I’m currently using Ubuntu and I want try a different distro but so far the only one I’ve tried was Porteus but I had an issue where Porteus wouldn’t boot if it was installed on top of ext4 but would boot fine if it was installed on top of fat32, which is also another potential problem because Porteus requires a save file for persistence when using Windows filesystems. If there is a problem where my computer can’t boot with an ext4 filesystem, Ubuntu doesn’t have this problem because sda1/2/3 all use a different filesystem.
If I’m correct on this, would I be better off trying Porteus on ext3/2 and hoping it works or just use it with fat32 and have a separate partition formatted for ext4 to serve the same purpose as sda3 in Ubuntu and possibly store the save file (if I have the correct understanding of how save files work).
Also, I would just use NTFS but not only have I heard that it has issues with Linux, I’ve had issues using it with Linux, so I’m using fat32 for stability.
Yeah, you should stick to Ubuntu.
If your eyes start to wander, look at the major distros instead of the ones you’ve been looking at. Debian, Fedora, Manjaro, Mint, openSUSE, and Arch. They’re all great and have easy installs. I highly recommend Debian and Arch. Reading their install guides could help you understand any Linux system a lot more. You’ll never maximize your speed if you don’t read the manuals for stuff. Generally, faster is going to mean more specialized to your hardware and your specific needs.
The only reason I’m using the ones I’ve been using is because there isn’t a proper way for someone to find what they need without manually checking each distro one by one. The best I got was the list of lightweight Linux distros on Wikipedia but that mostly seems to have a bunch of unknown Linux distros. If there was a list that contained the system requirements for all Linux distros (with a differentiation of installing system requirements and running requirements because a lot of distros require more ram to install than what they actually use when running) along with some other helpful information, I’d probably have an easier time finding one on my own.
Ah, now things are making a little more sense. From that list, BunsenLabs Linux doesn’t look like a bad choice. It’s Debian-based, so the install should be pretty smooth like Ubuntu. Trisquel Mini might be even better. I would avoid any that are based on Slackware; it’s a little more hardcore than most. Bodhi Linux looks okay, too. Bunsen might get you the most bang, but you might not like Openbox. Trisquel and Bodhi have normal desktop environments, so those should feel familiar.
Void Linux might be something you want to look at as well. It’s its own thing, and the install will probably be different, but it’s a really cool distro, so it was worth a mention.
Are you trying to get the most out of old hardware, or are you just trying to see how far you can push contemporary hardware?
How fast is your CPU? (
cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep Hz)How much RAM do you have? (
free --human)I don’t really care about how it looks or works, as long as it’s going to work on my computer without requiring more than just installing it from a live cd mounted to a usb thumb drive.
As for the specs, it’s an old laptop:
CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-2520M CPU @ 2.50GHz
I don’t know what you need for RAM but the command you gave returned this:
total used free shared buff/cache available Mem: 7.7Gi 3.5Gi 146Mi 461Mi 4.1Gi 3.5Gi Swap: 2.0Gi 2.0Mi 2.0GiI know it’s probably not necessary to mention but the RAM is dual channel and the “used” is only high because I’m using both Brave and Firefox on separate monitors. And if you are wondering, I use both Brave and Firefox for different purposes, which is why I use both instead of just one like everyone else.
2.5G CPU and 8G RAM should go brrrr on any of the 3 distros I recommended, and they all have live CDs. Openbox is about as slim as you can go before you abandon a GUI altogether and just use the terminal, so try Bunsen first.
Ok, my download speeds weren’t too terrible but I ran into a major problem. I was able to boot into the LiveCD just fine, but after I installed it, it gave me an error when trying to load grub. It was " error: attempt to read or write outside of disk hd0", with a “grub rescue>” promt below it.
I tried to google it but everything on this page didn’t work.
Also, it partially broke my Ubuntu installation, but luckily it fixed itself after a reboot.
Well the the CPU and RAM aren’t the bottleneck, it’s the hard drive.
Anyways, I might have to try Bunsen tomorrow. My download speed is pretty slow at night (it’s possible that my ISP might be throttling it because I have this issue with all of my devices).
Well someone else recommended Linux Mint and it’s working fine but Ubuntu isn’t anymore and it’s giving me the same issue as Bunsen. When I installed Mint, it stated that it was supposed to give me the option choose which one it would boot into but I’m not getting that option and it just boots into Mint. I can still see the files, so I know they aren’t lost. Looking at GParted, it seems that Mint didn’t make it’s own copy of grub and is just using the one Ubuntu made in sda1.
