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

hd_scania · 04-11-2017, 07:53 AM

Hello, my friend has a ‘legacy’ hardware whose motherboard and hard drives were OEM by HP and before 2009, and i have no time to check out its BIOS device if shown with UEFI OS compatibility (UEFI has been since 2005), before it can be installed with my NelsonOS and nowaays Arch. (both are rolling; NelsonOS is Tumbleweed-derived, see: https://susestudio.com/u/hdscania)

Soadyheid · 04-11-2017, 05:36 PM

Hi and welcome to Linux Questions!

Is your friend's system an HP one as you insinuate? If so, can you give us the model number?
I'm running a 2nd hand, broker supplied, 2009 HP Z400 workstation (no UEFI) which, like all the HP systems I can think of, has no problem running Linux.

Hope that helps.

Play Bonny!

frankbell · 04-11-2017, 08:13 PM

It might help to know what CPU and how much RAM.

hd_scania · 04-11-2017, 08:34 PM

This hardware has been an HP MicroTower whose architecture is x64, finally whose RAM are <= 3.72G (as told to you it was BEFORE 2009).
But will

Code:

/boot/grub

be wrought to be acted as BIOS-GRUB bootloaders (instead of GRUB-EFI) under an MBR drive before installing any NON-RPM Linux distro?

Timothy Miller · 04-11-2017, 08:54 PM

64-bit and 4 GB ram? Yeah, it'll run just fine.

frankbell · 04-11-2017, 09:08 PM

I agree. That's plenty brawny for any contemporary Linux distro.

hd_scania · 04-16-2017, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timothy Miller

64-bit and 4 GB ram? Yeah, it'll run just fine.

Do you mean GPT-BIOS or just MBR? MBR is just not wrought for RPM distro, also GPT-BIOS needs his BIOS to support UEFI OS, so that should i need him to UPGRADE HIS DISK as GPT over MBR???

Timothy Miller · 04-17-2017, 09:59 AM

The only (common) advantage of GPT over MBR is parition size limitations in some filesystems. Most likely the board being that old won't support UEFI, so he won't have a choice in which to use. Which is no big deal, I'm not aware of any linux distro that REQUIRES uefi (although maybe Intel's might, I know it has some odd requirements), so he'd be just fine sticking with MBR.

Soadyheid · 04-17-2017, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Hello, my friend has a ‘legacy’ hardware whose motherboard and hard drives were OEM by HP and before 2009

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

Quote:

HP <Whatever-system-you-got-from Partsurfer> Quickspecs

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!

fatmac · 04-17-2017, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hd_scania

Hello, my friend has a ‘legacy’ hardware whose motherboard and hard drives were OEM by HP and before 2009, ..............

I run a Linux desktop installation on a HP from 2003 - 2.8GHz Pentium 4 with 1GB ram - Firefox works OK, just runs a little slow.

hd_scania · 04-24-2017, 10:28 PM

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?

hd_scania · 04-25-2017, 01:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatmac

I run a Linux desktop installation on a HP from 2003 - 2.8GHz Pentium 4 with 1GB ram - Firefox works OK, just runs a little slow.

But have Linux distro been followed up for EFI since 2005 thanks? Can your HP hardware still be installed with nowadays Linux thanks?

hd_scania · 04-25-2017, 01:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timothy Miller

The only (common) advantage of GPT over MBR is parition size limitations in some filesystems. Most likely the board being that old won't support UEFI, so he won't have a choice in which to use. Which is no big deal, I'm not aware of any linux distro that REQUIRES uefi (although maybe Intel's might, I know it has some odd requirements), so he'd be just fine sticking with MBR.

Honestly YES, there have been FEW rpm distro NEEDING UEFI, especially Fedora, also I have been a SuSE community developer which you have an option if you wanna NEED UEFI with legacy MBR compatibility removal, and there are ONLY FEW SuSE derivatives still MBR compatible.
On-the-other-hand most NON-rpm distro are mostly still compatible with MBR, like EXPLICITLY Ubuntu and Arch .

fatmac · 04-25-2017, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hd_scania

But have Linux distro been followed up for EFI since 2005 thanks? Can your HP hardware still be installed with nowadays Linux thanks?

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.)

Shadow_7 · 04-25-2017, 09:48 AM

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.