This P4 is almost the same as my desktop
My specs are :
Pentium 4 HT 3.0 Prescott
1024 DDR1 400
Intel 865 (Intel desktop board D865PERL)
Ati 9250
Arch linux
Latest KDE / Xorg / Xf86-video-ati / Kernel 2.6.38
And it runs perfectly well
I run the same setup on several older P4's (down to Celeron 1.7 with 512 DDR1) and it works acceptable for basic use
I run it on my notebook (Celeron M 1.4 with 1024 DDR2) and it works fast
The factors i notice in importance order (first = most important) :
Memory size - try to put there at least 768-1024 M
If memory size is limited - hard drive speed (for the swap)
Memory type - system with DDR2 is hell faster than DDR1 even with slower CPU (Celeron M 1.4 vs Pentium 4 HT 3.0 Prescott)
Graphics - anything with working direct rendering (in KDE atleast)
CPU - there is little difference between Pentium / Celeron or different clock speeds, moderate difference with different FSB speeds, and maximum difference with vs without HT
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How An Old Pentium 4 System Runs With Ubuntu 10.04, 10.10
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2.4.37.11
make that 2.4.37.11
Originally posted by squirrl View PostMaintenance isn't too bad on old systems. Bind, SSH and the kernel are what I normally would worry about.
For example, Slackware 9.1 came with XFree86 4.3.0. As far as maintenance, it's mostly updating the Bind and SSH if you use those.
2.6.38.3 seems to be the most recent stable 2.4 kernel.
Four hours of work will net you a cohesive legacy computing experience. Legacy is a good thing. Be amazed at the speed old Linux nets on old hardware.
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old post
Originally posted by Chad Page View PostAre there any 2.4/old-XFree distros out there that are even vaguely security-patched? RH 6.2 was pretty bad when it was new, IIRC.
Maybe it's time for a hybrid old/new distribution, but that's quite a bit of effort really.
For example, Slackware 9.1 came with XFree86 4.3.0. As far as maintenance, it's mostly updating the Bind and SSH if you use those.
2.6.38.3 seems to be the most recent stable 2.4 kernel.
Four hours of work will net you a cohesive legacy computing experience. Legacy is a good thing. Be amazed at the speed old Linux nets on old hardware.
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Centos 3'd make a lot of sense actually for these kinds of things.
Sadly since all-intel systems tended to work better in the first place, and so many P4/Athlon-era boards have died of bad caps... I don't know how much work's being done with older non-all-intel systems. Feels like the instutional knowledge so to speak's faded away.
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Originally posted by Chad Page View PostAre there any 2.4/old-XFree distros out there that are even vaguely security-patched? RH 6.2 was pretty bad when it was new, IIRC.
Maybe it's time for a hybrid old/new distribution, but that's quite a bit of effort really.
-HF
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Are there any 2.4/old-XFree distros out there that are even vaguely security-patched? RH 6.2 was pretty bad when it was new, IIRC.
Maybe it's time for a hybrid old/new distribution, but that's quite a bit of effort really.
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Originally posted by etnlWings View PostI've found an old Pentium 586 w/ 64mb of RAM and a very crude VGA card can still run acceptably, given the right setup. I actually spent a couple of days using it w/ Debian Sid, Joe's Window Manager, Kazakase(sp), Claws. It wasn't fun but it did run acceptably. Only downside was the VGA card, which should have supported 1024x768, would only go as high as 800x600. I spent a lot of time horizontally scrolling across webpages.
The craziest thing was realising how crap that old Sound Blaster 16 sounds by today's standards.
For machines this old I use XFree86 4.3 and a good 2.4 kernel.
OSS was better on the sb16. I agree with the other poster. AWE32 support was neat if I recall correctly. Used to have to hand install the sound banks. Good old slackware... Redhat 6.2 would probably do wonders on that old box.
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That's good to hear. Time for some updating in that case, and hopefully these patches will make it into distributions soon.
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Originally posted by W3ird_N3rd View PostSo far, I've had mostly (or only) negative experiences with KMS on Lucid. Radeon RS690? Flickers and sometimes freezes the whole machine for no reason.
Originally posted by W3ird_N3rd View PostRadeon 8500 (R200)? Brightness and contrast messed up.
Originally posted by W3ird_N3rd View PostRadeon 7000 (RV100)? Xvideo does not work.
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Originally posted by W3ird_N3rd View PostSo far, I've had mostly (or only) negative experiences with KMS on Lucid. Radeon RS690? Flickers and sometimes freezes the whole machine for no reason. Radeon 8500 (R200)? Brightness and contrast messed up. Radeon 7000 (RV100)? Xvideo does not work.
And all those issues are solved by disabling KMS. radeon.modeset=0 and the sun shines again. I wonder if this would also improve 3D performance.
Would be interesting to see the tests being done again without KMS. These older chips are nothing but trouble with KMS.
My personal experience with two such motherboards (S754/AGP), two processors (3200+ and 3400+), and two video cards (ATi 9000 and 9550) was that Ubuntu 9.10 and 10.04 was unusable on any combination of the this hardware, with FOSS or last 2 versions of proprietary drivers. Crashing, video corruption, or 50% booting to a black screen with 9.10 and 10.04 caused me to give up on them.
Oh, yeah, besides 8.04 they still run Windows XP just fine.
So I'd like to see this test done with something less compatible than an all-Intel system. That would show how bad things really are for old hardware users trying new distros.
Thank you, xorg. Thanks a lot. For nothing.
-HF
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