How do I find out which version and derivative of Ubuntu is right for my hardware in terms of minimal system requirements?

Question

For a given hardware configuration, how do I find out if Ubuntu will run on it? What considerations should I take into account when choosing an Ubuntu version and flavour such as:

• Xubuntu with a lighter desktop than the usual Gnome and Unity
• Lubuntu with the even lighter LXDE desktop

Obviously Ubuntu does not run on some processor architectures. So how do I go about choosing the right version and derivate. How can I find out the minmal system requirements?

Answer 1

Preliminary notes

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First of all it makes no sense to install versions of Ubuntu that are no longer supported with updates. The reasons is at the bottom of this answer.

This answer will concentrate on currently supported versions of Ubuntu and its official derivatives.

If your hardware never connects to the internet and if you will never use software newer than is included on the respective install media, only then it might be prudent to use outdated versions. But who can be sure of that?

You don't have to install Ubuntu to see if it works on your hardware. It is always a good idea to boot from live DVD/USB and see if the system runs okay (although slowly) on the given hardware.

Even if it seems not to work, you might be just one boot option away from a working system. See My computer boots to a black screen, what options do I have to fix it? For example the nomodset option might help.

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Currently supported versions and their minimal requirements

The community wiki usually offers an up-to-date list of currently supported versions. Minimal system requirements for Ubuntu can be found there in the tech specs. Information on the derivatives is scarce but their requirements are less than what is listed here. Generally 32-bit versions take up less memory and tend to be faster on older systems, than their 64-bit counterparts. The Lists of Ubuntu certified hardware might also be of use to you.

Supported versions of Ubuntu

• 14.04 Desktop

  In order to run Unity the system needs a more capable graphics adapter.
  
  

  • 1000 ΜHz processor (about Intel Celeron or better)

  • 1024 MiB RAM (system memory)

  • Graphics processor and display capable of at least 1024x768

  • 6 GB of disk space

  From experience, we all know that it is recommended to have 2GB RAM to properly run Ubuntu day-to-day. A good start should be with minimum 1GB and recommended 2GB RAM.

• 16.04, 17.04 Desktop recommended system requirements

  In order to run Unity the system needs a more capable graphics adapter.

  • 2GHz dual core processor or better

  • 2GB RAM

  • 25GB of disk space

  • Graphics processor and display capable of at least 1024x768

  • Either a DVD drive or a USB port for the installation media

  • Internet access is helpful

• 16.04, 17.04 Desktop minimal

  In order to run Unity the system needs a more capable graphics adapter.

  • Intel Pentium 4 processor or better

  • 1GB RAM

  • Graphics processor and display capable of at least 1024x768

  • 10 GB of disk space

• 17.10 Desktop recommended system requirements

  • 64-bit 2GHz dual core processor or better

  • 2GB RAM

  • 25GB of disk space

  • Graphics processor and display capable of at least 1024x768

  • Either a DVD drive or a USB port for the installation media

  • Internet access is helpful

• 17.10 Desktop minimal

  • 64-bit processor for iso, Intel Pentium 4 processor or better for installation using the Ubuntu minimal CD. The Ubuntu minimal CD supports installation of Ubuntu on computers that have a 32-bit processor.

  • 1GB RAM

  • Graphics processor and display capable of at least 1024x768

  • 10 GB of disk space

  Updates will be provided for Ubuntu 16.04 for 5 years until April, 2021. Ubuntu 17.10 will be supported for 9 months until July 2018. If you need Long Term Support, it is recommended you use Ubuntu 16.04 instead.

• 14.04 and 16.04 Server installation standard

  • Ubuntu Server supports 3 major architectures: Intel x86, AMD64 and ARM.
  • 1 GHz processor
  • 512 MB of system memory (RAM)
  • 1 GB of disk space (base system)
  • 1.75 GB of disk space (all tasks installed)
  • Graphics card and monitor capable of 640x480

• 14.04 and 16.04 Server installation minimal

  • Ubuntu Server supports 3 major architectures: Intel x86, AMD64 and ARM.
  • 300 MHz processor
  • 256 MB of system memory (RAM) 64-bit, 192 MB RAM 32-bit
  • 700 MB of disk space (base system)
  • 1.4 GB of disk space (all tasks installed)
  • Graphics card and monitor capable of 640x480

  Security and maintenance updates will be provided for Ubuntu Server 14.04 until April, 2019 and for Ubuntu Server 16.04 until April, 2021.

