I wanted to convert an old laptop of mine to a mobile DVD player, but he is no longer the fastest. Should I hit Linux mint on it? Is it possible to connect an external CD drive? Or is there a faster operating system?
Would you recommend Lubuntu:
https://lubuntu.net/downloads/
Whether you can connect an external DVD or CD drive depends on your connections.
Even more resource-efficient is Bodhi Linux. This distro is also based on Ubuntu, but there the resource-saving Moksha desktop is used. Even if you use a desktop theme with transparency effects, only about 3% more system resources are used.
Then simply install the VLC player as player and the libdvdcss library.
Here is the download:
32bit: http://sourceforge.net/...o/download
64bit: http://sourceforge.net/...o/download
Bodhi Linux goes down even on over 10 years old devices like a rocket.
Thanks, I'll try that
ElementaryOS is still very fast and resource-saving.
I'm currently using Lubuntu with the frugal Lxde desktop as a "second-OS" on my old desktop PC (besides Win7pro).
This is the most resource-efficient variant offered by Ubuntu itself.
https://lubuntu.net/
Unfortunately, I can bring on my very old Pentium4 (3.0GHz, 32bit, 2GB) no current Lubuntu more to run. The keyboard controller is not recognized / supported. (=> no keyboard and no USB). It only starts in "emergency mode" and also the keyboard and the USB ports work (=> mouse).
With Mint 19.x I have the same problems there…
The Lubuntu 15.x ran on it however perfectly and also quite fast.
I will now also try out the new MX-Linux 18.3 with the Xfce desktop, which should be similarly resource-friendly. It is probably based on a combination of Debian and Antix.
https://linuxnews.de/2019/06/mx-18-3-freigegeben/
(=> Download link in the last line of the text)
It is now even more popular than Mint and Ubuntu.
Another option would be to install the free operating system Cloudready on the old laptop, which is a customized Chrome OS. This turns the laptop into a fast Chromebook. So you can use it also useful. Download here: https://www.neverware.com/freedownload You need the USB-Maker and a blank formatted USB stick with at least 8GB.
Here's a video of what Cloudready looks like:
