Editing Light-weight Linux distribution (section)

{{short description|Linux distribution with low resource requirements}}
[[File:Lynx_(web_browser).png|thumb|upright=1.2|In the extreme case - user can use a computer without a [[Graphical user interface|GUI]] and even browse the internet in a terminal, without images, in [[Lynx (web browser)|Lynx]], on a weak computer]]

A '''light-weight Linux distribution''' is a [[Linux distribution]] that uses lower memory and processor-speed requirements than a more "feature-rich" Linux distribution. The lower demands on hardware ideally result in a [[Responsiveness|more responsive machine]], and allow devices with fewer [[system resource]]s (e.g. older or [[Embedded system|embedded hardware]]) to be used productively. The lower memory and processor-speed requirements are achieved by avoiding [[software bloat]], i.e. by leaving out features that are perceived to have little or no practical use or advantage, or for which there is no or low demand.

The perceived weight of a Linux distribution is strongly influenced by the [[desktop environment]] included with that distribution.<ref>{{cite web|last=Larabel|first=Michael|title=Phoronix: Power & Memory Usage Of GNOME, KDE, LXDE & Xfce|url=https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=linux_desktop_vitals&num=1|publisher=Phoronix|access-date=30 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903042338/https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=linux_desktop_vitals&num=1|archive-date=3 September 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.porteus.org/info/features.html|title=Features - Porteus - Portable Linux|website=Porteus.org}}</ref> Accordingly, many Linux distributions offer a choice of editions. For example, [[Canonical (company)|Canonical]] hosts several variants ("flavors") of the [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu distribution]] that include desktop environments other than the default [[GNOME]] or the deprecated [[Unity (user interface)|Unity]]. These variants include the [[Xubuntu]] and [[Lubuntu]] distributions for the comparatively light-weight [[Xfce]] and [[LXDE]] / [[LXQt]] desktop environments.

The demands that a desktop environment places on a system may be seen in a comparison of the [[System requirements|minimum system requirements]] of Ubuntu 10.10 and Lubuntu 10.10 desktop editions, where the only significant difference between the two was their desktop environment. Ubuntu 10.10 included the [[Unity (user interface)|Unity]] desktop, which had minimum system requirements of a 2&nbsp;GHz processor with 2&nbsp;GB of RAM,<ref>{{cite web|title=Download Ubuntu Desktop {{!}} Download {{!}} Ubuntu|url=https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop|website=www.ubuntu.com|access-date=12 January 2017}}</ref> while Lubuntu 10.10 included LXDE, which required at least a Pentium&nbsp;II with 128&nbsp;MB of RAM.<ref>{{cite web|title=Download Lubuntu - Community Help Wiki|url=https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Lubuntu#System_requirements|website=Help.ubuntu.com|access-date=12 January 2017}}</ref>