Which distro should I install in this 15 year old laptop? The model is SAMSUNG NP-N145-JP04MX

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pezezin@reddit

Oh god no. I had one of those and in the end I just had to throw it away. No matter what you try, that CPU is slow as fuck.

En serio, no pierdas el tiempo con esa basura, no merece la pena.

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jo53_100@reddit (OP)

me llama la atención que me dicen que no me moleste con este equipo... no es mi PC principal!! la encontré guardada en unas cajas y quiero ver qué puedo hacer con ella.

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pezezin@reddit

A ver, tú puedes hacer lo que quieras. Yo intenté hacer lo mismo que tú y al final me tuve que dar por vencido y mandarlo a reciclar.

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pezezin@reddit

頑張って下さい！

Bueno a ver, igual para ponerle emuladores y jugar a juegos retro sí que te sirve...

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If you're trying to bring that old Samsung NP-N145 (15 years old, Atom CPU, 1GB RAM) back to life, you’ll want a Linux distro that’s super lightweight and still supports 32-bit systems. Most of the big name distros dropped 32-bit years ago, so here are a few that still run great on machines like yours: 1. AntiX Linux One of the top picks for old hardware. It runs fast even on less than 512MB of RAM and doesn’t need much to get going. It’s actually really snappy for how light it is. 2. Puppy Linux This one loads entirely into RAM, so once it's up, it’s really quick. There are a few versions depending on what you're most comfortable with (Ubuntu-based, Slackware-based, etc.). 3. Tiny Core Linux This is crazy small like, under 20MB to install. But it’s more of a DIY experience. Not the most beginner friendly, but great if you want to build exactly what you need. 4. Linux Lite This one’s great if you can upgrade the RAM to at least 2GB. It feels a bit more modern and is easier to use if you're coming from Windows. • Stick to 32-bit versions unless you upgraded your CPU (which is rare). • Don’t even try full Ubuntu, Fedora, or Mint they’ll be way too slow. • After installing, turn off unnecessary startup apps and animations to keep things smooth. If you want the best mix of easy setup and speed, I’d go with AntiX.

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jo53_100@reddit (OP)

Thank you so much!!!

I was thinking of installing arch and Xfce but AntiX Linux might be a better option.

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lazyboy76@reddit

Intel N450 is 64-bit capable, just go for any 64-bit distro might be a better option. The constrain most likely is memory (and disk). If you can upgrade any of them then you can run any distro, although slowly.

Also if it have 64-bit CPU with 32-bit UEFI or no UEFI at all, you need to take note of since some will be tricky to boot.

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jo53_100@reddit (OP)

how can I make sure the machine is 64-bit capable? It's got a HDD which works fine for now but I may change it to an SSD. and I'm looking for a suitable 2GB DDR2 RAM

How can I check if it's got UEFI?

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lazyboy76@reddit

Just check Intel N450 on internet, i don't know any other way.

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/datasheets/atom-n400-vol-1-datasheet-.pdf

Other page like notebookcheck.net will be more specific, but intel datasheet is more official.

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FragmentosZero@reddit

I'm glad I could help!

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Slight_Art_6121@reddit

Good list. I would add to this:

mx Linux (fluxbox edition)
void (lxqt). I have this installed on a spare laptop (Dell Latitude D420) with 1.5gb of ram. It is quite usable. I use chromium on that (it is in my opinion better than Firefox in low memory situations).
haiku os (not linux but super lightweight).

I also have Debian lxqt running on a 32 bit atom netbook. Again, quite usable (but this has 3gb ram, so not entirely comparable to OP’a situation).

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Vivid_Search674@reddit

Don't forget void linux

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FragmentosZero@reddit

Ooh, good call! I've heard Void Linux is super fast, but I haven't tried it myself yet. Do you think it would run well on an old Atom netbook like this one (1GB RAM, 32-bit)?

I know it uses runit instead of systemd and has a rolling release, but I wasn't sure how beginner friendly it is for this kind of hardware. Curious to hear your experience!

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Vivid_Search674@reddit

I heard it runs on even 512mb ram old devices

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zxy35@reddit

I have one of these , and run antix . It uses window managers instead of a full DE. The lightest setup up uses jwm.

I'm in the process of evaluating browsers, the next test is SeaMonkey:-)

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jo53_100@reddit (OP)

hey did you post your setup anywhere? I would love to see what you did with the system. I haven't tried WM in my main setup so this is a great place to start.

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zxy35@reddit

Antix gives you 6 WMs to play with , most users seem to like icewm. I picked jwm combined with zzzFM so I can have icons on my desktop and it was the lightest.

My setup is fluid on this machine as I am trying to make it useful for my use case.

I also run it off a usb with persistence, which the tools that come with antix make this very easy.

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jo53_100@reddit (OP)

what do you mean "run it off a usb"? I want it for lightweight tasks like writing and maybe browsing YouTube and mainly text sites. I'm not sure what I'd do with it I want to see what it can do. for now.

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zxy35@reddit

Here is a useful video.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GTxphqvKYss&pp=ygUPYW50aXggbGludXggdXNi0gcJCcEJAYcqIYzv

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theRealNilz02@reddit

None.

