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- CalcProgrammer1, on 09/29/2008, -1/+28Here's a good description of "old"
OLD:
Pentium 1 era (P1/P-MMX/some P2), 16-64MB RAM, maybe 128 if you're lucky
KINDA OLD
Pentium 2 - early Celeron, early P3, 128-256MB RAM
SLIGHTLY OLD
Pentium 3 or equivalent Celeron 256-768MB
AVERAGE
Pentium 4 or AthlonXP, 512MB-1.5GB
MODERN
High end AthlonXP/Sempron, Athlon64, Pentium D/Celeron, 768-2GB
NEW
Core 2 Duo/Quad, Athlon X2/Phenom, 1-4GB
Linux runs on all of them, but I just wanted to explain that OLD doesn't mean Pentium 3 in the Linux world. Ubuntu 8.04 runs quite well on my Pentium 3 850MHz. Before it died, Ubuntu 7.10 ran OK on my old Celeron 500MHz with 256MB RAM. The low end for Ubuntu is about a pentium 2 or 3 at around 450MHz with 256MB (old versions could get by on 128). Xubuntu ran fine on a 233MHz P2 that my friend had. After that, all Ubuntu based support drops. I had Puppy running on a Pentium MMX 200MHz with 64MB with full GUI, same with DSL Linux, also had those running on the same PC with a 133MHz Pentium (non MMX) (upgraded it to the MMX 200 when my friend gave me a PMMX 200 chip) . Had Vector 3.2 (latest version that would work) on my old Pentium 133 laptop with 16MB RAM with GUI (Puppy and DSL booted without GUI on it). My old Pentium 75MHz with 16MB (desktop) wouldn't boot DSL or Puppy at all though, might be able to now that I put a P133 chip and 40MB RAM in it but I haven't tried. - takatoo, on 09/29/2008, -0/+261.6 MHz processor and 1.5GB of Ram is not that old.
I prefer Slax though.
http://www.slax.org/ - l00pback0, on 09/29/2008, -1/+121.6GHz u mean.
- expert01, on 09/29/2008, -0/+8Or an underclocked calculator
- osvik, on 09/28/2008, -0/+8I'm using Debian Echt on computers with128Mb memory and it works great. Open Office and other heavy programs work and they don't crash. Before that we had Xubuntu and we changed. Xubuntu 8.04 is to slow, crashes and it has issues. I hope Xubuntu changes to become more friendly to computers with lower performance.
- arjie, on 09/29/2008, -1/+81.6 GHz, you mean sonuvabitch.
PS: Woah sonuvabitch is recognized by the Chrome dictionary but 'woah' isn't. - Vegabondsx, on 09/29/2008, -0/+7The computer in the article isn't that old. Some Distros I'd recommend (and not that well known either) include:
KateOS: http://www.kateos.org/ // This runs really well on a 450mhz Pentium II laptop I have with 256mb RAM with xfce. More lightweight than Xubuntu.
DeLi Linux: http://www.delilinux.org/ // Runs well on a 166 Pentium 1 with 32mb of RAM. Much more lightweight and responsive than DSL. - inactive, on 09/29/2008, -0/+7lol 1.6 MHz processor. Thats like an overclocked C64
- RubberBinder, on 09/29/2008, -0/+6My everyday laptop has the same specs. I need to upgrade.
- Protoss, on 09/29/2008, -3/+9ArchLinux!!!
- DangerCollie, on 09/28/2008, -0/+6We're evaluating PuppyLinux on older laptops because the hardware detection is quite good. Installation seems better than the one in the article.
So many distros, so little testing time. - FairDinkumMate, on 09/29/2008, -0/+6Wake up. I live in Brazil. P3 is average for PC's here. If you'd like to go & buy a new PC for everyone in Brazil, go right ahead, I'm sure we'd all appreciate it.
If not - STFU!!!
By the way, if you can't comprehend why this is the case go to www.dell.com.br & look at the price of a new PC. Then consider that minimum wage in Brasil is R$360 per month(about US$200) - mikedoth, on 09/29/2008, -0/+5Dugg for slax.
- carrtoonist, on 09/29/2008, -0/+4pinball?
