So, I tried Zorin OS Lite Live with a USB stick on a Pentium M-740 and 2GB DDR2L 333MHz, but it was pretty bad, because the CPU would spark up to 100%. Might the problem be the old USB 1.0/2.0? Could the old CPU reaching a max of 66 degress just browsing, also be contributing?
Hi. I have Zorin OS Lite fully installed on an old Thinkpad with a T2300 1.66 GHz processor (which is a little slower than the M-740 I think). I have the same memory as you and the performance is acceptable in most applications (including Firefox, GIMP, Libre Office and various programs running under WINE).
I think a CPU temp of 66C is a little on the warm side but not exceptional. Unless there is some other issue I would agree that running from the USB stick is the most likely cause for poor performance. As I said, I have Zorin OS Lite fully installed on the HDD (which is also old but seems to do the job).
Please note that I'm just a Zorin user and have no great technical knowledge.
That USB bottleneck - everything has to go through that one little port.
Similar to KRB above, I am running Zorin 12 and another partition with Zorin 15 on a near-spec notebook. Both run well enough, but Zorin 12 definetly runs faster and cooler. Zorin 15 lite is still heavier than Zorin 12 lite.
Zorin 12 is no longer supported with regular updates. But so far, it is working the same as it always did on that old machine.
The T2300 is a Dual-Core CPU, so it's actually much better than the M-740.
Guess I'll try Zorin 12 Lite then, even though I'm not much hopeful, since it's still just a Pentium M-740 that sparks up to 100%
You might also look into another Distro: Antix. I am not sure if it would fully offer what you need, but when I tested it on that same old Notebook, it was blazing fast.
It is a minimalist setup, non-systemd.
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Thanks, I'll give it a shot.
You are right, of course. I thought the Pentium M was the first dual core but that was the next generation CPU (which was based on the Enhanced Pentium M architecture).
There is a relevant article on OpenSource.com entitled 'How to restore a single-core computer with Linux', but it isn't very encouraging regarding the Pentium M CPU although may still be worth a read.
The link is How to restore a single-core computer with Linux | Opensource.com
Thanks once again. I'll definitely try those points.
Zorin 12 was actually pretty hard to run.
If 12 struggled, I would not hedge any bets on Zorin OS 15 running, then.
Have you tried Antix?
If Antix also struggles, you may consider donating that old notebook to a museum.
might be right lol. I'll try in the future with a good clean, re-applied thermal paste and an mSATA to IDE SSD.
Antix was usable, but I want to also try some Puppy OS, like Bionic Puppy. At worst I will just give back the mSATA SSD and SATA to IDE Adapter to Amazon. I hope lol.
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