Choosing ubuntu version for 10 year old pc

Question

I am going to install Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS (Lucid Lynx) on my 10 year old pc. So should I have to install by Desktop CD or Server install CD? And what happens to my partitions while installing Ubuntu in my winxp pc permanently?

Answer 1

For a system with 512 MB of RAM I can only recommend distros with lightweight desktop environment (DE), such as Lubuntu, that sports LXDE (where L stands for Lightweight). It's preferable to install rather newer versions of OS as it usually supports more hardware. So I would recommend Lubuntu 14.04 LTS (Long Term Support = till 2019, but you can upgrade every two years) or something similar like PeppermintOS 5/6 (both based on 14.04). There is also WattOS with LXDE based on 14.04 and they have even some "Microwatt" edition for even slower, older PCs.

Other lightweight DE choices include fluxbox, various tiling like xmonad, ratpoison, awesome etc. But if you want something more familiar LXDE is probably the best first choice.

Lastly I'd like to mention that elementaryOS Luna is quite lightweight actually although it's build on older Ubuntu base (12.04). Too bad this is not true for their new version Freya, which didn't run properly even on Atom netbook with 1 GB RAM. Still Luna is supported till April 2017 so you might give it a try too.

Answer 2

Hey there!

10.04 comes with an application called Gparted. You can use it to manage partitions from the live media. So I think live installation is your best bet, plus you get to test the waters of Ubuntu on your old hardware first. Also a prompt will appear when you install 10.04 that asks you to partition your HD with gparted, so at some point during the live CD installation, you will run into gparted.

There is also the option of backing up all of your XP files and software and running it in a virtual machine, if you have your XP installation media. This way you can keep XP in ubuntu. I'd post an image of how to's but this is my first post.

In my opinion, go with LXDE or Xubuntu so you can have recent software on your old hardware. Its awesome. But 10.04 isn't too bad if you know how to manage your packages but not much support will be available.