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Yes, it runs with all distros. There are hyperthreading options in the kernel which only benefit P4s, and every distro kernel I have looked at enables them.
The P4 is now 'trailing edge technology' The rules of being there are
1. Light window manager. No kde or gnome.
2. Avoid bloatware - opera is lighter than firefox or seamonkey; Libreoffice and java based apps are frowned upon.
I did a lot of running underspecced CPUs. Buy memory, if it's not too expensive. Look for the apps that do one thing well, and avoid sloppy scripts. If you get a Red Hat style distro, for instance, and type 'startx,' you may have bash scripts starting perl and or python scripts besides several more bash scripts. No to that.
Drop thunderbird, use mutt. Drop Libreoffice, use vim or nano, etc.
Distribution: Debian Wheezy, Jessie, Sid/Experimental, playing with LFS.
Posts: 2,900
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I'd,personally, stick to the main distros with a P4. Distros like Slackware, Debian, Fedora maybe. Or ones that specifically advertise as lightweight.
Download and run a live version of a 686pae version (32 bit) preferably from a usb flash drive, it will be slow but it will let you know if it will run. If it runs install it to test it as a real install.
I currently run Slackware 14.1 on two P4 machines.
I use Fluxbox as the window manager (although I actually spen most time on those at the console), but functionally they do OK even with Firefox and Thunderbird (you need 1GB or more of RAM if possible). A little slow but very usable.
What is your intended use (personal, web browsing, learning)? Do you have any special programs that you need to run?
How much RAM does it have? Do you know any of the other hardware?
I currently run Slackware 14.1 on two P4 machines.
I use Fluxbox as the window manager (although I actually spen most time on those at the console), but functionally they do OK even with Firefox and Thunderbird (you need 1GB or more of RAM if possible). A little slow but very usable.
What is your intended use (personal, web browsing, learning)? Do you have any special programs that you need to run?
How much RAM does it have? Do you know any of the other hardware?
1.my web browsing is mozila
2.maybe phyton
3.my RAM is 1526
4.yes,maybe a little
Just for comparison I run 32-bit Fedora 20 (currently latest) on a P III with 1 Gig RAM - default gnome 3 desktop. Runs fine for what it is - I don't use it for anything "heavy", but certainly usable as a web-browsing machine. And I don't often use python, but all the awk/perl I do is also fine.
Pentium 4s are actually reasonably fast, and you should be able to run all but the most bloated of distros. It is the Pentium 3s and lower that have problems, but are still doable with lighter, customized distros.
i sometimes imagine if that pentium 4 is powerful like i7
it won't make alot of problem.
If pentium 4 can run crysis 3
it'll be fun
but in fact it can't
As others have said, Linux works fine with a P4. I'm typing on P4 running Slackware --Current right now.
A more important consideration is how many RAMs you have. That doesn't matter to the Linux kernel, but it does matter to the desktop environment. The desktop/window manager's memory need is the primary variable in determining how heavy a Linux OS is.
This machine has an AMD Sempron (comparable with a P4), no graphics acceleration, and 1GB of RAM. It's very sluggish with Gnome or KDE, but fine with Mate or Xfce.
My laptop is an original IBM Thinkpad, with a Pentium M. It's not exactly fast, but it copes with Xfce.
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