Athlon XP (2600), 2GB RAM, ATI 2600Pro AGP card - Needs Lightweight Distro AND non-SSE2 Browser

[SunTzuTech]

I have an Athlon XP (2600), 2GB of Ram and an ATI 2600Pro AGP card.

LinuxLite 3.8 loads, but Firefox aborts (probably sse2 extensions)
BodhiLinux didn't load, despite several attempts. Downloading again.
Lubuntu 18.08 32-bit loads, but Firefox aborts
Pepermint (32-bit) loads, but Firefox aborts

I'm running of out of distros to try....

 

[OSStuntman]

It sounds like you understand the problem is the browser. So it doesn't matter which of those distros you roll with. Have you tried Midori or K-Meleon?

I haven't kept up, It's been a good awhile since my 600E kicked of this mortal coil:

https://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=125659

 

[wizardfromoz]

MODERATOR'S NOTE:

I have copied these 2 Posts above from another Thread https://www.linux.org/threads/athlon-1000mhz-which-distro.21672/ in order to avoid confusion

Wizard

 

[wizardfromoz]

@SunTzuTech - apart from the inxi output I asked for at the other Thread, can you tell me:

1. Is Firefox a dealbreaker (if it is, you have little chance of success except with an unsupported version)? That is, are you willing to try other Browsers that DO support non-SSE2 ?

I'll wait on that output for Flags first before going further ... in your own time.

Cheers

Wizard

 

[SunTzuTech]

@SunTzuTech - apart from the inxi output I asked for at the other Thread, can you tell me:

1. Is Firefox a dealbreaker (if it is, you have little chance of success except with an unsupported version)? That is, are you willing to try other Browsers that DO support non-SSE2 ?

I'll wait on that output for Flags first before going further ... in your own time.

Cheers

Wizard

Just tried the bunsen (https://www.bunsenlabs.org/) 32-bit PAE build and firefox esr60 comes up. However, I can't seem to get the wifi adapter to connect to either my APs.

Since this is just a MB on a anti-static pad (I didn't even know if it would boot after 5-6 years) with a PS, video and K/M, i'm gonna need to get it moved so I can put it on the wired network.

I'll get the info you requested (inxi -f) once I get the package downloaded. I think I also have an old HP Athlon XP box hiding somewhere with a XP3200.

 

[wizardfromoz]

Well, THAT's a plus, on the FF ESR side (I prefer ESR over the regular, which I have been using since about 2002, having chosen it over Internet Explorer when I was still with Windows )

Someone mentioned Bunsen here the other day, I will have to look at it.

With regard to

Pepermint (32-bit) loads, but Firefox aborts

Mate a bloke named Mark Greaves, from Britain, is responsible for Peppermint. He is known as PCNetSpec, and where I and a few others here came from, he was also a Member there.

He has this

https://forum.peppermintos.com/index.php?topic=6002.0

... which also explains about Pale Moon, which I referred to over at the other Thread.

Cheers

Wizard

 

[SunTzuTech]

Thanks for your patience. I didn't think getting a 32-bit Linux live distro would be so involved. But I guess with SSE2 issue with Firefox, and my lack of use anything but RHEL CLI in the last 4 years (well, a bit of Ubuntu in a VM once in a while), my knowledge is a little behind the curve.

Anyway, here's the inxi -Fxs output (from the box using FF 60.3.0esr)


System: Host: debian Kernel: 4.9.0-8-686-pae i686 (32 bit gcc: 6.3.0) Desktop: Openbox 3.6.1
Distro: BunsenLabs GNU/Linux 9.6 (Helium)
Machine: Device: desktop Mobo: N/A model: K7VT4APro v: 1.0x serial: 00000000
BIOS: American Megatrends v: P1.80 date: 08/07/2006
CPU: Single core AMD Athlon XP 2600+ (-UP-) cache: 512 KB
flags: (pae sse) bmips: 3832 speed: 1916 MHz (max)
Graphics: Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] RV630 PRO [Radeon HD 2600 PRO AGP] bus-ID: 01:00.0
Display Server: X.org 1.19.2 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev,vesa)
tty size: 134x46 Advanced Data: N/A for root
Audio: Card-1 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] RV630 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 2600 PRO/XT / HD 3610]
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1
Card-2 VIA VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller driver: snd_via82xx port: c400 bus-ID: 00:11.5
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.9.0-8-686-pae
Network: Card: VIA VT6102/VT6103 [Rhine-II] driver: via-rhine port: c000 bus-ID: 00:12.0
IF: enp0s18 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: 00:13:8f:2a:6c:66
Drives: HDD Total Size: 15.8GB (7.7% used)
ID-1: USB /dev/sda model: USB_DISK_3.0 size: 15.8GB temp: 0C
Partition: ID-1: / size: 1010M used: 42M (5%) fs: overlay dev: N/A
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: No active sensors found. Have you configured your sensors yet? mobo: N/A gpu: 46.0
Info: Processes: 110 Uptime: 57 min Memory: 185.7/2020.0MB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: N/A

 

[wizardfromoz]

Thanks Mate, just wanted to check for sure that that SSE flag was there, so Pale Moon might be your best bet.

I'll download a Bunsen and install it and see about that wifi

Wizard

 

[wizardfromoz]

Or another alternative is called NetSurf

http://www.netsurf-browser.org/

Wizard

 

[Rattler]

I have LXLE 16.04.4 32-bit installed and it works great (AMD AthlonXP 2600 on MSI KVM4AM-V using 2Gb of DDR). It uses Mozilla Seamonkey as Browser. (I haven't tried the newest release 18.04.3, but I intend to.)

Raspberry Pi for Desktop OS (Stretch) also works fine, essentially it's Debian with Chromium browser.

Midori Browser also works well in this.

 

[JulienCC]

Hello,

I don't think that firefox has any raw ASM code in use but I might be wrong. SSE2 probably relies on compiler directives with hints in the code. So there's a chance that you can compile Firefox without SSE2 if you can get yours hands on the code.
I don't know how motivated you are but that could be an option.

 

[wizardfromoz]

@Rattler , @JulienCC - might be optimistic folks, the OP has not been active since 21 April ... but you never know, and thanks for helping (Julien, do you sleep? )

@Rattler , welcome to linux.org and if you get a chance, swing over to Member Introductions and tell us a bit of the Rattler story and meet a few of The Gang.

Friday here in Oz, so

Enjoy your Linux and

Avagudweegend

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

 

[JulienCC]

@Rattler , @JulienCC - might be optimistic folks, the OP has not been active since 21 April ... but you never know, and thanks for helping (Julien, do you sleep? )

Oops ! Lets hope someone else will be interested by our answers !

And yes, I sleep , but I'm jetlagged AF and I'm having a hard time getting sync with the sun again.