this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2025
35 points (100.0% liked)
Linux
58936 readers
1036 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
The x5-Z8330 has 800 passmark points which is enough to run Arch with XFce without issues. 2 GB of RAM though is the sticky point. It is problematic with Debian/Mint as they consume about 800 MBs of RAM on a cold boot (don't even think of Fedora or Ubuntu that are dogs when it comes to RAM usage), but on Arch you can configure it to consume only 450 MB of RAM: https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/660/702/810/921/104/original/3313b7ec1d3cdae4.png (here's my Arch/XFce with a BeOS theme using 585 MB of RAM with 3 apps open). That's a life saver on a 2 GB of RAM computer, because Youtube alone on Chrome can use up to 800 MB of RAM, while on Firefox goes up to 1.1 GB. Consider that 128 MB of RAM also goes to the integrated graphics card. But with other websites, or with a third party youtube front-end, or other apps, 2 GB can be enough (just make sure you give it a 4 GB swap file -- not zswap). Finally, make sure you use only a background color, not an image. Images, uncompressed in RAM, can use up to 80 MB of RAM if they are in high-res. A plain color takes kilobytes! Also, disable the BT service and any other service you don't use via XFce's startup utility. That one takes 45 MB alone, it's a dog... Load it only when you need it.
Running a 32 bit os might net you better idle. I run 32 bit debian on an ancient laptop and my idle is a bit lower, 300-400 mb. I'm also using openbox.