Old Laptop Setup : 32bit - Intel Dual Core + 2 GB RAM + Win 7 pre-installed.
The bug: After some heavy use all these years , it seems 2 GB is just not enough. Screen freezes 15 times per hour due to obvious luck of ram.
Mini Linux Distros
A lot are said here, A lot of ultra-mini-linux-distros exist, but most of them seems to be based on Slackware which seems to be a version of OpenSuse.
http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/10-of-the-most-popular-lightweight-linux-distros-1295034
Porteus : Slackware Distro.
Runs from usb and also there is an option to run entirely from ram.
Throught the Porteus web site you can select the options for your buld by choosing which browser you like (Chrome included), which file manager you prefer, and some other choices.
Finally an iso image is built with your preferences. You just burn it with Rufus and you are ready to go.
I tried Porteus and worked really great , really light.
I enjoyed the .dat file feature that you can start Porteus from USB and is not necessary to install it but you can save data in your session and these data will be saved to the .dat file located on the same usb under /porteus folded save.dat file.
Also i enjoyed the run from ram option. Really fast.
Bugs:
Difficult installation of new software due to how slackware works.
Apt-get missing, apt and dpkg were missing.
According to linux.com bellow, Porteus is built to run from a usb (this is good) and the philosophy is that users can enable/disable pre-installed built in modules on the fly.
New software should be built in a "module" way. I think i prefer the classic Ubuntu / Debian style distros.
Test 15/06/2016:
While other distros gave various minor or major bugs , Porteus runs smoothly out of the box.
The simplicity to boot and get ready for basic tasks (explore the web) makes me a fan.
When all other distro's tests tends to dissapoint me, i switch back to Porteus usb stick and i have a fully functional laptop in 5 minutes , considering that we are using pre-installed built in modules and not installing new software.
Slitaz: Also runs from usb and ram. It is a slax/slackware distro as well, but claims that can be run on really old specs (see slitaz wiki). It seems that the latest updated distro is 2012 , but has switched to a rolling distro , regularly updated up to 2016 (http://slitaz.org/en/) but keeping it's low 50Mbyte size(!)
Debian /Ubuntu based distros :
http://www.everydaylinuxuser.com/2014/08/5-linux-distributions-for-very-old.html
https://www.linux.com/news/best-lightweight-linux-distros
PS: Although Ubuntu is based in Debian, there are distros that are using Debian Core and some others using Ubuntu Core elements.
Antix
Claims to Run from 256MB Ram, requires ~3Gb hdd ,
Has also high end releases like MX-15 with XFCE. based on Debian 8 . Also reviewed by techradar.
Test 15/06/16: I tried antix32bit (not the MX15 - the standard light version) but my WiFi adapter was not detected.
More over i noticed that laptop fan went in full power, whilst the pre-installed desktop dock indicated a cpu usage of 1%.
Sparky Linux - Debian Customized Distro.
Greek Review here.
Nice Sparky Google page: https://plus.google.com/communities/100969370213615377598
Acc to this old Sparky Review, it is available on both 32/64 bit, seems that 512MB of Ram are just fine, but needs space starting from 5Gb up to 30Gb. See full system requirements.
Sparky has updated releases (2016) including PAE and non-PAE support.
Test 16/06/16 with Sparky non PAE , 32 bit , LXQt Live image (burnt with rufus).
Test was good. No full fan speed, wifi ok, screens ok.
I got some error on boot about CPU (may be i should try the PAE image) but everything works ok.
Ram consumption appears to be low in idle (~300Mb out of my 2Gb),
All the familiriar debian like packages were in the distro (apt-get, dpkg, sudo, Gdebi, Synaptic software manager, firefox, etc).
I had to tweak my VGA1 output (LG monitor / tv) with the usual $xrandr --VGA1 --scale 0.71x0.71 and both displays (vga1 and lvds1) were adjusted to 1366x768 , mirrored and matched correctly.
As a general feeling of live image try, everything was good and worked fine out of the box.
For sure it is a selection for me for fast on-the-go set ups. Boot, Give Wifi key, run firefox - you are ready. You might optionally want to install flash - use Synaptics - done.
I was able to install flash for firefox and chromium using Synaptics, but the pre-installed FireFox runs much better/faster
(ps: recent chrome builds are available only 64bit. For 32bit FireFox is the leader and as an alternative you could use Chromium)
The LXQt interface is really light and too much - almost annoying - simple .
There are options to enable/disable packages (even switch DE) in the configuration manager. Not worked on live session.
Also , if you check distrowatch screen shots, you can see some nice docks, mac style.
I also notice that there are some options to enable/disable auto rotate of some items , and this could possibly mean that this distro will work ok with my Toshiba Radius 11 convertible (auto rotate screen feature).
As bugs in the live image after a two hours testing i could see:
Next test : Sparky with KDE , and even a classic debian image
http://puppylinux.com/index.html#download
Available in Slackware version (Slacko) and Ubuntu version (10.04 Lucid / 14.04 Tahr).
There are a lot of variations as explained in the Puppy Family Tree.
Famous Builts: Simplicity (really nice desktop) , MacPup (MacBook looking pupplet ) Precise, Wary and Slacko (=slackware) or you can use Woof CE to built your Puppy.
Simplicty Test 15/06/16:
I tried Simplicitty mini 32bit. WiFi was OK, screen mirroring ok by applying the xrandr workaround for my big vga screen.
As a first "bug" i noticed that laptop fan again went in full power , probably not for a reason, as happened during antix testing.
Lubuntu , equipped with LXDE, requiring 256-512MB ram.
See here and alternate downloads here..
LXLE seems a good customized alternative based on Lubuntu- see bellow.
Ubuntu claims that will soon replace Lubuntu (LXDE) with Lubuntu LXQT.
They do also provide some instructions how to manually install LXQT starting from Ubuntu minimal install .
Crunchbang: Stable Debian Based Distro.
Trisquel mini based on Ubuntu equipped with LXDE including Gdebi , dconf , Synaptics, and more ubuntu goodies. PS: Trisquel Full version seems to be a full Ubuntu Gnome 3 distro, customized by trisquel guys.
Point Linux - LXLE and Elementary Review
Elementary :
This Review claims that Elementary is an Ubuntu modification equipped with Gnome 2 elementes and provides something like a Mac and Win10 look.
It could possible be optimized for touchscreen laptops (not tried yet) since the screenshots look touch friendly (big icons, nice buttons, familiar touch friendly interface).
In order to try it for free, you have to select "custom amount of donation" and apply 0 usd. Otherwise is impossible to get it , unless you actually donate 5-10 USD, which is not bad.
LXLE based on Lubuntu with custom LXDE advertises as a drop-in replacement of Windows and is more focused on low-power PCs. Download from sourceforge.
LXLE Test 16/06/2016:
Good test. after booting cpu fan working ok (not full speed) , and we got the classic known Ubuntu enviroment.
Fire fox was missing (...?) but was easily installed bu the Lubuntu SW center.
A lot of Ubuntu familiar apps about setting/programms was present.
