Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKJun 19

Rescued an old desktop which had been decomissioned as too slow and laggy for Windows even with 8GB RAM

Now running #linux_mint - I tried the #Debian edition but it was still a bit laggy with Cinnamon DE and also managed to hose its CUPS configuration immediately after the first update.

Had better luck with the #Ubuntu based edition (even though I didn't want to use Ubuntu as much) and it runs XFCE desktop very fast.

Even the printer still works! This might go in the next office as a backup PC, if they don't want it I will probably take it home with me and use it there..

Show threadBoorJun 20
@vfrmedia I run #debian 12 plus #xfce on a converted Chromebook from 2014 with *1GB* RAM as a basic #firefox netbook just fine 
Show threadROTOPE~1 
@boor opening up a modern web browser with just 1GB of core is definitely living on the edge
Jun 20 at 2:03amIvory for iOS
Show threadBoorJun 20

@rotopenguin true! šŸ¤£ I did just double-check and itā€™s an old Acer c720 with *2GB* RAM, I mis-remembered.

I wouldnā€™t recommend more than a couple tabs, but it is still quite serviceable. I can even run Google apps in browser for light productivity. (Not my preference but our local Cub Scout pack uses Google for all our docs.)

Otherwise itā€™s still great for kids apps like the Tux series and tinkering stuff like #arduino IDE, #fritzing etc.

Show threadHaralds JakovelsJun 22
@boor @rotopenguin is it 32bit?
Show threadBoorJun 22
@hjakovel @rotopenguin nope, 64-bit https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/75608/intel-celeron-processor-2955u-2m-cache-1-40-ghz/specifications.html
IntelĀ® CeleronĀ® Processor 2955U (2M Cache, 1.40 GHz) - Product Specifications | Intel

IntelĀ® CeleronĀ® Processor 2955U (2M Cache, 1.40 GHz) quick reference with specifications, features, and technologies.

Intel
Show threadHaralds JakovelsJun 22
@boor @rotopenguin it's still a good CPU. Approx one year later they started to make those Nxxxx series Celerons. a bit slower single thread performance but about half the power consumption (7 watts vs 15). Nice to see one still serving :) and good choice
Show threadBoorJun 24
@hjakovel @rotopenguin thanks! I bought the Acer c720 used for $40 years ago. Moving to #debian vastly improved the lifespan and practical usefulness. 
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Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKJun 19

Rescued an old desktop which had been decomissioned as too slow and laggy for Windows even with 8GB RAM

Now running #linux_mint - I tried the #Debian edition but it was still a bit laggy with Cinnamon DE and also managed to hose its CUPS configuration immediately after the first update.

Had better luck with the #Ubuntu based edition (even though I didn't want to use Ubuntu as much) and it runs XFCE desktop very fast.

Even the printer still works! This might go in the next office as a backup PC, if they don't want it I will probably take it home with me and use it there..

Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKJun 19
Even though the PC still has a spinning rust drive it runs fast enough, and it does not choke on 1080p video from YouTube (compared even to Windows boxes with similar specifications), and I've found a way to download the videos as MP4 for later use (or to transfer to my other devices) to get round YouTube enshittifying their service and making it harder to use adblockers (I think I've got enough time to snag all the car maintenance and electronics videos I want, and if YT becomes totally unusable with adblockers I will simply stop using it..)
Show threadDiego CĆ³rdoba šŸ‡¦šŸ‡·Jun 19
@vfrmedia #xfce rocks! :D
Show threadKaiXinJun 19
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de 8GB for #Debian+ #Xfce should be more than enough. I personally use Debian sid and Xfce daily. IIRC fresh boot to empty desktop consumes less than 500M of memory.
Show threadKen MilmoreJun 19
@kaixin Agreed. Ubuntu has no special sauce here. Debian with Xfce will likely be less resource hungry, and there are even more trimmed down alternatives available such as LXQt or, date I say it, Openbox.
Show threadKaiXinJun 20
#Ubuntu does have the special sauce #snap integrated at system-level. Last time I checked, no more than 6 months ago, it really was resource hungry and something about snap kept crashing and popped up crashed message all the time. It was a live session I was using though, I didn't know if it would do better in a #VM or on disk. But I do agree with you that I can't really see the reason to choose #Ubuntu over #Debian for desktop use. #openbox is a great choice for #WM and also great balance between #WM and #DE. I always have #openbox installed alongside #Xfce just in case xfce broke some time, though it never really happened anyway.
Show threadKen MilmoreJun 20
@kaixin Yes I assumed snap to be a disadvantage for a low-resource system, due to the various overheads it imposes.
Show threadBoorJun 20
@vfrmedia I run #debian 12 plus #xfce on a converted Chromebook from 2014 with *1GB* RAM as a basic #firefox netbook just fine 
Show threadROTOPE~1 Jun 20
@boor opening up a modern web browser with just 1GB of core is definitely living on the edge
Show threadBoorJun 20

@rotopenguin true! šŸ¤£ I did just double-check and itā€™s an old Acer c720 with *2GB* RAM, I mis-remembered.

I wouldnā€™t recommend more than a couple tabs, but it is still quite serviceable. I can even run Google apps in browser for light productivity. (Not my preference but our local Cub Scout pack uses Google for all our docs.)

Otherwise itā€™s still great for kids apps like the Tux series and tinkering stuff like #arduino IDE, #fritzing etc.

Show threadHaralds JakovelsJun 22
@boor @rotopenguin is it 32bit?
Show threadBoorJun 22
@hjakovel @rotopenguin nope, 64-bit https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/75608/intel-celeron-processor-2955u-2m-cache-1-40-ghz/specifications.html
IntelĀ® CeleronĀ® Processor 2955U (2M Cache, 1.40 GHz) - Product Specifications | Intel

IntelĀ® CeleronĀ® Processor 2955U (2M Cache, 1.40 GHz) quick reference with specifications, features, and technologies.

Intel
Show threadHaralds JakovelsJun 22
@boor @rotopenguin it's still a good CPU. Approx one year later they started to make those Nxxxx series Celerons. a bit slower single thread performance but about half the power consumption (7 watts vs 15). Nice to see one still serving :) and good choice
Show threadBoorJun 24
@hjakovel @rotopenguin thanks! I bought the Acer c720 used for $40 years ago. Moving to #debian vastly improved the lifespan and practical usefulness. 
Show threadviharmJun 20

@vfrmedia

Thanks for sharing. This is a great example for #endof10 .

Go #linuxmint !!!

Show threadAdam Trickett  Jun 20

@vfrmedia I run Debian 12 on an old mini PC with a low spec Intel Atom and 2 GiB of RAM and spinning rust. It was unusable running KDE but is fine if slow running LXQt and used as a media player in my office.

Everything else at home runs KDE on Debian without a problem, even on 4 GiB systems and old CPUs. KDE is clearly better with a more modern/powerful CPU, 16 GiB of RAM and SSD instead of HDD, but it's not the extreme resource hog people fear.

Show threadGuillaume Parent-RuestJun 20
@vfrmedia Nice work! Now that I think of it, LMDE should have an Xfce version available but, then again... If you want to try another Distro that has both Debian repos with the Xfce DE, #mxlinux is pretty solid in that regard. Maybe you could give it a try? šŸ˜‰