I want to revive an old Lenovo laptop with an AMD A6 2.6GHz and 4GB ram, what would be the best option for a DE?

    • Crying4625@lemmy.mlOP
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      2 months ago

      If it was for me I could use something like that. But I don’t think the person I’ll give the pc to would be able to lol

  • Eugenia@lemmy.mlEnglish
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    2 months ago

    That’s fast enough to run the latest Linux Mint with Cinnamon. I have two laptops with the exact same cpu speed (passmark score) and 4 GB of ram. With 2 GB swap file you will be in business.

    • Crying4625@lemmy.mlOP
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      2 months ago

      I was debating myself between those 2. I like xfce, and they announced recently that they have plans to move to Wayland but maybe I’ll give LXQT a try to see what it is like. Thanks for the answer

  • cerement@slrpnk.net
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    2 months ago
    • the big guns: Gnome or Plasma
    • the middle tier: Xfce or LXQt
    • the lightweights: tiling window managers (and there’s a LOT to choose from)
    • the alternative crowd: Mate, Cinnamon, Regolith
    • Crying4625@lemmy.mlOP
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      2 months ago

      I think gnome and KDE Plasma are just too heavy. And I would use a WM if it was for me, in fact that what I use in my daily driver but it is for someone not that tech savvy. I may check one from the alternative crowd tho. Thanks for the answer

        • krash@lemmy.ml
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          2 months ago

          Got any guides on how to strip plasma down to the bare necessities? I have it on a machine with 4 GB RAM, but I don’t know how to optimize it for such old hardware.

          • boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net
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            2 months ago

            I updated this project once. This is a very good start on what packages you need.

            There are metapackages different for each distribution, like plasma-meta on Arch or plasma-workspace on Fedora.

            This may be too bloated, but leaving out some core components (like infocenter or display) may result in random Systemsettings pages missing.

            Also on Fedora, the “Netinstall” “minimal” variant is impossible to include wireless packages (“hardware support” group) so it is easier to start from a normal KDE install and just remove things you dont need.

            Some things are also settings like balooctl disable && balooctl purge

      • folkrav@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        I seem to remember hearing about Plasma having similar memory usage to XFCE. Don’t quote me on that lol

  • Deckweiss@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    There are many options, but I’d say on those specs anything will run more or less fine with some tweaks/settings.

    Personally I would go with KDE Plasma, because I feel most comfortable with it. It can be pretty light on system ressources when configured properly. Disable all the visual stuff (animations, blur, anti aliasing) and some of it’s background modules (baloo and some other stuff that you personally don’t need).

    But you should take the one you are familiar with and find out how you can tweak it to be more light. Cheers

    • Crying4625@lemmy.mlOP
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      2 months ago

      I have tested KDE plasma in my main pc for a few weeks now and the ram consumption seems pretty high and have too many options. I’m looking for something light and easy to use (not many options) since the pc is going to be used by someone not very tech savvy.

      • Deckweiss@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Measuring RAM usage is extremely tricky, because programs will use more than they need, if there is lots of unused RAM available. Check out https://www.linuxatemyram.com if you want to learn more.

        For me KDE Plasma uses over a gig on my main PC after a fresh boot. But it also ran perfectly fine on a 512MB ancient laptop.

    • Crying4625@lemmy.mlOP
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      2 months ago

      Yeah I’ll check LXQT. It’s been a long time since I thinkered with distros an DEs. Thanks

  • kbal@fedia.io
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    2 months ago

    Does Xfce count as light? It’s got plenty of features. Should fit in 4gb well enough though.

  • Zier@fedia.io
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    2 months ago

    I’m running Kubuntu on less than that on a desktop and it works just fine.

  • ssm@lemmy.sdf.org
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    2 months ago

    For something with that little memory, I would use a minimal window manager; you’ll want every megabyte of memory if you want to have any chance at running something like a javascript-capable browser without constantly hammering swap. fvwm, cwm, jwm, and ratpoison are all small window managers I enjoy; but do your own research into what window manager is the best for you.

  • LeFantome@programming.dev
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    2 months ago

    If you don’t need a full desktop environment, check-out IceWM.

    I recently checked-out Trinity ( essentially KDE 3 modernized ) and was surprised how decent it was. I used it in Q4OS but it may be available in your distro.

  • LeFantome@programming.dev
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    2 months ago

    Your biggest problem is going to be the 4 GB of RAM. Saving a few hundred megs on the DE will help but not much. If you run a web browser ( and I cannot imagine using a computer without one ) that RAM is going to fill up fast.

    Honestly, I would use a 32 bit distro on that hardware.

    Q4OS with Trinity, Antix, Adelie, and DSL are all pretty decent options.