Which Linux distro is good for an old vista-powered laptop?

I'm asking this question cause I wanna revive my old laptop (used to run Windows Vista, but really it caused more problems than anything else). I tried Mint 17.1 Cinnamon, and got it to work after multiple attempts at installation on a new SSD I put in there using a USB boot drive. Now it just freezes not even a minute after booting into the login screen. Did it a little when trying to install too. Didn't connect to to a network or install any updates cause it freezes when I try....

So what should I use instead? Here are my specs:
HP Pavilion dv9000z
AMD Turion x64 x2 TL-64
Nvidia Geforce Go 7600 (256GB VRAM)
2GB DDR2 SODIMM RAM
128GB Adata SSD
17.1 inch screen, 16:10, 1440x900

 

my guess is nvidia driver, or something related

 

Anything interesting in the log?

 

Try Ubuntu, it usually "just works" on most hardware.

Also, use a live USB stick to try it out first.
Can also run a memory test from the Live USB.

 

I would try PCLinuxOS kde. It has good hardware support and the kde version is as nice looking as mint cinnamon.

 

Ubuntu is not the right choice for old hardware. And it also failed to boot on most of my notebooks at home.

Try ROSA R5 KDE x86_64: http://mirror.rosalab.ru/rosa/rosa2014.1/iso/ROSA.Fresh.R5/ROSA.FRESH.KDE.R5.x86_64.iso

The desktop environment is KDE and looks like Xp/Vista/7. And it has a great support for hardware: http://hw.rosalinux.ru/

You can check if your laptop was already tested.

To increase performance delete these packages after installation (in the console):

sudo urpme mariadb-client
sudo urpme dkms-vboxadditions

 

The OP's specs are not _that_ bad (64 bit processor, dual core, and 2GB of RAM). I've run Ubuntu on worse. Not saying it's the end-all-be-all Distro, just suggesting its something worth trying.

 

Tried Mint 17.1 xfce and everything is working well except for Wi-Fi. It's a common problem with Linux apparently and no solution has worked until now (stupid hardware Wi-Fi switch)

 

Sockey, I use Mint 17 cinn myself, great distro. But from my experience LXLE just plain works, and looks great out of the box. I am running it solely on an older I-mac and it found everything. Even the bluetooth drivers for the keyboard. Sadly Mint didn't right off the bat. I use LXLE on a ToughBook CF-74 , and a think pad t61, with an intell core duo. Also ran it triple boot with W-7 and Mint 16 on an old HP with amd turion x64 processor. No problems. Link to LXLE home page http://lxle.net/
Link to Distrowatch for info http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=lxle
As for the "common problem with Linux" in regards to wifi. I personally have only had an issue with linux and wifi on one of my Tough Books.

 

I would agree with Bill_TN and use LXLE. Its fast and the added bonus of looking good goes a long way to feeling comfortable using it

 

Lol I sold that laptop (somehow) a while ago. Thanks for the reply though XD.

 

Try low resource consuming and efficient distros such as LXLE, Zorin and Bodhi and Elementary. Overall I would recommend LXLE the most.

 

OK maybe people are still replying because it could help others in my situation, but again I sold that laptop a while ago. Thanks for the reply though!

I do have some other old laptops that could use a fresh OS, I'll try Ubuntu.

 

You can skip some of the bleeding edge update quirk by going with Mint, though. Always try different boots on my own stuff - but when I install something for someone else, or rescue their old laptop from the bin, and so on, people seem happiest with Mint.

 

I personally liked Bodhi or Mint on netbooks. On more powerful machines, Ubuntu or distros based on Ubuntu (like Zorin) ran well for the most part. Some machines needed some tweaking after install, but Ubuntu is rock solid and fast.

 

LXLE is nice (see above). My favorite if Mint does not work for you would be MX Linux found here:
http://www.mepiscommunity.org/mx
They have great videos and support via the forums.
I would download the most current version (not beta) here:
http://mxrepo.com/snapshots/
Best regards, Cleve

 

Honestly, I like putting Xubuntu on EVERYTHING - it just runs better. Ubuntu and Unity just feel bloated and unnecessary to me, plus I like the look of XFCE.

 

I recommend Fedora. It runs on my X61s small laptop without any problems. Automatic upgrades from a repository. Also Cinnamon desktop. Just a perfect choice.

 

Try Ubuntu or LinuxLiteOS if Ubuntu will work too slow on your laptop too
LinuxLite uses XFCE and much fewer resources hungry in my experience
Should work well with your hardware I think:

 

AntiX Linux with a fluxbox desktop is low on resources. Install the "base" iso & build your system up. It ran well with 3GB of ram.

One nice feature of fluxbox is you can tab together windows (so Firefox & Thunderbird are "tabbed together" in the same window).

 

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Puppy yet. The distro was built with the purpose of being lightweight and running on older hardware. I've dual-booted Puppy and Windows on a few netbooks and it works great.
http://puppylinux.com/

 

I used Xubuntu (nice interface and low specs needed), puppy or dsl (damn small linux) for oldies are good also.
But Xubuntu is the way to go, becuase it's not that old

 

LXLE is based on old stable, allthough I like it a lot, I would recommend debian 8 non-free plus something light as lxde or pointlinux (stable + mate) or Lubuntu LTS.

 

Yeah, I love Xubuntu.