SliTAz is now a rolling release with the most recent release being SliTaz 5.0.
Minimum installation requirements:
Puppy Linux runs well in systems with less than 1G RAM and ships with the Puppy Package Manager, which supports .rpm, .deb, and native PET packages.
1. Puppy Linux
Below are the minimum requirements for each variant.
Slax was designed to run on external storage media such as thumb drives, and CD/DVDs. Slax provides an appealing and elegant GUI interface with basic utilities such as a terminal, and web browser.
At the time of writing this guide, the latest version is based on Debian 12. In fact, two versions are available for download: one based on Debian 12, and the other based on Devuan.
AntiX is a fast and lightweight Linux distribution based on Debian stable. It uses the icewm window manager that is easy on the underlying PC resources and allows you to run it on low-end hardware.
Puppy Linux is astonishingly lightweight and can be run from RAM without installing on your hard drive. Newer releases take up approximately 600MB of RAM (for 64-bit systems) and 300MB (for 32-bit systems). Currently, the latest version is 9.5 (FossaPup64) and was released on 17 September 2020.
Puppy Linux Requirements
Q4OS is a lean and lightweight Linux distribution based on Debian that provides just the essential utilities required to get things going such as a web browser, thereby eliminating bloatware and unnecessary applications. Given its minimalistic nature, it runs faster and provides optimal performance thanks to its low resource consumption.
- 300 MB of RAM
- Pentium 900 MHz
- Hard drive (Optional as it can run quite well on any USB drive).
2. Tiny Core
MX Linux is a midweight Linux distribution that combines stability, high performance, simplicity, and elegance to give you a reliable OS that works out of the box with pre-installed applications such as VLC media player, Firefox web browser, LibreOffice suite, and Thunderbird to mention a few.
Peppermint is a minimalistic OS that includes no extra packages other than those required to run the system. This lets you decide which packages to add on top of the basic software packages.
Created in 2003 by Barry Kauler, Puppy Linux is a distribution that belongs to a family of lightweight Linux distros. It was designed to be a lean and portable system that can be run on almost any PC hardware.
The latest release is MX Linux 23.2 released on 22 January 2024. XFCE is the flagship desktop environment and you can also get it in KDE and Fluxbox all running Kernel 6.1.
Tiny Core Linux Requirements
Do you know of any that we might have left out? Do let us know in the comment section.
- 64 MB of RAM (128 Mb is recommended).
- i486DX CPU (Pentium 2 CPU and later recommended).
3. Linux Lite
Trisque Mini 11.0 is the project’s latest release, which is based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.
Xubuntu is a popular lightweight Linux distribution known for its elegance and ease of use. It’s a derivative of Ubuntu and ships with XFCE as the default desktop environment ideal for old PCs and those with low computing specifications. It provides ISO images for 64-bit architectures.
SliTaz ISO file is very small (Live CD is only 43MB). It’s one of the lightweight Linux distributions and can run entirely in RAM from a USB pen drive, or Live CD. It’s super fast and yields great performance.
Plasma Desktop:
To install and run Peppermint OS, ensure that your system meets the following requirements:
Linux Lite Requirements
Out of the box, you get basic applications and utilities for almost every category: office, graphics, accessories, internet, system tools, etc. For example, it includes an AbiWord Word processor, A browser (web browser), Xfburn (CD burning GUI), a Document scanner, etc. Check out all the applications.
- 1 GHz Intel/AMD CPU
- 768 MB of RAM
- At least 8 GB of hard disk space
- USB port / DVD ROM for installation
- Monitor resolution 1024 X 768
Out of the box, you get basic applications and utilities for almost every category: office, graphics, accessories, internet, system tools, etc. For example, it includes an AbiWord Word processor, A browser (web browser), Xfburn (CD burning GUI), a Document scanner, etc. Check out all the applications.
- i686 (32bit) or amd64 (64bit) Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon CPU.
- 128 MB of RAM for CLI edition, 256 MB for LXDE & LXQt, and 512MB for Xfce.
- 2GB of hard disk drive for the CLI edition, 10GB for the home edition, and 20GB for the Gameover & Multimedia edition.
6. Peppermint OS
Out of the box, you get basic applications and utilities for almost every category: office, graphics, accessories, internet, system tools, etc. For example, it includes an AbiWord Word processor, A browser (web browser), Xfburn (CD burning GUI), a Document scanner, etc. Check out all the applications.
