How old does your hardware go?

I still have my 1998 vintage Toshiba Libretto SS1010: 233MHz Pentium MMX processor, 2.1GB HDD, and 64MB of RAM running a somewhat stripped down and hacked version of Vector Linux Light 6.0. Yes, it's still useful.

I had a Pentium 133MHz system with 32MB of RAM that I was using as a backup server running a stripped down, minimal install of Ubuntu until last summer when the old box finally gave up the ghost.

My 1998 350MHz K6 generic laptop finally was retired last summer, too.

As of that time, it was running a full Debian Unstable install. I just didn't try to run KDE as the "desktop". I used Windowlab or OLWM or some other really light window manager, and with 128M of ram it ran every application (except video) just fine.

I simply didn't try to run more than one at the same time. :^)

In 2001 when I upgraded it from 64M to 128M of ram, the "old" speed ram wasn't available any more. Luckily the faster ram dealt with running at the old speed just fine.

Isn't hardware evolution amazing?

I recently posted my experiences in this thread:

http://lxer.com/module/forums/t/29194/

My more than ten year old, 233 Mhz Cyrix machine works just fine as a desktop running Vector Light. You don't want to run more than 3 apps at once, but even OOo runs great, as each new release keeps getting faster. Not suitable for numerical computing but more than good enough as a general purpose graphical desktop.

Just as important to me is that you can find a decent desktop for under $100 that will run most current Linux distros. You don't need to pay for a Windows license (the difference does matter) and you don't need to run security software in the background.

> My 1998 350MHz K6 generic laptop finally was retired last summer, too.

I still have an AMD K6-2 500 MHZ machine on hand as my emergency backup machine. It hasn't been powered on for quite a while, and I'd want to reload it with a current version of Slackware if I decided to use it (I believe it has 10.2 on it), but it was still quite usable when I retired it.

The oldest machine I use on a day to day basis is an IBM ThinkPad 600, 300MHz PII, 288M RAM (maxed), 40G HD (replaced the original 6G). I think they quit making this model in 1999, I bought it used off eBay with no OS in 2001. Other than maxing the RAM, upgrading the hardware and replacing both the main battery and the CMOS battery it has been running Linux just fine since I got it. Heck, the main battery I replaced in 2001 still holds a bit of a charge. They just don't make 'em like that anymore.

I came across this article and had a bit of a laugh. [url=http://www.dailytech.com/Tinkerer Squeezes Windows 7 Onto Pentium II System/article15509.htm]http://www.dailytech.com/Tinkerer Squeezes Windows 7 Onto Pe...[/url] Since it follows the same premise as this discussion, but from the description Windows isn't really usable on the old hardware.

Quoting:Don't expect a quick install, though -- a Pentium III-based system install took 17 continuous hours, and the Pentium II install likely took much, much more. The Pentium III based system boots in a mere 17 minutes.

I'm on my 1999 Micron 550 MHz P-III with 768 Meg of RAM (maxed out). The disk controller is only using 33 MHz IDE but Zenwalk runs fine on it. I just have to tell the Lilo bootloader to do use advanced power management otherwise it stays on when I shut it down from upstairs (it requires you to touch the power button for some reason).

I can boot Zenwalk in a couple of minutes. 17 minutes to boot Vista 7? I thought the microkernal design allows you to logon before all the services spin up giving the illusion of faster boot time.