Linux for old computer

Top Tip: Can I run Linux on an old computer?

Tips used for Top Tips come from the ExtremeTech forum and are written by our community.

Question from anteaus "I have an old Pentium 200MHz pc with 4GB hard drive and 64MB RAM. Am I able to run the latest Linux Distros such as Mandrake 9, Red Hat 8 or should I opt for the older versions of mandrake and Red Hat?"

Answer from ramram29 "You can run Linux perfect on this PC. You may want to install the workstation version because if you install everything then it takes up about 4.5 Gigs. Else, get a bigger hard disk."

Answer from evers310 "I setup Redhat 8 on a P200 at work as an intranet server. It runs just fine. If you are going to use it as a desktop it may be a bit slow unless you use a lightweight WM like XFCE or IceWM. Gnome and especially KDE will be painfully slow. Make sure you turn off any unneeded services as this will greatly slow things up."

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