Sony Vaio PCG-7X2L...distro thoughts and/or ideas for this old laptop experiment
by Basslord1124 from LinuxQuestions.org on (#4TQBR)
All right, first thing...I already have a few PCs running Linux and this one here is sort of just a low priority experiment. So nothing mission critical here. If I can squeeze a little more life out of it great...if it dies tomorrow, no big loss.
This is another one of my wife's older unused laptops...we've tried to sell it in the past and no one wants it. So it is now become just a Linux experiment.
For some reason, some sites listed the CPU as 64 bit capable, and from my experience already with Linux and this machine, it's not. CPU is dual core 1.6Ghz, 80GB HD, and an updated 2GB RAM (originally was 1GB). The current built in wifi is flaky (it was before when it had Windows), so I've ordered a USB wifi adapter to replace it.This is a link to the adapter here:
https://www.newegg.com/wavlink-wl-wn...9SIA6PF6ZU1159
In the mean time, I've sampled a few distros on it. I really wanted to try Peppermint but I actually found it's performance a little disappointing. Just wasn't as peppy as I thought it might be. It uses the LXDE desktop environment. I then checked out AntiX after seeing it listed as a good distro for older computers, its performance was a lot better using IceWM. I should mention, I am still learning about the lightweight desktop environments and what performs best with using less resources. I remember IceWM from my Puppy Linux days...so the appearance wasn't anything new. But like I said, AntiX with IceWM performed pretty good on this machine...definitely better than Peppermint/LXDE.
I went through Peppermint's installer a few times and I remember not seeing much in terms of custom installation. So I don't recall seeing any way to switch Peppermint from LXDE to IceWM or any other DE. I suppose I could've downloaded IceWM and configured the system to boot that environment instead (which I've never done before, but don't mind to get my hands dirty).
So...I've been unsure on which option to pick and these are the ones I have thought of...
1) stick with AntiX
2) Put Peppermint back on and try to configure to load a different desktop environment
3) Try a major distro (Debian, Fedora, etc) and custom build the system with my choice of desktop environment, apps, etc.
This is another one of my wife's older unused laptops...we've tried to sell it in the past and no one wants it. So it is now become just a Linux experiment.
For some reason, some sites listed the CPU as 64 bit capable, and from my experience already with Linux and this machine, it's not. CPU is dual core 1.6Ghz, 80GB HD, and an updated 2GB RAM (originally was 1GB). The current built in wifi is flaky (it was before when it had Windows), so I've ordered a USB wifi adapter to replace it.This is a link to the adapter here:
https://www.newegg.com/wavlink-wl-wn...9SIA6PF6ZU1159
In the mean time, I've sampled a few distros on it. I really wanted to try Peppermint but I actually found it's performance a little disappointing. Just wasn't as peppy as I thought it might be. It uses the LXDE desktop environment. I then checked out AntiX after seeing it listed as a good distro for older computers, its performance was a lot better using IceWM. I should mention, I am still learning about the lightweight desktop environments and what performs best with using less resources. I remember IceWM from my Puppy Linux days...so the appearance wasn't anything new. But like I said, AntiX with IceWM performed pretty good on this machine...definitely better than Peppermint/LXDE.
I went through Peppermint's installer a few times and I remember not seeing much in terms of custom installation. So I don't recall seeing any way to switch Peppermint from LXDE to IceWM or any other DE. I suppose I could've downloaded IceWM and configured the system to boot that environment instead (which I've never done before, but don't mind to get my hands dirty).
So...I've been unsure on which option to pick and these are the ones I have thought of...
1) stick with AntiX
2) Put Peppermint back on and try to configure to load a different desktop environment
3) Try a major distro (Debian, Fedora, etc) and custom build the system with my choice of desktop environment, apps, etc.