Flash pre-installed by default and working ok in FF.
Also Ubuntu extension for FF was also installed after installing FF.
WiFi OK.
Screen mirroring to my LG TV (VGA1) need to adjusted as usuall using
$xrandr --output VGA1 --scale 0.711x0.711
But there is also a screen mirroring app in start->preferences for a graphical adjustment of the two screens.
Adding shortcuts in Desktop was easy (right click on the app -> add to desktop)
Nice auto change wall paper button, nice cpu / mem monitors integrated in the top bar.
Bottom bar works as task manager (set to autohide by default).
I liked that top/bottom bars /panels could be fully cusomized by selecting items to display..
Touchpad "tap to click" worked out of the box without any further adjustments.
CPU Usage / Ram usage in idle was low (2% cpu and 300Mb Ram).
During youtube playback i was getting 20% CPU usage and 600Mb ram).
As a bug i could point out the difficulty to install and use a second keyboard input language, but this could be even my "ignorance" on how to do it fast. Finally it worked.
Also i didn't found quickly the power options (lid close actions, etc) and screen saver settings.
As a result, I would not vote this distro as a "drop-in replacement of Windows" .
It is a classic distro based on LXDE so you have the easy going interface of LXDE - available in almost every distro.
For sure is a live image that will allow you operate your laptop quickly (but you have to open software center to install firefox... omg!).
Although most of the bugs noticed during sparky linux test were not present, I still tend to like more the pure debian distros (like sparky or Point - not tried yet) instead of Ubuntu Based distros.
Point Linux : Debian 8 with Mate DE. Latest Point builds come even with XFCE DE.
PS: Mate is a fork of Gnome2, but since it is customized looks nice (from screen shots)..
Recent Build is Point Linux 3.0 , based on Debian 8 and Mate or XFCE (release notes)
Point Linux Mate Test 23/06/16 - 32bit - Old HP PC with 2GB Ram
ISO burnt with Rufus (option set for BIOS or UEFI) and the old PC booted OK in the live session.
Pros :
Cons:
OS4 Open Linux: Based on Xubunutu, looks like Xubuntu, includes Chromium and Amiga Commodore Emulator (!). See Review here. It is promoted as "game oriented" distro.
More Distros - medium weight
CubLinux - Tested and works OK but i didn't try to install it. Cub name delivers from Chrome Book + Ubuntu , but it is not a Chrome distro.
It is a Ubuntu distro with ChromeBook look / feel.
Arch Linux
Zorin 11: It has also a lite version for old computers.
Even this distro claims to be a Windows Replacement distro, based on Ubuntu and providing themes very similar to Windows.
Debian: Linux.com claims that have suceed to load debian using minimal setups and lightweight DEs in old systems that ubuntu would fail for sure to boot. .
You can try the Live Install Debian Images here.
Live Images available with a variety of DE:
Cinnamon 2.2.16-5, Mate, Gnome 3.14, KDE, XFCE 4.10.1 and LXDE 6.0.
Debian Live Images for 32 or 64bit are available only for classic - no UEFI bios.
Debian Live boot under UEFI is under development.
DSL - http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
Suggested by Debian .
Claims to be ultra light , as small as 50mbytes, Debian Based Live distro, providing debian installer for hdd installation, equipped with some classic Debian apps
Claims that can run to old 484 with 64MB ram, and can be fully loaded in 128MB ram.
Test July 2016:
Iso image boot correctly in my old 32bit-2GB ram home laptop, but the distro seems to be unusable at least for my case:
1. Wifi Card not Detected so no internet
2. Touchpad not detected so no way to control / browse
3. Resources monitor indeed reported 50MB ram consumption and also cpu usage was really low (1%).
4. Kernel version is 2 something.
Result: With so many distros out there why to spent time to figure out why DSL is not recognizing my hardware, when i.e PointLinux, and many other distros work great out of the box?
DoudouLinux
DoudouLinux is specially designed for children to make computer use as easy and pleasant as possible for them. DoudouLinux provides tens of applications that suit children from 2 to 12 years old and gives them an environment as easy to use as a gaming console. Kids can learn, discover and have fun without Dad and Mum always watching!
Knoppix
One of the oldest, specialized in live image boot. Equipped with LXDE , FireFox, Open Office. Claims that can run on 486, with 120MB ram (recommended 500MB).
LMDE - Linux Mint Debian Edition.
While Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu, LMDE is based purely on Debian. Available with MATE and Cinnamon DE. Provides live session. Latest version LMDE2 , based on Debian Jessie. According to Linux Mint blog, Mint18 Mate edition can boot on UEFI bios , since Mint18 is Ubuntu based, and Ubuntu provides UEFI boot in their live images.
AptoSid.
Based purely on Debian Unstable (sid).
Available with KDE and XFCE, suitable for i686 (32bit) or amd64 (64bit).
Parsix
Debian Based (testing repos), claims amd64 images support UEFI boot.
Comes with Gnome 3.18 (should be heavy....)
Stay Up to Date - Explore All the current distros
Steam looks nice, but it is not even medium weight. It is heavy duty. 4GB ram , 64bit only and no live run.
Other interesting options are Ubuntu GamePack (!), Sparky GameOver Edition (!), Play Linux, Fedora Games Spin.
Manual Loading of Live CDs:
According to this Victor's post for Grub2, command grub>ls gives a list of all hdd drives:
(hd0) (hd0,msdos5) (hd1) (hd1,msdos0).
Victor booted with Grub2 like this (you need to know exact path of files vmlinuz and initrd)
grub> linux (hd1,msdos1)/install/vmlinuz root=/dev/sdb1
grub> initrd (hd1,msdos1)/install/initrd.gz
grub> boot
I have tested and confirm that from grub CLI (Command Line Interface) you can specify linux and initrd by referring to your media like linux (hd2,gpt1)/boot/linux-image-XXXX root=/dev/sdc1 - same for initrd, just like victor.
You just need to know where linux-image and initrd files are located.
In case of a live cd, usually a special kernel called vmlinuz must be loaded in order to allow live boot and decompress everything on memmory.
I was not able to manually make any live cd to boot in my UEFI Toshiba Radius 11 laptop.
I was able to install Cranchbang in my UEFI convertible laptop, by the following way:
Command line appeared to be like this:
> .linux /live/vmlinuz boot=live components quiet splash initrd=/live/initrd.img
It seems that this is not the usuall grub CLI format, but i got the point.
I could try similar commands by grub loader in my UEFI laptop to see if live boot is possible ( i doubt it though).
As expected, this vhd file is accessible like hdd when you log in to Win.
Booting from Linux, Grub you can find this file under sda1/path to file and you can "browse" the contents of this file with:
grub> insmod ntfs
grub> loopback loop (hd0,3)/vhdfile.chd
grub> ls (loop,1)/
PS: I think that Linux do not work well with "dynamic" vhd files that change it's size according to the size of stored data.
Desktop Enviroments Review. (Unity, Gnome, LXDE, XFCE, Cinnamon)
Debian Wiki suggests that default Desktop environment is Gnome (version 3.20 in sid).
