{"id":913,"date":"2013-11-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-30T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alandmoore.com\/blog\/?p=913"},"modified":"2013-11-30T00:16:49","modified_gmt":"2013-11-30T06:16:49","slug":"reviving-your-old-pc-with-linux-part-vi-building-your-own-lightweight-remix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alandmoore.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/30\/reviving-your-old-pc-with-linux-part-vi-building-your-own-lightweight-remix\/","title":{"rendered":"Reviving your old PC with Linux, Part VI: Building your own lightweight remix"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the previous article of this series<\/a>, I covered a variety of “remix” distributions of Linux aimed at older computers, and posed the question “why not build our own”? In this article, we’ll look at doing exactly that. <\/p>\n

Our goal will be to set up a basic desktop system, using only the necessary components, such that it will run reasonably well on a roughly ten-year-old computer. <\/p>\n

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Respin? We used to call that “installing”…<\/h2>\n
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Yes, “back in the day” it was standard practice to install a minimal CLI Linux environment on a computer, then painstakingly build up the rest of the system one piece at a time. Then along came installation wizards, Live CD’s, and fully-baked desktops that were ready-to-rock with zero tweaking; and admittedly, this is a great thing. <\/p>\n

Distros like Arch Linux have revived the venerable art of building a system from the ground-up; not only is this an educational approach, it’s also a winning strategy for working with older, slower hardware. Many distributions are suited to this approach, including Arch, Slackware, Debian, and, yes, even Ubuntu1<\/a><\/sup>; but to keep things simple and short, we’ll be building with Debian stable. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Following along at home<\/h2>\n
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If you’re following along at home, you’ll need the following items: <\/p>\n