Linux Mint Debian Edition
We’re keenly aware of how popular Linux Mint is, so here’s an edition you can keep running till 2024 even on ancient 32-bit kit.
Debian’s stability and reliability is a matter of public record, yet other distributions have, perhaps unfairly, proven more popular for desktop use. If you don’t mind older versions of packages and can do without the latest trends in desktop frippery, then you’ll have no problems running the GUI of your choice on Debian Stable. If you’re gaming, running newer hardware, or just want newer versions of everything and don’t mind occasional breakage, then try Debian Testing. If you absolutely must have the very latest versions of everything and enjoy picking up pieces, then try the Unstable branch (referred to as Sid). All Debian packages start off in Sid, then they move to Testing, whence, after being very thoroughly tested (and the branch getting a codename from Toy Story), they move to Stable. Ubuntu packages all originate in Debian Sid, and there are distros based off the other branches too. The current Stable branch of Debian, “Buster”, was released in June 2019 and will support 32-bit architecture until 2024.
Mint brew
Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) started out as a project “in case Ubuntu ever went away”. It’s more rough and ready than its flagship Ubuntu edition, but if you’re running that on 32-bit hardware you should at least give it a try. Ubuntu 18.04 will continue to support 32-bit systems until at least April 2023 and there may be access to paid-for maintenance after this. So Mint 19 may still be updated (and other Ubuntu-based distro) for another three years, but you’ll miss out on all the innovations that appear in Mint 20. You may instead migrate without delay to the Buster-based LMDE4, which we’ve helpfully included on our virtual DVD this month (it’s the thought that counts – Ed).
LMDE isn’t the most lightweight of distros, but neither is it a bloated, resource-hungry monster. The official minimum requirements say it will run with 1GB of
RAM and that at least 15GB of disk space is required. In our experiments a clean boot to the desktop used about 450MB of RAM, so you probably wouldn’t want to try and second-guess the Mint team’s guidance here. We’ve got some suggestions for diehards intent on running Linux on really old hardware later on. Any machine capable of running Windows 7 will run LMDE, so now’s a good time to breathe new life into devices still running that unsupported OS. In fact, you should have done this a few issues ago with our Escape Windows 7 feature in LXF259. Cinnamon is a largely traditional desktop, which makes it intuitive for people coming from Windows 7.
Space permitting, LMDE will install (see right) alongside other operating systems, but if you’re dual booting with Windows you might want to do any partition resizing using an appropriate tool, rather than trusting the Mint installer. The Windows bootloader has proven unduly fussy for some configurations, with the not-altogether-bad result that users can no longer boot Windows. So while in theory it should work fine, if it’s feasible we’d recommend installing LMDE on its own drive. If you have a spare £25 (and your hardware is not so old that it doesn’t have SATA connectors) consider grabbing a small SSD, which (together with maxing out your RAM) will make things more performant.
LMDE comes with everything you need to get started (it includes all the same applications as the Ubuntubased version of Mint), but if you need some ideas on where to go next check out the First Steps in the welcome screen. It will guide you through system snapshots and updates, which will pretty much take care of themselves. You should also at some point browse the community site at https://community. linuxmint.com, where you’ll find tutorials, software reviews, and hardware remedies. If you need support, your first port of call should always be the Mint documentation. Hit up the forums at https://forums. linuxmint.com if you get stuck – there’s one entirely dedicated to LMDE, and it’s very likely that someone at some stage had the same problem as you.