Why not just buy any old machine and install any headless Linux?
Ask HN: Best computer that can't run a modern browser
21–30 of 33 posts
Re: Ask HN: Best computer that can't run a modern browser
#22Any computer at all, just about any linux distro, boot into console mode, and then run something like this
https://github.com/netxs-group/vtm
The point is that the GUI desktop environments of almost distros- even the lightweight ones- are expensive. A browser is just a uniquely heavy app.
But console mode will run on machines with only MB of RAM.
Re: Ask HN: Best computer that can't run a modern browser
#23The original raspberry pi's struggled with browsers. And and they look super stylish with that clear case thing.
any "Raspberry Pi" with 256 MB - is a perfect test machine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi And there is an extra minimal alternative: Raspberry Pi Pico ( 264 KB; available from $4 + https://github.com/asynts/pico-os ) "Raspberry Pi Pico comes with Dual-Core ARM Cortex M0+ processor, which can run up to 133MHz. It has 264KB of SRAM and 2MB of on-board flash storage, but we can extend up to 16MB of off-chip…
The pico is not a general purpose computer and cannot run linux
Re: Ask HN: Best computer that can't run a modern browser
#24Pinetab or Pinebook Pro
Re: Ask HN: Best computer that can't run a modern browser
#25A little outside your price range, but looks like you can get an SGI Indy for around $300 on eBay.
Re: Ask HN: Best computer that can't run a modern browser
#26Any computer with a paper terminal for the display. Heck even a dumb crt terminal.
Or one without a display at all, just PUTTY.
Re: Ask HN: Best computer that can't run a modern browser
#27What attributes of "computer" are you looking for? The Remarkable 2 is definitely a "computer", but lacks many computer attributes, so it may not be what you're looking for, so it really depends on what you're looking for.
It meets the singular criteria of being incapable of running a modern web browser while having aspects of being a digital device.
Re: Ask HN: Best computer that can't run a modern browser
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
any "Raspberry Pi" with 256 MB - is a perfect test machine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi And there is an extra minimal alternative: Raspberry Pi Pico ( 264 KB; available from $4 + https://github.com/asynts/pico-os ) "Raspberry Pi Pico comes with Dual-Core ARM Cortex M0+ processor, which can run up to 133MHz. It has 264KB of SRAM and 2MB of on-board flash storage, but we can extend up to 16MB of off-chip…
The pico is not a general purpose computer and cannot run linux
maybe with a little hacking ..
"Raspberry Pi Pico RISC-V Emulator Runs Linux" ( 2 days ago )
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/raspberry-pi-pico-risc-v-e...
https://github.com/tvlad1234/pico-rv32ima
"This project uses CNLohr's mini-rv32ima RISC-V emulator core to run Linux on a Raspberry Pi Pico. It uses two 8 megabyte SPI PSRAM chips as system memory. To alleviate the bottleneck introduced by the SPI interface of the PSRAM, a 4kb cache is used. The cache implementation comes from xhackerustc's uc32-rvima project."
Re: Ask HN: Best computer that can't run a modern browser
#29A thinkpad x220?
Re: Ask HN: Best computer that can't run a modern browser
#30APU is x86 compat, up to 4GB RAM, mSATA, serial port, but no video. Buy an old VT term off an auction site to complete your browser-free experience. https://www.pcengines.ch/apu4c4.htm
I'm fairly certain you could run a browser and output the display over X-Windows or VNC on one of those.
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