this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2023
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Linux
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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A lot can boot from a usb stick and you can look at them. Linux Mint should look very familiar to a Windows user. Their main edition is Cinnamon, however they have an Xfce version that is lightweight. Xubuntu is another option that is also using Xfce. Ubuntu Mate is an option but it will be less familiar out of the box and with more of a learning curve.
Most distributions will support your use case, but how old the laptop is might influence how well they run. That said, even full GNOME can often run perfectly fine on older systems, and there is no downside to trying a bunch of things.