Linux for old hardware.

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GeoffinOz

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Hi all.

I recently resurrected (broken power connector) an old EEE PC Model 1005HA. It's a 900mhz 32bit only Atom processor and shipped with a 160gb drive and 1gb of ram. Only one ram slot, but after I got it working, I scraped up a 2gb dimm for it. It shipped with XP and its still running it. HDD is good, even the battery is still good.
Might stick a used 240gb SSD in it which will likely improve the performance somewhat.

However it's getting very difficult to find a browser that somewhat works on it. I'm using the last version of Opera right now and it's fair to say its not happy on some sites.
2gb would run Win 7 although a bit slowly, but that's unsupported as well so not really helpful.
So... the obvious alternative is Linux... but which one? First, forget anything that's command line only. I want it to have a gui because I REALLY hate editing text with user angry text editors... I'm over it.

So, I'm asking the experienced out there for recommended 32bit Linux distributions that would be worth a try. Unfortunately, Linux seems to have dropped the 32bit ball of late so not sure if there are any maintained distros still out there and if they're built for Atoms, presumably X86 will work. No point putting an old distro on, I'll wind up with the same issues.

So I'd be pleased to hear of any suggestions. I have a lot of older hardware, mostly still in perfect working order that might also benefit from this, both 32 and 64 bit with limited memory so it's an area I'd like to really get into.

Thanks for your time.

Regards

GeoffinOz
 


@GeoffinOz :-

Show some pride in your national flag, mate. Run "Puppy" Linux! :p

(Posted in jest, perhaps? It obviously depends on what you see yourself doing with these old bits of kit, though Puppy is highly underrated.....and is way more capable than many would have you believe. A lot depends, too, on whether you see yourself as just a 'user'.....or do ya mind 'tinkering'?)


Mike. :D:D
 
With 2GB ram, add a swap partition of 2GB to help it out with modern browsers, it will still be slow with a 900MHz processor though.

As for a distro, pick one that uses a Window Manager, rather than a Desktop Environment.

(I run thin clients with 2GB ram & a 1.2GHz processor, using Firefox-esr on the internet without it being too slow.)
 
camtaf said:
With 2GB ram, add a swap partition of 2GB to help it out with modern browsers, it will still be slow with a 900MHz processor though.

As for a distro, pick one that uses a Window Manager, rather than a Desktop Environment.

(I run thin clients with 2GB ram & a 1.2GHz processor, using Firefox-esr on the internet without it being too slow.)
Click to expand...
Thanks I'll bear that in mind. I'm uncertain what the difference between a system with a window manager v desktop is however or which distros have which. Any advice?

Regards

GeoffinOz
 
I have an old netbook [similar low spec] currently running MX-32 bit [a tad slow but works] or consider AntiX 32 bit [the daddy of MX-32 bit, and a lot lighter]
 
GeoffinOz said:
However it's getting very difficult to find a browser that somewhat works on it.
Click to expand...

Last I knew, Chromium has a 32 bit version of their browser. That's FOSS and I find it to be a viable browser - but I'm using the 64 bit. I checked and it's even available as a .deb file. That would be my personal preference, given the limited selection.

You can grab Firefox in 32 bit from Mozilla's website. It should come as a compressed file and you'd then find the Firefox binary, set the executable bit, and click on that to open the browser. I say it this way because I have no idea what distro you'll end up using, but Firefox might just be in the repositories and trivially added to your device.

There is also Seamonkey which has an x86 version that is (I'm pretty sure) 32 bit. They have a 64 bit version beside it, but it's an option. I had a few minutes free, so I did a bit of a deep dive to see what was out there. It's not much.

Depending on the distro you end up with, Falkon might be in the default repos as a 32 bit build. That and Seamonkey would be relatively lightweight web browsers. Though Falkon probably doesn't support much in the way of browser add-ons, which you'll certainly want to use. (Blocking ads and using something like NoScript will make the web a much lighter place for your old computer.)

Finding an active project with a 32 bit Linux web browser is getting harder and harder. That hardware is fading further and further into obscurity and becoming less and less useful for modern tasks.

I'm not a programmer and the specifics are long-forgotten by me (as I didn't need to retain them) but modern browsers actually rely on specific chipset instructions and older CPUs don't support those instructions - is what I took away as a layperson. So, even if you get a browser working, browsing the web can be CPU-intensive, especially with heavier websites.

Whatever distro you end up going with should have at least some browser included. You can also pester that @MikeWalsh guy into helping you get started with Puppy. I'd normally suggest finding a way to properly recycle the device, but those little tiny computers are a nifty format.
 
GeoffinOz said:
I'm uncertain what the difference between a system with a window manager v desktop is however or which distros have which. Any advice?
Click to expand...
One example:-

Puppy's set-up, although it looks like a DE, is in fact achieved through a combination of JWM - Joe's Window Manager - and the 'pinboard' function offered by the ROX-filer file-manager.....which allows placement of desktop icons/shortcuts in the pinboard's grid, with native link-back to the rest of the file-system (thereby achieving the same functions as a standard DE, while at the same time being a LOT lighter on resources). Which is, frankly, what you need with most of the EeePC netbooks.

