after a few months without using Linux, I have a proposal for giving a new life to an old laptop (about 10 years or so). Although I tried to install Ubuntu, there were things I really didn’t like nor convince me, and the performance seemed not so good. So, I asked several experts about what distro to try under this conditions: Lubuntu is the anser!
Ubuntu
The main fact for changing from Ubuntu to Lubuntu is based on my own sensations … such as, this machine can performance better, or even I don’t think this laptop can afford a new Linux distro of 2-3 months ago (november 2016).
I must admit the Ubuntu (where I am writting you right now) is doing things really well, from manage packages and repos, to updates (including the whole operating systems), or installing new software. Yes, it is tru that you must invest some time, but it worth it!
Another aspect for the migration from Ubuntu to Lubuntu has been that I installed a x64 bits distro in a 32 bits machine (or I thought it was 32 bits). After all, I got a surpresed because I could install Ubuntu with no problem, although bad performance.
The question to rise is: Can Windows 10 be installed on an old machine? The answer is not easy because the requirements for Windows 7 are high, too much for old hardware. Fortunately, Linux has a totally different philosophy and thinks as much about the most powerful servers as on older machines!
Lubuntu
With no doubt, and although Lubuntu is Ubuntu’s base, I must admit two facts: the install process took me no more than 30 or 40 minutes (nothing compares to eternal Windows 10 installation process), and the desktop is closer to Windows.
In both distros, using the Terminal is compulsory in the Linux world, becuase several things must be done on it, such as installing new software. In my case, I need Anaconda version of Python, and for that, I folower the instructions from Anaconda, and also I followed this instructions for using the Python anaconda version instead of the one in the systems. I needed to install the pip command by using sudo apt install python-pip.
Another feature I like in Linux is that I caould use either Python 2.7.x or Python 3.5.x.
As a text editor, I am using Atom, and I installed it following this post: https://medium.com/how-to-install/how-to-install-atom-editor-in-ubuntu-14-04-1c761af5e2ba#.7utp9wqaq.
As a conclusion, being a newbie under Linux is not a problem for using it, and give a new life to an old laptop, with cool and modern tools, ready to go!
Happy coding.