Low resource Linux distro (or alternatives) that support Chrome to use as VM?

[Maverick Jester]

As the title suggests, I'm looking at setting up a VM on my office laptop- a Dell Latitude E6500 (Core 2 Duo 2.8Ghz, 4GB RAM, Windows 7 Professional 32 bit).

The purpose of the VM is really simple: to assist with browser-related website functionality testing. So I do need something that is light on resources, but would at the very least give me Firefox and Chrome accessibility.

I was using XP before, but due to Microsoft ending support for it, I have to look at something else (company policy). We've tried Linux Mint 15, but it is rather resource-intensive.

So basically- which Linux distro would be the best option? I like the look of Xubuntu, seems to fit the bill, should I simply go for that?

Note: I want the distro to be as user friendly while light as possible. I plan on cloning this and deploying it onto a few more less than powerful laptops, too.

 

[biometrics]

Linux Mint

 

[Maverick Jester]

Linux Mint

Tried it, it was too heavy to use while concurrently performing other tasks in Windows.

 

[biometrics]

Tried it, it was too heavy to use while concurrently performing other tasks in Windows.

Do you need the latest version? I recently ran an older version of Mint on a 12 year old IBM Thinkpad R40.

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

I'm not a fan of mint. I would try Fedora and see how that runs. Gnome 3 is pretty snappy.

If you don't care about it being pretty than Centos 6.5 is a solid choice.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Lubuntu.

 

[nic777]

Xubuntu should work and then Lubuntu is branded as the lightest version of Ubuntu.

 

[Evo1ve]

http://www.slitaz.org/en/

 

[Sl8er]

What are the minimum system requirements that I need to install Zorin OS?

For the Zorin Desktop based versions (not Lite):
1 GHz x86 processor
5 GB of Hard Drive space
512 MB of system memory (RAM)
Graphics card capable of 640x480 resolution

For the LXDE based versions (Lite):
266 MHz x86 processor
2GB of Hard Drive space
128 MB of system memory (RAM)
Graphics card capable of 640x480 resolution

http://zorin-os.com/tour.html

http://zorin-os.com/gallery.html

 

[Iamnotageek]

Grow a pair & use FreeBSD.

 

[Tinuva]

Grow a pair & use FreeBSD.

Not helpful at all. You think you are funny, but that was lame.


To the OP. XFCE based distro will most probably be the best, like Xubuntu which you mentioned, or Manjaro if you want easy arch based distro.

 

[MickZA]

If you don't care about it being pretty than Centos 6.5 is a solid choice.

I've upgraded a few old Win XP systems to Centos 6.5, seems a good fit.

Linux Lite is also worth testing.

edit: XP not 95 - think I need more coffee.

 

[garyc]

Used to use Lubuntu for lightweight desktop VMs. The latest Xubuntu seems as good and I have switched to that. You can remove all unwanted software to reduce update overheads if it is going to be widely deployed.

The Unity and Gnome 3 environments have greater resource requirements so you may want to avoid those for your specific application.

 

[Maverick Jester]

Do you need the latest version? I recently ran an older version of Mint on a 12 year old IBM Thinkpad R40.

Hmmm, that should do. Doesn't necessarily have to be the latest version, but the browser does need to be.

 

[Maverick Jester]

Thanks all, for the recommendations. Looks like I'll end up using either Lubuntu or CentOS.