Jerry Bezencon and his team of developers brought Linux Lite to life on Friday, October 26th, 2012.
Linux Lite was created as a gateway operating system — one that helped Windows users to transition easily to Linux.
This beginner-friendly distribution of Linux is based on Ubuntu (Which, ironically, is a distribution of Linux that I am not fond of).
Now, in spite of its Ubuntu base, Linux Lite is quite good.
So, without further ado, let us get down to business with this interesting operating system.
Linux Lite Will Work Well On Both Old And New Hardware
Linux Lite comes with the Xfce desktop environment (Which helps it to be lightweight).
In actuality, the following are the hardware requirements for Linux Lite:
- 1 GHz or faster with 2 or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor.
- 768MB of RAM.
- Storage device with a capacity of 8GB or greater.
- Compatibility with UEFI, Secure Boot, and Legacy BIOS.
- No TPM is required.
- 3D Acceleration capable video card with at least 256 MB.
- VGA with a screen resolution of 1024×768.
As a result, Linux Lite is ideal for older computers with low-spec hardware.
It would also run at breakneck speed on modern computers equipped with powerful hardware.
Linux Lite is a win-win for both old and new computers.
Linux Lite Comes With A Reasonable Amount Of Software
This operating system includes the following software:
The additional software can be acquired via Linux Lite’s software repository:
Linux Lite has the right amount of software to keep the average computer user satisfied.
In Terms Of Appearance, Some People May Find Linux Lite To Be A Relic Of The Past
In spite of the developers of Linux Lite doing a fairly good job of theming the Xfce desktop environment, some people may view it as being somewhat dated (It may not look visually appealing for those people coming over from Windows 10 and Windows 11).
Truthfully, the Xfce desktop environment is old and clunky (It could deter some people from using it).
On a positive note, the Xfce desktop environment can be themed to look like any desktop environment.
The downside is that newcomers to Linux seldom think about altering the Xfce desktop environment to look modern (Most newcomers to Linux will simply use it the way in which it comes out of the box).
Linux Mint Might Be A Much Better Option For Some People
In addition to the Xfce desktop environment, Linux Mint is available in the MATE and Cinnamon desktop environments.
And, guess what?
Linux Mint has a better theme (It is one of the most polished-looking distributions of Linux).
Linux Mint happens to be one of the distributions of Linux that I recommend for newcomers to Linux.
Final Thoughts
Linux Lite might have been the gateway distribution of Linux for new Linux users in the past.
However, the real gateway distribution of Linux for newcomers is actually Linux Mint.
For the record, Linux Lite is not a bad operating system.
Yes, Linux Lite works well. But there are other distributions of Linux around that work even better!
Renard's World 
Two things that Linux Lite has going for it that Linux Mint does not:
Linux Lite names applications by function. Newbies wouldn’t know, for example, that “Thunar” is a file manager. So Linux Lite named it File Manager. Not “Thunar” or “Nemo” or whatever. No guesswork here.
Lite Tweaks is the simplest point-and-click system maintenance tool ever invented, period. Heck, you can even clean up systemd logs (which can become huge over just a little time) with a click! Free memory, purge unneeded and obsolete packages, remove old kernels, all kindsa stuff that would be “complicated and scary” to newbies – done with a click.
These two things alone are enough for me to always recommend Linux Lite as the “gateway distro” for first-time users (whether new to Linux or new to computers for that matter).
Linux Lite could be improved by using Linux Mint’s Software Updater, however, because Mint allows users to selectively update the operating system even if they don’t know what is safe and what might not be. One of their developers actually did make an adaptation of the Mint Updater for Linux Lite, but it’s no longer supported and that developer has moved on to other things, but if Linux Lite had kept that safety feature it would be the GOAT hands-down.
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🙂 Thank you for your valuable input, Robin.
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“Linux Lite comes with the Xfce desktop environment (Which helps it to be lightweight).”
Mint with Xfce should be equally lightweight. And, btw, tests have shown that Mate (even though a bit heavier) and KDE (much much heavier) are running as fast as Xfce.
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🙂 Thank you for sharing that with me, Orca.
It all depends on how the desktop environment is themed and the various processes running in the background.
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Okay. I never looked at theming; as long as I can shrink the icons and can start all my programs directly from the panel I’m happy.
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Thank you for sharing your informative post on Linux, Renard.
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🙂 You are welcome, Eugenia.
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