Supported versions of Xubuntu

See Xubuntu help page.

• 14.04

  Minimum systems requirements
  To install or try Xubuntu within the Desktop/Live CD, you need 512MB of memory and 5GB of free space on your hard disk. Security and maintenance

  Recommended systems requirements
  To get a smooth experience when running multiple applications parallel on the desktop, it is recommended to have at least 1GB of memory. It is recommended to have at least 20GB of free space. This allows new application installations as well as saving your personal data on the hard disk in addition to the core system.
  Updates will be provided for this release for 3 Years until April, 2017.

• 16.04-17.10

  Minimum systems requirements
  To install or try Xubuntu within the Desktop/Live CD, you need 512MB of memory and 7.5GB of free space on your hard disk.

  Recommended systems requirements
  To get a smooth experience when running multiple applications parallel on the desktop, it is recommended to have at least 1GB of memory. It is recommended to have at least 20GB of free disk space. This allows new application installations as well as saving your personal data on the hard disk in addition to the core system.

  Updates will be provided for Xubuntu 16.04 for 3 years until April, 2019. Xubuntu 17.10 will be supported for 9 months until July 2018. If you need Long Term Support, it is recommended you use Xubuntu 16.04 instead.

Supported versions of Lubuntu

• 14.04 ( Trusty Tahr )

  A Pentium II or Celeron system with 128 MB of RAM and 5 GB of disk space for Lubuntu Desktop.

  Security and maintenance updates will be provided for this release for 3 Years until April, 2017.

• 16.04-17.10

  Processor (CPU)
  The minimum specification for CPU is Pentium 4 or Pentium M or AMD K8. Older processors are too slow and AMD K7 has problems with flash video.

  Memory (RAM)
  For advanced internet services like Google+, YouTube, Google Docs and Facebook, your computer needs at least 1GB RAM.

  For local programs like LibreOffice and simple browsing habits, your computer needs at least 512MB RAM.

  Updates will be provided for Lubuntu 16.04 for 3 years until April, 2019. Lubuntu 17.10 will be supported for 9 months until July 2018. If you need Long Term Support, it is recommended you use Lubuntu 16.04 instead.

Supported versions of Ubuntu Core

• 15.04 and 15.10

  Processor – 600MHz processor (ARMv7 or greater, or x86)
  System Memory – 128MB RAM or greater
  Storage – 4GB flash / storage for factory reset and system rollback

• 16.04

  Ubuntu Core 16.04 is supported for 5 years.

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Why you shouldn't use versions when their support has ended

• Security risks: Eventually there will be an exploit that compromises security or system integrity of old Ubuntu versions
• Software incompatibilities: Versions that are no longer supported will have increasing problems with this. Due to the lack of updates one will no longer be able to open the most recent LibreOffice documents or compile programs that need more recent libraries. Hardware drivers of recent devices will not be included in older kernels.
• Decreasing availability of repositories: It might become very difficult to download software that does not already ship with the outdated version. Hosting repositories for very old versions cease to be economically viable at one point.

Answer 2

Ubuntu Budgie

Ubuntu Budgie 17.04 has been released as a new official Ubuntu flavor. Budgie desktop environment uses many GNOME components and offers a minimalist user interface. Ubuntu Budgie 17.04 will be supported for 9 months until January 2018. Ubuntu Budgie 17.10 will be supported for 9 months until July 2018.

The minimum systems requirements for Ubuntu Budgie are as follows.

• 1GB RAM
• 20GB disk space
• 1.5GHz processor

The recommended system requirements are:

• 2GB RAM
• 60GB disk space

^{Ubuntu Budgie 17.04  (Click image to enlarge)}

Answer 3

Ubuntu MATE

Ubuntu MATE is a stable, easy-to-use operating system with a lightweight configurable desktop environment. The MATE Desktop has a rich history and is the continuation of the GNOME 2 desktop, which was the default desktop environment on many Linux and Unix operating systems for over a decade. The Ubuntu MATE iso file can be written to either a DVD or a USB flash drive that has at least 2GB.

