simple-scan Scanner
Gnome-disk-utility Partition Editor
Light-locker Screensaver
Guvcview Webcam Utility
Gucharmap Character Map
Scrot Screenshot
Hardinfo System info
Mtpaint Image Editing
Xfburn Cd Burning
Pcmanfm File Manager
Gcalculator Calculator
Audacious Audio Player
Gnome-mplayer Video Player
Transmission Torrent
Pidgin Instant Messaging
Sylpheed Email Client
Mozilla Firefox Web browser
Leafpad Editor
File-roller (De)Compress files
Lxterminal Terminal
Gpicview Image Viewer

Download Lubuntu:

http://lubuntu.me/downloads/
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Lubuntu/GetLubuntu

Official Websites:

http://lubuntu.me/
http://lubuntu.net/
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Lubuntu