easiest Linux similar to windows?

searchlight123

Fightsback wrote: »

For an old challenged machine like that I'd suggest something lightweight such as Puppy Linux:

http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview%20and%20Getting%20Started.htm

Remember, Linux is not Windows.

thanks for the tip.

Spelunthus

For a smaller, older machine - try LUBUNTU. This is a lightweight version of the popular UBUNTU. Looks fairly like Windows on the desktop. I've run it for two year for basic browsing (Firefox) , word processing etc - no issues. Then add Libreoffice or similar. Wine etc. to run Windows software is a non-starter on such a small Netbook.

henm2

I would recommend for an old machine the 32 bit version of Linux Mint 18 xfce. The more popular cinnamon version of Linux Mint would be too demanding for an old machine. Any version of Linux Mint already includes Libre Office and that can read from and save to MS office formats.

esuhl

I have an Asus EEE 901 too, and it struggled to run XP once an antivirus was installed.

Because of the low-spec hardware, I installed Arch Linux, which has been amazing. It's so fast as you install only the components you want -- you effectively build your own operating system.

Unfortunately (for you), it's not intended to be Windows-like. I think you'd have to be quite familiar with Linux (or be prepared to study the excellent wiki) to install it.

I suppose with any GNU/Linux distro, the first thing you'd need to consider is how to partition the SSDs. If the EEE originally came with Linux, there will be 4GB and 12GB SSDs. With Windows, I think it was 4GB and 8GB SSDs. The smaller SSD is faster.

John_Gray

I should have mentioned earlier that Googling for "linux for eeepc" gives several hits, although I remember that some time ago one such distro was made end-of-life...

esuhl

John_Gray wrote: »

I should have mentioned earlier that Googling for "linux for eeepc" gives several hits, although I remember that some time ago one such distro was made end-of-life...

Do you mean the version of Linux that came preloaded on some Linux EEEs? It was an absolute abomination! It was severely locked-down, and you couldn't even update the preinstalled software without it breaking.

There's some info on the Arch Linux site that might give you a nudge in the right direction (even if you're using a different distro).

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ASUS_Eee_PC_901

ThemeOne

You could have a look at antiX, which is supposed to be well suited to lower spec machines:
http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=antix

It uses IceWM for its desktop which I use myself, and can certainly be made to look similar to Windows.

But it isn't Windows of course, so always be prepared for differences.

Mr_Toad

I had the Linux version of an ASUS Netbook that ran its own version of Linux that I didn't much like.

I replaced it with Netbuntu, a minimalist version of Ubuntu created specially for netbooks.

I ave no idea if it's still around or viable but it has to be worth a look.

System

Hi

https://ubuntu-netbook-remix.en.softonic.com/download

is not a site within ubuntu, so should be treated with caution.

It's ugly, un-windows-like and usuable.

Otherwise any lite version, preferably as a live try-out first.

jshm2

Standard Linux wouldn't be much use on it. The old style SSDs had lopsided performance issues and died rather quickly too (I think it was after 100,000 write erase cycles).

Depending on model, you can replace the drive to a bigger and faster one.

In the meantime I would be looking to install Android (Remix OS) or a Cloud based OS like ChromeOS (NayuOS) or even a lite version of Linux like Cub Linux on it.