Updates will be provided for Ubuntu MATE 16.04 for 3 years until April, 2019. Ubuntu MATE 17.04 will be supported for 9 months until January 2018. If you need Long Term Support, it is recommended you use Ubuntu MATE 16.04 instead.

Minimal systems requirements (16.04,17.04,17.10)

• Pentium III 750MHz
• 512MB of RAM
• 8GB of available space on the hard disk
• Bootable DVD-ROM drive
• Video adapter and monitor capable of 1024 x 768 or higher resolution

Recommended systems requirements (16.04,17.04,17.10)

• Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz
• 2GB RAM
• 25GB of available space on the hard disk
• Bootable USB flash drive
• 3D capable video adapter and wide screen monitor capable of 1366 x 768 or higher resolution

⠀^{Ubuntu MATE 17.04  (Click image to enlarge)}

Answer 4

Xubuntu

Xubuntu is designed to run on lightweight machines. I recently installed it on a machine with 768MB of RAM and other specs close to your machine and it runs without an issue.

^{Xubuntu 16.04 whisker menu  (Click image to enlarge)}

Xubuntu is simply Ubuntu bundled with the Xfce Desktop Environment, a desktop environment designed to be fast and lightweight on lower end systems without compromising performance and visual style. Xubuntu 14.04 is a Long Term Support release for which security and maintenance updates will be provided for 3 years until April, 2017.

Xubuntu 16.04 needs at least 512 MB RAM and 6.1 GB of free space on your hard disk (minimum) and 20 GB free space (recommended). Xubuntu 16.04 is a Long Term Support release for which security and maintenance updates will be provided for 3 years until April, 2019.

Answer 5

Lubuntu (Ubuntu with the LXDE desktop environment) or Xubuntu (Ubuntu with the Xfce desktop environment). Xubuntu is more "user friendly" -- more graphical tools for settings, better looking and better integrated applications and maybe better support (larger community). On the other hand, Lubuntu 14.04 LTS needs less RAM (Lubuntu 14.04 needs 128 MB, Lubuntu 15.04-17.04 need 512 MB, and Xubuntu 14.04 and newer needs 512 MB). For advanced internet services like Google+, YouTube, Google Drive, and Facebook, your computer needs at least 1 GB of RAM. It depends on your skills and preferences, you can try both and then choose.

• Lubuntu: http://lubuntu.net
• Xubuntu: https://xubuntu.org

To sum it up: Xubuntu is light, Lubuntu is lighter.

^{Lubuntu 16.04  (Click image to enlarge)}

Answer 6

I can disagree on the system requirements for the Linux distros.

On a:

• Intel Pentium 4 1.8Ghz
• 1GB DDR RAM
• 64MB graphics card capable of 1024x768

The only Ubuntu flavour which worked good was Lubuntu.

On a:

• AMD Athlon dual-core 3.20Ghz(OC'ed from 2.80Ghz),
• 2GB DDR3 RAM
• AMD HD 3000 IGP with Catalyst installed.

Ubuntu is really slow (I can work properly with Unity 2D), Gnome Shell is also slow (plus for me Gnome Shell is awful in multitasking). KDE worked quite nice and I'm really impressed by it.

About which flavour to choose I can say this:

• What do you want, better Looks or better Performance?
• XFCE(Xubuntu) looks nicer and its environment has more functionality, you can personalize it and change it in any way you want it (at the cost of high memory use but still you need a good graphic card).
• LXDE(Lubuntu) is faster overall but it lacks the looks.

I suggest to try Xubuntu and if it feels slower go for Lubuntu.

You can try Live-CDs to see how they look but you can test performance only after you installed them.

Have to say that even tough Linux system requirements are really low the desktop environment graphic requirements are high in my opinion.

Answer 7

Well your PC isn't that much hopeless. I would suggest you to try installing normal Ubuntu AND Unity 2D desktop environment.

Of course, if you don't like Unity, this won't be a good solution. However, if you will try that, you will get full Ubuntu support.

I've tried Lubuntu before (installed it via Software manager). It's very basic DE and had some problems. It might be good, but I still suggest you to give Unity 2D a try.