There have been multiple accounts created with the sole purpose of posting advertisement posts or replies containing unsolicited advertising.

Accounts which solely post advertisements, or persistently post them may be terminated.

Linux distro for an ancient Pentium PC

I need some help finding a distro for a very old machine.

It’s my family’s old desktop with 2001 components (bought in 2004) and a Pentium CPU that is NOT i686. I checked the exact model and architecture once but I don’t remember it now. The only thing I remember is that it’s not i686 so 99% of modern 32 bit distros don’t work on it (stuck right after grub).

The machine has 1 Gb of DDR1 RAM though so I think it may be useful or at least fun to play around with.

Now it’s on Windows XP that runs quite well but doesn’t support modern SSL certificates so it can’t browse the internet (idk how to fix it ok?).

A long time ago I tried to run multiple distros in live mode on it and got only one (Puppy) to work. Display, sound, ethernet and pretty much everything worked fine. GPU seemed to be an issue though because NVidia and I couldn’t install the driver (it was skill issue and I think it’s possible to do). But now it doesn’t work for some reason.

Are there any Linux distros or other operating systems (preferably not deprecated) that I can install on it? And btw it does have bootable USB support.

EDIT: There are way too many answers and a lot of ones that don’t mind the architecture limitations. I’m grateful to everyone who replied but I have to close this discussion now and I will not reply to further answers. I have received enough information and I cannot physically read so many replies.

HumanPerson ,

Boot to BIOS. That should show you either CPU arch. or an exact model that you can check on Intel’s website. It may be an issue entirely unrelated to the architecture.

LeFantome ,

Slackware says it still supports everything that the Linux kernel supports ( which would include Pentium ).

www.slackware.com/faq/do_faq.php?faq=general

Find it here:

linuxquestions.org/…/slackware-isos-and-torrents-…

fmstrat ,

Debian still works on i586 I think.

LeFantome , (edited )

I thought so too but nope…

www.debian.org/releases/…/ch-information.en.html#…

That said, this is a recent change ( Debian Bookworm ) and so Debian 11 ( Bullseye ) still supports Pentium. Debian 11.9 was just released in February.

wuphysics87 ,

Hannah Montana Linux. Unironically.

qjkxbmwvz ,

Can you post the CPU info? I think it should be available from the BIOS.

LeFantome , (edited )

What 32 bit distros have you tried? I would think most would still support Pentium as kernel support has not been removed.

AntiX and Q4OS are both decent choices.

For a machine that limited, I would probably give Damn Small Linux a shot:

www.damnsmalllinux.org

It is Debian based ( actually AntiX ) and so it has access to the full Debian universe ( 32 bit at least ) but has a curated list of applications well tailored to low-resource environments.

Some have said Debian is i686 only but this is what Debian says:

www.debian.org/ports/#:~:text=Debian supports all…,)%2C%20Cyrix%20and%20other%20manufacturers.&text=Port%20to%20the%20little%2Dendian,ISA%20and%20hardware%20floating%2Dpoint.

Edit: I take it back

www.debian.org/releases/…/ch-information.en.html#…

Debian, AntiX, DSL, MX, and Q4OS are all Debian based and so no longer support i586. What a shame.

Edit edit:

That said, this is a recent change ( Debian Bookworm ) and so Debian 11 ( Bullseye ) still supports Pentium. Debian 11.9 was just released in February.

owenfromcanada ,
@owenfromcanada@lemmy.world avatar

I’ll throw Alpine Linux into the mix. Not sure how well it supports older hardware, but it’s really small.

possiblylinux127 ,

Tinycore or maybe something custom with Gentoo or buildroot

TeddyKila ,

Is a cheap ARM SBC an option? You’d save like $80 per year just on power consumption, and could run a modern kernel.

boredsquirrel ,

T/2 SDE!

It supports everything

TCB13 ,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Now it’s on Windows XP that runs quite well but doesn’t support modern SSL certificates so it can’t browse the internet (idk how to fix it ok?).

Yes there are modernized versions of Windows XP with updated certificates and whatnot.

The only thing I remember is that it’s not i686 so 99% of modern 32 bit distros don’t work on it (stuck right after grub).

Debian has images for i386: cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/i386/

But… frankly the power consumption of that thing will be just crazy. Take for example this example, a more modern Pentium D vs a Pi:

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/59448465-4373-46f6-a58a-dec35fc8774f.png

browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/compare/6390478?base…

drwho ,
@drwho@beehaw.org avatar

Check out Slackware. There is still a 32-bit version that is said to work on older Pentium-class machines.

just_another_person ,

Just reading through the comments, and your post. You’d honestly have a much better time getting a Pi of some sort and just running that. This is antiquated hardware that is going to have all sorts of headaches even if you do get it running.

sem ,

Retro computing is a fun hobby though. I enjoy keeping the PC I built in 2006 running and out of the landfill

LeFantome ,

Have an upvote from me

Transform2942 ,

I found this in the wastelands of Google: howtogeek.com/linux-distributions-to-breathe-new-…

I read the guide and it seems pretty solid.

If it is not x86 is it the Itanium ISA?

nyan ,

If it were an Itanium, the OP would know it. They’re not common (and I doubt Puppy would have booted on such a system—it isn’t compatible with x86).

Also, support for that arch is being dropped from the Linux kernel as of 6.7.0, so looking for a supporting distro would be a fool’s quest (Gentoo still technically offers Itanium packages, but they’re on the way out.)

gnuhaut ,

Are you sure it’s not a 686? Because apparently the Pentium Pro from 1995 is already a 686, by 2001 the Pentium 4 was already out.

GolfNovemberUniform OP ,
@GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml avatar

Yes I am sure it’s not 686. 686 distros don’t boot anyways

gnuhaut ,

I’m still skeptical. At the time of the original Pentium (the last 586 from Intel, the fastest of which was 300 MHz), the usual amount of RAM was something like 16 or 32 MB. A 586 with 1 GB of RAM is extremely weird and probably impossible unless it’s some sort of high-end server. This does not check out.

Oh and DDR is also from around the time of the Pentium 4. I don’t think there exists a machine that has both DDR and an original Pentium (aka 586). Again, this does not check out and is probably impossible.

There could be another reason it won’t boot.

jcarax ,

Yeah, I’m with you. 2001 and DDR… there’s something else going on with the failure to boot. I don’t think the Pentium 3 ever supported DDR, so this is probably a Pentium 4. If truly a model released in 2001, it would be Willamette, but that required RDRAM. DDR support was introduced with Northwood in 2002. On the other hand, it could be the P4 that was new in 2004, Prescott, and the 2001 statement comes from the first year the P4 was released.

qjkxbmwvz ,

We really need to see info from the BIOS — exact CPU model, RAM speed, etc.

As others have pointed out, this is a pretty anachronistic build — i586 with DDR1 is just weird, so it’s possible there’s some really niche hardware and you may need an exotic kernel (or kernel options) to get anything to boot.

That said: have you just tried running a standard live or install CD from that time period? You could try booting a 2001 Slackware installer to see what happens.

qwioeue ,

Ya, that’s exactly my thought. I had Penitum 1 and Pentium 3/4 during those years. Pretty sure they are 686 and beyond.

LeFantome ,

Could even be Cryix or a VIA or something from back then. VIA lacked cmov and will not boot i686.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • [email protected]
  • random
  • lifeLocal
  • goranko
  • All magazines
    •