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It lives! (slrpnk.net)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/zerowaste@slrpnk.net
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It's running the 32bit version of Bodhi linux, but a 2009 netbook has risen from the grave.

A Dell Latitude 2100 netbook, with an Intel Atom processor originally running Windows XP, now displaying a modern Firefox browser
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[–] 3 points 2 months ago (6 children)

Congrats!

I wish I knew Linux just enough to save old computers. Everyone how already know how to do it say it is easy but every time I did it it was paintful and I end up with either a very slow computer or something that can't connect easily to the internet..

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 2 months ago (5 children)

    Oh, don't get me wrong, it's very slow. This is pushing the limit of what's compatible with modern software.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (4 children)

    Then is there distro and maybe softfare build with using the smallest amont of ressource in mind?

    Typically, I'm not sure if I want to surf on the internet with an old computer. Today web pages are way too heavy with JavaScript everywhere. But I could see how a computer would benefit so much people if it can do office automation, access a mail client, talk to a printer or read local media. Even if it is a bit slow.

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Also keep in mind that this netbook is nearly 20 years old, and it was kinda junk to begin with. My partner is decidedly non-techy, and he was able to install Linux Mint on his desktop that's just a little too old for Windows 11 with no problems.

    The libre office suite runs just fine on the netbook, so you could still use it for the basics, but yeah it does choke on Youtube. This little thing is just gonna be a living room access point for my Home Assistant setup, so it doesn't have to do much!

    There's a number of very small distros out there. The lightest-weight I've heard of is Puppy, but I had trouble getting the iso to burn, so I haven't tried it.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    I have tried both. I have Puppy Linux bootable on a USB stick. It is not noticably slow but every time I want to connect to a new Internet access point it is a struggle and almost one time out of two it does not save what was done in the computing session. Idk why. So it is fine for browsing but I can imagine working on a file with it. Also when you finally connected to internet and it doesn't remember it not cool. That's my (bad) experience. It doesn't means the problem come from the distribution.

    It had someone install Mint for me on an old computer (10 years old) but it is quite slow. I have add it Libre Office but it is also slow to the point it discourage me to us it. But Libre Office has always be very slow for me whichever computer I used it on.

    I don't know what to do to fix it. I consider myself computer-savy but as often with open source there is a lot of technical possibility and technical documentation but user experience and user documentation are an after thought.

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