Get a ThinkPad instead.

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jo53_100@reddit (OP)

do you honestly think this is my main machine?

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theRealNilz02@reddit

It left the factory as E-waste 15 years ago. This trash doesn't have any reason to exist at all. Linux won't help it either.

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jo53_100@reddit (OP)

trust

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Affectionate-Stop488@reddit

Même si je croit que ça à déjà été dit, je de conseille Debian 12 (lien de téléchargement direct) avec LXQt/XFCE (selon tes préférences, LXQt est légèrement plus léger qu'XFCE)

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jo53_100@reddit (OP)

Este comentario me sería muy útil si supiera francés

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Hosein_Lavaei@reddit

Tiny core Linux

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SampleByte@reddit

The hammer is the medicine for that.

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privinci@reddit

Haiku os

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CrossyAtom46@reddit

Before cleaning it, please archive recovery, Samsung's special apps and theme to archive.org. recovery partition can help someone someday

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jo53_100@reddit (OP)

what's that? why should I archive? how does that work?

how do I make a backup of this stuff?

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CrossyAtom46@reddit

what's that?

https://superuser.com/questions/626479/what-are-hidden-partitions-on-a-samsung-laptop-for

why should I archive?

Some people delete it without knowledge, and when they want to make oem re-install, only that partition can't be found online (v4 and v5 can be found online, but not sure which one your laptop have)

how does that work?

Samsung recovery is similar to windows recovery, you make a restore point, and it restores to that state, but with smasnug's own software instead a 3rd party paid tool.

how do I make a backup of this stuff?

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jo53_100@reddit (OP)

thank you!!!

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CrossyAtom46@reddit

Me thank you for your service

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activedusk@reddit

MX Linux, specifically the 32 bit version.

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Worth_Bluebird_7376@reddit

Antix, puppy linux, tiny core linux

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IslandPsychological@reddit

Try Lubuntu or AntiX Linux

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Linux-Guru-lagan@reddit

just try antix very lightweight but still complete and will never lag on this system. if you want your system to not to save anything on reboots just try puppy linux.

if you want absolute minimalism without a gui Try ~arch~ ~gentoo~ alpine linux it is the only one which will work here with no problems even on a 32 bit machine but the software repos are not as large as puppy or antix.

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6gv5@reddit

Alpine would run fine. It uses musl libc which is much lighter than Glibc; that makes it a lot smaller than distros that simply package less software: the same program on Alpine is lighter than the equivalent on others and eats less resources; you can easily run a working desktop and no swapping with that memory.

https://alpinelinux.org/downloads/

Try the Standard x86 image.

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jo53_100@reddit (OP)

i installed archlinux on my main PC a while ago, im still learning the ways of Linux and half of the terms you just used I have no idea what they mean

:D

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matsnake86@reddit

For desktop use is no go.
But if you wanna have fun with terminal maybe a minimal debian / arch install would do.

Consider that I have a raspberry pi 3b at home, which has the same amount of ram, and in any case for running pihole or other nice things from the command line is more than fine.

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jo53_100@reddit (OP)

it runs chrome well... I may try to use it for text purposes mainly, like drafting latex essays or using libreoffice... some research and you know just to fuck around with

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UNF0RM4TT3D@reddit

RULE 1 m8

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MeringueOdd4662@reddit

Peppermint OS. I have a asus laptop from 2008 and works perfectly.

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SmallRocks@reddit

Oof. I don’t think you can even run a modern browser with that memory 🤷‍♂️

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SDNick484@reddit

I mean if you're really bored, you can do Gentoo...

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pepperenjoyer@reddit

Puppy Linux

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Bombini_Bombus@reddit

Try antyX. It was working reasonably good onto my Celeron 950mHz (and 512Megs of RAM). Modern, gui-based browsers are of course a no-no.

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johncate73@reddit

Temple OS would run on it. Or maybe FreeDOS. Seriously, an N450 with 1 gig? That thing is a potato. It was a potato when it was new.

If you want to try to get it to be useful, try antiX. But to be honest, that thing is e-waste.

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NightOfTheLivingHam@reddit

lol my first real system was a 433 mhz celeron with 32mb of ram, upgraded to 128 and a 466 mhz cpu at one point before "upgrading" down to a pentium 2 at 400 mhz for years until my first real modern 64 bit capable system.

I ran slackware, mandrake linux, and ubuntu on those old systems no problem.

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jo53_100@reddit (OP)

templeOS might be the answer

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jo53_100@reddit (OP)

I mean I'm not using this as a main PC I just found this stashed deep in some boxes for more than a decade. I want to try and see what it can do

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Vivid_Search674@reddit

Void linux

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shavetheyaks@reddit

I run Mint on my old thinkpad T420, probably about 15 years old too. Mint works well enough out of the box, and as long as I set youtube videos to 480p, I have no problems with anything.

At some point I may try to truly "maximize" the "value" I'm getting from it, but for now I'm getting what I need with low to no effort just by using mint. And I'm fine with being on this side of the Pareto Principle as long as it suits my needs.

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jo53_100@reddit (OP)

it's gonna be a fun project trust

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