Slackware14 RC2 on old hardware

kingbeowulf · 08-21-2012, 04:27 PM

Short answer: Yes!

Posting this from my oldest x86 heap still alive: 1998? Compaq Armada E500 and still has the original Win98 sticker. D-Link 802.11g PCMCIA card.

Code:

lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03)
00:04.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1225 (rev 01)
00:04.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1225 (rev 01)
00:07.0 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02)
00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)
00:07.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01)
00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 03)
00:08.0 Multimedia audio controller: ESS Technology ES1978 Maestro 2E (rev 10)
00:09.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557/8/9/0/1 Ethernet Pro 100 (rev 09)
00:09.1 Serial controller: Agere Systems LT WinModem
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Rage Mobility P/M AGP 2x (rev 64)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR2413/AR2414 Wireless Network Adapter [AR5005G(S) 802.11bg] (rev 01)

Code:

uname -a
Linux beorn 3.2.27-smp #1 SMP Mon Aug 13 16:23:23 CDT 2012 i686 Pentium III (Coppermine) GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

Code:

lscpu
Architecture:          i686
CPU op-mode(s):        32-bit
Byte Order:            Little Endian
CPU(s):                1
On-line CPU(s) list:   0
Thread(s) per core:    1
Core(s) per socket:    1
Socket(s):             1
NUMA node(s):          1
Vendor ID:             GenuineIntel
CPU family:            6
Model:                 8
Stepping:              10
CPU MHz:               895.998
BogoMIPS:              1791.99
NUMA node0 CPU(s):     0

Code:

free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:           239        235          3          0         11         80
-/+ buffers/cache:        143         95
Swap:          972          8        964

I still have a few tweaks to do to free up same RAM. Fluxbox and Xfce are ok but forgot about KDE. The "home" and "email" buttons even work! I haven't tested the 56K modem (how retro!). Webm youtube kinda/sorta works (need more ram).

Sure, I've got multicore, multigigabyte boxes. Sure, its old but for light GUI use, and even then IRC, email etc can be done in CLI, this laptop is perfectly useable. So why toss it?

Thanks, Pat, for another fine Slackware release.

mrascii · 08-21-2012, 06:47 PM

Thanks for posting the output of /proc/cpuinfo kingbeowulf!

Anyone up for a Slackware Limbo party? How low can you go?

DNA
AKA mrascii

hitest · 08-21-2012, 07:19 PM

kingbeowulf,

Nice!

I have an aging IBM eServer, an 850 MHz Celeron with 768 MB RAM that I have reluctantly moved down to my basement (keeping it as a spare router). It runs slackware-current very well indeed with Fluxbox.

the3dfxdude · 08-21-2012, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingbeowulf

Webm youtube kinda/sorta works (need more ram).

Did you try without flash?

kingbeowulf · 08-21-2012, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the3dfxdude

Did you try without flash?

Yes, HTML5, webm with VP8. A bit jittery but workable, you have to pick essentially VHS resolution. Kinda like web video back in the 90s! Part of this might be that I still need to tweak the ATI Rage 3D settings for the mach64 driver.

I haven't tried flash yet and dont think I will as its a big fat sow

the3dfxdude · 08-21-2012, 11:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingbeowulf

Yes, HTML5, webm with VP8. A bit jittery but workable, you have to pick essentially VHS resolution. Kinda like web video back in the 90s! Part of this might be that I still need to tweak the ATI Rage 3D settings for the mach64 driver.

I haven't tried flash yet and dont think I will as its a big fat sow

I recommend you try a browser plugin for MPlayer that can play youtube videos. There was FlashVideoReplacer, which I think is what I used on a 500 MHz laptop from 2000 that I installed Slackware 13.37 back in December. It ran perfectly for the videos I ran. I can't remember if that machine had 128 MB or 256 MB. I did have to try not to open too many tabs

So I think if you are under 128 MB of ram, you'll likely have ram problems with the browser.

If the plugin or browser is too much trouble, you can still try youtube-dl and playing the file directly. I used to use MPlayer on P1 and P2 systems back in the early days (2001-2002) and it worked wonderfully with large videos (not HD standard by today's means, but that isn't the goal right?). I'm guessing your system is similar, but could be ram limited...

kingbeowulf · 08-21-2012, 11:55 PM

Thanks. I just used youtube just as an example so not viewing there is not a show stopper. I use gnome-mplayer/gecko-mediaplayer as the mplayer front end and plugin and can play a variety of vids off the hard drive, just not quite >720p. The wee lappy just needs a bit of tweaking and trimming (KDE has got to go). This laptop had Slack12.2 and Salix 13.37 LXDE until I tried -current. OOTB, Slackware has gotten a bit bloated. The biggest issue is not ram/cpu but the mach64 driver lacking proper support. The Rage 3D GPU was not half bad back in the day playing back DVD quality video.

andrew.46 · 08-22-2012, 03:24 AM

Hmmmm.... I have a Latitude D520 (1.8 dual core processor / 2gig ram / intel graphics) currently running Slackware 13.0 and Fluxbox, might be worth a look at 14.0 with the same window manager.

kingbeowulf · 08-22-2012, 01:03 PM

With a dual core I wouldn't call that "old hardware" !

