Raspberry Pi Desktop Proves Old PCs Aren't Past It
The Register, Saturday, October 24th, 2026
The Debian 13-based x86 Raspberry Pi Desktop runs well on veteran ThinkPads, making it a good lightweight distro for old PCs.
The Register's FOSS desk tested the x86-64 PC edition of Raspberry Pi Desktop, which has finally been updated to Debian 13, on some of its oldest and slowest machines, and recommends it as its current answer to the question of the best lightweight Linux for an old PC.
The 2.6GB download needs about 8GB of disk, so it suits Vista-era hardware rather than XP-era machines.
In testing, it ran dual-head with five apps open in about 900MB of RAM.
Installation is simple, making it a practical way to extend the life of spare PCs.