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I´ve here a few years old netbook Acer Aspire One, 1GB RAM, 16GB HDD, Intel Atom 1,6GHz.

Original OS was Windows XP, but with XPs the system is so slowly. Now, before I trash that, I´d like to try it with Ubuntu. But what Ubuntu I should try into?

When I compare older Ubuntu with the newer ones (or the newest one), how with performance? Should I try to install there any older? Let´s say Ubuntu 8 or 10?

I´ve found a few benchmarks comparing WinXP and Ubuntu 8.04, but it was test with unstandard operations and Ubuntu was there faster. But how with normal using for non-IT, not for me? Just conect to internet, read&write mails and work with MS Word (or Writer in LibreOffice)?

Thanks for advices.

PS. I´m using Ubuntu 12.04 for last two years, so I have no option how to compare previous versions with older ones. But I suppose in currect (or newer) version whould be effects which could be too much for that old netbook.

pavel
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2 Answers2

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Have a look at Lubuntu. It uses the LXDE Desktop Environment. You can download it here: http://www.lubuntu.net

Let us know if Lubuntu works with the netbook.

Netdude21
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If you don't wish to upgrade every 9 months, I would recommend you to opt for an LTS version of Ubuntu.

You should first try the latest LTS version (14.04) of Ubuntu. Since you have only 1 GB of RAM, I would suggest the 32-bit edition. Use an external DVD drive or a USB key to try Ubuntu without installing it first (it will be very very slow from a DVD, but that's completely normal). Check that everything (Wi-Fi, integrated soundcard, integrated wired network card, ...) is working properly. If that's the case, you can install Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. You shouldn't have performance problems.

Ubuntu is generally faster in comparison to Windows on the same hardware. Moreover, according to the technical specification of your computer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_Aspire_One), you have a SSD of 16 GB, so you really should opt for Ubuntu 14.04 which includes improvements for SSD handling (TRIM is enabled by default).

However, if the UI effects are really slow after install, you may wish to install a lighter user interface like LXDE from Ubuntu Software Centre. You can also try gnome (fallback), xfce or MATE.

Once it is installed you can switch to that UI at logon, before entering your password. You just have to click on the Ubuntu logo next to your user name and choose LXDE instead of Ubuntu.

I've run LXDE without any problem on Pentium III computers and even older with less than 512 MB of RAM.

Notes :

  • Don't forget to make a backup of your data before replacing Windows by Ubuntu on your Netbook ;
  • Don't try to install older versions of Ubuntu which have reached their end of life. Use one fully supported version of Ubuntu instead. If you really wish to try an older version of Ubuntu, use Ubuntu 12.04 LTS which is supported until April 2017.
Mateo
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Golboth
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