I have an Acer Chromebook R11 which has reached End of Life and won’t receive updates (which is insane, I bought it new four years ago). I have checked, and my model is now fully supported by most Linux distros.
I need suggestions for a lightweight distro to use. I will use the machine for surfing, playing Pixel Dungeon, streaming some indie games over Moonlight/Steam Headless and manage my home server over ssh. So nothing major. I want something lightweight and really low maintenance.
Specs:
-
Processor: 1.6GHz quad-core Intel Celeron N3150 (quad-core, 3MB cache, up to 2.08GHz with Turbo Boost)
-
Graphics: Integrated Intel HD Graphics
-
Memory: 4GB DDR3L
-
Storage: 32GB (with SD card reader for more storage)
I have a lot of experience with Arch-based (EndeavourOS, Manjaro), Ubuntu-based (Mint, PopOS) and Debian-based (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Raspbian) distros, but I am open for other suggestions
ChromeOS Flex is an interesting one; it’s definitely not as flexible as a proper Linux distro but if you need something simple and hard-to-break to run on an old machine (for instance for an elderly relative who’s still using Windows XP) then it could be worth a shot. That said, I’m now investigating whether Linux Mint is a better choice for my own elderly relatives!
It’s very interesting! I just find it weird that I’ve never heard of it. I will have it in the back of my head in case I need to do a full 360 and go back to ChromeOS
I think it used to be called “cloudready” until Google bought it and made it official. It seems like it’s aimed more at businesses and schools that want a fleet of Chromebooks, but it seems alright for the casual tinkerer too.