Moreover, they also suggest to use e17 for tablets/netbooks (enlightened).
Replace Gnome 3 with Enlightened: http://blog.admiralakber.com/?p=60
DE Resources on Toshiba Radius 11
On Ubuntu Gnome, Gnome 3.18 reports that 2.2G of ram is used when in idle(!).
On the other hand , Debian reports ~500 Mbyte of ram (depending on the sys monitor applet used ; mate-system monitor seems to report 50% more resources than conky) when xfce or mate are used.
I have not tried to see Gnome 3.20 under Debian. Could be lighter than Ubuntu Gnome.
Limited Resources and Custom Distros
Limits are set by hardware. Linux minimal installations are by default light and the specs required to load it's kernel is too low.
It is usually the apps / DE (desktop enviroments) that are consuming ram and cpu power.
More sophisticated DE (i.e Gnome 3.18) require more sophisticated libs/packages and as a result tey require more power (ram & cpu) to actually load many packages at once.
This is why light distros are based to less sophisticated / light DE like Mate, XFCE, LXDE, and LXQt. Light DE require light packages / light specs to run.
For example you can check the really low requirements of LXDE to run here.
But as LXDE mentions, while LXDE requires just a small amount of ram/cpu power to load and run, other software like firefox and open office are quite memory hungry (and also cpu hungry).
In my custom Lubuntu test (LXLE image) on the old PC , ram and cpu usage was really low when system was in idle state and all cpu stats hit a limit up when i was watching youtube videos. Ram was doubles (700MB instead of 300MB) but still was a lot of my 2gb ram left unused.
It is also true that the so-called light distros are based on a well known linux base (debian, ubuntu, etc) and wrapped up by a non demanding DE like LXDE or LXqT together with some other apps by default.
Since the base of the distros are a common linux, the performance of the distro is just based on the pre-installed items. Remember, that linux in it's minimal state is too light for almost every machine, no matter how old it is. Distro customizing is mainly focused on installing packages together and customizing the standard desktop enviroments (i.e LXLE use a custom LXDE (by means of themes) and some other custom apps like wall paper auto change, etc.
In the LXDE page, you can have a look to all available distros including LXDE.
Same story for LXqT.
If you are consider your sefl as an experienced user, you could start with a classic -no DE - distro (i.e Debian Standard) and add afterwards the DE and other items you need (firefox, open office etc) and you hardware can handle.
If you need something ready-to-go there are plenty of pre-built distros as described above.
Almost all big distro providers give an alternative "lite" option for older PCs , usually 32bits.
PS: Actually all 32bits distros should fit in an old pc.
People claim that crunchbang (and antix) could run in very old machines equipped with Pentium 3@600mhZ and 192 Mbyte RAM. This is true i suppose, but if you try to run parallel tasks you might get into trouble.
It has been reported crunchbang to run in 64Mb RAM .Not fluently, but good standing.
Moreover, you have to notice that 64bit versions need much more ram than 32bit versions.
Custom distros are usually nice due to the fact that they base their development in the "master package' like debian/ubuntu and then they just customize the distro by adding apps and toolbars (we like toolbars....).
Processore PAE support: It seems that old PCs are equipped with CPU not supporting PAE, while modern linux distros require PAE. If you download a distro and doesn't work could be a PAE problem. According to TechRadar, distros that are offering non-PAE support (non PAE kernels) work better for machines with ram bellow 3GB (i.e Antix MX version)
Mobility Tips:
You can live run an image from one usb and make a permanent installation in another usb.
Both usb must be inserted and while you are on live session you must be capable to see both usb as sdb and sdc. You should be able to select sdc during installation process - partitions manager.
You can go live with a usb that has enabled persistency. I'm not sure if also the boot image should be especially built to support usb persistency.
You can maybe use cheatcodes on the boot and force the image to be entirely loaded and run by ram (i.e see Porteus boot options). Maybe in this case only live sessions are allowed.
You can run Porteus with a .dat file in the usb file to save data in the usb and not bother hdd at all.
XRANDR Set up - Fine tune
Bellow there are some work arounds about fine tuning laptop screen and 37'' LG TV screen (recognized as VGA1 and not as TV1) permanently connected to my laptop with VGA cable.
Native Screen resolution of this VGA1 is 1920X1080.
Native Screen resolution of my laptop LVDS1 is 1366X768.
Depending on the distro , it seems that i always get mirror screens (this is what i want) but about resolutions it is a mess.
Some times both screens are automatically adjusted to 1024X768.
Some other times VGA1 goes to 1920x1080 and laptop screen is messed up or LVDS1 goes to native 1366x768 but VGA screen is a mess.
Using screen settings utilities provided by various distros, seems not to solve the problem:
The only guaranteed solution that worked for my case , after all the tests bellow, is the following:
(a) #xrandr --output LVDS1 --mode 1366x768 --scale 1x1 --output VGA1 --mode 1920x1080 --scale 0.711x0.711 -> Both screens are reported as 1366x768 after this (using xrandr).
(b)#xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1920x1080 --scale 1x1 --output LVDS1 --mode 1366x768 --scale 1.41x1.41 -> both screens reported as 1920 x 1080.
In case of (b) the performance of LG TV is fantastic, but laptop screen is too "small/zoomed out" to fit a 1920 x 1080 desktop within 1366x768 physical screen size.
In case of (a) laptop screen works fine (native resolution) and also VGA screen performs really great since this natively high resolution physical screen displays a smaller 1366x768 desktop enlarged.
More XrandR Workarounds, Tips and Tricks:
Quick Tip: Some distros or DE (i.e mate) install by default the ArandR GUI application. This applications seems to give much more options to adjust and fine tune screens.
Supports "dragging" of the screens, but not side expanding of a screen.
As a result , you can drag VGA over LVDS but you can not expand VGA to "fit" in the LVDS dimensions.
I tried to apply 1366X768 to my VGA modes (this resolution was not appearing in the default resolution lists for VGA) following these commands as described in this post:
$xrandr --addmode VGA1 1366X768
This new mode has been added to my VGA since this mode was already present in my laptop screen and i din't had to make cvt and --newmode first.
But the results were still not good.
I noticed that for some reason after a reboot , desktop was displaying correctly in my TV-VGA1 but not in my laptop screen.
Somehow that actual desktop/screen size was 1920x1080 and on the other hand laptop display remained at 1366x768 but was showing only a portion of the large screen - not the whole screeen. You can easily understand that due to the "cropped" background desktop picture.
$xrandr --output LVDS1 --scale 1.41x1.41 matched laptop screen to vga1 screen.
Running xrandr afterwards, both lvds1 and vga1 were reported by xrandr as 1920X1080.
$xrandr --output VGA1 --scale 0.77x0.77 did the opposite. matched VGA to Laptop.
Now both screen were reported by xrandr as 1366x768 .
This solution was better. I prefer to have 1366x768 in my big TV instead of having 1920X1080 in my small laptop screen.