- courtjester555, on 09/29/2008, -1/+5A waste of electricity maybe, but it's a waste of resources to buy a new computer so soon. It's Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
- kahrn, on 09/29/2008, -0/+4This guy is clueless. Seriously -- 1.6GHz == old? No.
- inactive, on 09/29/2008, -0/+4Vector Linux is nice. Its basically Slackware with nice selection of handpicked packages and proprietary drivers out of the box. Their website used to always get hacked for some reason though
- CalcProgrammer1, on 09/29/2008, -1/+5My ThinkPad from 2000 has a Pentium 3 850MHz, 512MB RAM (upgraded later, got the machine used on ebay) and runs XP and Ubuntu 8.04 fine. The things people call minimum requirements these days have just been bloated by Vista. A Pentium 3 is just fine for browsing if you're not using Vista, as is a Pentium 4 or AthlonXP or Sempron or anything commonly thought of as old and slow. Sure, my Core 2 Duo T9300 new laptop burns through Vista and it runs great, but that doesn't mean every OS needs this kind of system.
- Knet88, on 09/29/2008, -0/+3Microsoft may not admit it (or maybe they do, haven't checked lately) but XP needs more than 256MB RAM, while a lot of linux distros can run a browser, office suit, and basic (*BASIC* card games, minesweeper, sudoku, etc) games on it. Sure, they both probably run a little slow on 256, but if one upgraded to 384MB RAM (256 + 128), XP would still complain (I've seen it) but linux moves along nicely.
- SteveMax, on 09/29/2008, -0/+3The "antique" category would be i386/i486s and the earliest P1/586s with 4MB-32MB. Those can still run Linux, even X (though possibly you wouldn't want xorg, a more lightweight X would be a better bet). They can be great firewalls/routers, with the right hardware and software.
You don't have to throw away a computer just because it can't run Crysis. If it worked 15 years ago, there is no reason at all it can't work now, even if it's just as a semi-dumb terminal. - CalcProgrammer1, on 09/29/2008, -0/+3Up until right before this summer I was using a ThinkPad A21p (P3 850MHz 512MB RAM w/ latest Ubuntu) just fine. I only got my new PC because of college, my ThinkPad is still perfectly usable even though most people would say it's "old". Linux system requirements are a lot lower than most people think they are.
- xmen24, on 09/28/2008, -1/+4I had a similar issue initially. Just log in via linux-tui mode, go to /etc/X11 and just replace the xorg file with xorg-vesa file in the same directory.
- ethana2, on 09/29/2008, -1/+3No, actually, you /don't/ seem to get it. I'll know you get it when that's reflected in web statistics.
Loophole: if you change your browser user agent, I will be satisfied. - Fabzter, on 09/28/2008, -3/+5Tried it some time ago on an old celeron , 32 mb ram. I could never get X's to work.
- renegadeafk, on 09/29/2008, -3/+5don't you mean:
"1.6 GHz you mean" - mozert, on 09/29/2008, -0/+2light... weight? eeepc+eeedora... for those who cant live without the hat
- Brenky, on 09/29/2008, -1/+3Vector is my distro of choice. I was a complete Linux newbie when I first used it and it ran amazingly well on my old PII machine and was very user-friendly. I still recommend it to anyone wanting to get into Linux.
- KuDoZ, on 09/29/2008, -0/+2Truth.
- theaceoffire, on 09/29/2008, -0/+2Two other good OS's for eeepc:
EEEbuntu:
http://www.eeebuntu.org/
Ubuntu eee:
http://www.ubuntu-eee.com/index.php - SteveMax, on 09/29/2008, -0/+2My everyday laptop has an 800MHz G4 and 640MB of RAM. Its only problem is the amount of thrashing, which would be greatly reduced by increasing its RAM. At 1.5GHz you wouldn't have any problems as long as you don't think "Compiz is a necessary part of Linux" or "Every laptop has to run MySQL and Apache". Know your hardware, don't use what it can't handle, and you'd be OK with those specs.
- snek, on 09/29/2008, -0/+21.5GB ram?? Who's he kidding, that's a lot for a laptop even by today's standards where netbooks use a max of 1GB!
