Preserving and resurrecting old computers is a popular part of the Linux hacker’s ethos, and one way to help make that possible is with a desktop environment that doesn’t use up scarce system resources. After all, the fact that a current version of Linux can run effectively on a computer over 15 years old is quite a feat, but it doesn’t make the CPU and RAM any better than the day they were slotted in. There are extremely light desktops available, but there’s usually a catch: the user must assemble the parts.
