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submitted 21 hours ago by Demonmariner@lemmy.world to c/linux@lemmy.ml

I bought an old HP chromebook cheap on ebay that came with Zorin OS installed. It isn't much, but just about manages to do what I need. The trouble is, Zorin seems kind of bloated and the Chromebook hasn't got much memory. I don't even have enough space to install updates.

I'm comfortable with running a pared-down OS that might be a better fit for a tired old Chromebook. What might work better than Zorin?

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[-] eugenia@lemmy.ml 7 points 16 hours ago

For 16 GB SSD with 4 GBs of RAM (which is what most Chromebooks used to be), you will need Debian with XFce, with 2 GB of swap partition. Nothing else will either fit, or work properly. I have given away 3 such laptops to friends with that setup (Arch might fit ok too, but because I was giving it to friends, Debian was easier to work with). After installing the v12 Bookworm Debian OS, with libreoffice, a couple of simple games (e.g. solitaire), Gimp, and that 2 gb swap partition, I was left with 5 GB free space. I had to occasionally do sudo apt autoremove to make sure the space wasn't eaten away, but overall, it stayed steady (dh -h will give you that info). With Trixie, you might end up with 4 GBs of free space, as it's bigger. Bookworm has updates until 2029.

[-] Demonmariner@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago

This sounds like the way to go. What would be the least painful process for going from zorin to debian?

this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2026
29 points (96.8% liked)

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