I have a 500Mhz laptop with 256MB ram and I can tell you now that it's really hard to get any distro running perfectly on that! I eventually managed to have ram left over by using an Ubuntu Server installation and then installing Xorg and OpenBox as Window Manager manually. I can actually run Zend Studio (heavy Java PHP-IDE) on it and still have a little bit of RAM to spare. Gnome/KDE are way too heavy for it, and even LXDE or XFCE aren't really as "lite" as people say they are. OpenBox is nice though, it's like FluxBox but just a little more flashy, it at least supports transparency etc, giving you a nice feeling than the nasty design of Flux.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openbox (original website is a bit minimal, this gives a better overview of OpenBox) - juanej, on 09/29/2008, -1/+3Xfce is niiiiice
- KibibyteBrain, on 09/29/2008, -0/+2A great deal of the energy used by a midrange-type computer over it's lifespan is in the factory making it and then shipping the parts and the finished product around. I don't think the delta between getting a new 20W ultraefficient box or just using the old PII machine for your MP3 player in the garage would be significant either way, but could even favor the old, less efficient machine. And of course, in terms of toxic pollution, using the old one wins out no matter what.
- zip000, on 09/29/2008, -0/+1PuppyLinux is a pretty good option as far as hardware detection and speed, but I never liked the package handling system nor the way that the user is always root.
- fuckingusername, on 09/29/2008, -0/+1Dam Small Linux
50 megs
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Damn_Small_Li ... - mahadiga, on 09/29/2008, -0/+1http://lxde.org based Linux is better for Older PCs.
- takatoo, on 09/29/2008, -0/+1sorry I just copy and pasted from that site
sorry again - theaceoffire, on 09/29/2008, -0/+1>.> I would suggest renaming xorg.conf to xorg.conf.old before replacing it...
But then again, I am a paranoid s.o.b. - spc4, on 09/29/2008, -0/+1Hey could you give me a link to a well writ en tutorial on how to do a frugal install of DSL? I have been trying for 5 months now to get it installed right. I can get it to boot up off the HD, bot none of the MyDSL apps will work. They just show some gears. I have tried 2 or 3 different ways to do a frugal install, but all I can get to work is the Fire Fox. I have a Pavilion N5430 with 128Mb of ram, and a Athlon 840MHz processor. I have read all most all of the post on the DSL Help Forums and I just cant get it. Just a link or anything would be a big help.
- Fergy, on 09/29/2008, -0/+1You are right about the cpu's but your memory size choice is way too high. When these machines came out you had a lot less memory. P1=16MB, early P2-32MB, newer P2=64MB, P3+old P4=128MB, P4=256MB, Pentium D=1GB, Core2=2-3GB.
- CCUboogernjit, on 09/29/2008, -0/+1what?
- MattBD, on 09/29/2008, -0/+1Damn Small Linux is cool, but I can't seem to get a frugal install working properly in VirtualBox. Annoying... But it rocks as an OS for running off a pendrive. I can easily install XAMPP to get a web server running in a matter of minutes. I can see how that could be useful for a sysadmin.
- enterneo, on 09/29/2008, -1/+2I don't want to read about your Linux usage history. You should have started from - "This week, I tried Vector Linux..."
- larrywsm, on 09/29/2008, -0/+1I have used Vector Linux off and on for years on a wide variety of PC's. Have always found it solid, with the Vector Linux community willing to help.
larrywsn - JQP123, on 09/29/2008, -0/+1www.pcbsd.org
- hurdboy, on 09/29/2008, -0/+1Stock Debian runs just peachy on everything outside the "old" designation.
But I think for most of these things, Linux tends to be a waste. You can get better results out of NetBSD or OpenBSD, albeit without the fancy installer. - CCUboogernjit, on 09/29/2008, -0/+1.
- containimated, on 09/29/2008, -0/+1Not what you were asking for but kmandla.wordpress.com has some nice guides on working with older hardware.
- osabr22000, on 09/29/2008, -0/+0I'd love to give it a try, but I'm still figuring out Ubuntu 7.10 and OpenSuse 11. Combine that with the fact I never met a partition I couldn't ruin and I may never move on...
- inactive, on 09/30/2008, -0/+0Looks like somebody just discovered linux not too long ago.
-
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