Suitable Linux Distro for a system with 2GB RAM

You can definitely run Debian GNU/Linux with XFCE Desktop Environment on a system with 2GB RAM.

As per the documentation,

A Pentium 4, 1GHz system is the minimum recommended for a desktop system.

Table 3.2. Recommended Minimum System Requirements

Install Type	RAM (minimum)	RAM (recommended)	Hard Drive
No desktop	512MB	1GB	4GB
With Desktop	1GB	2GB	10GB

The minimum values assumes that swap will be enabled and a non-live image is used. The “No desktop” value assumes that the text-based installer (not the graphical one) is used.

The actual minimum memory requirements are a lot less than the numbers listed in this table. With swap enabled, it is possible to install Debian with as little as 350MB.

GNOME and KDE are more resource consuming environments. So, it is recommended to use lightweight desktop environment and XFCE is good option to try which is visually appealing and user friendly also.

posted 5 months ago

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Pandya‭

41 reputation 0 2 8 2

The distribution itself shouldn't really matter. Yes, there are some specialized distributions for these cases, where developers work hard on saving as many memory as possible, but the downside of these distributions is that they are not used by many people.

IMO more important than that is which software is running when you use it. Choose a lightweight desktop environment like XFCE or LDE and you should be pretty good. KDE and Gnome are memory hogs, avoiding them will earn you a lot. Same for other programs, instead of Chromium or Firefox choose something like Epiphany or Midori and you save even more memory. Of course featurewise they are not on par with the mainstream browsers, but you have to make some sacrifices with such a low end system.

The baseline is, choose a distribution you are comfortable with using and that has a large user base and configure it to run lightweight system components. A large user base will make it much easier to get help, and they will also help you trimming down the system. Heck, chances are that there already are guides for this for popular distributions. You are not the first with this goal.

posted 5 months ago

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1mo ago

GeraldS‭

649 reputation 4 31 70 28

2 GB is not particularly small for Linux. "Low memory distros" would be things like OpenWRT, which can run on 64 MB of RAM.

Linux itself will probably take about 150 MB of RAM so this isn't the issue. Your DE (graphical desktop environment) will eat the lion's share. Probably the most bloated DE is KDE Plasma, so don't use that. Gnome can also be heavy. Even Plasma or Gnome can be made to fit under 1 GB with some tweaking. But rather than removing all the things you don't want, it's easier to start with a minimal distro like Arch and add only what you need (like a lightweight WM from the wiki).

Unfortunately you can't solve the real problem by switching distros: Bloatfox browsers, JS atrocity websites, electron crapware will hog your resources regardless of what OS or DE you're on. And if you try to ask for help or complain to devs, enjoy being told to "buy more ram lol".

posted 3 months ago

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3mo ago by GeraldS‭

matthewsnyder‭

2011 reputation 128 80 317 113

With low RAM you need to cut out all the things you don't need. Your best bet would be to install ArchLinux and use something like i3 directly within X (or a similar thing on wayland). You can then avoid the overhead caused by GUI of the DE. You might also have to checkout terminal based software for most common needs.

posted about 1 month ago

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akshay‭

1 reputation 0 1 0 0

I recommend Arch-based distros to everyone. Artixlinux with OpenRC (or Arch, if you don't care about init). You can't find fresher software anywhere else, large community and cool wiki.

posted 6 months ago

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6mo ago

user0x47‭

1 reputation 0 1 0 1