[22:10] <Terry49> I'm new to linux and would like to install it on an old PC laptop (Toshiba Portege M200). It's 32-bit, and has pretty low specs (Intel Pentium M, 1GB ram). Can someone point me to the best release?
[22:14] <genii> Terry49: There are no more supported 32bit *buntu distributions. Your best bet is probably Debian, and then LXDE/LXQt
[22:15] <Terry49> genii Thanks, does it matter if they are not supported?
[22:15] <Terry49> I found this: https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/18.04/release/
[22:16] <genii> Yes, because no more updates...critically security updates. Also the mirrors are frozen in archives
[22:16] <Terry49> Ah, ok
[22:16] <genii> !18.04
[22:16] <genii> EOL
[22:16] <Terry49> genii Of the ones mentioned, which would have best drivers for old hardware?
[22:17] <Terry49> The M200 was this weird tablet/laptop and has a stylus...
[22:17] <genii> *buntu is a Debian derivative, they share a common driver base
[22:18] <Terry49> I tried AntiX, which apparently would works according to this post (https://munk.org/typecast/2019/05/01/antix-17-4-1-i386-on-sweet-16-toshiba-portege-m200/), but could not get it to install.
[22:18] <Terry49> Ok, so Debian it is, then :)
[22:20] <genii> There are also other distributions for lower end older machines like Damn Small Linux, but with Debian you will get a wider selection of applications and larger user base when seeking support
[22:21] <Terry49> genii Ok, looking into Debian.
[22:24] <genii> Hardware wise, the single most effective thing you could do to also increase the performance is to swap out any platter based drive with an SSD
[22:25] <Terry49> Is that possible with the chipset/ports on this old laptop?  It only has IDE afaik
[22:26] <genii> IDE/PATA SSDs exist :)
[22:26] <Terry49> Hmm, wow.
[22:28] <genii> For instance I have one of these in an ancient old Toshiba Satellite https://www.amazon.ca/128GB-KingSpec-2-5-inch-SM2236-Controller/dp/B0091T4ZWU
[22:29] <Terry49> genii That's pretty cool. I imagine that is a big boost to access times. The old Hitachi 60GB mechanical is slow :P
[22:34] <Terry49> Loading nicely... Thanks for this advice genii. I really was dreading using WindowsXP SP3 Tablet OS to use the machine. We'll see if I can get the stylus to work.
[22:35] <genii> Excellent
[22:37] <genii> Terry49: There is also #linux channel for general Linux support on Libera IRC, Debian has it's home channel on OFTC IRC network but there is also a #debian channel here on Libera