I’m making this very hastily, I’m just using a probably very outdated copy of Firefox that was preinstalled to write this comment. I wasn’t even ready to switch to a different distro yet, I just wanted to test it to make sure it worked. Unless I can fix it somehow, I’m going to have to copy the files I want to keep from Ubuntu (assuming I can still use them) and then install Mint on the the same drive as Ubuntu because my external hard drive is slower than the internal one.
Also, Is it possible to get my passwords from Brave and Firefox when I can’t boot into Ubuntu anymore?
Can you boot into the live cd again and run the following commands and post the results?
sudo fdisk --list(The lines for each /dev/… are all I’m curious about).ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars(this one shouldn’t return an error. if it does, you booted into BIOS mode instead of UEFI. there should be another option when booting the live cd.)I did and here is what I got:
`Disk /dev/loop0: 2.31 GiB, 2481483776 bytes, 4846648 sectors Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk /dev/sda: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors Disk model: TOSHIBA MQ01ABF0 Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes Disklabel type: gpt Disk identifier: 814379C6-2C7D-4B17-A8D0-94DD15C7A10E
Device Start End Sectors Size Type /dev/sda1 2048 4095 2048 1M Linux filesystem /dev/sda2 4096 1054719 1050624 513M EFI System /dev/sda3 1054720 976771071 975716352 465.3G Linux filesystem
Disk /dev/sdb: 29.11 GiB, 31260704768 bytes, 61056064 sectors Disk model: Cruzer
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disklabel type: gpt Disk identifier: 4F11B734-C1FB-49E2-85D8-BF2ED72EDBB3
Device Start End Sectors Size Type /dev/sdb1 64 5162663 5162600 2.5G Microsoft basic data /dev/sdb2 5162664 5171159 8496 4.1M EFI System /dev/sdb3 5173248 61056000 55882753 26.6G Linux filesystem
Disk /dev/sdc: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors Disk model:
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes Disklabel type: dos Disk identifier: 0x6f39c797
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/sdc1 2048 48337111 48335064 23G 83 Linux /dev/sdc2 * 48338944 49387519 1048576 512M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32) /dev/sdc3 49389566 976771071 927381506 442.2G 5 Extended /dev/sdc5 49389568 976771071 927381504 442.2G 83 Linux
Partition 3 does not start on physical sector boundary.
Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 29.72 GiB, 31914983424 bytes, 62333952 sectors Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disklabel type: dos Disk identifier: 0x00000000
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/mmcblk0p1 8192 62333951 62325760 29.7G c W95 FAT32 (LBA)`
ls cannot access '/sys/firmware/efi/efivars': No such file or directory:If that is the error you are saying that I’m not supposed to get, I don’t have the choose between UEFI and BIOS. I only have UEFI and legacy, which I can’t use because if I try to enable that, no Linux distro can boot at all. So, I have no idea how I can’t be use UEFI when it’s the only one that works on this computer.
If you can’t list
/sys/firmware/efi/efivars, then you have somehow booted up in MBR (aka BIOS) mode. The Arch wiki has a good page on the differences.This could be a small problem with your laptop’s BIOS settings. You should be able to enter the BIOS settings by hitting Delete, Escape, or one of the F-keys when the laptop is just starting up. You should google your laptop make, model, and “enter bios settings” to find out what you need to press. (I just press it repeatedly right after pressing power)
Once in your BIOS settings, you can poke around at the boot options to see if you can let it boot the USB as UEFI (right now it’s only booting it as MBR; the CD supports both so that it works with more systems). There might also be an option in the BIOS settings to boot a specific device. If so, you might see 2 entries for the USB listed. You can try each one, checking the ls command after booting up. One of them should boot UEFI and then the ls will work.
My best guess as to what’s happening: your computer can boot UEFI from your HDDs, but it only wants to boot the live USB as MBR (either it sees that first or can’t see UEFI because of a setting). Your disks are using GPT tables, so the installer is assuming it’s UEFI. When the installer installs the bootloader, it can’t copy your EFI firmware to the new install, because you’re not booted UEFI, so you’re ending up with a broken bootloader. Until you figure out how to resolve this, you’re gonna have a bad time with almost any distro (possibly even reinstalling Ubuntu).
I tried booting the live CD from a USB on an old MacBook Air I have, but it only sees 2 different UEFI options, both of which run the ls command successfully.