At the school where I work, I kept hearing teachers say things like, "my school computer is so slow, we can't even use it anymore." With no money in the budget for new computers, I began looking for ways to solve this problem. I came across Peppermint, a lightweight Linux operating system that breathes new life into old computers. Peppermint is designed for users who want easy access to web-based applications, which means it's Flash and Java ready out of the box.
I first installed Peppermint on a school computer that was practically left for dead. It's an old Dell with a Celeron processor and 756 MB RAM. It had Windows XP on it. Before I got rid of Windows (always a happy moment), I checked the system monitor (or whatever it's called in Windows). At idle, XP was using 500 to 600 MB of RAM, leaving only 150 to 250 MB for additional processes; it's no wonder this computer kept freezing. With Peppermint installed, this same computer would idle using less than 100 MB of RAM, leaving 650 MB to run the applications students need to use.
Now, I know what you're thinking: "If the OS only takes 100 MB to run, it can't be very functional." Wrong. First of all, Windows XP is about eight years old now; it doesn't look so hot anymore. Peppermint is new, and while it leaves out some of the nonessential visual effects included in the most powerful operating systems of today, it does not sacrifice functionality. Peppermint is based on Lubuntu, a lightweight version of Ubuntu (the most popular desktop Linux distribution); as such, you have access to about 25,000 applications from the Software Manager.
Peppermint is fast and easy to use. Whether you're stuck with an old computer that just won't move or you are looking for an operating system that is geared to web applications, you should give Peppermint a try. Why not? It's Linux, it's free.
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| Peppermint OS Desktop |
