One of the most frequent recommendations we get when it comes to “reviving” an old computer is to abandon Microsoft platforms and switch to Linux, adopting one of its compact distros. Among them stands out Puppy Linux, which has been in development for more than fifteen years, and ticks all the boxes: It is lightweight, free, relatively easy to use, flexible, and frequently updated… in less than 400 megabytes.
Let's think for a moment about old computers. If they can't handle the latest editions of Windows even with minimal hardware upgrades (an SSD, etc.), the only option left to us (without increasing the e-waste crisis) is to force them to run more basic and efficient software. Linux has that software, and the user must adapt a bit. Thus we arrive at “the” question: What is the best Linux distro for these cases? Placing one above another guarantees a nuclear war on a planetary scale, so today we lean toward the classic recommendation of Puppy Linux, which has just released its latest version 8.0, BionicPup.
Puppy Linux: More efficient than ever
One of the most striking (and advanced) aspects of Puppy Linux is that it is not a single distro, but rather something like a distro of distros. The latest conventional build is based on Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver, but if you want to replace that structure with Slackware, Debian, Arch or Trisquel, you can do so using the Woof-CE tool (unfortunately not very accessible). Now, what software does Puppy Linux bring? What decisions were made by its developer? First, Pale Moon is the flagship browser. AbiWord and Gnumeric replace traditional office suites (though nothing stops you from installing LibreOffice). JWM as the window manager, ROX takes the role of file explorer, mpv Media Player is the main multimedia player, mtPaint for image editing, Figaro manages passwords, and there are at least half a dozen preinstalled games.
If you just want to evaluate Puppy Linux without exploring its variants, download the latest copy of BionicPup 8.0 in 32 or 64 bits, and you'll be ready. A simple transfer to a USB stick will let you run it in Live mode, and since it loads a good part of its content into RAM, performance will be excellent. If you like what you see, open its assistant and proceed with the normal installation. Remember: The ISO image takes less than 400 megabytes.
Official site and download: Click here
