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[SOLVED] Which Linux for very old PC (dual-core CPU with 1GB ram)

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[SOLVED] Which Linux for very old PC (dual-core CPU with 1GB ram)

Post by Mint Leaf » Wed Jul 07, 2021 11:41 pm

Where can I download older versions of Linux Mint? (Specifically I was looking for the old 18 versions)

I have an older machine I want to install it on that can’t handle 19-20.

The official download page only goes back as far as version 19:
https://linuxmint.com/download_all.php

Is there an official archive for the previous releases?

Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.

Re: Older Versions of Linux Mint

Post by xenopeek » Thu Jul 08, 2021 1:36 am

You can find most obsoleted ISOs still on the download mirrors: https://linuxmint.com/mirrors.php. Click a mirror close to you and browse to the stable directory. That said, you really shouldn’t be wanting to use obsoleted Linux Mint releases to connect to the internet.

Obsoleted releases don’t get security updates which also means you’ll be using an old web browser version with KNOWN security vulnerabilities in it (websites may also warn you about the old web browser versions). And if you do online banking, don’t. If something happens to your account likely your bank’s fine-print will wave responsibility and accountability because you’re using a system with no security updates. Hopefully that stays in the theoretical but if your computer is so very underpowered it can’t run say Linux Mint 20.x Xfce I would suggest instead to look for a Linux distro specifically built for very old computers. Like antiX.

Or you know, share your system specs (run inxi -Fxxz and share output in a topic here) and get recommendations as to which Linux Mint edition will work best or what upgrade to apply to your system so it will run Linux Mint.

Re: Older Versions of Linux Mint

Post by Mint Leaf » Thu Jul 15, 2021 4:39 am

Thank you for the warning.

Don’t worry the old machine I’m looking to install it on doesn’t use the internet.

It just seems a shame to let it gather dust when it is still perfectly functional.

I have another question, where can I find the sha256sum.txt and sha256sum.txt.gpg for the older versions of Linux Mint?

The official verification page unfortunately doesn’t appear contain them anymore.

Re: Older Versions of Linux Mint

Post by Kadaitcha Man » Thu Jul 15, 2021 4:43 am

Mint Leaf wrote: ⤴ Thu Jul 15, 2021 4:39 am It just seems a shame to let it gather dust when it is still perfectly functional.

That depends on your definition of ‘perfectly functional’. While the hardware might run ok, even if you did connect that machine to the net, you would not be able to install any additional software because the repositories have all been taken down.

Re: Older Versions of Linux Mint

Post by Mint Leaf » Thu Jul 15, 2021 4:49 am

Kadaitcha Man wrote: ⤴ Thu Jul 15, 2021 4:43 am you would not be able to install any additional software because the repositories have all been taken down.

So I couldn’t get the video and media drivers needed to run the programs if I was using Linux Mint 18? That puts a damper on that plan. 🙁

I’d still like to know if the sha256sum.txt and sha256sum.txt.gpg files for older versions are retained somewhere on the offical site for future reference.

mikaelrask Level 5
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Re: Older Versions of Linux Mint

Post by mikaelrask » Thu Jul 15, 2021 4:57 am

CPU Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9700K CPU @ 3.60GHz
Graphic Card: NVIDIA 2070 super
Ram 32 GB
Kernel: 5.15.0-70 generic
LM Xfce 21.1

Re: Older Versions of Linux Mint

Post by t42 » Thu Jul 15, 2021 5:03 am

Mint Leaf wrote: ⤴ Thu Jul 15, 2021 4:49 am I’d still like to know if the sha256sum.txt and sha256sum.txt.gpg files for older versions are retained somewhere on the offical site for future reference.

Just follow xenopeek’s advice — md5 plus sha256 hash files are inside each distribution directory.
Starting from LM 17 these files are signed, there is a gpg file as well.

Termy Level 12
Posts: 4244 Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2017 8:49 pm Location: UK Contact:

Re: Older Versions of Linux Mint

Post by Termy » Thu Jul 15, 2021 5:17 am

I suggest you look into Linux Lite, Peppermint OS, Puppy Linux, and Linux Mint with XFCE. There are a lot of distributions aimed at older machines.

Re: Older Versions of Linux Mint

Post by Mint Leaf » Thu Jul 15, 2021 5:44 am

t42 wrote: ⤴ Thu Jul 15, 2021 5:03 am Just follow xenopeek’s advice — md5 plus sha256 hash files are inside each distribution directory.
Starting from LM 17 these files are signed, there is a gpg file as well.

Where is the distribution directory, do you mean on the mirror sites?

If the identification files aren’t on the official site doesn’t that defeat the purpose of using them?

I’ve only just starting using sha256 & md5 to match file identities, what does it mean if the file is signed?

xenopeek wrote: ⤴ Thu Jul 08, 2021 1:36 am Or you know, share your system specs (run inxi -Fxxz and share output in a topic here) and get recommendations as to which Linux Mint edition will work best or what upgrade to apply to your system so it will run Linux Mint.

I just checked the system specs on the old machine:
. CPU running at «2.80 GHz x2»
. RAM: 1Gig
. Graphics: «ATI RV370».

Linux Mint 20 MATE runs pretty slow on it and lists » 2GB RAM (4GB recommended for a comfortable usage) » as system requirements so that would explain it.

Links gathered for convenience:
Lubuntu
Peppermint OS
Puppy Linux
Linux Lite
Sparky Linux Xfce
Linux Mint with XFCE (Needs at least 2G ram, but MATE ‘almost’ runs so I’ll give it a try.)