ROX takes some getting used-to for many folks.......but once you DO get used to it, quite a few of us won't even look at anything else.


Mike. ;)
 
I'm not sure that this will provide much, but I have and use a

Code: 
asus eepc 1000HE (intel atom n270, 1gb, intel mobile 945gse integrated)

in QA-testing of all i386 releases of Ubuntu, which meant up 19.04 (only Lubuntu & Xubuntu had i386 ISOs in the disco cycle), with the last supported being 18.04 which is now EOSS - thus I'd not suggest it!

My asus eepc runs Debian, thus its what I'd suggest.

My own has multiple DEs & WMs installed; and I select which I'll use at login time, considering what I'll do in the session, thus ensuring my apps and desktop/WM will share resources given my device only has limited RAM (1GB though I consider <5GB to be limited RAM). I've never been worried about extra installed packages; as with even 40GB of disk space you can fit every DE/WM there is.

Note: I'm rather partial to Debian & Ubuntu; whilst is not all I use, I don't often step beyond those unless I have a specific need where there is a better suited tool.
 
Last edited:
KGIII said:
Last I knew, Chromium has a 32 bit version of their browser. That's FOSS and I find it to be a viable browser - but I'm using the 64 bit. I checked and it's even available as a .deb file. That would be my personal preference, given the limited selection.

You can grab Firefox in 32 bit from Mozilla's website. It should come as a compressed file and you'd then find the Firefox binary, set the executable bit, and click on that to open the browser. I say it this way because I have no idea what distro you'll end up using, but Firefox might just be in the repositories and trivially added to your device.

There is also Seamonkey which has an x86 version that is (I'm pretty sure) 32 bit. They have a 64 bit version beside it, but it's an option. I had a few minutes free, so I did a bit of a deep dive to see what was out there. It's not much.

Depending on the distro you end up with, Falkon might be in the default repos as a 32 bit build. That and Seamonkey would be relatively lightweight web browsers. Though Falkon probably doesn't support much in the way of browser add-ons, which you'll certainly want to use. (Blocking ads and using something like NoScript will make the web a much lighter place for your old computer.)

Finding an active project with a 32 bit Linux web browser is getting harder and harder. That hardware is fading further and further into obscurity and becoming less and less useful for modern tasks.

I'm not a programmer and the specifics are long-forgotten by me (as I didn't need to retain them) but modern browsers actually rely on specific chipset instructions and older CPUs don't support those instructions - is what I took away as a layperson. So, even if you get a browser working, browsing the web can be CPU-intensive, especially with heavier websites.

Whatever distro you end up going with should have at least some browser included. You can also pester that @MikeWalsh guy into helping you get started with Puppy. I'd normally suggest finding a way to properly recycle the device, but those little tiny computers are a nifty format.
Click to expand...
Ok, I'm going to try Puppy initially. I have seen it on other older hardware and it's a little different, but seems to work ok. Otherwise it's tossed in with the rest of the ewaste, but it's such a handy size/shape so it has value to me, so I can use it or give it to the rubbish tip for nothing. So I'll use it til it's not usable.

I'm looking at several distros. I've just finished saving the XP installation to an image file on the NAS, in case I ever want to put XP back on. Then I'll have a play.

Thanks for your advice.


Cheers


GeoffinOz
 
GeoffinOz said:
....... I'm uncertain what the difference between a system with a window manager v desktop is however or which distros have which. Any advice?

Regards

GeoffinOz
Click to expand...
Desktop Environments use more ram, things like KDE/Gnome which have lots of built in programs, I think the lightest Desktop Environment would be LXDE, but even that would slow a 900MHz processor down.

Look for Window Managers like JWM, IceWM, Fluxbox, Openbox, etc. AntiX is a good suggestion, as it is purposely created for old computers, (but runs just as good on new ones too ;) ) - I used to use it myself on a regular basis, before switching over to Devuan. :)

Distros like SliTaz, Tiny Core Plus, Puppy, etc, are also worthy of a look, good luck & have fun. :)
 
Ok, well, I've tried a few now, all seem to work, however what is the fastest and works very well is not what I expected. MX worked but seemed slow... some issues with web browsing, wouldn't always find the page, however, I tried Linux Mint Debian Edition 32bit and it went very well indeed in live mode. So I'm installing it now. Couple of minor hiccups, the next buttons were off the screen, it seems ALT Left Click lets you drag it up. And the machine name - first time I tried got a read circle 'can't do that' icon... after consulting google, it seems it only allows lower case letters for the machine name for some odd reason. Who knew? Anyway, it's installing as we speak. I've taken a 'Ghost' image of the original XP but I don't think I'm going to want or need it.

Thanks to all of you for your help and advice and we seem to have a winner.

Kindest Regards

GeoffinOz
 
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