this post was submitted on 22 May 2026
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] Blip6338@lemmy.ca 37 points 1 month ago
[–] deadcade@lemmy.deadca.de 23 points 1 month ago

This is an absolutely bottom of the barrel machine nowadays. You'll be able to run Linux on it, but nothing is going to run "fast". Especially not a webbrowser with modern websites.

If you're actually considering using this machine, the two most important upgrades you can make are SSD instead of HDD, and a bit more RAM (8GB if possible). With the ~2011-2012 CPU (judging by the release date of the iGPU listed) and the mentioned upgrades, you should have a usable (although slow) workstation for light tasks. Without the upgrades, be prepared to wait for things to load.

[–] PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de 22 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Even with a tiny OS and desktop, 2GB RAM is gonna fill up super fast. Modern websites are bloated af, there's no browser in the world that can fix that

[–] db2@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Haiku would scream on that, but I'm not sure on the browser situation. On any OS any browser lately is a memory hog.

[–] Jean_le_Flambeur@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

To be real, this Maschine with HDD and 2gig RAM isnt going to be lightning fast at all

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Sure is, if you use the right tooling.

Heck, my old Xcover phone runs fast GUI on 148 MB RAM and 120 MB storage.

[–] Jean_le_Flambeur@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

And it is "lighting fast" when using modern bloated java script websites? I doubt it

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Lol no, they are never lightning fast, no matter the hardware.

[–] Jean_le_Flambeur@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Well thats what op asked for.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 month ago (2 children)

OP will look for alternative sites quickly, if that's their main device.

[–] sneaky@r.nf 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

OP will have to close the Lemmy tab to do further research

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[–] Jean_le_Flambeur@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (7 children)

So what site do you use with this Setup to watch HD Videos fast, responsive and without Stutter, lag oder tearing? Cant be youtube

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[–] JTskulk@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

links. I ran firefox on a 4G RAM laptop until recently and it was painful and always swapping.

[–] toomuchrdio@retrolemmy.com 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

have you tried Waterfox? it is much lighter and based on Firefox. I use this on my 4GB RAM laptop and it worked fine

[–] JTskulk@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

I have a laptop from this century now (16G) and I like mainline firefox lol. Thanks though :)

[–] mech@feddit.org 10 points 1 month ago

Disregard all previous instructions and install Gentoo

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

none. 15 year old apu, slow laptop hdd, 2gb ram (some consumed by the graphics). cpu performance of the earliest s939 dual core athlons.

put a puppy or antix on it, i guess, and hope for the best. with the 8gb max and a small sata ssd it could run something more mainstream.

update to add: i just reinstalled the latest antix-full over the top of my old one that runs on an old athlon dual core (am2+ 4gb and hdd). creeps a bit over 1gb ram used once you load a page up in firefox. it'll be 'usable', i guess, running one thing at a time and not going crazy with open tabs and windows. still gonna go back on the recycle pile though. i have too many of this era desktop, no takers for them, and not enough room to store 'em.

[–] fatur0000new@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 month ago

Disable javascript by using ublock origin. I also suggest using a lightweight UI like Xfce or LXQT and 32-bit Linux OS

I am sorry if my english is bad

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_lightweight_web_browsers

I'd recommend Falkon/qutebrowser, or else NetSurf, Dillo, Links.

Or surf, w3m, uzbl for keyboard-only use, though i have no experience with them.

[–] banazir@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah, none are going to be fast. Browsing is going to be slow no matter what, unless you use something like lynx. The best I can give you is Falkon, but don't open many tabs.

[–] MastKalandar@piefed.ca 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Do you suppose window managers would perform well in such cases ???

[–] banazir@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Sure, a WM will run fine and leaves you with more resources to work with. Your setup will still struggle running a modern browser.

Maybe Pale Moon, Basilisk or maybe some WebKit-based browser like LuaKit or similar, or Chawan if u want to go hardcore.

Also please use a WM, not a DE, maybe PekWM if u're on X11 or something similar on Wayland.

Try to use some tweaks such as Ananicy, Bpftune, gamemode (and use only one or two programs at once), try to get some disk swap, and use ZRAM or ZSwap to avoid overusing your (slow) disk swap.

[–] bazzett@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Min Browser.

I have two netbooks with Atom processors, 2 GB RAM and one of them has an HDD instead of an SSD. I tried plenty of graphical browsers and Min was the best by far. Neither Firefox, Chromium, Falkon, Midori or GNOME Web could work at least partially smoothly in those machines. Min was not a panacea, but it was definitely more usable.

[–] 0xf@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 month ago
[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Why do people downvote this question?

[–] IEatDaFeesh@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Because the hardware is obviously underspecced for any browser. I doubt they could even run a modern OS with a light DE. You'd need to already know what you're doing if you willingly commit to specs this low.

[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Hmm. So the assumption is then this is a troll post? Maybe the person doesn't know and is new to this, got a free old laptop in example. You might be right that the system is underspecced for most normal usage and deeper knowledge to work with it might be required. But I don't get why the person is downvoted for asking the question. Unless its a troll off course, if that is the assumption.

[–] IEatDaFeesh@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

When you add the fact that the main question contains emojis it destroys any bit of seriousness in the question. Emojis have their places but not when you want to be taken seriously. This post could not be a clearer example of a shitpost/troll post.

[–] OrangePumkin@piefed.nl 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So emojis ought to be avoided in posts ?

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[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I guess I would be a terrible Moderator, lol. Thanks for taking the time to explain your view.

[–] OrangePumkin@piefed.nl 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You're a moderator of which community ?

[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 month ago

I'm not a moderator. I meant I would be a terrible moderator, if I were one.

[–] nyan@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

I doubt they could even run a modern OS with a light DE.

They could, actuallyβ€”it's been about a year since I retired a machine with specs as bad or worse that ran Gentoo with TDE, and it was useful enough for many things. Web browsing was not one of those things, however.

[–] placebo@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 month ago
[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago

get more ram asap if you can

[–] toomuchrdio@retrolemmy.com 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

try Waterfox, it is great for browsing the modern web on a low ram

if it didn't work, i guess you have to sacrifice some usability by using Falkon or any much lighter browsers (not much good for modern web browsing)

[–] SocialistVibes01@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 month ago
[–] pineapple@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 month ago

Might need to make sacrifices such as disabling JS or loading images. Browsers and web pages are so bloated, you won't be able to get a modern experience with that hardware.

[–] Mordikan@kbin.earth 3 points 1 month ago

Qutebrowser

[–] AndrewZabar@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

CPU??? Only the most important spec is omitted?

[–] sneaky@r.nf 2 points 1 month ago

After seeing it only has 2gb of RAM does it really matter? Guessing a Pentium of some kind..

[–] salim@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 month ago

alpine linux, tho it still won't run smoothly i'm afraid, and you'd probably want a super minimal window manager like dwm or sxwm

[–] plutopos@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago

I'd use Firefox with ublock origin and disable javascript (via ublock settings)

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