Re: Which Linux for very old PC (dual-core CPU with 1GB ram)

Post by xenopeek » Thu Jul 15, 2021 5:53 am

As this has moved away from being a support request for Linux Mint, I’ve moved it here and updated the topic subject.

Re: Which Linux for very old PC (dual-core CPU with 1GB ram)

Post by Mint Leaf » Thu Jul 15, 2021 6:02 am

xenopeek wrote: ⤴ Thu Jul 15, 2021 5:53 am As this has moved away from being a support request for Linux Mint, I’ve moved it here and updated the topic subject.

I agree, the topic has split. Thank you for moving it to the appropriate section.

There is still a piece of information I was hoping to learn about Linux Mint involving the identification md5 & sha256 files.

t42 wrote: ⤴ Thu Jul 15, 2021 5:03 am Just follow xenopeek’s advice — md5 plus sha256 hash files are inside each distribution directory.
Starting from LM 17 these files are signed, there is a gpg file as well.

Where is the distribution directory, do you mean on the mirror sites?

If the identification files aren’t on the official site doesn’t that defeat the purpose of using them?

I’ve only just starting using sha256 & md5 to match file identities, what does it mean if the file is signed?

Re: Older Versions of Linux Mint

Post by t42 » Thu Jul 15, 2021 6:06 am

Mint Leaf wrote: ⤴ Thu Jul 15, 2021 5:44 am I’ve only just starting using sha256 & md5 to match file identities, what does it mean if the file is signed?

Re: Which Linux for very old PC (dual-core CPU with 1GB ram)

Post by t42 » Thu Jul 15, 2021 6:09 am

Mint Leaf wrote: ⤴ Thu Jul 15, 2021 6:02 am Where is the distribution directory, do you mean on the mirror sites?

Termy Level 12
Posts: 4244 Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2017 8:49 pm Location: UK Contact:

Re: Which Linux for very old PC (dual-core CPU with 1GB ram)

Post by Termy » Thu Jul 15, 2021 6:12 am

I used to build and share Debian packages over at GitHub. I would constantly update an ‘md5sums’ file, in which a list of file sums could be stored for later file verification. Eventually, I decided to stop doing that, because ultimately, if someone did somehow gain unauthorized access to the Debian packages, they too could tamper with the ‘md5sums’ file. This, presumably, is why we sign files, making use of something like GPG. I vaguely remember reading or hearing about how the Linux Mint devs came to the same conclusion, regarding their ISOs.

You might find this helpful:

https://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/manual/x135.html wrote: A digital signature certifies and timestamps a document. If the document is subsequently modified in any way, a verification of the signature will fail. A digital signature can serve the same purpose as a hand-written signature with the additional benefit of being tamper-resistant. The GnuPG source distribution, for example, is signed so that users can verify that the source code has not been modified since it was packaged.

Creating and verifying signatures uses the public/private keypair in an operation different from encryption and decryption. A signature is created using the private key of the signer. The signature is verified using the corresponding public key. For example, Alice would use her own private key to digitally sign her latest submission to the Journal of Inorganic Chemistry. The associate editor handling her submission would use Alice’s public key to check the signature to verify that the submission indeed came from Alice and that it had not been modified since Alice sent it. A consequence of using digital signatures is that it is difficult to deny that you made a digital signature since that would imply your private key had been compromised.

Re: Which Linux for very old PC (dual-core CPU with 1GB ram)

Post by MAlfare » Thu Jul 15, 2021 11:04 am

Mint Leaf wrote: ⤴ Wed Jul 07, 2021 11:41 pm I have an older machine I want to install it on that can’t handle 19-20.

I have such a machine here, running LM 19.3 MATE 64 bit.
As the old Nvidia graphics card is only supported by a driver, that is not compatible with newer kernels, I have to set NOMODESET as kernel option in /etc/default/grub.

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="nomodeset"

alf@Heinrich:~$ inxi -Fz System: Host: Heinrich Kernel: 5.4.0-77-generic x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: MATE 1.22.2 Distro: Linux Mint 19.3 Tricia Machine: Type: Desktop Mobo: MICRO-STAR model: MS-7258 v: 2.00 serial: BIOS: Phoenix v: 6.00 PG date: 08/18/2006 CPU: Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core2 6400 bits: 64 type: MCP L2 cache: 2048 KiB Speed: 1615 MHz min/max: N/A Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1615 2: 1596 Graphics: Device-1: NVIDIA G73 [GeForce 7600 GS] driver: N/A Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.8 driver: vesa resolution: 1280x1024~N/A OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 10.0.0 128 bits) v: 3.3 Mesa 20.0.8 Audio: Device-1: VIA VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio driver: snd_via82xx Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-77-generic Network: Device-1: Realtek RTL-8110SC/8169SC Gigabit Ethernet driver: r8169 IF: enp0s11 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: Drives: Local Storage: total: 346.51 GiB used: 57.24 GiB (16.5%) ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD2500JS-00NCB1 size: 232.89 GiB ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Western Digital model: WD1200BB-00DAA1 size: 111.76 GiB ID-3: /dev/sdg type: USB model: General USB Flash Disk size: 1.87 GiB Partition: ID-1: / size: 148.63 GiB used: 57.21 GiB (38.5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda4 ID-2: swap-1 size: 6.04 GiB used: 268 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda2 Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 57.0 C mobo: N/A Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A Info: Processes: 164 Uptime: 5m Memory: 979.6 MiB used: 521.1 MiB (53.2%) Shell: bash inxi: 3.0.32 

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