Best lightweight linux distros

10 Best Lightweight Linux Distros for Old Computers

As computers age, their performance inevitably degrades, and the operating system becomes less responsive. This can be frustrating for users who want to continue using their old hardware but are limited by the resources available. Fortunately, Linux offers a variety of lightweight distros that are optimized for older computers, allowing them to run more smoothly and efficiently.

In this article, we will review the 10 best lightweight Linux distros for old computers, along with their pros and cons.

1. Puppy Linux

Puppy Linux is one of the smallest and lightest Linux distros available. It can run entirely from a USB stick, making it incredibly portable. Puppy Linux is also highly customizable, allowing users to tweak everything from the desktop environment to the kernel itself. Despite its small size, Puppy Linux comes with a range of software pre-installed, including a web browser, media player, and office suite.

• Pros: Extremely lightweight, runs well on old hardware, customizable, and portable.
• Cons: Limited software availability, may require more configuration than other distros.

2. Damn Small Linux (DSL)

As the name suggests, Damn Small Linux is a small, lightweight distro that is ideal for older computers with limited resources. The distro is designed to be run entirely from a USB drive, making it easy to use on the go. Despite its small size, DSL comes with a range of software pre-installed, including a web browser, media player, and office suite.

• Pros: Extremely lightweight, runs well on old hardware, portable, and comes with a range of software pre-installed.
• Cons: No longer actively maintained, limited software availability.

3. Lubuntu

Lubuntu is a lightweight version of the popular Ubuntu Linux distro. It is designed to be lightweight and fast, making it ideal for older hardware. Lubuntu comes with the LXDE desktop environment, which is both lightweight and customizable. The distro also includes a range of software pre-installed, including a web browser, media player, and office suite.

• Pros: Lightweight and fast, comes with a range of software pre-installed, and customizable.
• Cons: May not run well on extremely old hardware, some features may be limited compared to other Ubuntu-based distros.

4. Xubuntu

Xubuntu is another lightweight version of Ubuntu, but it comes with the XFCE desktop environment instead of LXDE. XFCE is a bit more feature-rich than LXDE, but it is still lightweight enough to run well on older hardware. Xubuntu also comes with a range of software pre-installed, including a web browser, media player, and office suite.

• Pros: Lightweight and fast, comes with a range of software pre-installed, and customizable.
• Cons: May not run well on extremely old hardware, some features may be limited compared to other Ubuntu-based distros.

5. Bodhi Linux

Bodhi Linux is a lightweight distro that is designed to be customizable and easy to use. It comes with the Moksha desktop environment, which is based on Enlightenment. Moksha is highly customizable, allowing users to tweak everything from the theme to the keyboard shortcuts. Bodhi Linux also comes with a range of software pre-installed, including a web browser, media player, and office suite.

• Pros: Highly customizable, comes with a range of software pre-installed, and lightweight.
• Cons: Some users may find the Moksha desktop environment too unfamiliar, limited software availability.

6. Peppermint OS

Peppermint OS is a lightweight distro that is designed to be fast and easy to use. It comes with the LXDE desktop environment, which is both lightweight and customizable. Peppermint OS also includes a range of software pre-installed, including a web browser, media player, and office suite. The distro also includes integration with cloud-based services like Dropbox and Google Drive, making it a great option for users who need to access their files from anywhere.

• Pros: Fast and easy to use, includes cloud-based services integration, comes with a range of software pre-installed.
• Cons: May not run well on extremely old hardware, limited software availability.

7. AntiX

AntiX is a lightweight, systemd-free distro that is designed to be fast and efficient. It comes with a range of desktop environments to choose from, including Fluxbox, IceWM, and JWM. AntiX also includes a range of software pre-installed, including a web browser, media player, and office suite.

• Pros: Fast and efficient, includes multiple desktop environment options, comes with a range of software pre-installed.
• Cons: Limited software availability, may require more configuration than other distros.

8. LXLE

LXLE is a lightweight distro that is based on Lubuntu. It comes with the LXDE desktop environment, which is both lightweight and customizable. LXLE is designed to be easy to use, and it comes with a range of software pre-installed, including a web browser, media player, and office suite. The distro also includes a range of customization options, making it easy to tweak the look and feel of the desktop environment.

• Pros: Lightweight and easy to use, comes with a range of software pre-installed, and customizable.
• Cons: May not run well on extremely old hardware, limited software availability.

9. Tiny Core Linux

Tiny Core Linux is one of the smallest Linux distros available, with a download size of just 15 MB. It is designed to be minimalist, with a focus on providing a basic operating system that can be customized by the user. Tiny Core Linux does not come with any software pre-installed, but it includes a package manager that allows users to easily download and install the software they need.

• Pros: Extremely lightweight, highly customizable, and minimalist.
• Cons: No software pre-installed, may require more configuration than other distros.

10. SparkyLinux

SparkyLinux is a lightweight, Debian-based distro that is designed to be fast and efficient. It comes with a range of desktop environments to choose from, including LXDE, LXQt, and MATE. SparkyLinux also includes a range of software pre-installed, including a web browser, media player, and office suite.

• Pros: Fast and efficient, includes multiple desktop environment options, comes with a range of software pre-installed.
• Cons: Limited software availability, may require more configuration than other distros.

Conclusion

There are many lightweight Linux distros available that are ideal for old computers. These distros are designed to be fast, efficient, and customizable, making them perfect for users who want to breathe new life into their aging hardware. When choosing a lightweight Linux distro, it is important to consider the pros and cons of each distro, as well as the hardware requirements and the software availability. With the right lightweight Linux distro, you can extend the life of your old computer and continue to use it for years to come.