PS1: Scale values vary upon different screens/configurations, but this solution seems to work on every distro tested.
PS2: For distros that are correctly recognize LVDS1 as 1366x768, then you only need to calculate the ration 1366/1920 and 768/1080 => 0.711 for both =>
$xrandr --output VGA1 --scale 0.711x0.711
Other commands / work arounds:
It seems that the --scale forces selected output to change resolution according to scale factor . This is a different approach from --mode.
As a general idea the scale trick is considered to be "poor" compared to mode set, but in real life the scale option saved me without loss of quality in the scaled output (VGA1). Firefox + Youtube were playing just fine on scaled vga.
To apply a new mode, this new mode must be present for the selected output.
If mode is not present then can not been applied.
To add a mode you need #cvt 1366 768 ,
then #xrandr --newmode "paste cvt output"
then #xrandr --output XXX --addmode LVDS1 and if you are lucky all will performed with no errors. In my case the --addmode fails every time for some -unclear- reason.
If things are messed up , the --fb (or--fbm) helps to define the size of the desktop screen.
$xrandr --fb 1920x1080 --output LVDS1 --scale 1.41x1.41 --output VGA1 --scale 1x1
$xrandr --fb 1920x1080 --output LVDS1 --scale 1.41x1.41 --output VGA1 --mode 1920x1080
* --fb Option seems that some how to re-establish the desktop size to prefered size..
I usually avoid --fb unless screens are a real mess.
If LVDS1 is set on 1366x768 but desktop doesn't appear full screen (and you know it should), then you can apply
$xrandr --fb 1366x768 --output LVDS1 --mode 1366x768 --scale 1x1 --panning 1366x768
$xrandr --output VGA1 --scale 0.711x0.711
The --scale 1x1 on LVDS1 resets previous applied "scaling" and thus screen matches applied mode (ps: mode 1366x768 must exist as a configuration for LVDS1)
It seems that previous applied scales and also other xrandr options like --fb and --panning are kept in memory and thus change mode after scaling leads to strange optical results.
Background picture tip:
I also noticed that when the match is not perfect and the screen is zoomed too much in or out the background picture dissapears.
In a perfect match condition, backround picture is again displayed (correctly) in both monitors.
More info about the xrandr commands (with examples) are provided by $man xrandr.
Also see these sources:
https://dgl.cx/2014/08/xrandr-tips
https://pkg-xorg.alioth.debian.org/howto/use-xrandr.html
xrandr more tips:
$ xrandr --output LVDS1 --auto -> set default /preferred mode for this output.
$ xrandr --output HDMI1 --auto --same-as eDP1 -> mirror screens
$ xrandr --output HDMI1 --off -> switch off selected output
$ xrandr --addmode VGA1 800x600 -> If mode exists, add this mode to selected output.
--transform 1,0,-100,0,1,0,0,0,1 -> moves screen 100px to the right, without scaling,
--transform 1,0,0,0,1,-100,0,0,1 -> moves screen 100px down, without scaling
--transform none -> removes any previously applied transformation
$ xrandr --output HDMI1 --transform 1.2,0,0,0,1.2,0,0,0,1 -> scale 1.2x1.2
$ xrandr --output HDMI1 --transform 1.2,0,-100,0,1.2,0,0,0,1 -> scale 1.2 x 1.2 and also move display right 100px.
--verbose -> gives all data/info for the output, including transform matrix.
Laptop Fans Full Speed Bug:
In some of my live distro testing the cpu fan goes in full speed immediatelly after boot.
This happened to Antix and to Puppy Simplicity Mini version.
On the other hand, a lot of live tests like Porteus and Cub , Pointlinux, etc did not trigger this full fan speed bug.
It seems that some distros come with kernels that support fan/temperature control for CPU and some distros not. : http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=833365
Installing lm-sensors could be a solution as described in this post: http://tuxtweaks.com/2008/08/how-to-control-fan-speeds-in-ubuntu/
In any case, it seems that this is NOT a real cpu overtemperature condition.
Wifi Problems ? Try Freesby. Seems to handle Wifi correclty in my case-unless it is a driver issue (case of Antix not working, while puppy worked).
Mount partition for File Access
Let's suppose you need to see and copy some files available in your hdd, in my case sda, partition 7 (ubuntu installation) => sda7.
You can have a quick look under /dev to see if sda7 is listed. It should be.
Then you need to mount that partition :
#mkdir /mnt/sda7
#mount -t 0 /dev/sda7 /mnt/sda7 or just mount without options
# cd /mnt/sda7 && ls -> this worked.
# cp mnt/sda7/lib/firmware/rtlwifi /lib/firmware/rtlwifi
SHA256 Hash Check of Downloaded Iso Images:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/quickhash/?source=typ_redirect
This fast and portable tool is really good.
The bug: After some heavy use all these years , it seems 2 GB is just not enough. Screen freezes 15 times per hour due to obvious luck of ram.
Mini Linux Distros
A lot are said here, A lot of ultra-mini-linux-distros exist, but most of them seems to be based on Slackware which seems to be a version of OpenSuse.
http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/10-of-the-most-popular-lightweight-linux-distros-1295034
Porteus : Slackware Distro.
Runs from usb and also there is an option to run entirely from ram.
Throught the Porteus web site you can select the options for your buld by choosing which browser you like (Chrome included), which file manager you prefer, and some other choices.
Finally an iso image is built with your preferences. You just burn it with Rufus and you are ready to go.
I tried Porteus and worked really great , really light.
I enjoyed the .dat file feature that you can start Porteus from USB and is not necessary to install it but you can save data in your session and these data will be saved to the .dat file located on the same usb under /porteus folded save.dat file.
Also i enjoyed the run from ram option. Really fast.
Bugs:
Difficult installation of new software due to how slackware works.
Apt-get missing, apt and dpkg were missing.
According to linux.com bellow, Porteus is built to run from a usb (this is good) and the philosophy is that users can enable/disable pre-installed built in modules on the fly.
New software should be built in a "module" way. I think i prefer the classic Ubuntu / Debian style distros.
Another possible bug was that the second time of a normal boot, it was true that all my data (wifi passwords, settings, etc) were loaded by the .dat file of the previous session, but i noticed that Chrome (pre-installed) browser was running terribly slow for some reason (thought that could be a wifi problem).
I reset my wifi router but i had the same. Slow Chrome.
I reset my wifi router but i had the same. Slow Chrome.
I rebooted in "Run from Ram" mode, i had to re-enter my passwords for wifi / chrome but in this mode worked ok.
While other distros gave various minor or major bugs , Porteus runs smoothly out of the box.
The simplicity to boot and get ready for basic tasks (explore the web) makes me a fan.
When all other distro's tests tends to dissapoint me, i switch back to Porteus usb stick and i have a fully functional laptop in 5 minutes , considering that we are using pre-installed built in modules and not installing new software.
Slitaz: Also runs from usb and ram. It is a slax/slackware distro as well, but claims that can be run on really old specs (see slitaz wiki). It seems that the latest updated distro is 2012 , but has switched to a rolling distro , regularly updated up to 2016 (http://slitaz.org/en/) but keeping it's low 50Mbyte size(!)
