I’ve got an older machine that I’d like to give a second life. I’ve always been an Ubuntu fan in the past, but checking their site for a lightweight distri it looks like they’ve gone all 64 bit. Is that right? Can I still get a recent version for a 32-bit processor?
Just install plan 9. It is better than anything else.
Interesting research project but it’s not Linux and doesn’t natively run Linux apps.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/21/successor_to_unix_plan_9/
LMDE. Not Ubuntu based, but Debian based so its the closest I can think on the top of my head. It got 32 bit support and Cinnamon desktop.
Thank you - I’ll have a look at that
It seems that 18.04 was the last release for 32-bit x86 (i386): https://askubuntu.com/questions/1376090/latest-version-of-ubuntu-for-i386-architecture-32-bit
But you could just go for Debian which still supports it.
I’ve had luck with puppy Linux on 32-bit machines. I also got arch32 working on a few. Arch is a steepper learning curve as the arch-install script doesn’t work on 32. Related there’s quite a group keeping parabola working on all manner of systems including 32, if libre is more your style.
MX Linux is a nice Debian based distro that still supports 32-bit. Or you could use just Debian.
I have MX Linux on my old Dell Inspiron 1300 that refuses to die after 20 years. Great distro, I like it better than Ubuntu in some ways - just difficult to install some software built for 64 bit only of course
Well, Debian has a 32-bit ISO, and since Ubuntu is based on Debian you may consider giving it a try?
Poppy Linux should do.
Peppermint - not Ubuntu, but Debian, so it’s pretty similar
Thanks!
Check out Antix, Debian based, and it’s primarily made for older devices and has a 32bit ISO
AntiX runs great on my late 90s Celeron rig with a 1.2GHz single core socket 370 Celeron with 256MB RAM.
Runs waaaaaay better than Windows XP and slightly slower than Windows 98 SE.
I second this suggestion. I have an old touchscreen PC from about 2001 with a Via Eden CPU, which is an incredibly feeble low-power processor that lacks some instructions that were common even in 32-bit days, and Antix was the only reasonably modern distro I could get to run on it.
From a recent search i made, with similar purpose, these may support x86 and are based on either Debian or Ubuntu: antiX, Q4OS, Slax; Zorin Lite, LXLE.
(I haven’t combed through the results yet so YMMV and there may be cadavers.)
Thank you - that’s a really useful answer. I’ll check them out
