[SOLVED] Is this hardware capable to install nowadays Linux?

hd_scania · 04-29-2017, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow_7

Sadly outspecs ALL of my current machines. Even some purchased in late 2014. It'll run most linux's just fine. You probably need to choose MBR partitioning and use disks < 2TB, but doable. If it's >= 2006 you could boot USB as well, which makes it super easy. Take whatever bootable USB you use on your other devices and try it out.

Ok, however which nowadays non-rpm but lightweight distro are good for MBR? AntiX? Arch? Slackware mini? Tinycore?

hd_scania · 04-29-2017, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soadyheid

Can you find a part number on the motherboard? It'll look something like 461438-001, which you can stick in HP Partsurfer to find out exactly what sort of system it came out of. Use the, "Click here to see the list of HP Products that Part Number <whatever-you've-got>is used in" to get a list. (It may fit more than one Type; Desktop/Tower/Rackmount, but probably the same model)

Then, if you Google for you'll get all the HP options; different builds, CPUs, Memory, Storage options, etc including supported OS' and other useful info.

Hope that's of some use.

Play Bonny!

Code:

HP s5608hk BW489aa mATX
Pentium x64 dual E5700 3GHz
BIOS 6.05 withOUT UEFI EXPLICITLY mentioned
1.86G PC3-6400 DDR3

The metadata from his hardware are above, and is this an MBR-only hardware? Do we say only Ubuntu, AntiX, Arch, Slackware mini, Tinycore etc will be wrought for him, hence he is thrown away against the most rpm distro?

hd_scania · 04-29-2017, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatmac

Latest 32bit version of AntiX will run on it.

http://antix.mepis.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

(Likely any other 32bit lightweight distro will also happily run on it.)

Is your HP hardware already thrown away of the rpm ones and GPT-needed ones? My one (an GPT-ready oldschool laptop) is still supported for modern x64 rpm distro, and i am ow on F26.

Timothy Miller · 04-29-2017, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hd_scania

Ok, however which nowadays non-rpm but lightweight distro are good for MBR? AntiX? Arch? Slackware mini? Tinycore?

All the above, along with Fedora, Ubuntu, Mint, Suse, Arch...to my knowledge, there isn't a single distribution that has dropped support for MBR installations, some simply have gotten EFI support better or worse than others.

fatmac · 04-29-2017, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hd_scania

Is your HP hardware already thrown away of the rpm ones and GPT-needed ones? My one (an GPT-ready oldschool laptop) is still supported for modern x64 rpm distro, and i am ow on F26.

This old 2003 machine, I believe, requires a 32 bit system, but AntiX has 64bit systems that will work with or without UEFI on newer machines.

Most of my other machines, desktops, laptops, & netbooks are running the latest 64 bit AntiX 6.1.

Shadow_7 · 04-29-2017, 05:14 PM

MBR is just a partition scheme. Older bios-es won't boot GPT, the newer scheme for disks > 2TB. And some 32 bit bios-es on 64 bit machines might require things like refind to boot a 64 bit OS. If your distro doesn't do MBR, you can still "move" the distro to an MBR scheme after installation on another machine. Using rsync can do that in short order. You just need to update the boot loader and the /etc/fstab to know it's "new" location. If you're not that up on system administration, that's why we have many distros to choose from, even though most of them run the same software, plus or minus a version number or more.

hd_scania · 04-30-2017, 05:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow_7

MBR is just a partition scheme. Older bios-es won't boot GPT, the newer scheme for disks > 2TB. And some 32 bit bios-es on 64 bit machines might require things like refind to boot a 64 bit OS. If your distro doesn't do MBR, you can still "move" the distro to an MBR scheme after installation on another machine. Using rsync can do that in short order. You just need to update the boot loader and the /etc/fstab to know it's "new" location. If you're not that up on system administration, that's why we have many distros to choose from, even though most of them run the same software, plus or minus a version number or more.

However how to be told if an x64 hardware with BIOS after 2005 is supported for UEFI? Is this BIOS needed to EXPLICITLY mention UEFI or the derived terms? If so x64 distro just aren’t to be chosen for my friend.
Also you just dnt need to worry myself which my hardware tells UEFI from a BIOS in 2010, hence GPT surely supported.

hd_scania · 04-30-2017, 05:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatmac

This old 2003 machine, I believe, requires a 32 bit system, but AntiX has 64bit systems that will work with or without UEFI on newer machines.
Most of my other machines, desktops, laptops, & netbooks are running the latest 64 bit AntiX 6.1.

SURELY and EXPLICITLY this hardware i have been said is made JUST BEFORE EFI sources to release, hence why you are limited to install x86 distro.

onebuck · 04-30-2017, 07:54 AM

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

Quote:

Originally Posted by hd_scania

SURELY and EXPLICITLY this hardware i have been said is made JUST BEFORE EFI sources to release, hence why you are limited to install x86 distro.

Hope this link will help to define; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unifie...ware_Interface

Quote:

The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a specification that defines a software interface between an operating system and platform firmware. UEFI replaces the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) firmware interface originally present in all IBM PC-compatible personal computers,[1][2] with most UEFI firmware implementations providing legacy support for BIOS services. UEFI can support remote diagnostics and repair of computers, even with no operating system installed.[3]
Intel developed the original Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) specification. Some of the EFI's practices and data formats mirror those from Microsoft Windows.[4][5] In 2005, UEFI deprecated EFI 1.10 (the final release of EFI). The Unified EFI Forum is the industry body that manages the UEFI specification.