Debian /Ubuntu based distros :
http://www.everydaylinuxuser.com/2014/08/5-linux-distributions-for-very-old.html
https://www.linux.com/news/best-lightweight-linux-distros
PS: Although Ubuntu is based in Debian, there are distros that are using Debian Core and some others using Ubuntu Core elements.
Antix
Claims to Run from 256MB Ram, requires ~3Gb hdd ,
Has also high end releases like MX-15 with XFCE. based on Debian 8 . Also reviewed by techradar.
Test 15/06/16: I tried antix32bit (not the MX15 - the standard light version) but my WiFi adapter was not detected.
More over i noticed that laptop fan went in full power, whilst the pre-installed desktop dock indicated a cpu usage of 1%.
Sparky Linux - Debian Customized Distro.
Greek Review here.
Nice Sparky Google page: https://plus.google.com/communities/100969370213615377598
Acc to this old Sparky Review, it is available on both 32/64 bit, seems that 512MB of Ram are just fine, but needs space starting from 5Gb up to 30Gb. See full system requirements.
Sparky has updated releases (2016) including PAE and non-PAE support.
Test 16/06/16 with Sparky non PAE , 32 bit , LXQt Live image (burnt with rufus).
Test was good. No full fan speed, wifi ok, screens ok.
I got some error on boot about CPU (may be i should try the PAE image) but everything works ok.
Ram consumption appears to be low in idle (~300Mb out of my 2Gb),
All the familiriar debian like packages were in the distro (apt-get, dpkg, sudo, Gdebi, Synaptic software manager, firefox, etc).
I had to tweak my VGA1 output (LG monitor / tv) with the usual $xrandr --VGA1 --scale 0.71x0.71 and both displays (vga1 and lvds1) were adjusted to 1366x768 , mirrored and matched correctly.
As a general feeling of live image try, everything was good and worked fine out of the box.
For sure it is a selection for me for fast on-the-go set ups. Boot, Give Wifi key, run firefox - you are ready. You might optionally want to install flash - use Synaptics - done.
I was able to install flash for firefox and chromium using Synaptics, but the pre-installed FireFox runs much better/faster
(ps: recent chrome builds are available only 64bit. For 32bit FireFox is the leader and as an alternative you could use Chromium)
The LXQt interface is really light and too much - almost annoying - simple .
There are options to enable/disable packages (even switch DE) in the configuration manager. Not worked on live session.
Also , if you check distrowatch screen shots, you can see some nice docks, mac style.
I also notice that there are some options to enable/disable auto rotate of some items , and this could possibly mean that this distro will work ok with my Toshiba Radius 11 convertible (auto rotate screen feature).
As bugs in the live image after a two hours testing i could see:
- Wifi connection - you have to enter quickly the wifi key otherwise the time to establish a connection is reached and you get an error message (and you need to reconnect from the beginning)
- Start Menu Shortcuts: looked a kind of complicated. I was not able to find and launch something like "File Manager" or "Browse Files". I had to particularly select "PCManFM" who is the files manager of LXQt (why should i know that...?). Moreover it seems that together with PCManFM , distro includes OpenBox . I think one file manager was enough for a live distro test.
- Desktop Right Click: when i activated window manager entries to be displayed on desktop right click, i got a nice menu on desktop right click but none of this new menu entries worked. I got errors about "child missing". For example this menu gave an option "Files Manager" but upon click i got error "child pcmanfm not found". Offcourse pcmanfm was present; when i choose pcmanfm from the start menu i could browse files and local hdd - sda.
- Adding shortcuts to desktop was not that easy (start -> programms - > right click launch the programm instead of poping up the "alternative" menu"
- Launchpad tap click not working.
Next test : Sparky with KDE , and even a classic debian image
http://puppylinux.com/index.html#download
Available in Slackware version (Slacko) and Ubuntu version (10.04 Lucid / 14.04 Tahr).
There are a lot of variations as explained in the Puppy Family Tree.
Simplicty Test 15/06/16:
I tried Simplicitty mini 32bit. WiFi was OK, screen mirroring ok by applying the xrandr workaround for my big vga screen.
As a first "bug" i noticed that laptop fan again went in full power , probably not for a reason, as happened during antix testing.
Lubuntu , equipped with LXDE, requiring 256-512MB ram.
See here and alternate downloads here..
LXLE seems a good customized alternative based on Lubuntu- see bellow.
Ubuntu claims that will soon replace Lubuntu (LXDE) with Lubuntu LXQT.
They do also provide some instructions how to manually install LXQT starting from Ubuntu minimal install .
Crunchbang: Stable Debian Based Distro.
Trisquel mini based on Ubuntu equipped with LXDE including Gdebi , dconf , Synaptics, and more ubuntu goodies. PS: Trisquel Full version seems to be a full Ubuntu Gnome 3 distro, customized by trisquel guys.
Point Linux - LXLE and Elementary Review
Elementary :
This Review claims that Elementary is an Ubuntu modification equipped with Gnome 2 elementes and provides something like a Mac and Win10 look.
It could possible be optimized for touchscreen laptops (not tried yet) since the screenshots look touch friendly (big icons, nice buttons, familiar touch friendly interface).
In order to try it for free, you have to select "custom amount of donation" and apply 0 usd. Otherwise is impossible to get it , unless you actually donate 5-10 USD, which is not bad.
LXLE based on Lubuntu with custom LXDE advertises as a drop-in replacement of Windows and is more focused on low-power PCs. Download from sourceforge.
LXLE Test 16/06/2016:
Good test. after booting cpu fan working ok (not full speed) , and we got the classic known Ubuntu enviroment.
Fire fox was missing (...?) but was easily installed bu the Lubuntu SW center.
A lot of Ubuntu familiar apps about setting/programms was present.
Flash pre-installed by default and working ok in FF.
Also Ubuntu extension for FF was also installed after installing FF.
WiFi OK.
Screen mirroring to my LG TV (VGA1) need to adjusted as usuall using
$xrandr --output VGA1 --scale 0.711x0.711
But there is also a screen mirroring app in start->preferences for a graphical adjustment of the two screens.
Adding shortcuts in Desktop was easy (right click on the app -> add to desktop)
Nice auto change wall paper button, nice cpu / mem monitors integrated in the top bar.
Bottom bar works as task manager (set to autohide by default).
I liked that top/bottom bars /panels could be fully cusomized by selecting items to display..
Touchpad "tap to click" worked out of the box without any further adjustments.
CPU Usage / Ram usage in idle was low (2% cpu and 300Mb Ram).
During youtube playback i was getting 20% CPU usage and 600Mb ram).
As a bug i could point out the difficulty to install and use a second keyboard input language, but this could be even my "ignorance" on how to do it fast. Finally it worked.
Also i didn't found quickly the power options (lid close actions, etc) and screen saver settings.
As a result, I would not vote this distro as a "drop-in replacement of Windows" .
