Re: old laptop with windows xp

[Robert <http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert>]

 > From: Chris <http://www.picis.com/~Chris>
 > Date: Fri, 9 May 2014 09:13:17 -0400
 >
 >  Hi Robert,
 > 
 >  I have a friend who has an old laptop that has Windows XP with a 1.73Ghz 
 >  processor and 1 gig of memory.
 > 
 >  I was thinking about replacing Windows XP with Linux Mint for him.
 > 
 >  What version of Linux Mint do you think would be best for a Windows user?

If this person wants to keep this computer for the rest of his life, I
would recommend Linux Mint Debian Edition.

 http://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php

I think with only 1 gig of memory, you'll have to stick with the 32-bit
edition.

 >  Would you recommend Cinnamon or MATE desktop environment?

Unfortunately, both will be slow, regardless.  There used to be LMDE XFCE
and a Fluxbox edition, but they have been dropped.

I use Mate.  There's actually very little difference between Cinnamon and
Mate.  (Mate is a slightly more customizable.)

It might be best to go with Cinnamon since it's based on gtk3, which is
the latest release of gtk, despite it being a little slower.  It has a
higher probability of lasting longer.

 >  Thanks,
 > 
 >  Chris