Sure, but you won't be getting security updates (which is, of course, the biggest problem with any computer still using Windows XP).

This is the main reason why I took the chance to upgrade my Windows 7 computer to Windows 10. Some years down the road, I don't want to be saddled with Windows 7 EOL. Windows 10 delays that problem.

It's the reason why I do upgrade my Debian computers to the latest Debian stable...at some point. The generous overlapping support windows mean that I don't really have to hurry, and I can get comfortable with the upgrade process on some of my less critical computers before diving in and upgrading the rest.

So, if I were still actually using any i586 Pentium computers, I'd be stuck with Debian 8 Jessie and I'd be thinking of retiring them. Only...it's unlikely any of my i586 Pentium computers could even be upgraded to enough RAM to run even Debian 8 Jessie, so the point would have been moot. As it is, I discarded everything older than Pentium II ages ago, and all of my Pentium II stuff died some time ago. I just couldn't cobble together any working combination of Slot 1 CPU and Slot 1 motherboard at some point...so I threw them away. The oldest stuff I have that's functional is Pentium III/Pentium M era. This is several generations newer than the stuff Debian 9 Jessie has dropped support for, so...I'm just not worried about it at all.

https://fossbytes.com/debian-is-drop...e-in-debian-9/

Edited to add: I didn't read above properly, i686 is still supported but not the CPUs before that. I saw what I wanted to see and not what it really said.

Dude, try reading your link. It says it is dropping support for older 32-bit CPUs, just like I said. All CPUs that are Pentium Pro or newer continue to be supported. That's i686 and better. Like I said, the supported processors include:

Pentium Pro
Pentium II
Celeron (all!)
Pentium III
Pentium 4
everything newer also, including Atom.

The unsupported processors are:

8086
80286
80386
486
Pentium
Some obscure Pentium/Pentium Pro hybrids

That is all. The only processors where support actually dropped are:

Pentium
Some obscure Pentium/Pentium Pro hybrids

Debian had already dropped support for 486 and older years ago.

Xwindows is crashing about once a week or every two weeks on my older PC these days. I mostly have it running all the time and have a few apps open. Last time it crashed I cleaned the insides of much dust and thought it will help but it crashed again just today.

Found related link:
https://www.howtogeek.com/119293/4-w...rver-on-linux/

Most of the above is on how to recover from such a crash, doesn't give a permanent fix. I have used almost similar number of apps in the past on this PC and it didn't crash like this before. Only recently did Xwindows start crashing. There is enough HD, RAM, OS is Puppy Linux.

Any thoughts welcome, tx in advance.

Did you seperate the heatsink and fan, clean them and renew the paste (not too much)??
Also you should check that the cpu frequency is set to "on demand" so that it is not thrashing itself unnecessarily.

Thanks for the response. I just blew with hair dryer. Didn't separate or touch the internals, no paste applied.

The CPU freq was set to ondemand, haven't used this tool before.
Will see how it goes now. When I start a new program etc., CPU usage goes to 50% or so even for simple things sometimes and eventually this might be causing the
issue perhaps.

That implies a twin core processor.
The CPU usage should be 100% on one core for a single stream process (at least when not waiting for IO), but it should drop while the machine is idle.
You should look and see what tasks are active.

If the cpu is overheating when it is not under heavy load, you should ssplit the heatsink and fan and clean off the old paste and apply new, but look up on the web how to do that properly.

See it is single core P4, the driver for the duocore worked, so I just used it for the CPU scaling.

Forgot to add that we have heat waves locally that is quite intense. Perhaps this
is contributing to this issue, will see how the CPU functions in winter.

# cpuid
bash: cpuid: command not found
# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 15
model : 2
model name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz
stepping : 7
cpu MHz : 2399.940
cache size : 512 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 2
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe up pebs bts cid
bogomips : 4785.64
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 128
address sizes : 36 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
power management:

https://www.maketecheasier.com/6-too...-linux-distro/

The above site with tools to create your own custom Linux distro is excellent. Sometimes it is best to just make your own distro by removing older browser etc.,
that stops working, add a more recent one and then roll it into a distro. This can be shared for convenience of others also. Now, this is also encouraging to google and read other similar articles related to making your own distro.

Related videos for convenience below.

Thermal Paste Use
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAXrtbox6Zw

Alternatives for Thermal Paste:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-pr4cf70qY

How to remove thermal paste off a CPU:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9MJUuU58vE

Edited to add, thread elsewhere on how often to replace CPU paste:
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/...mal-paste.html

so ketchup wins!
i once saw a similar video which iirc also tried and recommended cheese.

Thanks for this comment. Here are some more related videos:

Cooling CPU with Cheese:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16qSDmMO3zQ

Other Household items to cool CPU:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMQ5MYrGIbs

What Parts to collect from older PC:

Presently if I still come across an older PC abandoned I might collect the following parts as I don't have space for the entire PC anymore:

1. Fans, Ram, CPU and Hard Drive (Collect and keep all)
2. PSU - Keep only 3 spares at a time.
3. DVD drive - Keep only 3 spares at a time.
4. If I find more recent Mobo with all components, then replace older Mobo with
newer
5. Special components like Card Reader etc., Keep three of each.

This will save space but also help recycle efficiently. Comments welcome.