It is a classic distro based on LXDE so you have the easy going interface of LXDE - available in almost every distro.
For sure is a live image that will allow you operate your laptop quickly (but you have to open software center to install firefox... omg!).
Although most of the bugs noticed during sparky linux test were not present, I still tend to like more the pure debian distros (like sparky or Point - not tried yet) instead of Ubuntu Based distros.
Point Linux : Debian 8 with Mate DE. Latest Point builds come even with XFCE DE.
PS: Mate is a fork of Gnome2, but since it is customized looks nice (from screen shots)..
Recent Build is Point Linux 3.0 , based on Debian 8 and Mate or XFCE (release notes)
Point Linux Mate Test 23/06/16 - 32bit - Old HP PC with 2GB Ram
ISO burnt with Rufus (option set for BIOS or UEFI) and the old PC booted OK in the live session.
Pros :
- Mate enviroment is nice, similar to XFCE and LXDE.
- Top / Bottom panels are present by default, bottom panel used for open windows, top panel for the usual info (time, apps, settings, etc).
- Wifi was recoginized on the fly (but initiall state was "disabled")
- Adding second language to the keyboard worked without the LXLE troubles - like a charm
- No fans full speed bugs.
- FireFox , Java and Flash pre-installed and ready to work.
- Screen saver is not locking the screen (requiring a password).
- as a general idea easy access to all preferences/system tools like sound, keyboard, screen saver, mouse
- There is a classic "settings menu" , with a large button presentation of the setting groups (similar to ubuntu).
- There is Synaptics Software Center but i didn't see any beautifull / sophisticated Software Center like Ubuntu.
Cons:
- The usual bugs of the two displays (laptop LVDS1 screen 1366x768 and VGA1 - LG TV 1920x1080) . Update :
- It was the first distro to see that both screens worked in mirror with an analysis 1024X768 and was the first time to see that xrandr did not give 1366x768 (in LVDS1) and 1920x1080 (in VGA1) as an option. I finally adjusted LVDS1 and VGA1 to 1366x768 using xrandr "--scale" and "--fb" options. Permanent screen fix: #xrandr --output LVDS1 --mode 1366x768 --scale 1x1 --output VGA1 --mode 1920x1080 --scale 0.711x0.711
- No wallpaper collections.
- Sound was by deault at zero - i increased bar to max but no sound coming out.I had to slide the sound bar up / down to make the sound to come out of the speakers (looked like was "stuck" when slide to 100%)
- By accidentaly elabning "monitors setting" icon to always appear on top panel, and upon click it, i got a completely stuck system with screen not able to respond. PS: I didn't tried that a second time - on the next boot i just avoid to get this setting on my top panel and i used only xrandr to adjust screens.
- Touchpad "tap to click" was not operating by default. You can enable it by "mouse settings" (avaliable somewhere in system or preferences menu) since mouse settings were providing a "touchpad" tab that i could enable "click with touchpad". Then it was fine.
- Installation to HDD Fails ugly with some python warnings that seems not possible to solve.I think it is the only distro i tested that is not providing an "install option" in the boot screen. You have to go for live, and select installation within live session. But installation script does not work!
OS4 Open Linux: Based on Xubunutu, looks like Xubuntu, includes Chromium and Amiga Commodore Emulator (!). See Review here. It is promoted as "game oriented" distro.
More Distros - medium weight
CubLinux - Tested and works OK but i didn't try to install it. Cub name delivers from Chrome Book + Ubuntu , but it is not a Chrome distro.
It is a Ubuntu distro with ChromeBook look / feel.
Needs 1GB ram for 32bit , 2-3 GB for 64bit.
Arch Linux
Zorin 11: It has also a lite version for old computers.
Even this distro claims to be a Windows Replacement distro, based on Ubuntu and providing themes very similar to Windows.
You can try the Live Install Debian Images here.
Live Images available with a variety of DE:
Cinnamon 2.2.16-5, Mate, Gnome 3.14, KDE, XFCE 4.10.1 and LXDE 6.0.
Debian Live Images for 32 or 64bit are available only for classic - no UEFI bios.
Debian Live boot under UEFI is under development.
DSL - http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
Suggested by Debian .
Claims to be ultra light , as small as 50mbytes, Debian Based Live distro, providing debian installer for hdd installation, equipped with some classic Debian apps
Claims that can run to old 484 with 64MB ram, and can be fully loaded in 128MB ram.
Test July 2016:
Iso image boot correctly in my old 32bit-2GB ram home laptop, but the distro seems to be unusable at least for my case:
1. Wifi Card not Detected so no internet
2. Touchpad not detected so no way to control / browse
3. Resources monitor indeed reported 50MB ram consumption and also cpu usage was really low (1%).
4. Kernel version is 2 something.
Result: With so many distros out there why to spent time to figure out why DSL is not recognizing my hardware, when i.e PointLinux, and many other distros work great out of the box?
DoudouLinux
DoudouLinux is specially designed for children to make computer use as easy and pleasant as possible for them. DoudouLinux provides tens of applications that suit children from 2 to 12 years old and gives them an environment as easy to use as a gaming console. Kids can learn, discover and have fun without Dad and Mum always watching!
Knoppix
One of the oldest, specialized in live image boot. Equipped with LXDE , FireFox, Open Office. Claims that can run on 486, with 120MB ram (recommended 500MB).
LMDE - Linux Mint Debian Edition.
While Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu, LMDE is based purely on Debian. Available with MATE and Cinnamon DE. Provides live session. Latest version LMDE2 , based on Debian Jessie. According to Linux Mint blog, Mint18 Mate edition can boot on UEFI bios , since Mint18 is Ubuntu based, and Ubuntu provides UEFI boot in their live images.
AptoSid.
Based purely on Debian Unstable (sid).
Available with KDE and XFCE, suitable for i686 (32bit) or amd64 (64bit).
Parsix
Debian Based (testing repos), claims amd64 images support UEFI boot.
Comes with Gnome 3.18 (should be heavy....)
Stay Up to Date - Explore All the current distros
- Distros by Debian Wiki: https://www.debian.org/misc/children-distros#damnsmall
- https://www.osdisc.com/ - This page sells linux on CD/DVDs. You can see bestsellers and trends here.
- http://distrowatch.com/ - This looks like a page that gathers ALL distros (stable and forthcoming RC releases) and provides screen shots , specs, download locations, revies, and more.
- Wikipedia List of Linux Distributions
- You can keep an eye to your local mirror server for updates, new releases, etc. In my case the local mirror is http://ftp.cc.uoc.gr/mirrors/linux/
- http://tuxmobil.org/Mobile-Guide.db/mobile-guide-a4-survey-micro-linuxes.html
Steam looks nice, but it is not even medium weight. It is heavy duty. 4GB ram , 64bit only and no live run.
Other interesting options are Ubuntu GamePack (!), Sparky GameOver Edition (!), Play Linux, Fedora Games Spin.
