Puppy Linux - new life for old computers
Your PC is so old that it takes you 30 minutes to open your web browser? Is it so outdated that you don't know what to do with an old piece of crap like that?
Don't give up hope! There's a way to revive your old PC and to use it for many years to come.
Puppy Linux is a Linux distribution specifically conceived for old PC's and it's so stripped-back that can be successfully run even on computers having 256 MB RAM.
There are several versions of Puppy Linux and, for this post, I've used Racy 5.5.
As stated by its official site, Racy "derives from Wary Puppy, a long term support release optimized for older hardware. Puppy also offers Slacko and Lucid versions, for full compatibility with Slackware and Ubuntu, respectively".
In the next paragraph I'm going to describe how I revived an old Acer Aspire 2001 WLCi, purchased in 2003, by using Puppy Linux.
The laptop characteristics
My laptop features 40 GB HD, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support, 496.0 MB RAM, Intel® Pentium(R) M processor 1400MHz.
Just an old clunker, that I sometimes use at the college to check on something real quick.
Its original OS was XP Home Edition, installed in two partitions with a FAT32 filesystem (one of the first things I did was to convert it to NFTS).
I had installed Ubuntu 12.04 LTS some years ago, but it was definitely too slow.
The renovation
After a while, you'll be welcomed by your new Racy 5.5 Desktop.
Features - very barren, but there's all
Racy 5.5 comes with some bundled applications, divided into several categories (System, Utility, Graphic, Personal, Network, Internet, Multimedia, Fun).
The first thing to do is to configure your Internet connection from Setup/Internet Connection Wizard.
You'll be shown a window with the main settings and you'll have to select your connection type (Dialup analog or wireless modem, Wired or Wireless LAN, Wireless GPRS Modem or "Roaring Penguin" PPOE) to access a more detailed configuration tab.
Racy 5.5 comes with Seamonkey as a browser and email client (the first thing I did was to install Firefox, which works pretty good) and a complete business suite featuring Gnumeric Spreadsheet Editor, Gmeasures Unit Converter and two scientific calculators.
Its bundled software features a complete suite of multimedia, business and graphic tools that allow the user to start being productive immediately.
Once you've setup the system the way you want, you'll be asked to save your changes to the same support you've used to boot Racy (CD/DVD or USB drive) .
You can also choose not to save your changes.
Wrap up
In Racy 5.5 there's more than what catches the eye (quoting Gandalf).
Its look won't be particularly appealing for users accustomed to more modern graphical interfaces such as Windows Aero or macOS Dock and can rather make them turn up their nose, but ensures a substantial improvement in terms of performance, which is the ultimate target of Racy.
My old clunker is living its second youth.
It's never been so fast, not even when I had just bought it.
Puppy Linux can be an ideal solution for older computers, in order to re-purpose them for personal or business needs, even when they have less than 256 MB RAM.
It's very quick and responsive and its overall look, though being minimalist, isn't that bad in the end, once you get used to it. I could successfully use LastPass to access my passwords, for example.
The only downsides rely on the network configuration, which could be a little more user-friendly, the choice of Seamonkey as a browser, while Ubuntu has Firefox as a bundled browser, and the lacking of a keyboard auto-detection feature.
In my opinion they're no biggie, though, and these choices make perfect sense within the context Puppy Linux was developed for.
Firefox can be a more appealing browser, but it's known to use more RAM memory, and the keyboard configuration is pretty straightforward (I use an Italian keyboard).
One last recommendation: if you don't use Puppy as physical OS, remember to save your configuration when you shut down your computer, or you'll lose all your settings.
Don't give up hope! There's a way to revive your old PC and to use it for many years to come.
Puppy Linux is a Linux distribution specifically conceived for old PC's and it's so stripped-back that can be successfully run even on computers having 256 MB RAM.
There are several versions of Puppy Linux and, for this post, I've used Racy 5.5.
As stated by its official site, Racy "derives from Wary Puppy, a long term support release optimized for older hardware. Puppy also offers Slacko and Lucid versions, for full compatibility with Slackware and Ubuntu, respectively".
In the next paragraph I'm going to describe how I revived an old Acer Aspire 2001 WLCi, purchased in 2003, by using Puppy Linux.
The laptop characteristics
My laptop features 40 GB HD, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support, 496.0 MB RAM, Intel® Pentium(R) M processor 1400MHz.
Just an old clunker, that I sometimes use at the college to check on something real quick.
Its original OS was XP Home Edition, installed in two partitions with a FAT32 filesystem (one of the first things I did was to convert it to NFTS).
I had installed Ubuntu 12.04 LTS some years ago, but it was definitely too slow.
 |
| My old clunker and an overview of Racy 5.5 Desktop |
The renovation
- Download the ISO image from the official website. It's a small file (124 MB) that can be easily burned to a CD (which makes sense, because very old PC's are more likely to have a CD than a DVD drive).
- After burning it to a CD/DVD or to a USB drive, you have to access BIOS and choose the media where you copied Racy as first device and wait for Racy to load. You can choose whether to install Racy to your hard drive or run it from a CD/DVD or USB drive.
After a while, you'll be welcomed by your new Racy 5.5 Desktop.
Features - very barren, but there's all
Racy 5.5 comes with some bundled applications, divided into several categories (System, Utility, Graphic, Personal, Network, Internet, Multimedia, Fun).
The first thing to do is to configure your Internet connection from Setup/Internet Connection Wizard.
You'll be shown a window with the main settings and you'll have to select your connection type (Dialup analog or wireless modem, Wired or Wireless LAN, Wireless GPRS Modem or "Roaring Penguin" PPOE) to access a more detailed configuration tab.
Racy 5.5 comes with Seamonkey as a browser and email client (the first thing I did was to install Firefox, which works pretty good) and a complete business suite featuring Gnumeric Spreadsheet Editor, Gmeasures Unit Converter and two scientific calculators.
Its bundled software features a complete suite of multimedia, business and graphic tools that allow the user to start being productive immediately.
Once you've setup the system the way you want, you'll be asked to save your changes to the same support you've used to boot Racy (CD/DVD or USB drive) .
You can also choose not to save your changes.
Wrap up
In Racy 5.5 there's more than what catches the eye (quoting Gandalf).
Its look won't be particularly appealing for users accustomed to more modern graphical interfaces such as Windows Aero or macOS Dock and can rather make them turn up their nose, but ensures a substantial improvement in terms of performance, which is the ultimate target of Racy.
My old clunker is living its second youth.
It's never been so fast, not even when I had just bought it.
Puppy Linux can be an ideal solution for older computers, in order to re-purpose them for personal or business needs, even when they have less than 256 MB RAM.
It's very quick and responsive and its overall look, though being minimalist, isn't that bad in the end, once you get used to it. I could successfully use LastPass to access my passwords, for example.
The only downsides rely on the network configuration, which could be a little more user-friendly, the choice of Seamonkey as a browser, while Ubuntu has Firefox as a bundled browser, and the lacking of a keyboard auto-detection feature.
In my opinion they're no biggie, though, and these choices make perfect sense within the context Puppy Linux was developed for.
Firefox can be a more appealing browser, but it's known to use more RAM memory, and the keyboard configuration is pretty straightforward (I use an Italian keyboard).
One last recommendation: if you don't use Puppy as physical OS, remember to save your configuration when you shut down your computer, or you'll lose all your settings.
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