It will run spiffy even with KDE and Xfce. The new kernel really boosts intelhd performance.

andrew.46 · 08-22-2012, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingbeowulf

With a dual core I wouldn't call that "old hardware" !

It will run spiffy even with KDE and Xfce. The new kernel really boosts intelhd performance.

Well, I may try it with the full release version when it arrives. This particular laptop was more than a little twitchy with the intel graphics under versions of Slackware greater than 13.0. Lots of blackscreens, and various other graphics oddities which eventually became too much work to troubleshoot, it is my backup machine after all. But perhaps things will be better with newer kernel, 14.0 etc.

kingbeowulf · 08-26-2012, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrew.46

Well, I may try it with the full release version when it arrives. This particular laptop was more than a little twitchy with the intel graphics under versions of Slackware greater than 13.0. Lots of blackscreens, and various other graphics oddities which eventually became too much work to troubleshoot, it is my backup machine after all. But perhaps things will be better with newer kernel, 14.0 etc.

So far Slackware14 RC3 is running great on my work laptop, Dell Latitude E6400, intel mobile 4 chipset, P9500 Core 2 Duo 2.53GHz.

As now just rebooted the old heap. So far, so good!

andrew.46 · 09-02-2012, 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingbeowulf

With a dual core I wouldn't call that "old hardware" !

It will run spiffy even with KDE and Xfce. The new kernel really boosts intelhd performance.

I have actually installed rc3 or 4 on this laptop and sure enough kde runs quite well on it

. Starting to warm to kde after all my time with fluxbox but I will muck around with this installation until the release version arrives and then decide...

wigry · 09-02-2012, 05:09 AM

Well how low can yu go? It depends what do you really want to do with the computer. Kernel itself is capable booting probably even on 386 but as majority of Slackware is compiled for 486, then probably that is the lowest you can go. It used to be possible to install Slack with 4MB RAM but I guess the requirement now is 16MB or so.

So to get login prompt and command line available, needs very little resources. The version of slackware is totally irrelevant. it does not matter if it is Slack 8, 9, 10, ..., 13.37, 14, ithe lowest level has changed very little. You need the power to run fancy GUI, but even Slack 14 will include lean window managers that will get the job done with really low-end computers (486, Pentium, PII) like FVWM, WindowMaker etc.

Have a look at yourself. Here I described the evolution of Slackware since version 8.1
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...3/#post4448544

onebuck · 09-02-2012, 07:09 AM

Hi,

From Slackware-HOWTO

Quote:

128 megabytes (128MB) or more of RAM. If you have less RAM than this, you might still be able to install, but if so don't expect the best possible experience. You also will need some disk space to install Slackware. For a complete installation, you'll probably want to devote a 10GB *or larger* partition completely to Slackware (you'll need almost 6GB for a full default installation, and then you'll want extra space when you're done). If you haven't installed Slackware before, you may have to experiment. If you've got the drive space, more is going to be better than not enough. Also, you can always install only the first software set (the A series containing only the basic system utilities) and then install more software later once your system is running.

Biggest problem with older hardware is: 'How are you going to boot the installer?'. Some older hardware would not boot from CD or even have 'USB'. Your other restrictions may be BIOS if you do have a boot CD on that hardware.

Some hardware that people do think is old, say circa 2000 and up should not have a problem booting installer. You may experience problems with legacy hardware but that too can be worked around hopefully.

mrascii · 09-02-2012, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onebuck

Hi,

From Slackware-HOWTOBiggest problem with older hardware is: 'How are you going to boot the installer?'. Some older hardware would not boot from CD or even have 'USB'. Your other restrictions may be BIOS if you do have a boot CD on that hardware.

Some hardware that people do think is old, say circa 2000 and up should not have a problem booting installer. You may experience problems with legacy hardware but that too can be worked around hopefully.

About three years ago I was given an "old" ThinkPad 240 netbook. Of course the term netbook wasn't around when the ThinkPad was new but it was the same size and about as powerful as the current netbooks. It only had an external floppy drive -- no CD-ROM or USB. At that time Debian still had a set of install floppies and PCMCIA wifi was supported and I was able to do the install over the network at the coffee shop. Sweet!

I wish usbbook.img had support for wifi.

DNA
AKA mrascii