- 1GB RAM
- 15GB of hard disk space
- 1 GHz Processor (Intel/AMD)
8. Bodhi Linux
Out of the box, you get basic applications and utilities for almost every category: office, graphics, accessories, internet, system tools, etc. For example, it includes an AbiWord Word processor, A browser (web browser), Xfburn (CD burning GUI), a Document scanner, etc. Check out all the applications.
- 768 MB of RAM (1GB recommended).
- 64-bit 1 GHz Intel/AMD processor
- 10 GB of hard disk space
9. LXLE
Out of the box, you get basic applications and utilities for almost every category: office, graphics, accessories, internet, system tools, etc. For example, it includes an AbiWord Word processor, A browser (web browser), Xfburn (CD burning GUI), a Document scanner, etc. Check out all the applications.
- 1GB RAM
- Single Core 1 GHz Intel/AMD processor
- 8 GB of hard disk space
10. MX Linux
Out of the box, you get basic applications and utilities for almost every category: office, graphics, accessories, internet, system tools, etc. For example, it includes an AbiWord Word processor, A browser (web browser), Xfburn (CD burning GUI), a Document scanner, etc. Check out all the applications.
- 1 GB RAM for i686 and AMD64 architectures.
- A modern i686 Intel or AMD processor.
- 8.5 GB hard disk space
11. SliTaz
Out of the box, you get basic applications and utilities for almost every category: office, graphics, accessories, internet, system tools, etc. For example, it includes an AbiWord Word processor, A browser (web browser), Xfburn (CD burning GUI), a Document scanner, etc. Check out all the applications.
- Minimum 256MB RAM
- 500 MB hard disk space
12. Lubuntu
Out of the box, you get basic applications and utilities for almost every category: office, graphics, accessories, internet, system tools, etc. For example, it includes an AbiWord Word processor, A browser (web browser), Xfburn (CD burning GUI), a Document scanner, etc. Check out all the applications.
- 512 MB of RAM (1 GB recommended)
- Pentium 4, Pentium M, 700MHz Single Core processor
- 12 GB hard disk space
13. Q4OS
Note that 32-bit ISO images are no longer available from Linux Lite 4.4 onwards.
Due to its lean architecture, it is blazing fast with impressive booting speeds. Sadly, it’s only available in 32-bit architecture. However, the Tiny Core project is currently working to port Core on other platforms including 64-bit Intel/AMD CPUs, and ARM architectures.
The latest version of Anti X is version 23.1 and was released in February 2024.
By default, it ships with only the essential software to get you started such as a web browser, file browser, and terminal emulator. The latest release is Bodhi Linux 7.0.0 which was released on August 2023.
- 1GHz CPU
- 1GB RAM
- 5GB Hard disk space
Minimum requirements for running AntiX include:
- 350MHz CPU
- 256MB RAM
- 3GB disk
14. Slax
It is based on Lubuntu, a lightweight Linux distribution based on Ubuntu running the LXDE desktop environment. It’s tailored to be a perfect choice for older hardware.
Your PC needs to meet the following minimum requirements to run Xubuntu.
Now based on Debian, Slax is a compact and arguably one of the most popular portable Linux operating system with a memory footprint of 418MB.
In this guide, we feature some of the best Linux distributions that you can install on your old PC and breathe some life into it.
- i686 or newer CPUs for both Intel and AMD
- 128MB RAM
- USB / CD drive to boot from
15. Zorin OS Lite
You could still enjoy performing basic tasks such as web browsing, word processing, and watching videos, listening to your favourite music to mention a few.
Minimum installation requirements:
Bodhi Linux is a lightweight distribution whose philosophy is to provide a minimal base system that gives users the freedom and flexibility they need to install their preferred software packages. It’s based on Ubuntu and comes with the Moksha Windows manager.
- 1 GB RAM
- 1 GHz single-core Processor (Intel/AMD processor)
- 10 GB Hard disk space
16. Xubuntu
Lubuntu is one of the most famous Linux distributions suited for Old PCs. It is based on Ubuntu and officially supported by Ubuntu Community. Lubuntu uses the LXDE interface by default for its GUI, besides some other tweaks for RAM and CPU usage which makes it a good choice for old PCs and notebooks.
It provides essential applications for everyday use such as an image editor, office applications, PDF reader, music and video players, and so much more.
- 1 GB RAM
- 1 GHz single-core Processor (Intel/AMD processor)
- 8 GB Hard disk space
If you thought Puppy Linux had the smallest memory footprint, wait until you bump into Tiny core. Developed by Core project, Tiny Core is a 16 MB Linux desktop. Yes, you read it right, 16MB! If I’m not wrong, it’s probably the smallest and most lightweight distro there is at the time of writing this article.
