What Linux Distro to use on an old Dell Vostro 1500?

[Lost-Zeneration-99]

Hey fellas, so I have a old dell that I fixed up that has not been used in years, that I been wanting to fix. But I want to use it as to mess around with, or use as a sort of daily back up driver. I am not sure what a good distro will be good to use on it. Any thoughts? To add is there is any say off the wall OS or cool things like that I like to know.

 

[Arnox]

AntiX Linux. Full stop.

I use MX Linux (they also do AntiX) for my full phat desktop and I can testify that the MX devs know what the hell they're doing and you aren't going to get a more convenient and stable distro than MX, and by direct extension, AntiX.

Also, AntiX runs great on a toaster.

Had AntiX 23 running on just one core and 272 MB of RAM capacity and it was STILL fast. Bootup times were still very fast as well. I'm so proud of the AntiX and MX team. This is a feat. You could easily run AntiX on embedded systems with how performant and light it is. I think I could still have lowered the RAM even more, but sadly, the Linux kernel built for AntiX can't accept less than 272 MB of RAM and will fail to boot all the way.

(The only thing that could finally bring the system to its knees was Firefox, funnily enough. Literally everything else ran amazing, considering the incredibly meager specs.)

All that said though... You may also want to consider either Windows XP or Windows 7 depending on what you want to do with it or if you want to indulge in some nostalgia. Linux will be amazing for any modern use cases you wanna put the laptop through, and Windows will handle old school program and game compatibility like nobody's business while also running incredibly well, and ESPECIALLY Windows XP.

 

[Arnox]

Oh, also, if you want to turn the laptop into a makeshift server, you'll want to instead get the light version of Debian 12. No desktop environment. Just the CLI.

 

[Lost-Zeneration-99]

Dude thanks for the info @Arnox. I forgot about running old windows. I have been using Linux and it growing on me. Be good to get some testing in before Windows 10 stops getting updates so I can get my newer laptop onto a good OS. Now this is funny I did noticed that old Dell laptops feel so much more sturdy then the one I have that is I think 2016 model. Was Dell back then more higher Quality? Forgot to add it is a old dell vostro 1500.

 

[Arnox]

Be good to get some testing in before Windows 10 stops getting updates

Funny you should mention Windows 10 actually...

Thread 'Will Windows 10 Be Good AFTER Microsoft Stops Updating It?'

Aug 31, 2024

First off, before anything else, I really don't want to hear about security concerns. In this specific case, I really don't fucking care. Unless you're a business or running a public-facing website, you do NOT have to have Windows updates. And even IF you are, the chances of Windows updates actually mattering in terms of deterring an attack are (very usually) low. Furthermore, Microsoft has demonstrated multiple times that if a found exploit is truly bad enough, they will go back and patch versions of Windows even though they might even be a solid decade out of support. Ok, we all got...

• Arnox
• Replies: 6
• Forum: Technophiliacs & Technophiles

Was Dell back then more higher Quality? Forgot to add it is a old dell vostro 1500.

I think the old Dells were indeed much better built. This one seems to have been made in 2007. I have a workstation beast that was made in 2012. That thing is so damn good, though it's also a heavy bastard.

 

[/dev/null]

don't make it complicated, ubuntu or mint. Fedora is there but meh. the main thing is waht do you want to do with it.
to wall off the os, use something like qubes instead.

 

[/dev/null]

Funny you should mention Windows 10 actually...

Thread 'Will Windows 10 Be Good AFTER Microsoft Stops Updating It?'

Aug 31, 2024

First off, before anything else, I really don't want to hear about security concerns. In this specific case, I really don't fucking care. Unless you're a business or running a public-facing website, you do NOT have to have Windows updates. And even IF you are, the chances of Windows updates actually mattering in terms of deterring an attack are (very usually) low. Furthermore, Microsoft has demonstrated multiple times that if a found exploit is truly bad enough, they will go back and patch versions of Windows even though they might even be a solid decade out of support. Ok, we all got...

• Arnox
• Replies: 6
• Forum: Technophiliacs & Technophiles

I think the old Dells were indeed much better built. This one seems to have been made in 2007. I have a workstation beast that was made in 2012. That thing is so damn good, though it's also a heavy bastard.

no, they suffer from shit plastic and capicator failure, dells at this time were fatigued by capicator failure in the desktop models and general overheating though the latitude and precesion series were best.
inspirion were bad with the palm rest and hinges alwasy cracking but the latitude and the thinkpad series were some of the best of the time, we're talking P4 days or the begining of the core2duo lol, wow.

it's fucked up, this is considered vintage computing/retro computing now.

 

[Houseman]

I agree that you should just use something standard, like Ubuntu. With whatever you install, you might run into problems and need help. With something obscure, you might not find the solutions you need when you search.

 

[Arnox]

I agree that you should just use something standard, like Ubuntu. With whatever you install, you might run into problems and need help. With something obscure, you might not find the solutions you need when you search.

MX Linux has boots-on-the-ground dev support on their forums, and I honestly consider that to be much more valuable than more general community support.

don't make it complicated, ubuntu or mint. Fedora is there but meh. the main thing is waht do you want to do with it.
to wall off the os, use something like qubes instead.

Nothing complicated about it. Ubuntu has been going steadily downhill for a while and is only based on Debian Unstable and Debian Testing on top of that. (Yes, even Ubuntu LTS.) And Mint is based on Ubuntu, so there's only so much they can do. There is Linux Mint Debian Edition which is actually based on Debian Stable, but at that point, you might as well just use MX Linux/AntiX which is the best version(s) of Debian Stable for sure.

 

[Lost-Zeneration-99]

Ok so I got her up and running and so far she running smoothly. Thanks for the help fellas.

 

[Arnox]

Ok so I got her up and running and so far she running smoothly. Thanks for the help fellas.

Nice. Let me know if you need any help.