How old can Linux go?

P

Pack Rat 24

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 18, 2004
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I think I may be getting a pair computers, err...relics predicted to about 10 years old...IF the HDD's still work, could I install Linux on them, because I'm looking to try it on these old ones to see how I like it.

At that, what would be a suggested version of Linux for systems like this?
 
Theres nothing wrong with trying. Try something light first. I don't think you'll want to run a GUI on it. Maybe put in a Gentoo LiveCD to see if it recognizes all the hardware.
 
Linux will run on a 386 or higher. I used to run DHCP for a large portion of our campus off of a 486 with 8 MB of RAM. Don't underestimate what you can do with an older box. I didn't use a GUI on that system though..
 
If you are new, try one of the live cds and see how it flys.

If you have used linux before, try debian, which is known to work on old hardware.

If you have a week or two to burn, try gentoo :)
 
I am sure you can find something that will run it but I don't think you are really going to be giving linux a fair shot by installing it on computers that won't even be able to handle a gui.
 
Originally posted by Rucker
I am sure you can find something that will run it but I don't think you are really going to be giving linux a fair shot by installing it on computers that won't even be able to handle a gui.
Click to expand...
Ug...

A GUI is the thing people should be looking for in linux. Linux's main advantage is it's ease of administration, as well as the features it usually has included.

Old boxes are usually used just fine for home routers on dls/cable connections.

That is not to say the GUI is not mature and well built. It has been fairly solid since the RH8 days. But, for most people, it's not what they should be looking for.
 
As a rule of thumb, most distros are going to require at least 16MB of RAM to get the installer going, and 32-64 to not be a dog.

It really depends on what you consider "10 year old hardware". Are we talking Pentium Pros or are we talking 486s? Give us an idea of what you're looking at.

If it means anything, I managed to get Slackware installed on a 386-16 with 4MB RAM and a 40MB HDD (of course, all it had was telnet, a terminal program & PPP (done over a home-made null-modem cable)).

As another point of reference, I set up Redhat 5.2 on a 486DX2-66 with 24MB for my sister (she needed a machine to read email & do some C++ programming for school); while you wouldn't run GNOME/KDE or the newest version of Mozilla on such a rig, you can still get work done, if you put some care into chosing lightweight apps.
 
I managed to get Slackware 1.0 onto a 386sx-16 w/ 2MB ram and a 40MB mfm HD once. Fortunately it had two floppy drives, or else the installation would have been much more difficult if not impossible.
Getting any modern distro on a machine that old just isn't going to work though. Most of 'em allocate more than 2MB just for the ram drive the bootstrap for the installer runs off of.
The oldest I've set up in the last couple of years was Redhat 7.sometthing on a 486DX2-66 (AMD!) w/ 32MB ram. That wen pretty smoothly, though I haven't run X on that box in a long time. My bus mouse (remember those? Mouse that came w/ a card...) quit working at some point so I just quit putting X on it.
 
no harm in trying, although some specs would be nice. I have a feeling the most annoying thing with this will be lack of memory. Although linux progs can almost always run on old hardware, the programmers usually assume you will be running a computer where each and every cpu cycle and kbyte of ram will make a difference. But with thingls like links and irssi, you should be ok.
 
Well, I wish I could give you guys some more speac, but my Dad doesn't know too much about them, and I haven't even laid my eyes on them yet...I'll let you know when it comes in...I was just trying to plan ahead with this...
 
It'll work on anything with an MMU. And, from my experience back in 1993-94, there are DOS programs that'll emulate an MMU, which you can load before loading the Linux bootloader.
 
Originally posted by skritch
It'll work on anything with an MMU. And, from my experience back in 1993-94, there are DOS programs that'll emulate an MMU, which you can load before loading the Linux bootloader.
Click to expand...

Or you can compile a custom kernel on a different (faster) machine, and enable MMU emulation. From there, you should be all good.

As others have said, you need at least a 386, although there are (few) 286 ports, but why would you bother? You most likely will not want to install X, as it is a pig, and you'll probably have space issues on the HDD's. glibc (required) on its own is ~150MB...

Good luck - your project sounds very geeky! ;)
 
Hey, thanks! I'm thinking of calling it either Project: Ressurection or Project: Tux...Not sure yet though...
 
X will work OK on some older hardware as long as you have enough memory, and don't use a hog of a window manager like GNOME or KDE. I've had success with twm on older systems, although I don't spend all that much time in the GUI...
 
I have 3 very old machines witin 20ft of me running Gentoo all installed from stage1.
1. Sun SparcStation5 110MHZ 256MB Ram, 2x2.1GB HDD, 4x10/100 lan
Runs 2.4.23, Xfree 4.3, and fluxbox 0.9.8
I've even compiled Firebird and thunderbird. This machine didn't have any purpose but learning when I set it up, but it's 143 day uptime with almost constant compiling has earned it an 18GB external SCSI HDD and a spot as an ftp server. X runs a 1024x768@75, but only 256 colors. Old grphics chips suck. It even plays mp3 fine using mpg123.

2. Hewlett Packard Vectra XU 5/90C upgraded to dual 150MHz 256MB Ram, voodoo3 2000 PCI, 1x6GB SCSI HDD, and a single 240MB IDE drive
Runs 2.4.23, Xfree 4.3, and a custom WM/app written just for our system.
It was also a machine that was taken down, and given to us as scrap. I put Linux on it because we have plenty 2K/XP machines, and NT4 is a bore. Very first dual processor machines I got to put Linux on. We had 4 that all came with single 90MHz. One died, one is running as a POS terminal instead of a cash register, and my bro-in-law has the last (I put in the 90 from the one that died for duals), and refuses to upgrade.

3. PowerMacintosh 7500/100 256MB Ram 2x4GB HDD
Rus 2.4.23-benh1, postfix spamassassin, (Xfree4.2, and fluxbox 0.9.8) rarely
I did/do cheat on it and pop whichever is available between a 604e@266, and a G3-300 on an Xlr8 board whenever I have to compile something.
It runs very well for an old machine, and serves as our faithful mail server.
 
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