robert hyrons, 123RF
Most companies producing PCs today claim that a computer becomes outdated after four years of use. Even so, there are computers much older than four years that work just fine when they are outfitted with a lean operating system and suitable software.
New versions of major operating systems advertise themselves with claims of increased productivity, convenience, and performance. However, demands on the hardware increase as well. Current Windows and Linux systems require machines with multicore processors, a generous amount of working memory, and a modern graphics card.
Aside from the more commonly known systems, a growing number of lean Linux derivatives work surprisingly well on single-core computers, which are up to 15 years old and only have small amounts of memory.
For our test, we installed some of these derivatives on a computer that was about 10 years old. The test turned out well. The computer showed itself capable of working productively with the lean Linux versions.
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