@nostupidquestions is it true that linux cannot run on a laptop without any SSD ?
I had gone inquiring at a couple of local stores regarding restoring my 2gb Ram laptop with 500gb HDD. At both of the places l was told that l need to put in at least 4gb of fresh ram + insert a bare minimum SSD, otherwise windows wouldn’t run on it.
When l said that l’d be working on linux, this technician guy told me that even linux has become heavy these days. Not sure what he meant by this, but extra ram burns a lot of holes, not mention about the price of SSD.
So, l just want to make sure. Is it true that modern machines won’t work without any SSD or machines with 2gb rams are simply fit for the museum ?
you can actually run it on ram and not disk (see tinycore linux) and have the system faster than even an ssd
It’s a laptop so the battery will keep the RAM powered. Very clever and practical, especially for files so confidential you only have one copy − data burglars will be looking for disks. /s
Mx Linux or base arch with a lightweight desktop environment will work fine.
@zewm you work on MX Linux ? I’m thinking of fluxbox.
There are versions of Linux that don’t need any internal storage at all, eg. Puppy.
Puppylinux is the first thing that comes to mind.
Then pxe boot + nfs root
You don’t even need a HDD or SSD. You can just run from the boot media.
@Dultas this is something completely new.
You don’t even need an ssd or hdd. The ram will hurt more.
This depends a lot more on what you plan on doing once the OS boots. I accidentally loaded Win11 on an HDD (disk 0 was HDD, not SSD) for a few hours. It was noticeably slow, but it ran my diagnostics utilities well enough.
If you’re using it for light web browsing, basic office software, etc, then it might be fine.
But something else caught my attention - you inquired about “restoring” it at shops, meaning you intend to pay money. SSD and RAM are obviously what anyone would upgrade, and you’re balking at it. More to the point, you expect to run Linux, but didn’t even install it as-is to test it out?
There’s some missing context here. Also, 2gb laptops haven’t been a thing in a very long time. You might very well get a better deal by just buying a used newer model that already has what you’re looking for.
Linux can run on a fucking potato.
It can also run on a celibate potato - it’s very flexible
@kmartburrito @NegativeLookAhead what’s a celibate potato ?
A wordplay.
If there is a “fucking potato” there should also be a “celibate potato”
It has no qualms with the life choices of the potato.
It can even run diskless just over the network. Like Ubuntu diskless booting.
@xcutie this is ubuntu. Is it the same with MX fluxbox ?
That tech has the same teacher that says Americans only shit once a week. https://startrek.website/post/39583672
the thing about linux is it depends what you put on it. there are lightweight distros. that being said if you can put an ssd in something do it as nothing outside of more ram when you are maxing it improves it as much as an ssd. I mean im sure if you go back far enough in cpu the drive may no longer be the bottleneck.
The low ram is a problem but why not just try it? Its free
Linux barely needs a CPU.
I’m joking, but if you loaded up a lightweight distro on that it’d probably be fine
It’ll work, but modern apps might be slow as fuck with how they call for data to be loaded from storage if you’re using a hard drive. Though I kinda doubt this is a huge problem in programs other than video games.
But also: You ca run Linux from a thumb drive or CD and not even have a storage device at all in the PC.
No, it is not true
Even windows 10 will run on 2 gig of ram and hdd.
That sounds profoundly unpleasant basically OS bdsm
I had a VM with that specs, win10 dialed down its ram usage to 1.4g. It took 3 mins to boot and another min to load chrome but was operable after that. Heck even 256m was enough to boot, but certainly not to install.