Most of the time you can enter BIOS and confirm by investigation if MBR or UEFI.

You should also get information via your hardware manufactures information as to which is supported. I suggest that a visit to the manufactures web site should lead you to a solution.

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!

fatmac · 05-01-2017, 02:46 PM

I'm thinking the OP may be getting confused as they appear not to be a native English speaker, so I will just state the following & leave it at that.

AntiX 6.1 (the latest version), will run on the following :-

32bit MBR - 64bit MBR - 64bit GPT - 64bit UEFI

hd_scania · 05-02-2017, 01:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onebuck

Hi,
Welcome to LQ!
Hope this link will help to define; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unifie...ware_Interface
Most of the time you can enter BIOS and confirm by investigation if MBR or UEFI.
You should also get information via your hardware manufactures information as to which is supported. I suggest that a visit to the manufactures web site should lead you to a solution.
Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!

I know of course what are UEFI and EFI (thanks for your info☺☺☺), so i think other ppl replying here have been confused between the TWO HARDWARE and i need to clarify here.☺
My laptop:

Code:

rEFInd is installed under /dev/sda2 in an GPT drive
UEFI is enabled under the traditional BIOS

My friend's HP desktop:

Code:

A BIOS bootloader is installed under /dev/sda1 in an MBR drive
Also traditional BIOS but no UEFI keywords are visible to me (GPT-averse?)
Hardware metadata:
HP s5608hk BW489aa mATX
Pentium x64 dual E5700 3GHz
BIOS 6.05 without UEFI keywords shown to me (GPT-averse?)
1.86G PC3-6400 DDR3

I hope this helps to define which Linux distro could be installed in HIS DESKTOP.

hd_scania · 05-02-2017, 04:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatmac

I'm thinking the OP may be getting confused as they appear not to be a native English speaker, so I will just state the following & leave it at that.

AntiX 6.1 (the latest version), will run on the following :-
32bit MBR - 64bit MBR - 64bit GPT - 64bit UEFI

Do you stand for which my friend is limited to amd86 distro which his BIOS has not told UEFI to me?
And do you stand for, amd86 arch is EXCLUSIVE against GPT? If so, it is stood for, ‘‘legacy’’ hardware are NO LONGER supported under Fedora and openSuSE.

Shadow_7 · 05-02-2017, 09:02 AM

Not Supported != Not work

Lots of not supported things still work. You just give up the call for help option (officially anyway).

I have at least one UEFI system that doesn't seem to support booting from GPT partitioning. So even if you're on UEFI and not BIOS / CMOS, then that doesn't mean you can boot GPT. At least directly, once the boot loader or OS is running your options extend beyond the limits of UEFI / BIOS / CMOS / ... Be it booting grub on a cdrom to boot USB on a pre-2006 machine. Or chainloading via configfile from a usb MBR stick to a GPT ssd inside the box like I do atm. Lots of options, not all of them applicable to folks who like it simple.

I tend to favor debian. It seems to support the following.

amd64
arm64
armel (armv4)
armhf (armv7)
i386
mips
mipsel
powerpc
ppc64el
s390x

(based on the download options from cdimage.debian.org). Only recently was support for sparc dropped.

hd_scania · 05-03-2017, 02:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow_7

Not Supported =/= Not work
Lots of not supported things still work. You just give up the call for help option (officially anyway).
I have at least one UEFI system that doesn't seem to support booting from GPT partitioning. So even if you're on UEFI and not BIOS / CMOS, then that doesn't mean you can boot GPT. At least directly, once the boot loader or OS is running your options extend beyond the limits of UEFI / BIOS / CMOS / ... Be it booting grub on a cdrom to boot USB on a pre-2006 machine. Or chainloading via configfile from a usb MBR stick to a GPT ssd inside the box like I do atm. Lots of options, not all of them applicable to folks who like it simple.
I tend to favor Debian. It seems to support the following.
amd64, arm64, armel (armv4), armhf (armv7), i386, mips, mipsel, powerpc, ppc64el, s390x
(based on the download options from cdimage.debian.org). Only recently was support for sparc dropped.

Do you stand your ‘‘UEFI system’’ for??? An UEFI APP like rEFInd? UEFI-preferred DISTRO those might be struggled w/o an UEFI app? An UEFI-based HARDWARE system?
Debian MATTERS which you stand ‘‘UEFI system’’ for a HARDWARE system, honestly Debian has specified PLENTY legacy architectures to its live installers.
Debian DOES NOT MATTER which you stand ‘‘UEFI system’’ for UEFI APPS or UEFI-preferred DISTRO, which the legacy architectures are NOT MOSTLY supported under them.

sageb1 · 05-03-2017, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hd_scania

I have been ultimately said a brief of his specs:

Code:

HP s5608hk BW489aa mATX
Pentium x64 dual E5700 3GHz
BIOS 6.05 withOUT UEFI EXPLICITLY mentioned
1.86G PC3-6400 DDR3

Is he capable to install nowadays Linux, esp UEFI needed ones?

Yes, most Linux distributions will install.

A safe bet Ubuntu will. So may the latest version of OpenSUSE. I will go out on a limb and confirm that Arch will install, even though I have never used it.

64-bit Linux distribs will install.