Lubuntu or Puppy Linux to revive an Acer Aspire One with 1 GB of RAM

A 1 GB Acer Aspire One comes back to life with LXDE, not KDE

A netbook with an Intel Atom Z520 processor at 1.33 GHz, 1 GB of DDR2 and a 160 GB SATA drive at 5,400 rpm. That is the inventory of an Acer Aspire One AO751h that still runs Windows XP and whose owner wants to turn into a machine for browsing and little else. The conclusion that emerges from the conversation is not the distro, it's the desktop environment: LXDE or XFCE, and from there any reasonably lightweight base will do.

The consensus is so broad it's boring: Lubuntu comes up again and again as the go-to option, being Ubuntu's lightweight gateway with all of its support behind it. But some go further and argue that even that isn't enough. One user's experience with the same model is telling: he tried Ubuntu and Mint with XFCE and the machine was still crawling when opening the browser. His final recipe was Puppy Linux and Porteus, both running smoothly on that hardware.

Which Linux distro to choose for a low-RAM netbook

The discussion falls into three layers. The first is the desktop: LXDE wins on lightness and its Windows-like feel; XFCE is the runner-up; KDE and GNOME are out of the running for 1 GB. The second is the base: Ubuntu and its derivatives offer support and packages, while Manjaro or Antergos —an Arch branch— are pitched as faster. The third is the format: live USB before touching the disk.

The detail that raises eyebrows is the proposed disk split: 40 GB for the system. Some consider it outrageous and suggest cutting it down to 10 GB, since Lubuntu needs 4.5 GB and the rest is more than enough for programs. The remainder of the disk goes to /home.

Is it worth upgrading the memory before installing Linux?

Opinions clash here. Some defend going up to 2 GB or even 4 GB to run Mint smoothly, while others point out that XFCE gets by with 512 MB. One user claims his machine handled 8 GB without problems. The question is whether it's worth investing in a device that's over a decade old.

The browser is the real bottleneck. For YouTube, the recommendation is to download videos with youtube-dl and watch them locally with VLC, avoiding streaming playback. Midori runs faster than Firefox, but leaves antiestéticatures behind along the way.

The rescue plan for a 2009 netbook

The logical order: try it on a live USB, pick a lightweight environment, adjust partitions and expect no miracles. One user sums it up bluntly: with Windows, he would have already thrown it in the trash. With Lubuntu, the old machine is still alive.

How many of these netbooks are still sitting in a drawer waiting for a second life?