How low the configuration can run Linux

If you have a CPU, you can run Linux, game console or mobile phone, car or calculator, Linux can run on such devices very well. But when it comes to desktops and laptops, how much processing do you need to run modern desktop Linux? The answer to this question is simple: "Not too much", in fact I don't think you can buy a computer that can't run Linux on your local Best Buy or online.

Let's take a look at Ubuntu 9.04, which will be released this week. The official minimum recommended is 700MHz processor and 256MB of RAM, which I think is very low. In my experience, you can run GNOME 2.26 on that slow processor, but the memory capacity is really too low. You can increase it to 512MB, of course, adding to the GB capacity will definitely make you feel better.

A recent reader told me that he has a classic machine that can run Windows 7, but does not have enough performance to run today's desktop Linux. The official minimum recommended configuration for Windows 7 beta is 1GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB free hard disk space, 128MB video memory or graphics card support for DirectX 9.

But I participated in multiple versions of Windows 7 testing, from Build 7000 to Build 7077, and found that Windows 7 requires at least a 1.6GHz processor and 2GB of memory to run at an acceptable level. Of course, this is not bad, obviously better than Vista. So, there is no reason to say that a machine running Windows 7 can't run Linux.

So what about the older PC? Linux can run perfectly on it. The oldest server I use to run Linux on the current version is 1999, which proves that Linux is a better file server than Windows NT. It carries a 266MHz Pentium II processor, 64MB of RAM, and is now running openSUSE 10.3.

The lowest configuration Linux desktop I am currently using is the HP Pavilion 7855 PC, which was produced in 2001 and carries a 1GHz Pentium III processor with 512MB of RAM. It is currently running Mint 6.

I like to run Linux with a lightweight desktop manager on this level of PC, such as Fluxbox or KFCE, not GNOME or KDE. Many desktop Linux distributions currently do this to meet older hardware requirements.

I especially like DSL (Damn Small Linux). It runs at least on 486DX processors and 16MB memory machines. I have run it myself on a 33MHz 486 PC with 32MB of RAM.

The size of the DSL is about 50MB. It is not a beautiful stable, but it is a very practical, life-friendly Linux distribution. DSL uses Fluxbox as a window manager and Firefox as a browser. Office programs, IM clients, and other types of software. DSL is the first choice for my master system.

Some of my friends also like lightweight Puppy Linux and antiX MEPIS, they can run on machines with a minimum configuration of 64MB RAM and 266MHz Pentium 2 processor. In short, if you have a PC that is still not old enough to be discarded, you can easily find the right desktop Linux to run.