Manual Loading of Live CDs:
According to this Victor's post for Grub2, command grub>ls gives a list of all hdd drives:
(hd0) (hd0,msdos5) (hd1) (hd1,msdos0).
Victor booted with Grub2 like this (you need to know exact path of files vmlinuz and initrd)
grub> linux (hd1,msdos1)/install/vmlinuz root=/dev/sdb1
grub> initrd (hd1,msdos1)/install/initrd.gz
grub> boot
I have tested and confirm that from grub CLI (Command Line Interface) you can specify linux and initrd by referring to your media like linux (hd2,gpt1)/boot/linux-image-XXXX root=/dev/sdc1 - same for initrd, just like victor.
You just need to know where linux-image and initrd files are located.
In case of a live cd, usually a special kernel called vmlinuz must be loaded in order to allow live boot and decompress everything on memmory.
I was not able to manually make any live cd to boot in my UEFI Toshiba Radius 11 laptop.
I was able to install Cranchbang in my UEFI convertible laptop, by the following way:
- Attach Cranchbang usb with live image on PC.
- Start PC
- Cranchbang live image ignored, existed Grub2 (installed by Ubuntu) appeared.
- Switch to Grub CLI
- Browse the contents of the live usb (ls)
- Found inside usb a directory called "install" and another one called "live".
- Manually loading of vmlinuz and initrd in "live" folder led nowhere but a dmesg hanging screen , something like "incomplete" booting.
- Manually loading of vmlinuz and initrd available in "install" folder was sucessfull and Debian Installer started, so i succeed to install cranchbang in my HDD or in a seperate usb stick.
Command line appeared to be like this:
> .linux /live/vmlinuz boot=live components quiet splash initrd=/live/initrd.img
It seems that this is not the usuall grub CLI format, but i got the point.
I could try similar commands by grub loader in my UEFI laptop to see if live boot is possible ( i doubt it though).
Load a VHD with grub (see relative post here)
VHD = Virtual Hard Drive . A file provided by Microsoft Win to simulate a virtual hard drive.As expected, this vhd file is accessible like hdd when you log in to Win.
Booting from Linux, Grub you can find this file under sda1/path to file and you can "browse" the contents of this file with:
grub> insmod ntfs
grub> loopback loop (hd0,3)/vhdfile.chd
grub> ls (loop,1)/
PS: I think that Linux do not work well with "dynamic" vhd files that change it's size according to the size of stored data.
Desktop Enviroments Review. (Unity, Gnome, LXDE, XFCE, Cinnamon)
Debian Wiki suggests that default Desktop environment is Gnome (version 3.20 in sid).
Moreover, they also suggest to use e17 for tablets/netbooks (enlightened).
Replace Gnome 3 with Enlightened: http://blog.admiralakber.com/?p=60
DE Resources on Toshiba Radius 11
On Ubuntu Gnome, Gnome 3.18 reports that 2.2G of ram is used when in idle(!).
On the other hand , Debian reports ~500 Mbyte of ram (depending on the sys monitor applet used ; mate-system monitor seems to report 50% more resources than conky) when xfce or mate are used.
I have not tried to see Gnome 3.20 under Debian. Could be lighter than Ubuntu Gnome.
Limited Resources and Custom Distros
Limits are set by hardware. Linux minimal installations are by default light and the specs required to load it's kernel is too low.
It is usually the apps / DE (desktop enviroments) that are consuming ram and cpu power.
More sophisticated DE (i.e Gnome 3.18) require more sophisticated libs/packages and as a result tey require more power (ram & cpu) to actually load many packages at once.
This is why light distros are based to less sophisticated / light DE like Mate, XFCE, LXDE, and LXQt. Light DE require light packages / light specs to run.
For example you can check the really low requirements of LXDE to run here.
But as LXDE mentions, while LXDE requires just a small amount of ram/cpu power to load and run, other software like firefox and open office are quite memory hungry (and also cpu hungry).
In my custom Lubuntu test (LXLE image) on the old PC , ram and cpu usage was really low when system was in idle state and all cpu stats hit a limit up when i was watching youtube videos. Ram was doubles (700MB instead of 300MB) but still was a lot of my 2gb ram left unused.
It is also true that the so-called light distros are based on a well known linux base (debian, ubuntu, etc) and wrapped up by a non demanding DE like LXDE or LXqT together with some other apps by default.
Since the base of the distros are a common linux, the performance of the distro is just based on the pre-installed items. Remember, that linux in it's minimal state is too light for almost every machine, no matter how old it is. Distro customizing is mainly focused on installing packages together and customizing the standard desktop enviroments (i.e LXLE use a custom LXDE (by means of themes) and some other custom apps like wall paper auto change, etc.
In the LXDE page, you can have a look to all available distros including LXDE.
Same story for LXqT.
If you are consider your sefl as an experienced user, you could start with a classic -no DE - distro (i.e Debian Standard) and add afterwards the DE and other items you need (firefox, open office etc) and you hardware can handle.
If you need something ready-to-go there are plenty of pre-built distros as described above.
Almost all big distro providers give an alternative "lite" option for older PCs , usually 32bits.
PS: Actually all 32bits distros should fit in an old pc.
People claim that crunchbang (and antix) could run in very old machines equipped with Pentium 3@600mhZ and 192 Mbyte RAM. This is true i suppose, but if you try to run parallel tasks you might get into trouble.
It has been reported crunchbang to run in 64Mb RAM .Not fluently, but good standing.
Moreover, you have to notice that 64bit versions need much more ram than 32bit versions.
Custom distros are usually nice due to the fact that they base their development in the "master package' like debian/ubuntu and then they just customize the distro by adding apps and toolbars (we like toolbars....).
Processore PAE support: It seems that old PCs are equipped with CPU not supporting PAE, while modern linux distros require PAE. If you download a distro and doesn't work could be a PAE problem. According to TechRadar, distros that are offering non-PAE support (non PAE kernels) work better for machines with ram bellow 3GB (i.e Antix MX version)
Mobility Tips:
You can live run an image from one usb and make a permanent installation in another usb.
Both usb must be inserted and while you are on live session you must be capable to see both usb as sdb and sdc. You should be able to select sdc during installation process - partitions manager.
You can go live with a usb that has enabled persistency. I'm not sure if also the boot image should be especially built to support usb persistency.
You can maybe use cheatcodes on the boot and force the image to be entirely loaded and run by ram (i.e see Porteus boot options). Maybe in this case only live sessions are allowed.
You can run Porteus with a .dat file in the usb file to save data in the usb and not bother hdd at all.
XRANDR Set up - Fine tune
Bellow there are some work arounds about fine tuning laptop screen and 37'' LG TV screen (recognized as VGA1 and not as TV1) permanently connected to my laptop with VGA cable.
Native Screen resolution of this VGA1 is 1920X1080.
Native Screen resolution of my laptop LVDS1 is 1366X768.
Depending on the distro , it seems that i always get mirror screens (this is what i want) but about resolutions it is a mess.
Some times both screens are automatically adjusted to 1024X768.
Some other times VGA1 goes to 1920x1080 and laptop screen is messed up or LVDS1 goes to native 1366x768 but VGA screen is a mess.
