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Linux distro for 14* year old laptop?
(lemmy.ml)
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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.
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Linux Mint will work wonderfully on it. It has 4 GB RAM and a cpu that scores 1220 CPU points on passmark benchmark. That's more than enough to run Mint with Cinnamon -- which is very Windows-like, and the recommended distro for windows users.
I'd suggest you install it for him, and you configure it as it should (go through the prefs). Also, disable a couple of startup things found in the utility in the prefs, e.g. the wizard and the reports, to save ram. To save even more ram, install chrome for your friend (I know, I know, Firefox is there, but Chrome uses less ram on youtube -- almost 2/3s). On a 4 gb laptop, for someone who specifically wants to use youtube, that matters. And along with it, ublock origin on the medium level, so it can block youtube ads.
Weird (but not really unexpected) that Chrome uses less RAM in this case. I think I'll consider this too, thanks!
uBlock Medium requires some unbreaking of websites, so i would avoid it on this laptop. Ungoogled Chromium could be a good replacement for chrome.
Ungoogled Chromium doesn't autoupdate though. Chrome and Chromium do.