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8 Best Lightweight Linux distros for VM- Virtual Machine for 2023

“Lightweight Linux distribution terms” can be different from one to another. It all depends on whether he /she wants a Linux with GUI or CLI and how much system resource he/she can provide to the Virtual machine running the Linux system. Here we are considering that you are a user of either Virtual Box, Vmware Player, or Hyper-V and looking for a Lightweight Linux distro with fewer resources consumption to run on VM (memory, CPU, and Hard disk). Also, if you are a user of Windows 10 or 11 then can consider WSL to start learning Linux.

Top Lightweight Linux distributions to run on VM- Virtual machine

2. Linux Lite

Another Lite version in Linux distros to run VM on Virtual Box/Vmware/Hyper-v is “Linux Lite“. With Windows 7-like interface, it makes the MS Windows users easily switch to this Linux operating system. It comes with a free Office suite and other common useful software like other Lightweight Linux distros mentioned here but without putting much stress on your Virtual machine as well as on the host machine.

Linux Lite is also based on Ubuntu-like Puppy with of course customizations to make it consume fewer resources, the OS uses a tweaked XFCE Desktop environment. It can easily work well on a virtual machine running on a 1 GHz CPU, 768MB of RAM, and 8 GB of storage.

It also takes care of users’ privacy and security by providing a highly configurable firewall and one-click update of the system. Furthermore, built-in applications such as Lite Tweaks and Lite Software will help the users to enhance and optimize the system’s performance.

3. MX Linux

MX Linux is a relatively new distro but enough old and mid-light in weight to offer good performance even on Virtual machines with not high hardware resources allocation. The best thing is when most of the modern OS-dropping 32-bit support this one is still offering that. Yes, MX Linux’s latest version launched in 2020 offers both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Based on Debian and antiX, along with the fusion of the XFCE desktop interface offers stable but optimized performance. Apart from Xfce4, it is also available with KDE and Fluxbox GUI.

If you are a fan of Debian but don’t want to use it because of its hesitation to adopt new things early, then try out MX Linux.

4. Lubuntu

LUbuntu is the official distribution from the Canonical developer team to provide lightweight Linux distribution with less RAM and a space-consuming LXDE/LXQT desktop environment instead of regular Gnome. It required 1 GB of RAM and at least 386 or Pentium CPU. This Linux distro is less resource hungry and even promoted by its developers as a lightweight distro, however, with all abilities it can compete with any modern Linux in terms of functionality. Because the user can install any software package that is available for the main Linux project of Canocnal i.e Ubuntu.

However, still, Lubuntu will not be much lighter as compared to Linux Lite and Puppy Linux.

5. TurnKey Linux Core- Virtual Appliance Library

I don’t know what exactly you want in a lightweight Linux distro, however, if you want to run some common server application such as web server, Database, MongoDB, File Server, OwnCloud, Game server, and more then try out the TurnKey Linux solution pre-built Linux Images for Virtual machines. Turnkey VMs comes with a pre-built app that you want with a CLI interface but that doesn’t mean you cannot install anything else over it. Being a Linux, we can install whatever you would like even a GUI interface or web console like Cockpit to manage it. But this for sure will be least in terms of resource consumption.

Turnkey Virtual Applications are available in various formats to support different virtual machines such as Open Virtualization Format (OVA) to support VirtualBox and VMware products (e.g. Workstation, Player, Fusion, and vSphere/ESX). Also includes open-vmtools (for VMware). Apart from that VMDK is packed in a zip file with VMX files. Also support KVM/QEMU, OpenStack, different Container platforms, Xen and Docker.

If you don’t want any pre-installed applications then try out Turnkey Core based on Debian with a minimum set of tools to start with whatever you want.

6. Arch Linux/Manjaro Linux

Arch Linux is another lightweight Linux distro working on the KISS principle that is Keep it Simple and Stupid. It is meant to offer minimal Linux distribution, however, those who want a Graphical user interface can go for its based Linux called Manajro Linux.

But being not on Ubuntu or Debian doesn’t mean there is a lack of packages; Arch Linux and its Aura repository offer way more options to install thousand of packages even from source with just a few commands or GUI interface as compared to Ubuntu.

However, Arch Linux in its standard start would be difficult for some beginners in terms of installations, hence we recommend using Majnaro Linux instead with the same performance but with various Desktop environment options.

Arch Linux uses Pacman, as a package manager developed specifically for it to install, remove and update software packages.

7. Bodhi Linux

Bodhi Linux is another lightweight Linux distribution to run on VM- Virtual machines. It is based on Ubuntu while the tablet version of Bodhi uses Debian as its core. The developers made this Linux, to provide a minimal base system with popular software to manage day-to-day tasks.

It requires at least 512 MB of RAM and a 500 MHz processor, well 32-bit processors are still supported by this Linux. To provide a desktop interface Bodhi uses Moksha Desktop (window manager), a fork of Enlightenment DR17.

8. Alpine Lightweight Linux- Best to run Docker

Are you looking for extremely lightweight Linux to run Docker containers? Then go for Alpine Linux. Earlier Docker Tools for Windows was also using Alpine Linux to run containers. It is based on BusyBox and musl, use APK as packages manager and users can install awesome, MATE, and Xfce desktop environments to get a graphical user interface.

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