Using screen settings utilities provided by various distros, seems not to solve the problem:
The only guaranteed solution that worked for my case , after all the tests bellow, is the following:
(a) #xrandr --output LVDS1 --mode 1366x768 --scale 1x1 --output VGA1 --mode 1920x1080 --scale 0.711x0.711 -> Both screens are reported as 1366x768 after this (using xrandr).
(b)#xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1920x1080 --scale 1x1 --output LVDS1 --mode 1366x768 --scale 1.41x1.41 -> both screens reported as 1920 x 1080.
In case of (b) the performance of LG TV is fantastic, but laptop screen is too "small/zoomed out" to fit a 1920 x 1080 desktop within 1366x768 physical screen size.
In case of (a) laptop screen works fine (native resolution) and also VGA screen performs really great since this natively high resolution physical screen displays a smaller 1366x768 desktop enlarged.
More XrandR Workarounds, Tips and Tricks:
Quick Tip: Some distros or DE (i.e mate) install by default the ArandR GUI application. This applications seems to give much more options to adjust and fine tune screens.
Supports "dragging" of the screens, but not side expanding of a screen.
As a result , you can drag VGA over LVDS but you can not expand VGA to "fit" in the LVDS dimensions.
I tried to apply 1366X768 to my VGA modes (this resolution was not appearing in the default resolution lists for VGA) following these commands as described in this post:
$xrandr --addmode VGA1 1366X768
This new mode has been added to my VGA since this mode was already present in my laptop screen and i din't had to make cvt and --newmode first.
But the results were still not good.
I noticed that for some reason after a reboot , desktop was displaying correctly in my TV-VGA1 but not in my laptop screen.
Somehow that actual desktop/screen size was 1920x1080 and on the other hand laptop display remained at 1366x768 but was showing only a portion of the large screen - not the whole screeen. You can easily understand that due to the "cropped" background desktop picture.
$xrandr --output LVDS1 --scale 1.41x1.41 matched laptop screen to vga1 screen.
Running xrandr afterwards, both lvds1 and vga1 were reported by xrandr as 1920X1080.
$xrandr --output VGA1 --scale 0.77x0.77 did the opposite. matched VGA to Laptop.
Now both screen were reported by xrandr as 1366x768 .
This solution was better. I prefer to have 1366x768 in my big TV instead of having 1920X1080 in my small laptop screen.
PS1: Scale values vary upon different screens/configurations, but this solution seems to work on every distro tested.
PS2: For distros that are correctly recognize LVDS1 as 1366x768, then you only need to calculate the ration 1366/1920 and 768/1080 => 0.711 for both =>
$xrandr --output VGA1 --scale 0.711x0.711
Other commands / work arounds:
It seems that the --scale forces selected output to change resolution according to scale factor . This is a different approach from --mode.
As a general idea the scale trick is considered to be "poor" compared to mode set, but in real life the scale option saved me without loss of quality in the scaled output (VGA1). Firefox + Youtube were playing just fine on scaled vga.
To apply a new mode, this new mode must be present for the selected output.
If mode is not present then can not been applied.
To add a mode you need #cvt 1366 768 ,
then #xrandr --newmode "paste cvt output"
If things are messed up , the --fb (or--fbm) helps to define the size of the desktop screen.
$xrandr --fb 1920x1080 --output LVDS1 --scale 1.41x1.41 --output VGA1 --scale 1x1
$xrandr --fb 1920x1080 --output LVDS1 --scale 1.41x1.41 --output VGA1 --mode 1920x1080
* --fb Option seems that some how to re-establish the desktop size to prefered size..
I usually avoid --fb unless screens are a real mess.
If LVDS1 is set on 1366x768 but desktop doesn't appear full screen (and you know it should), then you can apply
$xrandr --fb 1366x768 --output LVDS1 --mode 1366x768 --scale 1x1 --panning 1366x768
$xrandr --output VGA1 --scale 0.711x0.711
(ps : --fb and --panning seems that are "stored" and usually are not required on the second command).
It seems that previous applied scales and also other xrandr options like --fb and --panning are kept in memory and thus change mode after scaling leads to strange optical results.
Background picture tip:
I also noticed that when the match is not perfect and the screen is zoomed too much in or out the background picture dissapears.
In a perfect match condition, backround picture is again displayed (correctly) in both monitors.
More info about the xrandr commands (with examples) are provided by $man xrandr.
Also see these sources:
https://dgl.cx/2014/08/xrandr-tips
https://pkg-xorg.alioth.debian.org/howto/use-xrandr.html
xrandr more tips:
$ xrandr --output LVDS1 --auto -> set default /preferred mode for this output.
$ xrandr --output HDMI1 --auto --same-as eDP1 -> mirror screens
$ xrandr --output HDMI1 --off -> switch off selected output
$ xrandr --addmode VGA1 800x600 -> If mode exists, add this mode to selected output.
--transform 1,0,-100,0,1,0,0,0,1 -> moves screen 100px to the right, without scaling,
--transform 1,0,0,0,1,-100,0,0,1 -> moves screen 100px down, without scaling
--transform none -> removes any previously applied transformation
$ xrandr --output HDMI1 --transform 1.2,0,0,0,1.2,0,0,0,1 -> scale 1.2x1.2
$ xrandr --output HDMI1 --transform 1.2,0,-100,0,1.2,0,0,0,1 -> scale 1.2 x 1.2 and also move display right 100px.
--verbose -> gives all data/info for the output, including transform matrix.
--properties -> obvious
--pos 0x0 -> position the output in defined pixels, 0,0 here.
Laptop Fans Full Speed Bug:
In some of my live distro testing the cpu fan goes in full speed immediatelly after boot.
This happened to Antix and to Puppy Simplicity Mini version.
On the other hand, a lot of live tests like Porteus and Cub , Pointlinux, etc did not trigger this full fan speed bug.
It seems that some distros come with kernels that support fan/temperature control for CPU and some distros not. : http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=833365
Installing lm-sensors could be a solution as described in this post: http://tuxtweaks.com/2008/08/how-to-control-fan-speeds-in-ubuntu/
In any case, it seems that this is NOT a real cpu overtemperature condition.
Wifi Problems ? Try Freesby. Seems to handle Wifi correclty in my case-unless it is a driver issue (case of Antix not working, while puppy worked).
Mount partition for File Access
Let's suppose you need to see and copy some files available in your hdd, in my case sda, partition 7 (ubuntu installation) => sda7.
You can have a quick look under /dev to see if sda7 is listed. It should be.
Then you need to mount that partition :
#mkdir /mnt/sda7
#mount -t 0 /dev/sda7 /mnt/sda7 or just mount without options
# cd /mnt/sda7 && ls -> this worked.
# cp mnt/sda7/lib/firmware/rtlwifi /lib/firmware/rtlwifi
SHA256 Hash Check of Downloaded Iso Images:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/quickhash/?source=typ_redirect
This fast and portable tool is really good.
This is the end.
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