how to install and use linux
how to install and use linux
Hello, I’m here to help you understand how to use Linux. It’s a free operating system, so you can install it without spending money. You can find installation guides and support on official websites or community forums. Since you have an old laptop with a new OS, you might want to check if the new system is compatible with Linux before proceeding.
There are numerous distros available, each suited for different machines. Ubuntu works well but requires significant RAM. My setup uses only 4GB and is quite old—more than a decade. For me, it isn’t ideal. Over the past couple of years, I’ve tried many Linux distributions and found Lubuntu to be the top choice. It’s lightweight and perfect for older hardware. The drawback is its appearance, though you can easily personalize most Linux systems. If you’re familiar with Ubuntu installation, other distros are easy to set up too. You’ll discover plenty of guides on YouTube for installing almost any Linux distribution. Here’s my Lubuntu setup after some tweaks.
Ubuntu isn't my cup of tea either personally, but I guess not everyone can just jump straight into something like Arch or Gentoo. I guess Manjaro has an Arch like experience without the hassle of going through the manual installation in the terminal, but I find it satisfying to start off in a terminal and then manage to get a GUI up and running. I like Debian, which itself would be lighter than Ubuntu (which is based on Debian), but it's probably still not as simple to work with for someone that's new to Linux. There is a Debian based Mint distro (instead of Ubuntu based), but I haven't actually tried it out yet.
OpenSuse is also worth considering; indeed, any popular distribution—even Arch—will suffice if you search online. If you're interested in practical applications, check out https://nixos.org/nixos/. This isn't the most mainstream option, but it's a solid alternative.