I have a somewhat older laptop on which I would like to install Linux.
I have no more complex work in mind, just suffe, write and possibly stream series / films over the Internet.
But data protection is important to me! I don't want to go in the direction of Tails or anything.
Which distribution would you recommend? Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Lubuntu, Linux Lite, Manjaro or something completely different?
You can actually take all of them out of them. Which one you like the most is a matter of taste. Linux Lite will probably appeal to you the least, because you are stuck in the console (command prompt) And a distro with KDE as desktop is just "Windowsiger"
So if it's not about switching from Windows to Linux, I'd just use Ubuntu, super easy, and kind of fun.
But if it does, I recommend Mageia. Similar to Windows, but Linux-style. Later switch to something else, like Linux Mint.
The distribution doesn't really matter. I like to work with Debian, I don't like Mint at all and I don't like Suse at all. But it really doesn't matter!
I wouldn't use a very cluttered desktop with an older notebook. Gnome and KDE both need a lot of resources, so LXDE is better. I like to take mate because it's more balanced.
But data protection is important to me!
You are generally in a similar (good) position with the Linux distributions, since Linux is open source… There are some slim distributions, although depending on the hardware, an average distribution with a slim desktop such as Xfce or lxde is sometimes sufficient. Particularly lean distributions are, for example:
Peppermint uses lxde as a standard desktop and requires about 4GB hard drive and 1GB (better 2) RAM.
Bodhi Linux also needs about 4GB of hard disk space, but can get by with about 256MB of RAM
LXLE requires 8GB of hard disk space and just under 1GB of RAM, but should also be very suitable for old hardware.
Linux Lite is very simple and suitable for beginners, requires around 5GB hard drive and just under 1GB RAM
Lubuntu is the classic Ubuntu with xfce desktop, and therefore also suitable for old hardware.
Tiny Core is quite an extreme case, the distribution is around 15MB in size and needs 64MB of RAM…
So there are quite a few light distributions, you can find different ones on every website… If you search for them you will find 50 other distributions that would be suitable… Depending on the hardware, I would probably use a slightly more common distribution with a slim desktop, such as Peppermint, Lubuntu or Mint…
That depends a lot on how old the laptop is. Generally recommended for older and weaker hardware
Xfce
LXQt
Mate
As desktop environments. I would highly recommend Xfce. It may look a bit old-fashioned at first, depending on the distribution, but it can be changed very easily and offers a lot despite little performance.
If you use an Nvidia graphics card, you have to be careful - things often go wrong because Nvidia is only interested in money and not in the users.
For beginners - I assume that you are one - I would recommend:
Linux Mint 20.1 Xfce - xhttps://linuxmint.com/download.php
Gecko Linux Static Xfce - https://geckolinux.github.io/#download
Many proprietary codecs and drivers are included with both.
Gecko Linux also has the advantage of YaST, so that you can change many settings via a graphical user interface instead of in the terminal.
Manjaro is also very good, but more for advanced learners. I recommended it earlier, but if you don't get updates every week, you're lost. This is different with the above.
First of all thanks for your answer! In the end I decided on Linux Mint Cinnamon.
Do you know what data protection is like in Mint? Are there any data forwarded or tracked?
I also have other questions:
Would it be possible to install Tails on a VM and run it under Mint?
How does it work with the Tor connection, could there be problems or does this really only exist within the VM?
Could Mint keep track of what I'm doing within the VM or in the Tor network?
And if I connect Mint to a VPN, then start Tails within a VM, would that work, i.e. VPN-Tor-Tails or is the VPN connection only outside the VM?
Hi, thanks for your reply. I chose Linux Mint Cinnamon.
Do you know what it looks like in terms of data protection? You said that Linux is already well positioned due to open source.
I have other questions.
Would it work if I ran Tails from a VM on Mint? So in terms of the Tor connection? Could there be any problems or could Mint read something?
And if I configure and activate a VPN under Mint, then run Tails on a VM, does the VPN connection also apply to the VM? So that it is VPN-Tor-Tails in the end?
Tails is a live system, so it does not need an installation and therefore does not need a VM (you can still install it in a VM, which is usually worse for privacy, but of course more convenient…). If you boot from a USB stick with Tails, it doesn't matter which operating system is installed on your computer, there's no trace of anything left behind when you unplug the USB stick. So no, Mint can't read along (although "Mint" as an operating system does not do that either, but neither does a program that runs on it).
If you configure a VPN under Mint and start Tails on the computer, then Tails does not have a VPN in addition to Tor. Systems in a VM usually also use the VPN connection…
Okey thanks. I was aware that Tails is a live system. For me it was only about the VPN connection, which I would activate outside of the VM. Because it's easier than configuring Tails with VPN.
Thank you!
No, I'm not doing anything illegal ^^. A few years ago I asked about this topic because I was just interested in it, just as it is today.
Okay, then I'll be calm. 😉
Yes, that is only relevant if you were to install Tails in a VM instead of using it as a live system… As I said, this is not that good for data protection… But then you have VPN in addition to Tor, yes…
